Lon, Lon, and Lon. All Lon.

[pathway23]

OK.

Indiana and Philly are the Eastern Conference Division Leaders.

Why?

Coaching and talent.

Yes, imo, coaching is more important than talent.

The coach has more influence than you think. Coaching at the college level is much easier than coaching at the NBA level. How many college players end up in the NBA? An NBA coach has to get NBA players ready to face other NBA players. Much more competitive. Much less margin of error. It is much easier to be a successful college coach.

Look at comparisons of player stats.

Atlanta has 5 players averaging 28 or more minutes a game.

Indiana has 7 players averaging 28 or more minutes a game.

I think Atlanta's talent runs deep enough for their coach to have 7 players averaging 28 or more minutes a game.

Bottom line: Lon's rotations are flawed.

Atlanta has 3 players with more than 14 shot attempts per game, only 2 others with more than 7 per game.

Indiana has 1 player with more than 14 shot attempts per game, and 6 others with more than 7 per game.

I think Atlanta has enough scorers 7 deep for those 7 to all have more than 7 shot attempts per game.I know that the big 3 should get at least 14 shot attempts each, but I feel Reef should predominate, like O'neal predominates for Indy. If you have a lowpost scorer, use them, and use them in that role. Currently Big Dog averages 19.6 attempts per game, Reef 14.2 and JT 14.7. Big Dog should have less, JT should have less Reef should have more, Theo,Hendu and Glove should have more, Ira should have more. The offensive plan is not sharing the ball enough for opposing defenses to be honest. Big Dog 's turnovers are due to him being used incorrectly. He is not a primary option. Reef is the primary option. No way JT should be forcing shots up. I feel that for Atlanta to be effective, Reef will need to average about 17 shot attempts per game, Big Dog 16 , and JT 12. Dion Glover should get 10, Ira 10, Theo 10, Hendu 10, that is 85 attempts, with the remainder coming from Ham, Email, McCaskill, Maloney, and Crawford and with this kind of balance in the FGA, there should be a good shooting percentage.

I feel with proper coaching this team could be much more balanced offensively and turn the ball over less, taking pressure off the defense. This defense does not have a All Defensive team candidate besides Theo Ratliff, but if they stay within a team concept like New Jersey, Indiana and Philly does, rotating, helping each other out...they will be just fine. As it is, they are not balanced offensively, they are predictable offensively because they are not moving the ball enough and not moving the ball decively, making them prone to turnovers, making them prone to giving up more field goal attempts than they get.

This team should have a very good record right now due to the fact that they are outshooting their opponents. How many teams do you see with losing records that have a higher field goal percentage than their opponents by .018?

And how much of the .425 field goal percentage that the Hawks give up is layups and dunks, due to turnovers, due to an imbalanced offense, predictable offense?

this problem is all coaching.

Bottom line: Lon's offensive schemes are flawed.