Who is our best perimeter defender?

[Diesel]

Your three points are a more elaborate way of agreeing with me. If our offense works like it has all season we can score 100 against any team in the NBA. I just do not think one defensive player of the year, who is also their only all-defensive player, should be able to shut us down.

If we can put up 97 on a healthy Celtics team, on a good night we can score 100 against anyone. IMO Orlando and Charlotte did not shut us down we shut ourselves down. We got frazzled and never regained our composure.

Hopefully we learned something from the Dallas game. Even though a team can slow down the pace and we may not shoot well, if we hang tough and maintain our composure we can still win. For me Dallas was the biggest win of the season. Contenders figure out a way to win ugly against good teams or at least stay close to give themselves a chance at the end.

In the above games we shot like crap. Bad nights happen even to champions. But champions and contenders don't quit and figure out a way to stay in the game. We did that against Dallas, we did not do that against Orlando or Charlotte.

And yes, Memphis is a good young team and very dangerous. I am glad all that talent is out west...

No... Charlotte and Orlando do have the ability and did shut us down. In the Charlotte game, our lack of scoring was offset by a great game by Raja Bell. In the Orlando game, they came back from a double digit deficit to beat us by double digits. The onlyway that happens is if they stop us from scoring. I think when you look at Orlando, Pietrus, Barnes, Howard, and to some extent Vince are good defenders. I don't buy into the named to defensive team too much... because Gerald Wallace has yet to be named to anything and he's one of the best defenders playing. Still, I do agree with you that we are built to outscore. I just think that our outscoring comes easier when we have something going on the inside. IF we start relying on outside shots, it might be a long night. Our best outings are when a team doesn't know how to stop us... In the Orlando game, they stopped the inside scoring and contested the outside shots. That's how they are built. That is why they beat us this year and that is why they beat the cavs last year. They don't get into the mode of having to stop 1 guy. They stop scoring on the inside and they play man on everybody else. So Iso Joe becomes uneffective unless it works 100% of the time without having to go inside. Look at how they stopped Iso-Lebron. They let Pietrus and Lee lock him up and they made sure that he had nobody else to pass to who could score. Howard Nullified Anderson and Z. Lewis and Hedo were out there on Gibson and West or whoever the hell else was on the perimeter. Not that they were good perimeter defenders but sometimes it just takes being present.

The thing we have that Cleveland don't have is Crawford. Crawford can beat anybody on their team off the dribble. So if they lock up Joe with Pietrus and if Howard is in the middle, then that leaves Craw and Vince. Craw will eat Vince for breakfast. He just needs a green light. We also have Smoove. I think Smoove and Al have an advantage on Howard and Bass or whoever they want to place at PF. The problem in game 1 was Anderson. Ryan Anderson punked Horford. Our Switching defense is not good when Horford is out on the perimeter with a PF and Smoove is one on one with Howard. That's why I like the Zone we employed against NJ.

[Sothron]

Joe and defense don't belong in the same sentence... time and time again his man blows right by him.. Marvin's defense is overrated to, but not as much as Joe's

Do you watch anyone besides Smoove? Joe is our best wing defender by far.

[Buzzard]

No... Charlotte and Orlando do have the ability and did shut us down. In the Charlotte game, our lack of scoring was offset by a great game by Raja Bell. In the Orlando game, they came back from a double digit deficit to beat us by double digits. The onlyway that happens is if they stop us from scoring. I think when you look at Orlando, Pietrus, Barnes, Howard, and to some extent Vince are good defenders I don't buy into the named to defensive team too much .... because Gerald Wallace has yet to be named to anything and he's one of the best defenders playing. Still, I do agree with you that we are built to outscore.

I just think that our outscoring comes easier when we have something going on the inside. IF we start relying on outside shots, it might be a long night. Our best outings are when a team doesn't know how to stop us... In the Orlando game, they stopped the inside scoring and contested the outside shots. That's how they are built. That is why they beat us this year and that is why they beat the cavs last year. They don't get into the mode of having to stop 1 guy. They stop scoring on the inside and they play man on everybody else. So Iso Joe becomes uneffective unless it works 100% of the time without having to go inside. Look at how they stopped Iso-Lebron. They let Pietrus and Lee lock him up and they made sure that he had nobody else to pass to who could score. Howard Nullified Anderson and Z. Lewis and Hedo were out there on Gibson and West or whoever the hell else was on the perimeter. Not that they were good perimeter defenders but sometimes it just takes being present.

The thing we have that Cleveland don't have is Crawford. Crawford can beat anybody on their team off the dribble. So if they lock up Joe with Pietrus and if Howard is in the middle, then that leaves Craw and Vince. Craw will eat Vince for breakfast. He just needs a green light. We also have Smoove. I think Smoove and Al have an advantage on Howard and Bass or whoever they want to place at PF. The problem in game 1 was Anderson. Ryan Anderson punked Horford. Our Switching defense is not good when Horford is out on the perimeter with a PF and Smoove is one on one with Howard. That's why I like the Zone we employed against NJ.

So much rhetoric going on here I don't know where to start. Guess the best place is Orlando being a great perimeter defensive team. That does not hold water: Orlando is ranked 21st in 3pt fg% allowed by opponent, we rank 26th. Some nights all they have to do is show up; that is all Orlando did in the 3rd and 4th quarters. They played man, our ball movement froze up like an iceberg, and we could not throw the ball in the ocean. All defensive team player not being important; of course its not, untill you want us to trade Marvin for one or get Smoove and Al mentioned on that team.

If all a team has to do is show up, how does any team in the NBA not know how to stop us. According you its pretty simplistic: stop the inside scoring and contest the outside shots then wala you will hold us to 25 pts any half this season...why didn't I think of that?

Edited December 15, 2009 by Buzzard

[Buzzard]

Do you watch anyone besides Smoove? Joe is our best wing defender by far.

This is going to sound sexist as hell but I think Smoove gave her a jersey and kissed her on the cheek at a game. And that is ok. We need all the young fans we can get, so just take her comments for what they are and be nice to her.

[Deeman]

I wonder who voted for Smoove as Hawks best perimeter defender. Hmmmmmmmmm? :stirthepot:

[Supporter]

This is going to sound sexist as hell but I think Smoove gave her a jersey and kissed her on the cheek at a game. And that is ok. We need all the young fans we can get, so just take her comments for what they are and be nice to her.

Great way of boosting her confidence by making her an example :thumbsupsmileyanim:

[Sothron]

This is going to sound sexist as hell but I think Smoove gave her a jersey and kissed her on the cheek at a game. And that is ok. We need all the young fans we can get, so just take her comments for what they are and be nice to her.

I have to wonder if you are on to something. I don't mind someone being an out and out homer for a guy on our team but jeez at least have some knowledge about the rest of the team before you start making posts like she does. I've never seen anyone run down Joe Johnson at every chance that she does.

Did she try to get a Joe autograph and he turned her down?

[Diesel]

So much rhetoric going on here I don't know where to start. Guess the best place is Orlando being a great perimeter defensive team. That does not hold water: Orlando is ranked 21st in 3pt fg% allowed by opponent, we rank 26th. Some nights all they have to do is show up; that is all Orlando did in the 3rd and 4th quarters. They played man, our ball movement froze up like an iceberg, and we could not throw the ball in the ocean. All defensive team player not being important; of course its not, untill you want us to trade Marvin for one or get Smoove and Al mentioned on that team.

If all a team has to do is show up, how does any team in the NBA not know how to stop us. According you its pretty simplistic: stop the inside scoring and contest the outside shots then wala you will hold us to 25 pts any half this season...why didn't I think of that?

A few things.

First, they did shut down our ball movement because Howard was inside stopping our inside game and they played man otherwise. A lot of our offense is produce when we can draw a double team and pass out of it. That doesn't happen when a team can play man.

Second... When I said that not being named to the all defensive team doesn't mean much, I wasn't talking about the guys who were named to that team, I was talking about the guys who didn't make it. Like I said, I don't remember Gerald Wallace being named to anything but he's one of the best defenders IMO playing. That's not to take anything away from guys who make it, but to say that just because a guy doesn't make it doesn't mean that he's not a good defender. I think Pietrus is a really good lockdown defender. He hasn't been nominated to the 1st or 2nd team either... but his work against James in the playoffs can't go unnoticed.

Third. It's not that simple to stop the inside scoring. That's the difference between last year and this year. Last year, they would give smoove theoutside shoot and 9 times out of 9 he would take it. Now, they give Smoove the outside shot and he either works to get inside or he passes it off. For teams to stop us inside, it requires a big who can play good defense. How many of those are there? Look at our loses:

Orlando = Howard.

Charlotte = Chandler.

Lakers = Bynum

IF our shooting is on, we still have the means to blow a team out, butI think that Horf and SMoove working inside is a strong part of our offense.