Interesting stats on Atlanta's Defense.

[KB21]

Are we as bad of a defensive team as many would like to make out.

The Hawks were 21st in the NBA in points allowed. That makes them look very bad defensively.

However, the Hawks were 8th in the NBA in opponents FG%. They allowed the 8th lowest FG% by their opponents. This is actually very good. Teams only shot the ball around 43% against the Hawks. The team with the best opponents FG% was the Sacramento Kings, and they allowed a 42% opponents FG%.

When looking at that, how can it be that the Hawks allow so many points?

The reason. The Hawks had the 5th most turnovers in the NBA last season.

The Atlanta Hawks are a lot closer to being a playoff team than many people think.

They were the 12th best shooting team in the NBA last season. They were the 13th best 3 point shooting team. They were the 3rd best free throw shooting team. They were the 18th best scoring team, which doesn't match their shooting ability. They were the 12th best rebounding team, and they were the 6th best team in blocked shots.

The Hawks problems obviously have a lot to do with turnovers. The Hawks do a good job of forcing teams to take bad shots, but they give them more opportunities to score because they turn the ball over. Plus, when they turn the ball over, they don't score as much as they can potentially score.

I get the feeling that if the Hawks can find a way to solve this turnover problems, their scoring output versus what they allow will get better. I feel that can account for maybe 10-15 more wins on the year.

The more opportunities the Hawks have to score 100 points, the better they will be. The Hawks were 15-3 when they scored 100 points last season. Conversely, they were 7-30 when their opponents scored 100 points.

I think the drafting of Boris Diaw is a clear sign that the front office realizes the turnover problems have to stop. They had to get another ball handler. I also feel that the front office realizes that the lack of team chemistry played a role in this as well, so they won't make any rash judgements on trades and will allow this team to stay together and gain that needed chemistry.

[cyman3]

its impossible to win at this level when u got 10+ turnovers a game.

Im not all that shocked by those numbers, but i could swear our rebounding wasnt that great.

take care of CHEMISTRY cuz we sure have the talent.

[TheDude]

Kb21, that's a very good point. It would also be very interesting to see where our rebounding ranks also because that can contribute to good d against fg% but not against total points. Anybody got that?