What's up with the increase in JJ's assist

[RMJ]

I don't get to watch many hawks game but I do check the box scores and it seems like JJ has around 10 assist every game

now. What is he doing different now that he wasn't doing earlier in the season? Are the other players shooting better?

[Dragitoff]

I think defenses are focused on stopping him. There was an article today in the AJC with a quote from JJ after the game last night. He was talking about defenses focusing on him thinking he was gonna' take those shots Smoove hit and he believes in them enough to give the ball up if to his teammates if they're open. They've just got to believe in themselves. I think that's the difference. His teammates are believing in themselves right now.

[joannes3000]

I don't get to watch many games either, but from what I can gather it's due to:

*JJ's and the rest of the team's increased comfort level with their own roles and their teammates.

*Natural progression on the part of JJ as a leader on the team and as he has become more of a scorer he is creating more open looks for the rest of the team.

[thesheedera]

Another reason: With Lue out the offense runs through Joe even more than when Lue's healthy.

[Lascar78]

agreed.

And our ball movement as a whole has increased a lot

[Nicholasp27]

yup

i'm glad lue's not playing

[Dragitoff]

ok statheads. What's the team's record this season w/ Lue and w/o Lue?

[joannes3000]

Even better for you folks:

What's our PPG with and without?

What's our assist/to ratio with and without?

What's our fastbreak/hustle points with and without?

[Dragitoff]

I don't have statistical #'s but I'd say

+10PPG

Assist/To ratio about the same but +8 assists per game

+8PPG fastbreak/hustle points

[exodus]

That would take awhile lol.

Off the top of my head I think they have won 4 or 5 without Lue.

The thing is the team has changed over the course of the season. In november the offense consisted of jj and Al going one on one and forcing up bad shots. The whole offense was a mess.

Then Lue started getting more time and touches and started playing better, and the offense soon followed.

As the season has gone on the young guys have been improving. And Lue's weak defense is more of a problem playing next to JJ because teams obviously would rather attack Lue than JJ.

Lue came through in the clutch many times earlier in the year. Now the young guys are starting to come through. The better the young guys become the less Lue is needed. I believe the reason they brought him in is to give veteran leadership in the second halves of tight games when the young guys might get tight.

If the young guys continue to show that they can come through in the clutch then that would make Lue expendable this offseason, assuming they bring in another guard. The Hawks big weakness is defense and Lue certainly contributes to that. Getting rid of weak defenders like Al and Lue and replacing them with people who can play d would make a big difference.

[exodus]

Actually if you look at JJ's games in particular he has done much better with Lue than without. JJ started his big run right after Lue came back from his back injury.

In the 4 games Lue missed JJ scored 18 on 40% shooting. Once Lue came back JJ scored 28 ppg on 55% shooting in his next 5 games.

[Lascar78]

you're only looking at scoring. His assists are way up though

[exodus]

Guys have to score for JJ to get assists. Remember that earlier in the year Smith and Zaza were turnover machines, Childress was very reluctant to shoot and Marvin only produced in garbage time.

The good thing about inexperienced players is that they don't stay inexperienced.

[Lascar78]

I don't care. You say JJ is doing worse without Lue because his points are down a little. I say he is doing better because he gets slightly less points and much more assists.

[thesheedera]

Dean Smith always said that the best thing about Freshman is that they become sophomores. Same is true of rookies in the NBA.

Seems to me that NBA fans have grown accostomed to guys coming in and making an impact right away. A majority of the best players in the NBA are NOT superstars as rookies. Only a few can come in like LeBron and D Wade.

But back to the subject. I wasn't bagging on Lue with my comment, I'm just pointing out that in Lue's absence, JJ has been the primary ball handler and orchestrator of the offense. I prefer the style of play with JJ at the helm than with Lue at the helm, but I'm not sure it makes us a "better team".

I think our best chance for success is to have a JJ and Lue backcourt where JJ runs the show and Lue supports him.

[exodus]

He is getting more assists because the young guys have gotten better over the course of the season. If Lue had gone down in December they would have been screwed. Now that the young guys have the majority of the season under their belt they are ready to take on a bigger role.

And going from scoring 18 on 40% to 28 on 55% overnight is not a small difference. When Lue came back after his back injury JJ scored 28 in the first game and then said how much easier it was for him to play with Lue.

It should also be noted that JJ has gotten more comfortable with being a playmaker as the season has gone on, which is only natural.

[Dragitoff]

I'm not concerned about JJ's production. This isn't the one-man show Lakers/Cavaliers. It's the Atlanta Hawks. I'm curious as to the team's overall production. I like Lue, I think he's a great backup. Does he fit the style of this team? That's what I was trying to determine. Pre-season, everyone including Billy Knight said this team was built around long, athletic players and they wanted to run teams out the gym with their athleticism. I honestly think Lue slows the tempo down to a point where they can't do that. Does that make him a bad player? No. Does that make him a good fit for this team? That's what I want to know.

[Lascar78]

I still think Lue is a great backup, and we need a starter. I think given JJ's style, and his growth as a distributor our PG should do the following things: play good defense, push the ball as hard as he can with our young guns, be able to bring the ball up under pressure without turning it over. If we can get a true distributor, that's even better. If he can take big shots that's good too.

But my main concerns are D, push the ball, and not turn it over. Lue only does one of those and that's not turn it over. I would hope that we can do better for our starter

[exodus]

I think we both agree that Lue is a good short term backup. When his contract is up i would be surprised if he is resigned.

The last two games show why. Indy and NJ had a hard time getting open looks from the perimeter. Their shots were consistently contested. VC made a couple of 3s from several feet behind the line. He was shooting from there because he had a hard time getting good looks near the line.

They still give up a lot of easy looks inside but their perimeter D has been noticably better without Lue.

[skaughtybee]

Quote:

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I still think Lue is a great backup, and we need a starter. I think given JJ's style, and his growth as a distributor our PG should do the following things: play good defense, push the ball as hard as he can with our young guns, be able to bring the ball up under pressure without turning it over. If we can get a true distributor, that's even better. If he can take big shots that's good too.

But my main concerns are D, push the ball, and not turn it over. Lue only does one of those and that's not turn it over. I would hope that we can do better for our starter

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Andre Brevin Miller-Knight I hear he is on the blocks.

Scott