The Disappearing Act of Jeff Teague

[macdaddy]

I'll come to his defense. Just like the first 10 games at 20/11 were too small a sample to declare him a superstar so are the last 10 games to small to say he sucks. He has the keys to an entirely new offense and one that puts more responsibility on the PG than anything he's ever played. Like Bud says, teams have made adjustments on him. Everyone has bad games and bad stretches. It is far more likely that he improves from this bad stretch than it is he scores 6 points a game and shots 20% from 3.

[HawkItus]

I'll come to his defense. Just like the first 10 games at 20/11 were too small a sample to declare him a superstar so are the last 10 games to small to say he sucks. He has the keys to an entirely new offense and one that puts more responsibility on the PG than anything he's ever played. Like Bud says, teams have made adjustments on him. Everyone has bad games and bad stretches. It is far more likely that he improves from this bad stretch than it is he scores 6 points a game and shots 20% from 3.

This. Also, I still remember Hubie talking about how much conditioning it takes for the guys to run this offense properly. I think we are seeing this take effect in the past 10 games. Guys should get their second wind after the Holidays. Bud also said Jeff should not be judged on effectiveness by 20/10 etc. He really has the philosophy of not featuring any player on this roster. He mentioned Jeff's post passing as an area of growth this season.

[frankthetank966]

Said it before and I will say this until he is steps up. Jeff Teague is not the PG for this system. He doesn't have the high BBIQ and forces too many turnovers without getting assists. Last night Teague had 5 assists and 7 turnovers. Against CHI 6 assists and 4 turnovers, GS 7 assists and 5 turnovers. If the Hawks are looking to trade anyone it should be Jeffrey. We cannot afford to have out PG average 6 assists and 4 turnovers a game.

[ATLSmith]

I'm not worried about Teague just yet. This team has worse players and bigger problems to worry about.

[macdaddy]

Well Jeff is average 17/8 with nearly 3 rebounds a game. I'm not sure what the expectation is here but it seems like people won't be happy unless he becomes Chris Paul. Korver can't get open easily anymore so what are the options here. Dump it to Milsap and have him drive the lane. Outside of those two he's trying to drive an offense with DMC and Antić in the starting lineup.

http://www.csnchicago.com/bulls/hawks-teague-keeps-same-approach-during-breakout-season?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo

Edited January 7, 2014 by macdaddy

[Admin]

I'm not worried about Teague just yet. This team has worse players and bigger problems to worry about.

You should be worried about a guy we still owe $32 million to and is our 3rd highest paid player. If he were on a rookie contract then I'd say yeah no need to worry but for a guy who's apparently hit his peak we should absolutely be worried. The Hawks would be a lot better off going with a PG who is more natural at the position than someone who's primary focus is getting to the basket.

[Guest]

I don't understand Teague. It's like he's toying around with himself. He has the talent to drive to the basket on any point guard, he has the talent to knock down the 3 ball, but I'm not sure why he hesitates so often until the shot clock is about to expire. I also don't think he's the point guard of the future for us. He's super talented but he's not a Ferry/Bud Spurs type guy by any means.

[macdaddy]

You should be worried about a guy we still owe $32 million to and is our 3rd highest paid player. If he were on a rookie contract then I'd say yeah no need to worry but for a guy who's apparently hit his peak we should absolutely be worried. The Hawks would be a lot better off going with a PG who is more natural at the position than someone who's primary focus is getting to the basket.

I'm sure there are other measures but he is 8th in the nba in assists. If his primary focus is getting to the basket he's doing pretty well in the assist dept. There again some posters seem to think he should be driving to the basket more. Seriously, i'm not making any excuses because i don't think he needs any. I think he's playing damn good. But look who we have in the game nowadays. We don't have a lot of offensive weapons in there.

[Admin]

I'm sure there are other measures but he is 8th in the nba in assists. If his primary focus is getting to the basket he's doing pretty well in the assist dept. There again some posters seem to think he should be driving to the basket more. Seriously, i'm not making any excuses because i don't think he needs any. I think he's playing damn good. But look who we have in the game nowadays. We don't have a lot of offensive weapons in there.

He's gotten a TON of bunny assists from Korver and Millsap and other guys behind the arc getting easy looks. Teague makes so few plays that set his teammates up for easy buckets it really amazes me. He truly has some of the worst point guard vision I've ever seen and now that he's unable to hit a mid-range or 3pt shot he's really becoming even less effective. His whole thing right now is getting to the basket for a layup or hope the defense rotates or that he is able to get a guy open from a pick n pop and since Al went down he hasn't been very successful.

Look at his stats since Al went out... 17 ppg, 6.5 apg, 4 topg, 42 fg%, 22 3pt% and we're 2-4 in that stretch. Those are just not going to get it done. If we're going to put up with 4 turnovers per game then he needs to be in the low to mid 20's in scoring and around 9 apg with better shooting percentages.

[NBASupes]

Teague is a star backup/6th man. He's not a starting PG. Dennis is so raw is an issue but hopefully he will be much improved in 2014-15.

[Jody23]

He's gotten a TON of bunny assists from Korver and Millsap and other guys behind the arc getting easy looks. Teague makes so few plays that set his teammates up for easy buckets it really amazes me. He truly has some of the worst point guard vision I've ever seen and now that he's unable to hit a mid-range or 3pt shot he's really becoming even less effective. His whole thing right now is getting to the basket for a layup or hope the defense rotates or that he is able to get a guy open from a pick n pop and since Al went down he hasn't been very successful. Look at his stats since Al went out... 17 ppg, 6.5 apg, 4 topg, 42 fg%, 22 3pt% and we're 2-4 in that stretch. Those are just not going to get it done. If we're going to put up with 4 turnovers per game then he needs to be in the low to mid 20's in scoring and around 9 apg with better shooting percentages.

I'm just about ready to see them give Dennis some minutes with a view to developing him for next season. With Al out, this team is straight struggle. I'll be shocked if we are still the third seed after the next seven games.

[macdaddy]

He's gotten a TON of bunny assists from Korver and Millsap and other guys behind the arc getting easy looks. Teague makes so few plays that set his teammates up for easy buckets it really amazes me. He truly has some of the worst point guard vision I've ever seen and now that he's unable to hit a mid-range or 3pt shot he's really becoming even less effective. His whole thing right now is getting to the basket for a layup or hope the defense rotates or that he is able to get a guy open from a pick n pop and since Al went down he hasn't been very successful.

Look at his stats since Al went out... 17 ppg, 6.5 apg, 4 topg, 42 fg%, 22 3pt% and we're 2-4 in that stretch. Those are just not going to get it done. If we're going to put up with 4 turnovers per game then he needs to be in the low to mid 20's in scoring and around 9 apg with better shooting percentages.

How are you giving him no credit for getting Korver and Milsap those easy looks? 20/9 would put him in elite company for point guards. How can that be the expectation when 1. we have no finishers to pass to and 2. we're playing two guys with him that don't really need to be guarded. It seems like anything short of Paul or Rondo makes him a scrub. If you're not first you're last right?

Last 8 games PPG: 26, 34, 20, 22, 16, 14, 16, 16 - The last three games being losses. The last two we had point totals in the 80s

Frankly I think he was struggling more before Al went down. But why are we dumping on him after our worst two games of the season. Where was the discussion when him punk'd Mario Chalmers and dropped 34/14 on Cleveland?

[Admin]

How are you giving him no credit for getting Korver and Milsap those easy looks? 20/9 would put him in elite company for point guards. How can that be the expectation when 1. we have no finishers to pass to and 2. we're playing two guys with him that don't really need to be guarded. It seems like anything short of Paul or Rondo makes him a scrub. If you're not first you're last right?

Last 8 games PPG: 26, 34, 20, 22, 16, 14, 16, 16 - The last three games being losses. The last two we had point totals in the 80s

Frankly I think he was struggling more before Al went down. But why are we dumping on him after our worst two games of the season. Where was the discussion when him punk'd Mario Chalmers and dropped 34/14 on Cleveland?

Points don't mean jack to me. He's incredibly inefficient and he's turning the ball over at a ridiculous rate. 20/9 is what I say I'd accept with all those turnovers as that's what you'd get from a healthy Russell Westrbrook who turns it over that much. And I give Teague very little credit for assists as he's making easy passes within the offense to guys like Korver coming off of screens that other guys are setting. I know you know basketball well enough to tell the difference between assists that guys like CP3 get and assists like Jumping Jeff Teague get.

[Admin]

I'm just about ready to see them give Dennis some minutes with a view to developing him for next season. With Al out, this team is straight struggle. I'll be shocked if we are still the third seed after the next seven games.

I think that playing Dennis big minutes right now signals to the vets on the team that we're throwing in the towel for this season and it's probably not the message that we want to send. I'm also not ready to give up on developing the young Shelvin Mack either as he's a quality player that could possibly net us another quality young player in a trade.

[macdaddy]

Points don't mean jack to me. He's incredibly inefficient and he's turning the ball over at a ridiculous rate. 20/9 is what I say I'd accept with all those turnovers as that's what you'd get from a healthy Russell Westrbrook who turns it over that much. And I give Teague very little credit for assists as he's making easy passes within the offense to guys like Korver coming off of screens that other guys are setting. I know you know basketball well enough to tell the difference between assists that guys like CP3 get and assists like Jumping Jeff Teague get.

Come on. Really? So points don't mean jack, his assists don't mean jack because they are too easy and he's not as good a passer as the best PG in the last 20 years. Did I sum that up right. I'm not here trying to say he's an elite PG but I'm still curious what is our expectation here? So should he quit making 'easy passes within the offense' and try throw some behind the back alley-oops to our high flyers? Guys are who they are. Do I wish he played better at times? Yes. But to act like he's hot garbage isn't accurate to me.

[Jody23]

I think that playing Dennis big minutes right now signals to the vets on the team that we're throwing in the towel for this season and it's probably not the message that we want to send. I'm also not ready to give up on developing the young Shelvin Mack either as he's a quality player that could possibly net us another quality young player in a trade.

I see your point, although I still would like to see Dennis get some minutes. I just feel we're going nowhere with Teague and Mack getting all the minutes anyway regardless of whether the veterans see it or not. It's still relatively early in the season, but I wonder how Ferry views his decision to match Teague if this is the player he really is (which I believe he is).

[Admin]

Come on. Really? So points don't mean jack, his assists don't mean jack because they are too easy and he's not as good a passer as the best PG in the last 20 years. Did I sum that up right. I'm not here trying to say he's an elite PG but I'm still curious what is our expectation here? So should he quit making 'easy passes within the offense' and try throw some behind the back alley-oops to our high flyers? Guys are who they are. Do I wish he played better at times? Yes. But to act like he's hot garbage isn't accurate to me.

Inefficient points don't mean jack to me. You knew what I meant there. And no I'm sorry I'm not going to praise his bunny assists when I see numerous assists that he misses every game because he has awful vision. He's never been a natural PG and never will be and that bothers me. I'm not saying he's hot garbage as he is a quality player, but when you're shooting 40% from the field, 20% from 3 and have an assist to turnover ratio of 6.5 : 4 that's unacceptable from a guy making 8 million a year. Are you really happy with that?

[Admin]

I see your point, although I still would like to see Dennis get some minutes. I just feel we're going nowhere with Teague and Mack getting all the minutes anyway regardless of whether the veterans see it or not. It's still relatively early in the season, but I wonder how Ferry views his decision to match Teague if this is the player he really is (which I believe he is).

Dennis is so young I really don't mind if he doesn't get much more than garbage time and stints in the NBADL this year. With young guys you always have to worry about ruining their confidence, even though I don't think that will be an issue with Dennis. He really needs to be spending all of his free time shooting the basketball as well as he's a major liability on offense, even moreso than Teague who can't hit the broad side of a barn outside of the paint. I'd also be interested in knowing what Ferry is thinking about Teague at this point... and what Budz is thinking about him as his PG of the future.

[macdaddy]

Inefficient points don't mean jack to me. You knew what I meant there. And no I'm sorry I'm not going to praise his bunny assists when I see numerous assists that he misses every game because he has awful vision. He's never been a natural PG and never will be and that bothers me. I'm not saying he's hot garbage as he is a quality player, but when you're shooting 40% from the field, 20% from 3 and have an assist to turnover ratio of 6.5 : 4 that's unacceptable from a guy making 8 million a year. Are you really happy with that?

Overall I'm happy with his play but as i said he could improve some areas especially with turnovers. But those are exaggerations of his stats. As far as threes go he has shot poorly for sure but you don't see him jacking 6-8 a game. I think our main difference is in expectation. This is an offense with a lot of responsibility on the PG. 17/8. Solidly 3rd best team in the east before we lost our best player. I don't call that a disappointment.

We'll see. Ferry and Bud don't seem like guys who will just stand pat if Teague isn't getting it done the way they like.

[Sothron]

I find it kinda funny the more the season goes on the more supes and I are looking right about Teague. He's average. His good games even out with his bad games to make a sum total of average.

In the golden age of point guard that we are in right now Teague is an average starter.