Hawks Have Brand. No need for Asik.

[GameTime]

http://hawkshoop.com/playing-the-hand-youre-dealt-in-atl-the-hawks-unique-brand-of-defense/

When HawksHoop’s Cole Patty wrote about Elton Brand before the start of the season, he was mainly going through how Elton would work within the Hawks’ offense. Why was this? It was already assumed that Elton would make an impact defensively, we just need to know if he could work on offense.

However, now we need to write about Elton’s defensive impact, because it is having an even bigger effect on the Hawks than previously anticipated.

This reason for this revelation is Elton’s recent increase in minutes. In the month of December, Elton is playing 14 minutes per game, which is up from the nine minutes per game he played in November. While that may not seem like a large increase on its face, consider this: the Hawks are 10-3 when Elton Brand plays more than 10 minutes. Those three losses? At Dallas, at San Antonio, and home against Oklahoma City, which are not exactly matchups to be ashamed of a losing result.

“They make sure we stay ready,” Elton said, talking about his playing time. “Guys may not play minutes, but when they come up, you’re ready.”

Is it possible that even more and more minutes need to be coming up for Elton Brand?

According to 82games.com, the Hawks’ defense gets eight points better per 100 possessions (and one point better on offense) when Brand is on the floor. Basketball-Reference has E.B. with the lowest DRtg of all Hawks at 98 points per 100 possessions.

So what is making Elton so successful? One of the first things I see with him is that he has a block percentage of 5.9%. Block percentage is the estimated number of two-point field goal attempts that a player blocks when he is on the floor. For comparison, Elton’s block percentage is similar to Roy Hibbert’s and Serge Ibaka’s, although Elton is obviously playing few minutes.

What this seems to signify is that Elton is doing a great job of playing help defense. He’s able to come over and help with extreme effectiveness, allowing the Hawks to maintain a steady flow when Horford and/or Millsap is off of the floor.

“When you get blocks,’ Elton said, “it’s kind of a mistake; you’re kind of erasing a mistake. Like, you don’t want to have to get blocks, you want to stay in front of your man.”

While getting blocks is not the greatest defensive option, that is exactly what the Hawks need from their reserve big man. Atlanta’s defensive effort at guard is not great. While Horford and Millsap are capable of erasing these mistakes, you do not want to put your starting big men in a situation where they could get in foul trouble.

This is where Brand comes in. If you have looked at the Hawks’ rotations recently, you might have noticed Horford coming out of the game at around the six minute mark in the first quarter for Elton Brand. While I was initially against this idea because of Horford leaving the floor so early, it seems to be working quite well. Brand is able to come in and play defensive anchor — and can foul with impunity if he wants — with the starters, and it gives you a chance to increase the amount of time that the Hawks have at least Horford or Millsap on the floor. Brand is also able to transition his time from the starters to the second unit guys, meaning that the Hawks’ defense can have a steady presence as players come on and off the floor.

Now, some of the trade craze lately has been that the Hawks need to trade for Houston’s Omer Asik in order to up the team’s rim protection abilities. The premise of this is really sound: rim protection is an extremely valuable asset for a team to have in the NBA. However, according to SportVU, the Hawks don’t need Omer Asik; they already have Elton Brand. What SportVU says is this: in field goal attempts at the rim, opponents shoot 43.2% against Omer Asik. That is a really good percentage. Against Elton Brand? It’s 43.9%, which is pretty much the same as Asik’s effort. And as Cole’s article said above, Elton Brand is capable of seamlessly fitting into an offense.

So before giving up some valuable pieces to acquire Omer Asik, the Hawks should look at Elton Brand and evaluate if he is the guy that they really need for this team to solidify itself as the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

[Diesel]

But where does Elton get his minutes from... Sap or Horf?

[jy23]

But where does Elton get his minutes from... Sap or Horf?

Both...when horf sits put brand in and keep it moving, when sap sits we can put him in and move horf to the 4 and keep it moving. He only needs about 10-15 mins per night and Scott can get the rest of those minutes

[Peoriabird]

Excellent read!

[ViperXX79]

Thank God we found our Center of the future,..

[Vol4ever]

Lol

[JTB]

Great post but unless Elton starts to get at least 25 minutes a game this is pretty worthless. Im not at all shocked at Eltons defense, in fact if Elton plays more theres a possibility we will see the teams defense perform better but what elton can't do (anymore anyways) is bring down the same amount of rebounds as Asik. Asik in 30 minutes can give you 12 or 13 rebounds a game and in the NBA today thats a hard replacement.

[LamarHampton]

Hey, Hotlanta1981 ... You seen this? Still think Petro was better? :-)

Edited December 24, 2013 by LamarHampton

[Guest]

Hey, Hotlanta1981 ... You seen this?Still think Petro was better?:-)

LOL....man you will not let this die will you...too funny. when I read the article I thought about you....lol.

[LamarHampton]

LOL....man you will not let this die will you...too funny. when I read the article I thought about you....lol.

Ha, Jaybird! I thought you would say something.It was so absurd that Petro could be seen as being better than Brand that the comment really stuck out to me. I mean, Petro wasn't that bad (for a guy who had trouble staying vertical), but the better of the two is obvious. EB was playing decent when Hotlanta said that, but right after that Brand started lighting things up. And now there is (another) article helping my case - perfect timing. How could I resist? Looking good tonight, too. Edited December 24, 2013 by LamarHampton

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[LamarHampton]

Oh, so that and essentially criminal reffing is why we lost.

[frosgrim]

I hope this is a tongue in cheek post as Brand is not the center the Hawks desperately need. The guy is what 34 and has creaky knees, back, and who knows what else. He can definitely give the Hawks a boost off the bench, but if you expect him to give us 15+ minutes a game you aren't recognizing where he is in his career. Secondly, we need some height. The tall centers give this team fits, this is especially true for teams like the Pacers and Rockets. I like Brand a lot but he's not a long-term solution for the team.

[Randy]

Had to log in just to like Viper's post.

Seems like with a guy like Brand the problem might be keeping him motivated. By playing him limited minutes he may get hungry and play harder. So this is working out. But he's a decent backup - not a long term solution. Maybe that's ok - a bench can be cobbled together out of a spare parts.

I'm not big on stats like "when Brand plays more than 10 minutes the Hawks win....." - lots of stuff happens just by coincidence. And cause and effect may be confused - it may be Brand plays more than 10 minutes when things are already going well, so the coach gives the starters more rest. Or maybe he's playing well so he stays in longer. Anyway, whatever works.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Randy

[Peoriabird]

Where in this article did it say that Brand was the long term solution and didn't we supposedly draft the potential long term solution this past draft??? So why can't Brand be what he is which is the right now solution while Bebe slowly becomes an NBA caliber center. My God! Some people!

[ViperXX79]

Where in this article did it say that Brand was the long term solution and didn't we supposedly draft the potential long term solution this past draft??? So why can't Brand be what he is which is the right now solution while Bebe slowly becomes an NBA caliber center. My God! Some people!

In what world is he the "right now solution" though? He IS what he is. A guy that can give you about 10 decent minutes a night. Any more and you find out real quick why he's not a starter anymore and you take minutes away from guys who are actually productive. Bebe could take a few more years and Brand probably won't even be on the team next season. But lets be honest here...this was a thread started to put down Asik by using an incredibly small sample size which was silly to say the least.

[Peoriabird]

But lets be honest here...this was a thread started to put down Asik by using an incredibly small sample size which was silly to say the least.

No the article was designed to reveal how silly it would be to trade Milsap for a guy that give you no better production than a back up already on our team.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Peoriabird