Hawks record of 10-7 far from perfect!

[Gray Mule]

When we look at their season's records, we find two NFL teams and two NBA teams with perfect records.

Buried in the NBA standings, we find our Atlanta Hawks  at 10-7.

In the NFL, the Carolina Panthers are 11-0 and the New England Patriots are 10-0.  In the NBA, we find

the Golden State Warriors at 16-0 and the Philadelphia 76ers at 0-16.  Yep.  the 76ers don't have a

single victory to spoil their record.  They had a real struggle to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory

in their last game, when they had a lead on the Boston boys late in the 4th quarter.

Our Hawks have dug themselves a hole which they are now going to have a tough time crawling

out of.  Just as injuries were partially responsible for our demise last season in the playoffs, again we find

our beloved team slipping and sliding because of current injuries and because of old, last season's

injuries that are delaying a couple of Hawks from being 100%.

It's not too late.  However, we must begin soon to turn this ship around.  It will be hard but not impossible.

GO ATL HAWKS!!

[Hawkmoor]

It's not injuries. The hawks haven't been the same since the all-star break last year. They are not good enough shooters to keep relying on their spread offense.  This point has been beat into the ground, but the hawks will not address it.

[Gray Mule]

As I said, injuries are just one part of the problem.

[Guest]

Offense is not their problem.  It's defense.

We can't get too worked up over standings at this point.  Some teams have only played 12-15 games!  We're definitely not setting the house on fire but as the schedule evens out and we're not constantly on back-to-backs, I have a feeling we'll rise significantly.

Oh and if you think us having consistent back-to-backs and having had two 4-in-5 nights stretches is irrelevant, consider the NBA overhauled the entire league's schedule to reduce them.  We, of course, got the short end of that stick.

[Atlantaholic]

3 hours ago, kg01 said:

Offense is not their problem.  It's defense.

We can't get too worked up over standings at this point.  Some teams have only played 12-15 games!  We're definitely not setting the house on fire but as the schedule evens out and we're not constantly on back-to-backs, I have a feeling we'll rise significantly.

Oh and if you think us having consistent back-to-backs and having had two 4-in-5 nights stretches is irrelevant, consider the NBA overhauled the entire league's schedule to reduce them.  We, of course, got the short end of that stick.

Rough Schedule, Key injuries, new young players playing significant roles, and we are just two games back from first place.  We are seventh in team offensive rating and that's with Schröder playing like he's a rookie again for most of the year and Korver just starting to look like Korver again. The arrow is pointing up for this team, and my estimation is that this rough stretch we had the last couple of weeks will be the worst ball we play all year. Having said all this one thing that is becoming evident this season is that the Eastern conference is no longer a doormat conference. Indiana, Toronto, Miami, , Charlotte, Detroit, Boston, Orlando, Chicago, and New York are all solid to great teams this season;  I say if you take away Golden State the eastern conference is perhaps even better than the western conference this year; which means wins will be harder to come by this time around.  

 

[Lurker]

I hate to say it but Bazemore starting at the 3 is going to continue to be a complete disaster defensively. The defense will not be solved unless they COMMIT to Sefolosha starting, even if he only plays 25 MPG, or they go with the big lineup (and Splitter starting would not be the answer here).

[Atlantaholic]

53 minutes ago, Lurker said:

I hate to say it but Bazemore starting at the 3 is going to continue to be a complete disaster defensively. The defense will not be solved unless they COMMIT to Sefolosha starting, even if he only plays 25 MPG, or they go with the big lineup (and Splitter starting would not be the answer here).

Baze definitely needs to see the majority of his minutes at the 2 spot to be an asset defensively.

[Lurker]

If Memphis scores well over 100 points, that should beat it into their heads that if Sefolosha doesn't start, the defense will be terrible.

[Lurker]

I'm going to repeat myself. If they don't want to start Sefolosha, they need to be looking for alternatives NOW. Bazemore at SF and Horford at C is a GARBAGE defensive lineup.

[Diesel]

14 hours ago, Lurker said:

I hate to say it but Bazemore starting at the 3 is going to continue to be a complete disaster defensively. The defense will not be solved unless they COMMIT to Sefolosha starting, even if he only plays 25 MPG, or they go with the big lineup (and Splitter starting would not be the answer here).

 

As I see it, it doesn't matter who starts, it matters who is in the game when the game matters.   We are better with all of our playerhealthy.  PERIOD.

[Peoriabird]

On 11/27/2015, 10:12:32, kg01 said:

Offense is not their problem. 

Offense isn't their problem...Shooting is.  This team gets a lot of good looks at the basket because of their ball movement but their shooting is below average.  And before y'all start spewing stats about us being top ten in shooting percentage as proof we are this great shooting team, look deeper into the types of shots being missed.  I wonder if anyone keeps stats on shooting percentage on uncontested shots.  I'd be willing to bet that outside of Korver and and maybe Bazemore, we have to be near the bottom of the league in uncontested shots shooting percentage.

[Peoriabird]

Just as I though,  the Hawks are #1 in the league in taking wide open shots (Where a defender isn't within 6 feet of the shooter) but 12th in the league in shooting percentage of these uncontested shots and 17th in shooting percentage on 3's on uncontested shots.

http://stats.nba.com/league/team/shots/#!/?sort=EFG_PCT&dir=1&CloseDefDistRange=6%2B%20Feet%20-%20Wide%20Open

[benhillboy]

5 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

Just as I though,  the Hawks are #1 in the league in taking wide open shots (Where a defender isn't within 6 feet of the shooter) but 12th in the league in shooting percentage of these uncontested shots and 17th in shooting percentage on 3's on uncontested shots.

http://stats.nba.com/league/team/shots/#!/?sort=EFG_PCT&dir=1&CloseDefDistRange=6%2B%20Feet%20-%20Wide%20Open

Very interesting.  Why do you think this is happening?  I for one don't like losing Quinn and replacing a seat with that foreign guy.  Bud has to be spread a little thinner being president, too.  

Any smart defender would  sag off Dennis and Jeff and allow Al to camp out so that part makes sense.  Conversely, Kyle is always blanketed yet has improved his two point accuracy.  

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, benhillboy said:

Very interesting.  Why do you think this is happening?  I for one don't like losing Quinn and replacing a seat with that foreign guy.  Bud has to be spread a little thinner being president, too.  

Any smart defender would  sag off Dennis and Jeff and allow Al to camp out so that part makes sense.  Conversely, Kyle is always blanketed yet has improved his two point accuracy.  

This but the issue is, outside of Horford,  we don't have a consistent paint threat. Carroll was that to a degree at SF and now we don't have that at all. Losing Carroll screwed up our roster

[Peoriabird]

4 hours ago, NBASupes said:

This but the issue is, outside of Horford,  we don't have a consistent paint threat. Carroll was that to a degree at SF and now we don't have that at all. Losing Carroll screwed up our roster

Open your eyes Supes...Carrol wasn't that good either!  In Fact, Bazemore's offensive numbers this year are probably much better than DMC's numbers have ever has been

[macdaddy]

On 11/29/2015, 7:03:42, Peoriabird said:

Open your eyes Supes...Carrol wasn't that good either!  In Fact, Bazemore's offensive numbers this year are probably much better than DMC's numbers have ever has been

I don't know.   DMC was more clutch and of course played much better D which led to more transition buckets.   At this point i'd start baze at 2 and thabo and 3.   I think that's a decent lineup and gives us some fire power off the bench which we are sorely lacking.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, macdaddy said:

I don't know.   DMC was more clutch and of course played much better D which led to more transition buckets.   At this point i'd start baze at 2 and thabo and 3.   I think that's a decent lineup and gives us some fire power off the bench which we are sorely lacking.

@macdaddy  You mean the transition buckets he would flub and turnover, lol. I kid. 

Supes' comment was a thinly veiled reference that we should have kept DMC over Millsap so his boy Al (my boy too, lol) could play PF. We woukd be struggling more offensively without Millsap.

 

[Diesel]

It's dumb to think that we should have allowed Millsap to leave because he would have gone to Orlando and made them really good.  However, DMC was a chemistry guy.  As a chemistry guy, he would made us better by doing the things that don't show up on stats.  He commanded our defense.  So, what has to happen now is that we have to rebuild chemistry.  This is the growing pain in doing that.  BUT.. it can be done.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

@macdaddy  You mean the transition buckets he would flub and turnover, lol. I kid. 

Supes' comment was a thinly veiled reference that we should have kept DMC over Millsap so his boy Al (my boy too, lol) could play PF. We woukd be struggling more offensively without Millsap.

 

 

Sap is carrying us.   That was definitely the right choice and as you mentioned i was starting to get concerned that Demarre wanted to be considered more of an offensive weapon.   Still I think we definitely miss him.    Thabo is a great replacement.  In fact, i think Thabo is better but not sure how he'll hold up.  

 

 

[Diesel]

I think the rotation of Thabo/Baze is better than DMC... however, the Chemistry element has still not come around.   Time and practice will help that.  My real concerns are the regression of Al and the fact that the whole league has caught on to defending Korver.
 Somewhere along the way, we should have gotten or should be developing a second shooter.   I'm talking over 40% from three guy.   A quick snapshot at our stats show that both Thabo and Baze are over the 40% threshold and both of them match Korver's output in made threes... 32 to 31.  However,  in our offense, too many poor shooting three point shooters are shooting threes.  Dennis (2), Al (3), Millsap (4), Teague (5) are all shooting horribly from three. . especially Dennis and they are just taking too many attempts.   Dennis = 67 attempts and he's shooting less than 30% from 3.  That's your Smoove numbers right there.

Here are the humbling numbers.

Kyle,  1 three every 7.46 minutes.

Teague, 1 three every 9.33 minutes.

Horf, 1 three every 9.51 minutes.

Sap, 1 three every 10.65 minutes.

Dennis, 1 three every 6.49 minutes....

There's your sign....  Dennis is shooting more threes per minute than our best three point shooter.

More humbling, Thabo is our second best three point shooter and Baze is our third best.

Thabo = 1 three every 13.92 minutes.

Baze = 1 three every 8.20 minutes.

All in all, it's ridiculous.