Making moves for a championship

[Sothron]

Last year's team was only supposed to fight for the playoffs and maybe get the 8th seed ... they won 60 games.

 

This year's team will not have the luxury of a 19-0 month or catching people asleep. We also don't presently have a starting SF. Our team is weaker than last year's while the East has gotten harder. And just to add, the Cavs are a definite tier above where we are if we are talking about winning titles.

[thescout5]

This year's team will not have the luxury of a 19-0 month or catching people asleep. We also don't presently have a starting SF. Our team is weaker than last year's while the East has gotten harder. And just to add, the Cavs are a definite tier above where we are if we are talking about winning titles.

Agree with this post 100%. 

[AHF]

This team as presently constructed will struggle to win 45-48 games and will have to pray to make it to the second round. We have absolutely zero chance to beat Cleveland.

I don't think we will struggle to win 45 games. My only concern about blowing by 50 wins is the health of Korver and Thabo. We should remain near the top of the East.

[capstone21]

This year's team will not have the luxury of a 19-0 month or catching people asleep. We also don't presently have a starting SF. Our team is weaker than last year's while the East has gotten harder. And just to add, the Cavs are a definite tier above where we are if we are talking about winning titles.

i don't disagree that the cavs are better but we have not dropped back 15 games ... We improved a big need ... Splitter takes care of our backup big who can even start ... Thj gives us some more scoring ... Thabo might be able to step into the starter role ... Another year of experience ... We have not fallen that much

[thescout5]

I'll predict 45-50 games this year Hawks win.

[Sothron]

i don't disagree that the cavs are better but we have not dropped back 15 games ... We improved a big need ... Splitter takes care of our backup big who can even start ... Thj gives us some more scoring ... Thabo might be able to step into the starter role ... Another year of experience ... We have not fallen that much

 

I look at it as the unknown injury status to two guys over 30 who are perimeter players who are expected to start or play meaningful minutes. We were very lucky last year that we didn't get the injury bug until the playoffs. I don't know if we can reasonably expect that luck to hold up again for a roster that, let's face it, is getting up there in years.

[JETSET]

This year's team will not have the luxury of a 19-0 month or catching people asleep. We also don't presently have a starting SF. Our team is weaker than last year's while the East has gotten harder. And just to add, the Cavs are a definite tier above where we are if we are talking about winning titles.

You are pretty clueless if you think this team will struggle to win 45-48 games.  You shouldn't omit the fact that this team coasted for the last month + of the season if you are going to throw the 19 game win streak out as an outlier.  We benched starters in 8-10 games last year.  How quickly people forget that we were 53-14 with 1 of those losses being on a night when we rested starters before going 7-8 over the last 15 games when a lot of players were out due to resting or injuries.  We were on pace to win 65 games before we coasted for the last 15 and that's after starting the year out 5-5.  You best believe that we will have a better record than 5-5 after the first 10 games and 7-8 over the last 15 this year.

[RandomFan]

This year's team will not have the luxury of a 19-0 month

 

or catching people asleep. 

 

We also don't presently have a starting SF.

 

Our team is weaker than last year's

 

while the East has gotten harder.

 

And just to add, the Cavs are a definite tier above where we are if we are talking about winning titles.

 

You can't know any of that, and don't know any of that until it is proven one way or another.

 

I'm sensing a theme with your comments...They all seem to be purely subjective opinions and rampant bald-faced speculation asserted as fact.

Edited July 15, 2015 by RandomFan

[sturt]

I look at it as the unknown injury status to two guys over 30 who are perimeter players who are expected to start or play meaningful minutes. We were very lucky last year that we didn't get the injury bug until the playoffs. I don't know if we can reasonably expect that luck to hold up again for a roster that, let's face it, is getting up there in years.

 

Korver is the one "getting up in years." While everyone is else is actually at a pretty prime age NBA-wise, that concern for Kyle is legitimate, and particularly so when one looks at the numbers, and looks at how his success (regular season) and lack of success (playoffs) tended to correlate with that of the team.

 

Is that bigger than losing one of our two exceptional defensive wings? If we lose him for substantial time, I'd say yes. But regardless, those two factoids in combination with each other make for a formidable deficit.

 

What mitigates my concern is, as others note, we seem to have legitimately improved in the low-post over what Antić was capable of providing, and that we go one man deeper at the wing when one accounts for the fact that Jenkins was never a real factor.

 

Like anyone else, I'd feel a whole lot more secure if we could identify a reliable #2 at SF.

 

But I still learned to trust the system last season, so I'm slow to cross over to insecurity as some are so prepared to do evidently.

[MaceCase]

You can't possibly take any team by surprise over 19 games, that's absurd. By at most the 8th win teams already have their eyes wide open to a streak and look to crush it so to think that the Hawks hung 10 more without notice is almost comical. Even after the Cleveland win when the East was all but sealed and the team coasted they still put up a respectable record. And the East has supposedly been getting better for 15 years now, until I actually see it I'm going to put that proclamation right up there with Big Foot and UFOs.

Edited July 15, 2015 by MaceCase

[Plainview1981]

This team as presently constructed will struggle to win 45-48 games and will have to pray to make it to the second round.  We have absolutely zero chance to beat Cleveland.

 

Atleast the Hawks aren't Portland. Talk about a rough offseason.... OUCH.

[Plainview1981]

Last year's team was only supposed to fight for the playoffs and maybe get the 8th seed ... they won 60 games.

 

They will not do it this season.

[Plainview1981]

This year's team will not have the luxury of a 19-0 month or catching people asleep. We also don't presently have a starting SF. Our team is weaker than last year's while the East has gotten harder. And just to add, the Cavs are a definite tier above where we are if we are talking about winning titles.

 

Pretty much. I'm not going to say that the Hawks went 19-0 just because they surprised people. But they were a sub .500 team the year before. Teams were more prepared for the Hawks in the 2nd half of the season and the results were a great bit different. 

[Plainview1981]

You are pretty clueless if you think this team will struggle to win 45-48 games.  You shouldn't omit the fact that this team coasted for the last month + of the season if you are going to throw the 19 game win streak out as an outlier.  We benched starters in 8-10 games last year.  How quickly people forget that we were 53-14 with 1 of those losses being on a night when we rested starters before going 7-8 over the last 15 games when a lot of players were out due to resting or injuries.  We were on pace to win 65 games before we coasted for the last 15 and that's after starting the year out 5-5.  You best believe that we will have a better record than 5-5 after the first 10 games and 7-8 over the last 15 this year.

 

The Hawks also avoided any major injuries for most of the year. Now they're going to really be counting on two very injury prone players in Tiago and Thabo... Moreover, you have to wonder if Kyle's body is starting to break down after all the injuries he seems to be suffering from... And at 34 he isn't getting any younger. He and Thabo are an aging combo.

[JETSET]

Pretty much. I'm not going to say that the Hawks went 19-0 just because they surprised people. But they were a sub .500 team the year before. Teams were more prepared for the Hawks in the 2nd half of the season and the results were a great bit different.

Gee, and I wonder why they were below .500 that year. If you could go one post without being negative, and instead be honest, you would see that they were 16-7 iirc when the main four started plus brand or Antić in horfords place. They also finished the year on a tear in games when the 4 starters + brand or Antić were on the court.

Even with a sub par record, it was pretty obvious that this team was going to be damn good if they could have better luck with health and they went out and proved that last year.

[Plainview1981]

Gee, and I wonder why they were below .500 that year. If you could go one post without being negative, and instead be honest, you would see that they were 16-7 iirc when the main four started plus brand or Antić in horfords place. They also finished the year on a tear in games when the 4 starters + brand or Antić were on the court.

Even with a sub par record, it was pretty obvious that this team was going to be damn good if they could have better luck with health and they went out and proved that last year.

 

If you watched the games you could tell that teams were not expecting the Hawks to play with the energy that they played with in December in January. 

 

The bench was a big difference maker last year but with Thabo starting next year that might not be the case. The starting line up has now lost punch, and not having Thabo coming off the bench will hurt. Bazemore was less than impressive when he tried to pick up the slack in the 2nd half of the year and I see no reason to believe it will be different this year.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Hotlanta1981

[JETSET]

The Hawks also avoided any major injuries for most of the year. Now they're going to really be counting on two very injury prone players in Tiago and Thabo... Moreover, you have to wonder if Kyle's body is starting to break down after all the injuries he seems to be suffering from... And at 34 he isn't getting any younger. He and Thabo are an aging combo.

Once again, skewing the data to fit your negative biases. Kyle's body didnt break down. His knee didnt just give out on him, that was a result of a collision and the elbow surgery was minor. Kyle takes great care of his body, better than the majority of the nba. There is no reason why he can't stay healthy at 34 when there are older guys in much bigger frames doing it. We are deeper on the wings than we ever have been in the budenferry era.

[JETSET]

If you watched the games you could tell that teams were not expecting the Hawks to play with the energy that they played with in December in January.

Lol. Way to expose yourself. A clown outfit would suit you well.

[Plainview1981]

Lol. Way to expose yourself. A clown outfit would suit you well.

 

The west started giving it to the Hawks in the 2nd half of the season. Hell, they barely got by Houston at home even when Harden and Howard didn't play despite the fact that they beat them by 10 earlier in the year.

 

They got trashed by SA, Golden State and The Thunder (to some degree also). Not to mention that even Denver clobbered them.

 

Last year was the peak of what this team is going to do... If you believe anything else you will be setting yourself up for a disappointment. 

 

They will still win 50 games, but last year was the best that they can do.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Hotlanta1981

[Plainview1981]

Once again, skewing the data to fit your negative biases. Kyle's body didnt break down. His knee didnt just give out on him, that was a result of a collision and the elbow surgery was minor. Kyle takes great care of his body, better than the majority of the nba. There is no reason why he can't stay healthy at 34 when there are older guys in much bigger frames doing it. We are deeper on the wings than we ever have been in the budenferry era.

 

He has had... what... 2 or 3 surgeries? 

 

Fact is, he isn't used to carrying the load that he carried last year. He has been a 25 MPG for basically all of his career.He wore down and got hurt. This team is deep with backup caliber wings. Not starters. There is not a wing on this team that should be starting.