Your 6-0, 0-4, and 2-1 Hawks

[cam1218]

This season has been really up and down. I don’t think any of us thought we were as good as 6-0, as bad as 0-4 and 2-1 pretty much seems right if you thought our home game tonight was one of those wins. So, before I get judged for a meaningless post count or no post that clearly goes to one extreme to draw attention I hope you give this a good read. It might be long but I feel it's important to actually post something worth the readers time on forums. So I hope my ideas, right or wrong, maybe create some discussion about how we can improve opposed to how much we suck or what trades we could make with our NBA video games.

So what is our problem? I see a many problems, I'll highlight a couple;

1) Is Larry Drew’s rotation horrible or is it to preserve our older players? I have been pretty happy with Larry Drew so far. I think he knows what we need to do to be a better team. Is it possible he was so set in his way (you try to be an assistant coach on a team, seeing problems, imagining how you would fix them, getting the job, then trying to fix—you get the point). I’m really glad he is trying to use the bench more but do we really need to use it if they are playing so poorly? Bob Rathbun said something tonight along the lines of “the difference between Terry and JC11 is that our bench player admits he is a bench player.” Well, if he knows his role, don’t play him when he is so horrible. Did anybody think tonight that he would actually get it going in the 4th quarter? Or did anybody feel Zaza might do something productive or Evans wouldn’t find a way to turn the ball over? Plus, I wonder why he pulls starters in the first when we are playing well. How many games have we scored 14 points in the first 4 minutes and score 10 during the last 8 minutes. The only positive tonight was JC55 took some of tentative Teague’s minutes. Also, why was Smith out of the game with around 6 minutes left?

2) Our offense is made for guards, but our best players are forwards? Look, I really believe Joe Johnson is going to get it going. Either way, he doesn’t look confident on the court. I pretty much started watching the Hawks again because Joe was so good when he came here. Does he have a problem not being the go to guy every friggin play? Being comfortable and confident for a jump shooter is KEY in basketball. I really don’t think Joe has either of those going for him right now. How can we get Joe feeling good about himself again?

Horford has been amazing this year and Smith has been really good too. We talk about Smith taking more jump shots but Horford is too. The thing is, Horford is making them, and even though JS is too—we are afraid he will start to shoot like the JS of the past. As I said, the offense is made for guards and it’s making our two forwards into jump shooters. It looks pretty when they are draining shots in the 1st/2nd/3rd quarters. Then comes the fourth and nobody, guards or forward, can make a jump shot. Mainly guards because they are the ones taking those shots. It's so backwards right now.

There are other problems too. At home games we are waiting for our runs and not committing to defense—the problem is those runs aren’t coming.

We have two ways to score. Either we are hitting the J’s or we are scoring in fast break. We can be good at both but the Hawks haven’t shown they are consistently committed to playing great defense (especially at home—I was at the Bucs game and it was bad).

I think most of us agree that I’d take less than 50 wins if it meant our team would be better in the playoffs. It just looks like the players are expecting the playoffs right now and just want to show they can win games in the second round as opposed to playing well in the “meaningless” games. They forget that most of the good fans are going to still judge them based on how they player during the season. Why do they think home attendance is so bad?

The last two second round exits have been a buzz kill and really ruined the season until you took tame to look back and reflect. I do remember things like those 9-0 home stands, come back victories at home, consistent effort at home. This year I haven’t really been able to enjoy our games yet. I hope things get better. GO Hawks!

[BudBall]

They are playing like garbage. All our wins are against scrub teams.

[lethalweapon3]

Free Jordan Crawford! Whoo!

~lw3

[DJlaysitup]

They are playing like garbage. All our wins are against scrub teams.

Well we did beat the Indiana Pacers at their place when they were 4 and 4. That's a quality road win.

I would think our overall record will depend more on what other teams do than what we do. We are yet to play many of the more elite teams. We did give ORL a run for it's money but lost.

If the quality teams play their best most of the season I would put us at somewhere around 46-36...that is hoping we can finally beat the NYKs but expecting Chicago to be difficult. Key games will be against mid-packers like Charlotte at their place. I really don't see us going past 50 wins this year because we are lacking at the PG position and this seems to be the year of the PG so far.

That said....I think we can be competitive against any team on a given night - even the elite. I wouldn't put any money on us against any of the better WC teams at their places - but I think we can still give Boston a scare at their place. Milwaukee seems to be a tough team for us and I would expect the Knicks will be too.

I would be surprised (on the positive side) if we win 50 or more...and surprised on the negative side if we don't get 44. Either way - I think we make the playoffs.

Edited November 21, 2010 by DJlaysitup