Do you think the Hawks can win the NBA championship this season?

[AHF]

Our wings have sucked this year collectively.  If you acquire a superstar wing, there isn't one of those guys you don't bench (possibly for good) in a second for that new player.  This isn't even an issue to me.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

11 hours ago, Jody23 said:

We see every year that the regular season and the playoffs are two different things.  Lebron will ready roll come playoff time.  The Jazz scored a good win tonight.  But neither them or anyone in the East are beating the Cavs four games out of seven.

Plus in the playoffs, the teams you're playing from the 2nd round on are normally top 10 defensive teams.  And the Cavs are top 10 in both offense and defense, which is normally the defining characteristic of a championship team.

 

[Guest]

The Atlanta Hawks are playing much improved basketball in recent days, and their recent surge can be directly tied to the defensive end of the court. Though it is fair to suggest that the defense has been quite good all season (second in the NBA allowing 98.6 points per 100 possessions), things have been ratcheted up a notch since the calendar flipped to 2016 (best in the NBA), and Atlanta's lock-down defense has peaked in the past handful of games.

There are many reasons that the Hawks have operated at a high level on the defensive end, ranging from the unique mobility presented by Al Horford and Paul Millsap to the simple improvements of a player like Tim Hardaway Jr. as a backup wing. However, there is an unsung hero of the group, and that is Thabo Sefolosha.

 

The 31-year-old wing stopper has always been seen as a defense-first player and that is Sefolosha's primary role on this particular squad. However, his impact has been felt specifically in the recent past, and the numbers bear that out. Atlanta has allowed a blistering 96.2 points per 100 possessions since Jan. 1, but the Hawks have been evenbetter when Sefolosha takes the floor.

During that time, Sefolosha's sheer presence has resulted in historic defensive production. In 13 games in January, the Hawks allowed 90.8 points per 100 possessions in the 24.4 minutes per game in which Sefolosha was deployed. That number "dipped" to a still incredible 95.4 points per 100 during 11 games in February, but in March (seven games), Atlanta has been utterly ridiculous defensively in allowing only 87.3 (!) points per 100 possessions with Thabo Sefolosha on the court.

It should be noted that Sefolosha's impact has not been limited to the defensive end, either, as the veteran swingman boasts a 57.2% true shooting on the strength of better than 50% from the floor. Atlanta willingly gives up some shot creation and a bit of three-point accuracy when sending Sefolosha on the court in place of Kent Bazemore, but the team has been buoyed by Sefolosha's defensive contributions.

Efficiency numbers aren't everything when evaluating a player's defensive impact, and that is how we can decipher that Mike Scott is not, in fact, the best defensive player on the Atlanta Hawks roster despite his 90.4 defensive rating. With that on the table, Thabo Sefolosha's versatility, defensive focus and overall production on that end makes everything easier for the second unit on that end of the floor, and that is a potential window in Mike Budenholzer's thinking in leaving arguably his best small forward in a reserve role.

Thabo Sefolosha is a player that will never receive a great deal of attention based on the fact that he doesn't stuff the traditional stat sheet. However, it would be hard to oversell his contributions (especially recently) to the Hawks, and his value is apparent when hearing Budenholzer and his teammates discuss all of the additions that Sefolosha brings to the table.

This team is suddenly a defensive juggernaut, and while that isn't all about Thabo Sefolosha, a lot of it is.

(We really missed Thabo when he was out last season).

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2016/3/15/11235568/thabo-sefolosha-atlanta-hawks-defensive-key

[Guest]

Thabo might be my 2nd or 3rd fav Hawk. Love watching him D up. It's a thing of beauty. The way he was bottling up PG13 and contesting his fadeaway jumpers was just awesome. Most defenders seem to back off on a fadeaway but Thabo gets right up into their grills...yup their grills...yup yup their grills...damn u Nelly..lol

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Thabo might be my 2nd or 3rd fav Hawk. Love watching him D up. It's a thing of beauty. The way he was bottling up PG13 and contesting his fadeaway jumpers was just awesome. Most defenders seem to back off on a fadeaway but Thabo gets right up into their grills...yup their grills...yup yup their grills...damn u Nelly..lol

My one and only wish was that Thabo was a younger player coming into his prime.

[Guest]

Can we get one of these?  We need one of these to mold.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/15/kawhi-leonard-spurs-tim-duncan-gregg-popovich-tony-parker-manu-ginobili

Quote

Kawhi Leonard spent all day in the bleachers at Attack Athletics Gym in Chicago. It was the 2011 NBA draft combine, and Leonard was there to be measured and prodded, but like most top prospects, he was advised to skip the drills and competitions. At some point he grew weary of watching. He strode onto the court, grabbed a ball and started shooting. He couldn't help himself. After 10 minutes he was shooed away.

Chip Engelland saw those 10 minutes. Good base, thought Engelland, a Spurs development coach and one of the most respected shot doctors in the world. Good form. It was a surprising rave to give a brick mason who shot 25% from three-point range in two college seasons.

Many in the San Antonio front office were hesitant when they sent point guard George Hill to Indiana for Leonard on draft night. "We were all looking at each other like, Are we really going to do this?" Popovich remembers. "We were scared s---less. We don't know this kid. He's not a shooter. He's not a scorer. He's not a perimeter player. He's a big guy who can rebound."

Engelland cast a vote of confidence based largely on the 10-minute session in Chicago that was not supposed to have happened. He lowered Leonard's release, which was over his head, and made him study photos of Bryant's form. He predicted that Leonard would someday qualify for the three-point contest.

Shortly after the Spurs returned from the lockout and Leonard reported to an abbreviated training camp, Engelland approached him. "Do you want to be great?" Engelland asked. Leonard, as is his custom, did not immediately reply. "It isn't an easy question," Engelland said. "Good is fine. Good is good. Sleep on it."

The next day, at practice, Leonard wandered over to Engelland. "I do," he said. "I want to be great."

So began an ambitious enterprise that unfolded almost entirely behind the scenes, as Leonard liked it. Anybody who watched the Spurs on TV saw Leonard defending, rebounding and occasionally firing up a prayer from the corner. The coaches seemed to be turning him into a three-and-D specialist. In fact, they were growing him into the NBA's next two-way dynamo.

 

Every morning all the Spurs are instructed to take a vitamin. "You have your toast, your eggs and your Flintstone chewable multi," says Forcier. Except this vitamin refers only to the skills an individual player is trying to polish. Maybe your vitamin includes free throws or corner threes or pull-ups or jump hooks or turnarounds. Leonard's was the biggest Barney Rubble pill ever ingested; it contained all those ingredients and more. "There's so much he can do," Engelland says, "so there was so much we put in his vitamin."

They started with the corner threes, but they also looked ahead, to a time when his jump shot would be so true that no defender would dare leave him. So they honed the one-dribble pull-up, the Kobe step-through, the fallaway, the shots headliners take. At the 2013 All-Star Game, Leonard sat with Bryant in a Nike suite, deconstructing moves. "He didn't say much," Bryant remembers, "but he asked very pointed questions." Leonard yearned to display his expanding arsenal, but Popovich kept him largely under wraps. The Spurs were playing a long game.

 

[macdaddy]

30 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Can we get one of these?  We need one of these to mold.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/15/kawhi-leonard-spurs-tim-duncan-gregg-popovich-tony-parker-manu-ginobili

 

Gee that sounds a little bit like the treatment someone on the Hawks bench has been getting this year....

[Atlantaholic]

15 hours ago, benhillboy said:

Cleveland doesn't scare anyone, the Hawks would scald them if they played tonight.  They looked awful and got beat start to finish with no Hayward.   LeBron is basically a bum compared to 5 years ago.  I actually think they go as JR's shot and Tristan's energy goes (who can now be neutralized by Hump).   Both were flat tonight, so they get embarrassed.  Their so-called "Big 3" can get lost through lazy play at any time.  

Granted, Lue is no Quinn.  He killed them repeatedly with simple slip screens and high PNRs we use.  I see why they weren't listening to any offers on Hood, and Mack is balling.  

Toronto is the team to beat in the East for us.  They have the talent and chemistry that Cleveland will never have.

Lebron was more of a bum last year.... until the playoffs.

[Guest]

18 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Can we get one of these?  We need one of these to mold.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/15/kawhi-leonard-spurs-tim-duncan-gregg-popovich-tony-parker-manu-ginobili

 

Are you referring to Kawhi or Chip Engelland? Lol. I crush on both. lol.

[rd79]

My two cents 

1. Finding a way to win in March is much better than having a great January. 
2. Finding a way to win based on defense is much better than an offensive one.

So I wont predict a championship, but the possibility may be even bigger than last year.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Y'all keep saying the C word in here... Jinxing us right out of a championship run... Doh!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

1 minute ago, PSSSHHHRRR87 said:

Y'all keep saying the C word in here... Jinxing us right out of a championship run... Doh!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Aye, you know there's a price on your head around here from folks looking for a Kris Humphries head emoji thingy?  I'm gonna use the Shelvin head instead and just pretend it's Kris.  If you squint really hard they look just alike anyway. 

[DS17Fanboy]

Am 15.3.2016 at 18:42 , JayBirdHawk sagte:

My one and only wish was that Thabo was a younger player coming into his prime.

He's now build like a cheetah though.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, DS17Fanboy said:

He's now build like a cheetah though.

No doubt! I'm not sure if I'm being biased but I think he's better than he was a few years ago with OKC....Still not sure why OKC got rid of him. He was perfect for them. Oh well, their loss.

[Lurker]

On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 1:02 AM, benhillboy said:

Cleveland doesn't scare anyone, the Hawks would scald them if they played tonight.  They looked awful and got beat start to finish with no Hayward.   LeBron is basically a bum compared to 5 years ago.  I actually think they go as JR's shot and Tristan's energy goes (who can now be neutralized by Hump).   Both were flat tonight, so they get embarrassed.  Their so-called "Big 3" can get lost through lazy play at any time.

Granted, Lue is no Quinn.  He killed them repeatedly with simple slip screens and high PNRs we use.  I see why they weren't listening to any offers on Hood, and Mack is balling.

Toronto is the team to beat in the East for us.  They have the talent and chemistry that Cleveland will never have.

Cleveland may not have the chemistry, but they have the issue that really bothers Atlanta (along with Toronto) and I’m not talking about offensive rebounding for the record. It’s ISO offense destroys the defense because Atlanta just isn’t good at one on one defense.

There's three teams that Atlanta cannot face in a playoff series, Cleveland, Miami, and Toronto. All three would be embarrassing series unless there are some more adjustments (this mainly goes with Toronto, perhaps it does with Cleveland to an extent). Against any other team in the East I *THINK* they can gut it out and win, so I'll say that I actually give them a 35-45% of making it back to the ECF, but that's it.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Aye, you know there's a price on your head around here from folks looking for a Kris Humphries head emoji thingy?  I'm gonna use the Shelvin head instead and just pretend it's Kris.  If you squint really hard they look just alike anyway. 

I'll get on it ASAP. Might kick out a Timmy Jr one too since his Dad was my fave player back in the day.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

No doubt! I'm not sure if I'm being biased but I think he's better than he was a few years ago with OKC....Still not sure why OKC got rid of him. He was perfect for them. Oh well, their loss.

OKC made him their scapegoat for losing in the playoffs that year.  Thabo's done!  Blah, blah, blah.  He went through a shooting slump for sure but clearly he's far from done.

Actually, Presti gets a lot of credit for being a good GM but I'm starting to think he just peaked early.  Drafted KD, Westbrook, Harden in consecutive drafts (IIRC) but since then it's been a mosh of awful decisions.  Choosing Ibaka over Harden, trading Harden (poor, poor return package), thinking Martin could replace Harden, thinking Lamb could replace Harden, drafting Perry Jones, trading for Kanter and thereby having to re-sign him to a max, thinking Roberson could replace Thabo ... should I go on?

Speaking of being built well for their age, do yourself a favor and google Elise Neal.  Mmmmhmmm.  You're welcome.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

OKC made him their scapegoat for losing in the playoffs that year.  Thabo's done!  Blah, blah, blah.  He went through a shooting slump for sure but clearly he's far from done.

Actually, Presti gets a lot of credit for being a good GM but I'm starting to think he just peaked early.  Drafted KD, Westbrook, Harden in consecutive drafts (IIRC) but since then it's been a mosh of awful decisions.  Choosing Ibaka over Harden, trading Harden (poor, poor return package), thinking Martin could replace Harden, thinking Lamb could replace Harden, drafting Perry Jones, trading for Kanter and thereby having to re-sign him to a max, thinking Roberson could replace Thabo ... should I go on?

Speaking of being built well for their age, do yourself a favor and google Elise Neal.  Mmmmhmmm.  You're welcome.

Yep, Thabo had a calf injury and came back early because the playoffs were about to start. He had no rythm and his shot was broke, plus they had him camped at the 3pt line watching while KD and Russ did their thing.

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Yep, Thabo had a calf injury and came back early because the playoffs were about to start. He had no rythm and his shot was broke, plus they had him camped at the 3pt line watching while KD and Russ did their thing.

Funny how they dribble out 21 seconds of the clock, throw it to a guy and expect them to always knock down the last second shot.  SMDH

Also funny how their offense has literally changed 0% since Donovan took over.

Lastly, so no comment on Elise? 

[macdaddy]

4 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Funny how they dribble out 21 seconds of the clock, throw it to a guy and expect them to always knock down the last second shot.  SMDH

Also funny how their offense has literally changed 0% since Donovan took over.

Lastly, so no comment on Elise? 

Don't run all the women off this site kg.    We can't handle that kind of hit to the site's collective IQ.