Forgotten, supposedly fraudulent Hawks quietly becoming dangerous

[HawkItus]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25509814/forgotten-supposedly-fraudulent-hawks-quietly-becoming-dangerous-team

SALT LAKE CITY -- Some people felt the Atlanta Hawks were frauds during last season's impressive run. I'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to mean, but it was an accusation often thrown around for a team that won 60 games and grabbed the 1-seed in the East. For some observers of this Hawks team, they didn't feel like a 60-win team because there wasn't a big star or this grand sense that they may win the NBA championship.

Because of that, they were allegedly fraudulent. The 19-game winning streak wasn't enough. Being just the 71st team in almost seven decades (really, that's a fairly rare accomplishment) to win 60 games didn't pass the smell test. Having four All-Stars in one year certainly wasn't evidence of this team being good. Instead, we just waited for the Cleveland Cavaliers to show the prowess and importance of the NBA superstar, and when it happened, it confirmed the naysayers' disbelief in the Hawks.

Then DeMarre Carroll left. Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha were being brought back slowly from leg injuries. And the Hawks had to live up to the expectations of their previous success. It hasn't happened yet. After a win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, the Hawks improved to 36-28, nowhere near their success of last season. And yet, the rebuilding of the Hawks appears to be headed in the right direction.

Everything with this team starts with the defense, which may not be something people associate first with the Hawks of last season. Those Hawks were a freewheeling, offensive juggernaut that made the extra pass and dropped in backbreaking shot after shot as your defense was left scrambling. This team is a defensive juggernaut that is putting up the second best defensive rating in the league this season and the best since we hit 2016 on your inspirational Quote of the Day desk calendar.

Since January 1, the Hawks are allowing 97 points per 100 possessions while holding opponents to just 30.8 percent from 3-point range. That's better than the Golden State Warriors. That's better than the San Antonio Spurs. It's what will have to be their calling card when they try to find their way back to the conference finals in an Eastern Conference that appears to be much more competitive than what they had to go through last season.

“I think defensively hopefully there's this, if you want to call it a buildup to the playoffs, where we feel like we can get stops when we need to," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "We can play hopefully four quarters of good defense. We've been doing that a lot since the first of the year.”

Why are they so improved defensively as of late? People around the team are crediting the defense of the perimeter players. Being able to switch pick-and-roll coverages without giving up mismatches inside, then being able to switch back to chase teams off the 3-point line or aggressively contest shots is what's working. It's extremely demanding on the guards to be able to pull that off. The lateral quickness of the perimeter defense coupled with active hands all over the floor create deflections to disrupt the rhythm of their opponents.

Controlling the perimeter and putting pressure on the ball is the defensive equivalent of what made their offense so good last season. Now they're doing this defensively to survive until they can get their offense consistently on track.

"We're in a good place defensively," Al Horford said. "I feel like we're improving in that area. Now we just have to keep finding ways to try to get better on offense. [Playing defense like that] is tough. There's no question about it. It's definitely hard. It's nice when all five guys on the court are engaged, doing the things they're supposed to do."

The next step is recreating an offense that seemed impossible to slow down at times. Before the Warriors became the historically dominant team we see this season, calling the Hawks the Warriors of the East was a bit of a stretch but it wasn't outlandish. At least, it wasn't for big chunks of last season. We're seeing the same ball movement this season as we saw last season, but we haven't seen the accuracy from the shooters on the floor.

Some of that is the change in personnel. Some of that is the way Kyle Korver shot the ball to begin the season. Some of that is Jeff Teague's struggles at times, which even led to consideration of a trade before the deadline to hand the keys over to Dennis Schröder. Another part of the offensive regression is they aren't sneaking up on teams this season with their system.

"It's just been different for us because I feel like teams really know what we're trying to do," Horford said. "Last year, we caught some people off guard. For us this year, I feel like it's been trying to make adjustments offensively. Trying to figure out how we can score the ball. I feel like it is getting better. We're starting to play with more pace and we're really starting to figure things out."

The offense has been better since the start of February, but there still isn't a ton of consistency in the pace they're able to dictate or the shots they're able to knock down. Regaining that magic without DeMarre Carroll being that super fifth guy on the court can be tough, but they believe in their wing depth. Korver has rounded back into his sharpshooting form, hitting 44.4 percent of his 3-pointers over his last 26 games after making just 35.4 percent in his first 35 games of the season.

It took a long time for him to get comfortable with his shot following the big ankle injury from the end of last season. Rounding Thabo Sefolosha back into shape following a broken leg from an incident with overly aggressive police in New York has been a process as well. Not having Tiago Splitter, an excellent pick-and-roll option to suck in the defense, for much of this season as he's battled a season-ending hip injury hasn't helped either.

"We have the type of guys who are not going to make excuses," Horford said. "But it also has to do, honestly, with teams really knowing what we're trying to do. Just the way the league is. That's why a team like Golden State is so impressive because they've been able to, even though people know what's coming, they're still able to do it."

The Hawks are not going to return to being vaguely recognized as the 2015 Warriors of the East. But can they return to the conference finals? They may not be a 60-win team anymore, but it doesn't mean they are frauds... or ever were, for that matter.

 

[benhillboy]

Damn good piece.  Shout to CBS.

Love to see the three point percentage go up for Kyle and down for our opponents.  There clearly has been a tactical change in closing out open shooters.

To piggyback off our great unit of Dennis-Tim-Thabo-Mike-Al (131 minutes, +9 FG, +.127 FG% per 100), we may still be able to be cousins of the Spurs and Warriors.

Warriors death lineup that subs Iggy for Bogut: 148 minutes, +15 FG. +.218 FG%.  Insane.

Spurs subbing bum Green for Manu: 90 minutes, +13 FG, + .103 FG%.

Bud close to finding that perfect chemistry to get better quality and quantity of shots as a function of having the proper defensive personnel on the floor according to matchup and game flow.  Hawks Cycle in full effect.

I think it gets lost on casual fans how much harder it is to play defense, which Al alluded to.  Let alone croutching and sliding, holding your arms extended or waving quickly is taxing.  

People look at tough isolation scorers and think they're working harder than anyone else.  Not so.  Defensive players always have the disadvantage of uncertainty so they have to bust their asses twice as hard as well as study film tirelessly as The Grindfather does.  I see so much of him in Thabo but he uses hands and toughness more while Thabo is feet and length driven.  

Sap has turned into a hybrid defender as much as offensive player.  He uses small forward ideals on PFs who aren't the most shrewd or slower.  

Al outplays his size and strength with way above-average Big smarts and positioning.  

Dennis is just a full-court dog, and Baze is Mini-Thabo.  

The offense (Kyle) is and will come around.  When the defense is flying around like focused madmen I can't get enough.  Pressure-turnover-Kyle in transition-Moose Goggles-Dennis Towel-timeout.  This is all I want to see going forward.