Fantastic Halfway Point Hawks Article

[SalvorMallow]

http://www.nba.com/2015/news/features/steve_aschburner/01/18/hawks-deserve-multiple-all-star-selections/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

 

 

CHICAGO — The P.A. system was blaring reminders to the 22,024 at United Center Saturday night to stuff that ballot box as only Chicago can, while the screens high above the court showed the leading vote-getters for the Eastern Conference All-Star berths in the frontcourt and at guard.

 

Below, huddled in a timeout and already ahead 16-11 less than 10 minutes into a game in which they never would trail, the neglected and unpopular Atlanta Hawks -- no one in the Top 10 at either position -- could have cared less.

 

Forget the league's fans. It's probably going to fall to the East's head coaches to send one or some Hawks to New York for NBA All-Star Weekend. And with seven roster spots for reserves, it is not going to be easy.

 

"That's a tough call," Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau had said earlier in the evening. "That's what makes it difficult. To me, the big thing is when you look at their record. ... They certainly have three or four guys who are very deserving. As coaches, we all tend to, when things are close, we go to the teams that've won the most."

 

Atlanta reached the halfway mark of its season Saturday with its 107-99 victory over the Bulls, wrapping a week in which it beat -- decisively -- the three teams lined up behind it in the conference standings. There was the 31-point victory over Washington Sunday, the 21-point thumping of the Raptors in Toronto Friday and, 24 hours later, virtual wire-to-wire mastery in Chicago. The Hawks led by double digits much of the game, improving to 28-1 when they get up by 10 or more even once in a contest.

 

More impressively, Atlanta has won 12 in a row overall, 12 consecutive road games, and 26 of its last 28 after a 7-6 start. With half the schedule in the books, it's safe to say this team no longer qualifies as the fluke some reckoned a month or so ago. Perfect in 2015, the Hawks are 18-3 against opponents with winning records and 17-5 on the road. Versus the mighty West? Atlanta is 10-2, 5-1 on the road.

 

"We all truly know this: We haven't accomplished anything yet," Kyle Korver said, almost pleading afterward lest the media turn any Hawks heads by heaping too much praise. "But we feel like we have really good pieces that fit well together and we understand we have to play as a team if we want success, and we have to play hard if we want success."

 

They have success, at least as it's measured in January. They also have a handful of players deserving of All-Star status.

There's point guard Jeff Teague, who has the stats (17.4 ppg, 7.4 apg) and moves that make the Hawks' perimeter shooters doubly dangerous -- and vice versa -- with his dribble penetration. There's center Al Horford, who's been to All-Star twice, and power forward Paul Millsap, who went last year; neither of those bigs has done anything to eliminate himself. Horford's latest return from injury has been a significant boost and Millsap's strong resourcefulness makes him a gem for the free-agent market this summer.

 

Then there's Korver, who broke hearts again in Chicago with 24 points (a season-high seven 3-pointers) for folks who recall his two Bulls seasons. He'll turn 34 on March 17 and he's having the finest season of his career, one of the most remarkable shooting performances ever (.515/.536/.920).

 

"Kyle ages like wine," Millsap said before tipoff. "It seems like every year he comes back, he's better. He's shooting the ball better [or] he's added something else to his game, whether it's passing or one-dribble pull-ups. He's definitely a different player than he was in Utah, definitely a different player than he was in Chicago, definitely different than he was last year."

 

Coach Mike Budenholzer and his staff figure to represent Atlanta as the East's All-Star coaches, based on the team's record, and he's a top contender for Coach of the Year. Budenholzer has kept the Hawks focused in a season where their franchise is for sale and their general manager is in exile by telling them what they need to know but otherwise targeting each day's task.

 

He doesn't shy away, either, from the "San Antonio Spurs East" comparisons between his team and the one for which he worked for 19 years, 17 as an assistant coach and the final two as Gregg Popovich's top lieutenant. With most of the league trying to steal anything they can from the defending champions, it'd be silly for Budenholzer to run from the idea.

 

He's his own guy, but little glimpses of Pop leak out when he launches into an ode to defense or, literally, into "group" speak. "The group laughs," Budenholzer will say. "The group has a good time. [but] when it's time to be serious and be on the court, more often than not, they do it. I mean, we're not going to the coal mine every day, for sure."

 

Back to the players, though: Who deserves to be an All-Star? All five starters -- in one of the most stable starting lineups in the league this season (24-6) -- are averaging double figures in points.

 

"Man, I don't know. I think all of 'em deserve to go. One through five," said DeMarre Carroll.

 

Carroll happens to be one of the five, the "defensive captain" of the league's stingiest crew. Teams are scoring an average of 96.6 points against Atlanta, while the Hawks averaged 103.3. They rank in the Top 5 in both offensive and defensive rating, too.

 

Without that commitment to defense, Budenholzer said, his "group" would be "a very average team." They know it, too, believing and behaving accordingly.

 

"We just enjoy it till midnight after a win, and then we move on," said Carroll, the fifth-year "Junkyard Dog" from Missouri. "We've got high-character guys in this locker room. We know it's a long season. We're just trying to continue to keep playing 'Hawks basketball.' That's what we call it: 'Hawks basketball' "

 

What's "Hawks basketball?"

 

"Defense, starting off with defense," Carroll said. "Cycling over to offense. And being an unselfish team. We just try to do those three things and compete, and let the rest take care of itself."

 

While the Hawks' attack -- heavy on 3-pointers, with even bigs like Millsap and center Pero Antić hoisting from the outside -- gets plenty of attention, it is their tenacity at the other end from which all else stems. They have Horford back, giving them a heady, mobile big man who, with Millsap, fuels their versatility and ability to change schemes. It is their second season under Budenholzer, bringing familiarity, and new guys such as Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore already were wired to work defensively.

 

Consider some of Atlanta's defensive numbers: It gives up the lowest percentage of 2-point shots in the NBA, just 68.9 percent (league average is 73.4), compared to a league-high 31.1 percent of 3-pointers. Yet the Hawks' defensive 3-point percentage is good (33.7, seventh best) and its 2-point percentage yielded is solid (38.2, 11th). Then there's this stat: Teams shoot from farther away from the basket against the Hawks than any other team, an average of 13.7 feet (per basketball-reference.com). That's nearly a foot farther away than the league average (12.8).

 

It's one thing for a team built on passing over dribbling, ball movement, quick decisions and 3-point shots to skew to the outside. It's another for foes who might get suckered into that style on a given night. Or, worse, fall behind the Hawks and grow desperate to catch up by fighting fire with fire.

 

Atlanta does all this, of course, without a classic rim protector. No Roy Hibbert, no Dwight Howard. Instead, the Hawks' perimeter game often renders those guys moot, while they make do at the other end by wringing time off the 24-second clock.

 

 

"Individually we've got some guys on the perimeter doing a good job," Budenholzer said. "Pick-and-roll, hopefully, we're keeping the ball out of the paint. We've got bigs who are active and who can maybe come away from the basket in a way that can keep it from getting to the rim. ... And when it does, I think our activity and our weak-side awareness is getting there and maybe protecting the rim in a little non-traditional or different way."

 

Budenholzer stuck up for Horford and Millsap as underrated rim defenders and, sure enough, it was Millsap blocking Derrick Rose's layup at 1:32 with the Bulls within 102-95 that iced No. 33 for Atlanta. The Hawks blocked five shots in the second half, including two each by Korver and Teague(!).

 

As for that All-Star stuff, Millsap said he trusted the East coaches to pick the right reserves. Korver didn't want to name names and, frankly, that might make the most sense. This is, after all, the least All-Star dependent team in the NBA. It would be out of characters for the Atlanta players or fans to haggle over such selections, oxymoronic even, given the team's formula for success.

 

In this era in which everybody is supposed to covet a Big 3, real or inflated, the Hawks are the counter to some GMs' fantasy-league architecture. They really are an ensemble, role players as precision workers and heavy lifters.

And they like it that way.

 

"It's good for basketball," Korver told NBA.com. "I love it when the best team beats the best players. That was The Finals last year to me. It's beautiful. I'm not a hater by any means on any team, but I felt like the best team won. And I think that's just good for the game.

 

"With the way AAU is now and the way kids are coached with a lot of isolations, a lot of 1-on-1, I hope people see this and enjoy it."

Edited January 19, 2015 by Dolfan23
Cleaned up formatting

[benhillboy]

"Teams shoot from farther away from the basket against the Hawks than any other team, an average of 13.7 feet (per basketball-reference.com). That's nearly a foot farther away than the league average (12.8)."

Not too shabby for a team supposedly needing a "rim protector" and a "True C" next to Al. I don't know why people harped on that so much, Miami showed 5 years ago you could win a lot of games without a classic anchor through connected team defense. Their nightly effort out front made Joel Anthony look like a defensive stud on film and numbers-wise for a couple years. Just a subtle cycle shift in the current game that Bud is ahead of the curve on, like damn near everything else in American Basketball. Having Bigs who are agile and comfortable on the perimeter is more valuable than the Dwight types who are like fish out of water outside the dotted.

With Tavares, Payne, and Moose in the incubator, Bud will devise an original scheme to have us Tops in rebounding next year as well. I knew we would be improved on defense because there was a clear emphasis on steals near the end of last season, but if you told me we'd be surrendering the least amount of points at season's half, I would've bet everything I own. I'd be happily living at my cousin's now.

Edited January 19, 2015 by benhillboy

[tonegully]

great article. Im so excited for this team. Man the boys deserve every last compliement they get. Horf and Teague for sticking with us and DMC, Sap, and Korver for improving their game. To the guys on the bench doing their job. Man i wouldn't know what to do if we made the finals. 

Heres to the Nets getting a top 5 pick too

[benhillboy]

great article. Im so excited for this team. Man the boys deserve every last compliement they get. Horf and Teague for sticking with us and DMC, Sap, and Korver for improving their game. To the guys on the bench doing their job. Man i wouldn't know what to do if we made the finals.

Heres to the Nets getting a top 5 pick too

I think we forget how much Teague has endured here, many egotistical players would've wanted out, made crazy demands, and been surrounded by "sources close to..." after being neglected early in his career and feeling less than a priority during his contract dealings.

Besides the fishy sexual assault situation stemming from Wake, he's been a model citizen and pro and doesn't get the recognition for it like Al usually does just because he's soft spoken and has that ADD look in his eyes.

Edited January 19, 2015 by benhillboy

[DrReality]

Bud is the new Zen Master