This worries me about Tim Hardaway Jr.

[Kimsey]

This dude will do exceptionally well in this offense, I mean all star caliber. His defense will probably negate everything tho, so that's that. Another thought is KK was a horrific defender and most people respect his defense now, so that's that too.

[Diesel]

This dude will do exceptionally well in this offense, I mean all star caliber. His defense will probably negate everything tho, so that's that. Another thought is KK was a horrific defender and most people respect his defense now, so that's that too.

 

I can't say that one guy's defense will effect our defense.  For God Sakes, Korver is a starter.   We have a team defense and THJr has all the tools to be a good defender.

[AHF]

Korver has never approached the depths of terrible defensive metrics that THJ has put up the last two years.  After he was tutored in Chicago, he came to  us with solid positional defensive traits and has been a decent defender for us.  I'm not going to flash up pictures of his defensive highlights for us (think blocking Hibbert, for example) but the guy has not been a defensive liability.

 

Kyle's worst single season of his career is double the combined defensive win shares of THJ's entire career.

[IheartVolt]

Korver has never approached the depths of terrible defensive metrics that THJ has put up the last two years. After he was tutored in Chicago, he came to us with solid positional defensive traits and has been a decent defender for us. I'm not going to flash up pictures of his defensive highlights for us (think blocking Hibbert, for example) but the guy has not been a defensive liability.

Kyle's worst single season of his career is double the combined defensive win shares of THJ's entire career.

Which is two damn years. Look Bud see's something in the kid. What that something is remains a mystery but there is something there that Bud likes Edited June 30, 2015 by IheartFerry

[AHF]

Which is two damn years. Look Bud see's something in the kid. What that something is remains a mystery but there is something there that Bud likes

 

I just think it is unfair to Kyle to lump the two together at this point.

[thecampster]

Lets talk personal defense for a second.  The number 1 enemy of defense is missed shots on your offensive end. The worse your offense plays, the more fast break opportunities the other team has.

 

I don't have the stats in front of me at the moment, but there was an article a few years back that detailed the statistics of offensive efficiency based on how the possession started. Baskets after a steal was tops, baskets off a block second, baskets off a rebound on a 3 points attempt was 3rd, followed by baskets off a missed two pointer, then baskets out of a timeout was next and last in the list was taking the ball out of bounds following a made shot.  The crux of the article was that defense is inversely proportional to offensive efficiency on the other end.

 

A small part of THj's defensive issues result from a very bad offense. Another part is based on him playing a significant amount of minutes at the 3 and the Knicks being a poor defensive team in general (next to last in the East). Again, reserve judgment until you've seen him in the Hawks system for some period of time.

 

But serious point guard issues (ball control) and an offensive chucker mentality leads to easy baskets on the other end by the wings and reduces the individual defensive stats of the opposing wing.

[DJlaysitup]

I guess my main question about THJr is - how athletic is he?  Obviously any NBA player at his height can dunk a basketball - but is he "quick" with his feet?  Defense can be taught - if a guy has quick feet and is willing.

 

You shoot the ball with your body extended on a picture perfect jump shot well up in the air.

 

You play defense by moving you feet - scampering around - blocking guy's from driving and stuff.

 

Lower body strength is also handy on D.  D. Wade made a career out of crashing through less physical defenders on his way to the hoop.  truth.

[JTB]

I guess my main question about THJr is - how athletic is he? Obviously any NBA player at his height can dunk a basketball - but is he "quick" with his feet? Defense can be taught - if a guy has quick feet and is willing.

You shoot the ball with your body extended on a picture perfect jump shot well up in the air.

You play defense by moving you feet - scampering around - blocking guy's from driving and stuff.

Lower body strength is also handy on D. D. Wade made a career out of crashing through less physical defenders on his way to the hoop. truth.

He's not as athletic as D Wade but the kid is athletic enough. I can tell you this....DMCs first year here he wasn't great on the fast break in fact he disappointed greatly in that area but did improve in a big way this past season...THJ will not have that problem. THJ will be a complete finisher on the break and 9 times out of 10 stuff it with a dunk.

Isolation:

I like THJ first step which is really good! He can turn his first step into a solid quick open look at the goal and do a pull up jumper even if the defense gets through the screen, THJ has a quick pull up jumper that looks good once he throws it up we just need him to get consistent with it. And just in general he can put the ball on the floor period which is something we lack outside of Teague and Dennis....don't expect crazy handles like his father but do know he can control the ball and not lose it....other than that he hasnt done much else in isolation that I've noticed that stands out. TO ME HIS QUICK PULL UP JUMPER COULD TURN ELITE...again he's young and anxious and just need some real development on when to take these shots.

Other than that I can tell you that when he gets "hot" he has shown the ability to hit difficult shots like a Jr smith when he gets hot. So in other words he has the ability to hit contested jumpers when he gets hot though that's not the shots we want him taking.

One other thing about his offense:

Nobody has talked about this but if you watch THJ he does an excellent job on pull up jumpers off the screen. I don't mean percentage wise I'm saying he knows how to be patient let the screen get set, use it, and take a nice quick pull up jumper even with a slight look at the goal...this happens to be my favorite part about his offense game so far cause it looks like with some great development he can be an off the screen mid range assassin similar to Tony Parker...in other words the moves are there! The pull up is lighting quick and it looks good coming off his hands! Now all we need is for him to get consistent with that move and man everything else on offense will fall in order for him.

No need to go into his 3s....all I can say is that he can be a 40% 3pt shooter he just need to learn to take better shots but I think that's where a good coaching staff comes in. He knows that he can't be a gunner on this team based off his interview so I wouldn't too much worry about his 3s

All in all THJ biggest offensive flaw is that he doesn't play within himself...goes to fast....need a coach that will slow him down get him to see what the defense is throwing at him because he is skilled offensively and hawk fans will appreciate this trade come next season. Personally I'm more worried about his defense....offensively he hasn't hit his ceiling. Defensively there's a lot no effort from him on that end. Same with rebounds...he's just not going after it...which is amazing because practice wise he's a beast and hard worker. Why isn't it transferring to the real games is what is weird to me but he did play for the Knicks soooo....

Edited July 1, 2015 by JTB

[JTB]

He's not as athletic as D Wade but the kid is athletic enough. I can tell you this....DMCs first year here he wasn't great on the fast break in fact he disappointed greatly in that area but did improve in a big way this past season...THJ will not have that problem. THJ will be a complete finisher on the break and 9 times out of 10 stuff it with a dunk.

Isolation:

I like THJ first step which is really good! He can turn his first step into a solid quick open look at the goal and do a pull up jumper even if the defense gets through the screen, THJ has a quick pull up jumper that looks good once he throws it up we just need him to get consistent with it. And just in general he can put the ball on the floor period which is something we lack outside of Teague and Dennis....don't expect crazy handles like his father but do know he can control the ball and not lose it....other than that he hasnt done much else in isolation that I've noticed that stands out. TO ME HIS QUICK PULL UP JUMPER COULD TURN ELITE...again he's young and anxious and just need some real development on when to take these shots.

Other than that I can tell you that when he gets "hot" he has shown the ability to hit difficult shots like a Jr smith when he gets hot. So in other words he has the ability to hit contested jumpers when he gets hot though that's not the shots we want him taking.

One other thing about his offense:

Nobody has talked about this but if you watch THJ he does an excellent job on pull up jumpers off the screen. I don't mean percentage wise I'm saying he knows how to be patient let the screen get set, use it, and take a nice quick pull up jumper even with a slight look at the goal...this happens to be my favorite part about his offense game so far cause it looks like with some great development he can be an off the screen mid range assassin similar to Tony Parker...in other words the moves are there! The pull up is lighting quick and it looks good coming off his hands! Now all we need is for him to get consistent with that move and man everything else on offense will fall in order for him.

No need to go into his 3s....all I can say is that he can be a 40% 3pt shooter he just need to learn to take better shots but I think that's where a good coaching staff comes in. He knows that he can't be a gunner on this team based off his interview so I wouldn't too much worry about his 3s

All in all THJ biggest offensive flaw is that he doesn't play within himself...goes to fast....need a coach that will slow him down get him to see what the defense is throwing at him because he is skilled offensively and hawk fans will appreciate this trade come next season. Personally I'm more worried about his defense....offensively he hasn't hit his ceiling. Defensively there's a lot no effort from him on that end. Same with rebounds...he's just not going after it...which is amazing because practice wise he's a beast and hard worker. Why isn't it transferring to the real games is what is weird to me but he did play for the Knicks soooo....

 

 

I realized that I sound repetitive on this…..so let me just say this:

 

1) he has a very good pull up jumper period. (Form looks good in iso, off screens, when defenses close out on him….he just has one of those jumpers that could turn elite with better decision making which is probably what bud likes most about him)

 

2) he has a good first step that he doesn't hesitate to use. (His first step is already good I mean it can get better with a stronger lower body but I think it mainly depends on whose guarding him. Is it good enough to beat elite defenders? I would say yes and no….he got demarre with it on the last game of the season and I consider DMC one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.)

 

 

 

 

So to shorten what I said up top….THJ has the ability to be an all star scorer like a joe johnson, michael redd, kevin martin like scorer….thats where I see his ceiling as far as offense goes but that can change depending on how fast Bud develops this kid and if he drastically improves on defense quickly he can be even better. But keep in mind him improving his scoring on good percentage won't do much in the league without his defense taking several steps up….Hell Tobias Harris is damn near a 20 point scorer but I doubt he makes it to an all star game anytime soon since his defense is so horrible!

 

 

 

My Prediction:

Don't worry about his offense! Depending on how fast he can learn the hawks offense and how fast he learns to be a lot smarter on defense he's going to make some serious serious improvements! If Bud could make DMC a double digit scorer in just one off season Im telling you if this kid THJ listens and learns from buds staff he can drop 13-15 points come next season and have some really good break out games……THJ has the offensive tools already! He needs to be taught mentally…something his ex teammate JR Smith never got though JR Smith is talented offensively and can have star like games here and there he's not a good decision maker on offense or defense and never has been. THJ is 23 and bud has plenty of time to change that now.

 

BUT he will need to improve his defense before he can showcase how good he can be offensively. I think thats going to be the problem moving forward with him not his offense…...Sorry this was long too but watch him versus the hawks….kid just need some work offensively on decision making and a lot of work defensively on EVERYTHING….THJ managed to get around DMC and Bazemore often in this game. Keep in mind we were a top 10 defense this past season and in the top 5 for much of the year.

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2015 by JTB

[Diesel]

I just think it is unfair to Kyle to lump the two together at this point.

 

My point was that at one time, Kyle was consider a bad defender and a liability on the floor. You said he was "tutored" in Chicago.  My point is that THJr can also b tutored.  He has a good body for learning defense.  Here, we will create for him the environment to want to improve.

[AHF]

My point was that at one time, Kyle was consider a bad defender and a liability on the floor. You said he was "tutored" in Chicago.  My point is that THJr can also b tutored.  He has a good body for learning defense.  Here, we will create for him the environment to want to improve.

Any player can improve but Kyle's career worst D before getting tutored is substantially better than THJ's career best so far. It is time for him to put in the effort to improve on D and hit the boards. No way a kid that size and that athletic is such a feeble rebounder and defender unless all he cares about is chucking.

[NBASupes]

Any player can improve but Kyle's career worst D before getting tutored is substantially better than THJ's career best so far. It is time for him to put in the effort to improve on D and hit the boards. No way a kid that size and that athletic is such a feeble rebounder and defender unless all he cares about is chucking.

Honestly, Kyle gets steals and rebounds, something Tim doesn't do enough of at even an average level. Defensively, they aren't much different at the same ages outside of those two stats. 

[AHF]

Honestly, Kyle gets steals and rebounds, something Tim doesn't do enough of at even an average level. Defensively, they aren't much different at the same ages outside of those two stats. 

 

I haven't seen enough of him to say anything definitive, but it looks from the numbers and write-ups that he isn't active at anything other than shooting the ball.  Rebounds, blocks, steals, defense, etc. just haven't been there his first two years.  That should be a big area of opportunity for someone with his natural gifts.

[EazyRoc]

Any player can improve but Kyle's career worst D before getting tutored is substantially better than THJ's career best so far. It is time for him to put in the effort to improve on D and hit the boards. No way a kid that size and that athletic is such a feeble rebounder and defender unless all he cares about is chucking.

I dont think Kyle has played on a team as bad as the Knicks.

[Watchman]

I think passing on Portis may come around to bite us in the rear.

[AHF]

I dont think Kyle has played on a team as bad as the Knicks.

 

His rookie season in Philly they won 33 games.  THJ's rookie season the Knick won 37 games.

[Marvin24Williams]

hardaway is pure trash on defense. that's what worries me