Hinrich now the starter Teague back to the bench.

[SmooveTheFuture]

Teague clearly wasn't ready to be a starting PG in the NBA hopefully he continues to get minutes to learn more but we really need to win games in this tough stretch. Esp. with Josh Smith out for tonight and possibly longer.

http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/nba/154697/kirk-hinrich-claims-starting-job-from-teague

[frosgrim]

Thanks for the update. Good to see the Captain get the helm at home. Teague should see minutes v. Rose.

Smith being out really is going to hurt.

[NineOhTheRino]

Right now he's just bringing the ball up and playing solid defense. If the Hawks plan on making noise when it counts they'll need much more than that. Remember he was never able to beat out Bibbs. I like Teague's athleticism but you have to bring more to the table to be an effective PG. He has to finish at the rim, hit those wide open jumpers, and learn to get guys in position to be successful.

Edited March 2, 2011 by NineOhTheRino

[MrNique]

The only thing I worry about, is that we had actually started to see Teague become a bit effective. Jamal seemed to play better with Hinrich, letting him play the point a little, but Jamal doesn't do that with Teague, relegating him to "off guard" again where he is useless on offense. I'm not advocating Teague as full-time starter, just smoething I"ve noticed when he plays alongside Jamal. Still, hopefully Teague can bring the same energy on defense that he had been giving.

MC @AJC just said Collins is the starting C.

He's gonna get murdered. Noah is one of the quickest Centers up and down the court. Man, we need to play a perfect game tonight to have a chance. (Keep Rose out of the lane, etc.). We needed JOsh back there against this team more than any other I feel...

Edited March 2, 2011 by MrNique

[Admin]

The only thing I worry about, is that we had actually started to see Teague become a bit effective. Jamal seemed to play better with Hinrich, letting him play the point a little, but Jamal doesn't do that with Teague, relegating him to "off guard" again where he is useless on offense. I'm not advocating Teague as full-time starter, just smoething I"ve noticed when he plays alongside Jamal. Still, hopefully Teague can bring the same energy on defense that he had been giving.

Any guesses as to starting lineup? Really sucks, because Josh is always good against Boozer.

My guess is Zaza, because of the Noah energy factor:

Hinrich

Joe

Marvin

Al

Zaza

Meaning, Powell/Collins or someone is gonna get minutes. Ugh. We really needed a backup big upgrade as well. A must this off-season.

MC @AJC just said Collins is the starting C, so nevermind my post.

He's gonna get murdered. Noah is one of the quickest Centers up and down the court. Man, we need to play a perfect game tonight to have a chance. (Keep Rose out of the lane, etc.)

Those are good points about Teague and playing with Jamal and while I understand starting Hinrich I'd rather continue to start Teague so that he gets used to playing with the starters, although I suppose the same applies to Hinrich as well. My big fear here is that Teague goes back to getting little or no playing time and he loses confidence in himself.

We're not going to be able to match the Bulls athleticism tonight without Smith so we're going to have to grind the game out and be very physical with them to have any chance at winning.

I want to see King Zaza out there busting some heads!! :kingchris:

[Randy]

Maybe Teague has gained a little bit of confidence over the past few games playing against statars so that he can at least be more effective playing against other teams backups. What is sort of interesting is that while he wasn't nearly as effective as Bibby on offense, he may have made up for it on defense. Seemed to me we probably won as many games with Teague starting as we would have with Bibby. I think he does need to play some more minutes.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Randy

[Bawse]

Thank you thank you THANK YOU. That is all.

[Atlantaholic]

The only thing I worry about, is that we had actually started to see Teague become a bit effective.

Well... He was 3 - 19 in those three games. So I for one won't be missing him too badly.

[HawksFan87]

he was great defensively, but offensively he was absolutely terrible..

[benhillboy]

Great. All-Time Bulls three point leader, former All-NBA defender> Wide-Eyed Teague.

[IHeartAtlanta]

I just hope teague doesn't disappear on the bench again...

[tbhawksfan]

He has to perform. Don't want to see him on the floor just becaue we drafted him and he's a Hawk. I understand and completely support development and he's had opportunity this year. He isn't ready. Hinrich and JC are. I just hope he can play well enough to be a positive. I agree with Woody and LD; he needs to perform. If he can't, he can follow other non perfomers, where ever they go.

Not to talk bad about one of our players, but I wanted the trade to be Teague and Mo instead of JC2. Just think JC2 has shown more with less opportunity.

[AHF]

I just hope teague doesn't disappear on the bench again...

Agreed. Give him a consistent, limited, defined role. He was playing some great D so have him concentrate on that. And definitely have him play some time with the starters every game or at least a blended lineup rather than spending most of his time with an all-reserve lineup.

[GameTime]

Don't give up on Teague yet. He is pretty good at defense and great at getting steals. Remember Rondo in his second year.

[Dragitoff]

If Collins is starting tonight, he's got to be physical with Noah. Chicago is one of those teams we actually can outsize, even with Smoove, but whether or not we outhustle them will be the deciding factor. Noah and Taj Gibson are two of the highest energy big men in the game. Boozer's not great on defense, but can rebound extremely well and can score from all over the place.

[Admin]

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/03/02/hinrich-to-start-smith-out-for-hawks/?cxntfid=blogs_hawks

After coming off the bench for his first two games, new Hawks guard Kirk Hinrich will make his first start Wednesday night at Philips Arena. He’ll do it against his old team, the Chicago Bulls.

Hinrich won’t have the benefit of having forward Josh Smith in the lineup, however. Smith, who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee against Denver Monday, tried to practice at the Wednesday morning shootaround but was in too much pain.

Since acquiring Hinrich in a trade that sent Mike Bibby to Washington last Wednesday, coach Larry Drew had been starting Jeff Teague to give Hinrich time to acclimate. Drew said he felt Hinrich had learned enough of the team’s plays and defensive schemes to start.

“I want him to get acclimated as fast as he can,” Drew said. “He’s going to be my starting point, so I kind of want to throw him not the fire and get him into a role that he’s going to be in for the remainder of the season.”

Hinrich missed the Denver game with a sore right calf, but practiced Wednesday and said he will play against the Bulls, for whom he played his first seven seasons in the NBA before getting traded to Washington last summer.

“We’ve got a tough schedule coming up this month but we have a lot of home games,” Hinrich said. “Hopefully we can take care of business. If we hang our hat on our defense like we did there the last three games of the trip, we should be O.K.”

Drew did not have a timeline for Smith’s return. He is considered day-to-day. Drew said he actually thought Smith would be able to play Wednesday prior to the shootaround.

“He said some of the swelling has gone down from [Tuesday], but he went out there and shot a little bit and it didn’t feel right,” Drew said.

Not having Smith in the lineup complicates matters against Chicago, which has a formidable front line with center Joakim Noah and forwards Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng. The Hawks will start Jason Collins at center, Al Horford and Marvin Williams at forward and Joe Johnson and Hinrich at guard.

[Bawse]

^^ The only problem with the defense is that there will be no Smoove tonight, or maybe the next game. Who knows how long this injury lurks around... hopefully not long. We need him back ASAP, without him on the floor there's a massive hole in the defense.

[exodus]

If Collins is starting tonight, he's got to be physical with Noah. Chicago is one of those teams we actually can outsize, even with Smoove, but whether or not we outhustle them will be the deciding factor. Noah and Taj Gibson are two of the highest energy big men in the game. Boozer's not great on defense, but can rebound extremely well and can score from all over the place.

Boozer hasn't been able to score on Smith though. Smith has pretty much owned him.Horford has owned Noah too.

Bad game for Smith to miss.

Edited March 2, 2011 by exodus

[Admin]

Boozer hasn't been able to score on Smith though. Smith has pretty much owned him. Bad game for Smith to miss.

Well luckily(?) we get to play them 2 more times very soon and hopefully he'll be back for them.

[terrell]

Right now he's just bringing the ball up and playing solid defense. If the Hawks plan on making noise when it counts they'll need much more than that. Remember he was never able to beat out Bibbs. I like Teague's athleticism but you have to bring more to the table to be an effective PG. He has to finish at the rim, hit those wide open jumpers, and learn to get guys in position to be successful.

Never able to beat out Bibs?Funny. Team has looked a lot better with Teague (with the starters) as opposed to Bibby. U sure this wasnt because of Drew being Woody-like, and not because of Teague's play? Btw, playing with Zaza, Mo, and co. will make ANYBODY look bad. I dont like this move. It puts Teague in there with Iso Jamal. Not a good combination. Hinrich would force Jamal to play TEAM ball. Teague just gives it to him and gets out of the way. Its not about who starts, it's about who plays well together and who doesnt imo. Edited March 2, 2011 by terrell