Hawks = Offseason Winner

[germanhawk17]

Hello to every Hawks Fan and every member of this forum !! :)

I am a Hawks fan from Germany.  My love for the Hawks grew 2013, when Dennis was drafted. I always was a big fan of Schröder, since i first saw him play i my hometown gym against some of my old teammates. At this time he played in the third german league.

I always liked his style of play and his confidence and believed he can be a big time player.  Since he was drafted by the hawks i watched nearly every game of atlanta and really became a Die Hard Atlanta Hawks Fan!! This team really got me excited! I still watch every game and am really looking forward for next season. Some time ago i started to read in this forum and now i decided to join the action and discuss with you guys and girl about our beloved hawks.

 

So enough of my introduction. Lets come back to my headline.

I really believe the Hawks are one of the winner of the offseason and improved their team overall and here is why...!

 

1) Howard is a big upgrade over Horford for our team:

- Howard will be the much needed Big for us. He will improve our overall rebounding and take this big weakness away. Besides that he can be our rim protector that will make our defense deadly. Just image a defensive lineup with Dennis, Baze, Thabo and Sap. This will be one of the best defensive lineups in the entire league!

- Horford was soft as hell and Howard will bang inside and get us the easy buckets and will make space for our shooters.

- Howard is a media guy and finally atlanta will get some attention!!

 

2) Resign of Baze and making Dennis a starter:

- These two players are our best young guys with the most upside. Baze is having the athletic abilities and added the shooting last year. He can be a very good player and iam looking for him to get better next season. He also is a very positiv energy guy, that always helps with team chemisty. I think him, dennis and howard will be a good connection.

- Dennis of course is our guy of the future! With the starter minutes he can develop into an allstar! I can imagine he will have a breakout season and maybe will be a MIP candidate. I am also looking forward to his connection with Howard. These to can provide a deadly P&R, that will also give oppurtunities for our shooters.

 

3) Developing of THJ and our rookies:

- It's the second year of him. He can absolve the whole offseason with the team and according to experience players under Coach BUD often improve dramatically in their second year. So maybe he will surprise us all and can be a scorer/shooter of the bench.

- I also like our rookies. Prince can be the 3 and D player for us at SF that we need so much. Bembry can be another ball handler who will make plays and facilitate. These two just fit in our system and improve our weaknesses.

 

4) Jarret Jack!

- Very good signing! He can be a scorer of the bench and mentor dennis! This can be huge.. just imagine what steph curry said in his mvp speech! I think BUD also signed him to help dennis develop.

 

5) Malcom Delaney:

- also a very good acquisition with no risk. He was a very good player in europe and also a big time winner! I am excited how his game will translate to the nba.

 

 

So i am really satisfied with the offseason by the hawks so far. I would be perfect if we can sign Humphries again or some shooting of the bench. But at this point iam very happy with the job the hawks organization has done.

So this was my first post and  i hope you will forgive me for my bad english and let me know how you think about the hawks offseason and this team.

 

 

[capstone21]

Right now I look at our offseason as neutral ... I don't think we really improved but didn't go backwards to far either ...

Do we have Orlando Howard or the Howard from LA/Houston ... I know some of it was a product of the systems he was in but also attitude and injuries play a big part.  Is he an upgrade over Al?  No I don't think so ... rebounding and rim protection ... yes but offensively and even defense no ... Al did a lot of things that we will miss ... his smart bbiq ... his ability to run the offense through him ... his mid range shot for spacing ... the fact that he can hit a free throw ... my biggest worry is us having to sit Dwight at the end of close games ... he is also injury prone ... knees / back 

Dennis full time scares me ... his talent is there but he can get out of control ... I always looked at having Jeff was a settling force ... he can really grow as a player this season and this is his opportunity ... I just hope he stays within the team game and not be the iso / look for his shot too much kind of player that he sometimes has the tendency to be.  This is chance to put it all together and take his game to the next level ... I hope he can do it ... he def doesn't lack for confidence

I feel we way overpaid for Baz but the kid has a good head on his shoulders and a great attitude and motor ... I hope he can keep in control as well as he has a tendency to also over do it but he can also really contribute when he is hot.

I love the Jack pickup ... a nice mentor and lockerroom guy who can still play and contribute if his injury has affected him too much

Delaney can be a steal or a miss ... no idea what we got there yet

Our draft picks are interesting too but I don't know if they are ready to contribute yet

We still need another weapon ... maybe a sf and depth for bigs ...

Right now our team is not as good as last seasons but there is still time to make some more moves

[lethalweapon3]

Willkommen in Hawksquawk!

(no idea if I'm saying that right!)

Thank you for joining and for your input!

~lw3

[sturt]

Too many unknowns to assess where we stand, positive or negative:

Which Dwight do we have.... how quickly will Dennis mature... will Baze continue to grow his offensive game... to what extent will Korver benefit from a non-surgical off-season versus suffer from another year older... how will Delaney's game translate or not... will one or both of our rookies stand out, or for that matter, will one or both get any serious playing time outside of D-league play... how long can we expect Mike Scott to be on the roster, if at all... and now, is Jack going to recover in-time, and even if he does, will another younger player beat him out for the roster spot... ?!?

The only relatively sure-things we have going for us are that it would seem reasonable to assume that Splitter will give us 50 games or more, which is an improvement.... that Sap will continue to produce like Sap normally produces... and that Thabo will be a defensive force.

I don't know how to get particularly excited nor depressed, really.

[germanhawk17]

@capstone21

Injuries of course are an issue with Howard. I hope he will be healthy. What i've heard in interviews etc. Howard is at a time in his career where he really wants a redemption. For me it looks like he wants to proove that he can be a superstar at his hometown. I really hope so. But of course i can understand your worries. Especially the free throw worries. Maybe the atlanta shoowing coach can help him a litte. On twitter i also noticed, that he workes on a new shooting routine and maybe it will help...

 

I also can understand your worries about schröder, but i think in his starter role he really will be looking to involve his teammates first, as he has the security to play 30 minutes or more. He will knew he will have enough opportunities to score, so he can take just what the defense gives him and not overlooking for his own shot just like a bench scorer.

With our rookies i agree.. Maybe prince can contribute directly.. but dont know if bembry can..

[Flight]

I'm digging the optimism. I feel like our off-season will be pretty overlooked unless we just come right out of the gate blazing through teams.

[ATLSmith]

I think it was a really good off-season.   If Alice hadn't single-handily blown up the original plan, I think this would have been the best off-season ever.

[germanhawk17]

Yeah thats right @sturt

My "predictions" are what we can get in the best scenario.. i have to admit.

[hazer]

Welcome aboard, and very astute observations! Nice to have a fellow optimist added to the fray, "The Miserable Ones" team around here is slap full up

[germanhawk17]

thank you @hazer

nice to be welcomed like that :)

Really excited about next season.

[h4wkfan]

I'm very cautiously optimistic. I truly believe our ceiling us much higher with this team, but on the other hand, our floor is significantly lower. 

Time will tell, and that's part of the reason I'm so excited about this season. 

[Germantor]

19 minutes ago, germanhawk17 said:

thank you @hazer

nice to be welcomed like that :)

Really excited about next season.

Hey I agree bout dennis

[Guest]

@germanhawk17  Welcome to the Squawk.  You are in for  a hell of a ride.  Very good 1st post.  When the season starts join us for live in game chats - where anything and everything goes.

[Guest]

I'm really not worried about Dennis as the starter.

Off the bench he had to come in and either maintain or change the pace and look of a game.  As a starter, he will set the pace and tone of the game from the start, playing alongside better players where he doesn't feel like it's on him to create a spark. In his interview at the SL game he said 'It's my team now' - loved it.  Take ownership.

 

 

 

 

[germanhawk17]

@JayBirdHawk Thank you! When i see a game live, then i will join for sure.

Usually i watch the games on nba league pass re-live, because i have to go to work and the games are at night here in germany.

[Thomas]

Welcome aboard germanhawk17. Glad you are following the Hawks with us.

[germanhawk17]

vor 8 Minuten, JayBirdHawk sagte:

I'm really not worried about Dennis as the starter.

Off the bench he had to come in and either maintain or change the pace and look of a game.  As a starter, he will set the pace and tone of the game from the start, playing alongside better players where he doesn't feel like it's on him to create a spark. In his interview at the SL game he said 'It's my team now' - loved it.  Take ownership.

 

 

 

 

Yes i am thinking the same.

Dennis always grew with his challenges.  There was a time here in germany i said, that dennis will once be a starter in the german bundesliga (first league in germany) ...At that time there where few people who believed me...

He made it and he was one of the best german players in the league.

 

Than there was a time i said, that he will get drafted and be the next german player in the nba....At that time also few people believed that..

You know what happenend...

And some time ago i said, dennis will be an all star.( which was his goal also.. as he came in the nba he once said, that he wants to be an all star in the next 5 years i think).

 

And now we will see how dennis will grew again!!

Edited July 11, 2016 by germanhawk17

[Guest]

Welcome aboard Germanhawk17!

[germanhawk17]

@Thomas @Spud2Nique Thank you guys!

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, germanhawk17 said:

@Thomas @Spud2Nique Thank you guys!

That was a hellavu first post....I just noticed that...nice!