Let's talk the "ceiling" with this team

[Buzzard]

Our ceiling is the finals. We have several players that could have career defining numbers in Dwight ( a resurgence ), Bazemore ( continued improvement ), Sap ( posting all star numbers at both ends of the floor ), and Dennis ( just flat out blowing up now that he is starting ).

Our bench is weak IMO but Jack, Hardaway Jr., Thabo, Splitter, and Prince could prove to be really good or bad this season.

I will be shocked if we are not at the minimum the 3rd seed in the playoffs this year.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Buzzard

[Spursfanpeacemaker]

It's really too early to tell the ceiling for the Hawks, all you can do now is predict..

[marco102]

31 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Our ceiling is the finals. We have several players that could have career defining numbers in Dwight ( a resurgence ), Bazemore ( continued improvement ), Sap ( posting all star numbers at both ends of the floor ), and Dennis ( just flat out blowing up now that he is starting ).

Our bench is weak IMO but Jack, Hardaway Jr., Thabo, Splitter, and Prince could prove to be really good or bad this season.

I will be shocked if we are not at the minimum the 3rd seed in the playoffs this year.

I don't think our bench is weak.  I think some aspects of the bench is unproven.

The bench has Korver (scorer) (who most likely will start the season as a starter, but may move to the bench if THjr or Prince step up) , Splitter (defense and rebounding), Sefalosha (defense and rebounding), Humphries (rebounding)  as our veteran presence. 

Then you have Delaney (potential scorer and playmaker), Prince (rebounding, possible scorer), THjr (potential scorer).

I think the bench has the perfect match of defense and offense possibly more so than the starters. 

 I agree I see us anywhere from 1st - 5th seed in the east.   However, I can see the Hawks in the lower part of the eastern conference (5 -8 seed) if Schröder, Baze, and Thjr don't improve their play (mainly shooting).

This hawks team is much deeper than last year and if the guards improve their shooting,  it will be a tough out for ANY team in the NBA mainly because the Hawks will be one of the best (if not THE BEST) defensive AND rebounding teams in the NBA.

Edited July 25, 2016 by marco102

[bird_dirt]

I don't think our ceiling THIS YEAR is much different than last year's team.

But depending on the development of your youngin's, along with growth in familiarity in year 2 and 3 of D8's contract, our ceiling could be ECF again. Finals appearance if Lebron gets hurt. We don't have a chance at a Chip without some major additions being made, though.

[gurpilo]

Untill we get a reliable starter at 3, our ceiling is the same as last year, perhaps a little bit higher as Howard is a true center and our bench is a little bit stronger. Can we win a game against Cleveland? Ummm doubt it if we do not have someone to hold his feet against Bron.

Floor is probably lower, Dennis needs to prove he can do the same as Teague, Howard needs to prove he can make a come back at center.

Starters? We have a major hole at SF.

The bench with Jack, Delaney, Hardaway, Korver, Prince, Humph, Splitter and Tavares, I see that as a positive, good bench compared to other teams

[Diesel]

1 hour ago, ViewsFromTheSquawk said:

Definitely didn't have a rebounding issue vs Cleveland... TT was not as near a force as he was when we played them in the ECF's our front court actually held their own from a toughness and rebounding standpoint vs CLE... It's just scoring we can't seem to match them... Only person that lived up to that was DS17. 

TT was a force.  He would get those offensive boards and our defense got more and more discouraged.  It's mental when you play good defense and the other team gets the rebound and gets another chance.  In that.. basketball and football are the exact same. 

I think what you saw in our series this year...

1.  They started off hot because the Cavs used Kevin Love.

2.  We calmed down love and they just beat us down with scores from Lebron and others.  These scores were facilitated by the fact that they got a lot of second chance points. 

The other thing that Thompson did was lock down our inside play.  We couldn't go into the middle because Alice was outside working on her resume and Thompson was using his size to punish Millsap. 

NOW...  Things will be different.

 

[Diesel]

I think alot of you will be disappointed when the year starts.  I see you all making these bold prognostications about Prince and Bembry... Let me say one more time... THEY WILL NOT SNIFF THE STARTING LINEUP... Not this year.   Hell, Bembry may be D-Leagued...  They will be lucky to play.  Ahead of them we have:  Korver, Baze.   Then we have Thabo, THJr.    Stop this foolishness about Korver coming off the bench.  I didn't like the way that Korver played last season either, however, I realize that if Korver is in shape and not injured and has his shooting motion going, this year...more than any other is the year that we need him out there as a Decoy/Dagger thrower.  Moreover, we're going to see the changing of the guard with Baze becoming the new face of the wings...

Our ceiling is not based on these rookies.  Our ceiling is based on the fact that we will have a very strong inside/out game with 2 good 2 way players in Howard and Sap.

I look forward to us being a very dominant Defensive team.  If we were a very good defensive team with Korver and Alice.. Imagine what we will be with Howard?  Finally an answer to lost rebounds and bigs.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Whether you view us or them as better, we are probably in a similar tier.  The main point is that neither Atlanta nor OKC are contenders on paper against the likes of Cleveland and GS coming into this season.  There is no way OKC should be on that short list or GS excluded.  I'm interested to see if SA stays on that list with Duncan retired and Parker declining.

Wtf? We were just talking about okc and whether or not they were as good as us. 

 

Ive had a lot of experience with semantics, so don't try to lure me into some circular maze of logic.

 

Hawks>Okc

 

 

[ViewsFromTheSquawk]

20 minutes ago, Diesel said:

TT was a force.  He would get those offensive boards and our defense got more and more discouraged.  It's mental when you play good defense and the other team gets the rebound and gets another chance.  In that.. basketball and football are the exact same. 

I think what you saw in our series this year...

1.  They started off hot because the Cavs used Kevin Love.

2.  We calmed down love and they just beat us down with scores from Lebron and others.  These scores were facilitated by the fact that they got a lot of second chance points. 

The other thing that Thompson did was lock down our inside play.  We couldn't go into the middle because Alice was outside working on her resume and Thompson was using his size to punish Millsap. 

NOW...  Things will be different.

 

Incorrect.... The issue was the offense.... Horford played awful. He was owned by not Tristan Thompson, but Channing Frye. Channing effing Frye. And also the classic Korver getting owned by JR is always an issue. We just need a consistent scorer that Bud can trust and I think that's what he sees with Dennis as a point. Someone who will attack on a nightly basis. 

[ViewsFromTheSquawk]

23 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I think alot of you will be disappointed when the year starts.  I see you all making these bold prognostications about Prince and Bembry... Let me say one more time... THEY WILL NOT SNIFF THE STARTING LINEUP... Not this year.   Hell, Bembry may be D-Leagued...  They will be lucky to play.  Ahead of them we have:  Korver, Baze.   Then we have Thabo, THJr.    Stop this foolishness about Korver coming off the bench.  I didn't like the way that Korver played last season either, however, I realize that if Korver is in shape and not injured and has his shooting motion going, this year...more than any other is the year that we need him out there as a Decoy/Dagger thrower.  Moreover, we're going to see the changing of the guard with Baze becoming the new face of the wings...

Our ceiling is not based on these rookies.  Our ceiling is based on the fact that we will have a very strong inside/out game with 2 good 2 way players in Howard and Sap.

I look forward to us being a very dominant Defensive team.  If we were a very good defensive team with Korver and Alice.. Imagine what we will be with Howard?  Finally an answer to lost rebounds and bigs.

 

I agree. I don't see Prince or Bembry starting in year 1 unless we have an injury, but I can however see Tim sliding into the 2 spot with Baze at the 3 given that he takes a leap in year 2 here. 

[Lurker]

39 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Ahead of them we have:  Korver, Baze.   Then we have Thabo, THJr.

If they continue to play three guard lineups they will continue to be stomped on by Cleveland. You will see...Horford (or poor rebounding) was not the main reason for the losses, the main reason was playing three guard lineups.

Bazemore at small forward for big mins another season is a HUGE mistake. HUGE.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Lurker

[Lurker]

37 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Our ceiling is based on the fact that we will have a very strong inside/out game with 2 good 2 way players in Howard and Sap.

Ahhh, yes, continuing to believe the LIES that the Hawks are a strong three point shooting team. Millsap and Bazemore's three are not respected.

[Diesel]

17 minutes ago, ViewsFromTheSquawk said:

Incorrect.... The issue was the offense.... Horford played awful. He was owned by not Tristan Thompson, but Channing Frye. Channing effing Frye. And also the classic Korver getting owned by JR is always an issue. We just need a consistent scorer that Bud can trust and I think that's what he sees with Dennis as a point. Someone who will attack on a nightly basis. 

Let me put it this way.

JR smith averaged 11 points per game and played 34.5 mpg.    In the grand scheme of things, that's not so terrible.  Channing Frye did more with less time. 

However,  Tristan Thompson pulled down 6  offensive rebounds per game.   That's 6 more offensive possessions per game.  That's a +12 point difference and a possible 24 point swing.   In essence, Thompson's offensive rebounding was more important than JR Smith's scoring.  Moreover, when you consider that we were in games 1 & 4 til the end, that says that Tristan Thompson should be holding up a Semifinals MVP.

 

 

 

[Diesel]

You know what's sad.

In the Cleveland series.. Horford played 132 minutes, Humphries played 44 Minutes and Humphries had 6 more rebounds total than Horford.

 

[Buzzard]

10 minutes ago, Diesel said:

You know what's sad.

In the Cleveland series.. Horford played 132 minutes, Humphries played 44 Minutes and Humphries had 6 more rebounds total than Horford.

 

The Cavs owned us on the glass and shot the three ball against us, as a team, as well as anyone in the history of the playoffs. I think we have cancelled out the rebounding domination; now we just have to see if they play out of their minds again from behind the 3pt line. Chances are they won't!

Edited July 25, 2016 by Buzzard

[Diesel]

4 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

The Cavs owned us on the glass and shot the three ball against us, as a team, as well as anyone in the history of the playoffs. I think we have cancelled out the rebounding domination; now we just have to see if they play out of their minds again from behind the 3pt line. Chances are they won't!

I watched both Toronto and Golden State Play Cleveland.   What I noted was that if you can handle the rebounding, then the shooting from outside will calm down.   Honestly the end of game 7 against GS was hard to watch because nobody could hit an ocean with the ball.   The Cavs are still a streaky shooting team.  They just have certain guys that you can't leave wide open (Love, Frye, and Smith).   I didn't like Bud's defensive gameplan (double Lebron with no rotation).   It left KLove wide open in every game.  Frye too.  I would have rather seen us just play man to man with no doubles. 

 

[gurpilo]

hace 29 minutos, Lurker dijo:

If they continue to play three guard lineups they will continue to be stomped on by Cleveland. You will see...Horford (or poor rebounding) was not the main reason for the losses, the main reason was playing three guard lineups.

Bazemore at small forward for big mins another season is a HUGE mistake. HUGE.

Could not say it better, Baze needs to start at SG, Hardaway Jr playing is not going to solve anything, we have a MAJOR hole at 3, huge hoele, can only be filled by a rookie and? We need to sign someone and make some trades

[Peoriabird]

53 minutes ago, ViewsFromTheSquawk said:

Incorrect.... The issue was the offense.... Horford played awful. He was owned by not Tristan Thompson, but Channing Frye. Channing effing Frye. And also the classic Korver getting owned by JR is always an issue. We just need a consistent scorer that Bud can trust and I think that's what he sees with Dennis as a point. Someone who will attack on a nightly basis. 

I don't know about you but being out rebounded by 26 in game 3 represents a problem.

[Sothron]

I agree that Baze needs to start at SG and I do think that Prince will start at SF at some point next year because that is our ideal starting 2/3 combo. Korver should be 20 minutes or so off the bench as a scorer and nothing else. I agree that Bembry is probably D-League almost all season sans injury though.

[ViewsFromTheSquawk]

28 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Let me put it this way.

JR smith averaged 11 points per game and played 34.5 mpg.    In the grand scheme of things, that's not so terrible.  Channing Frye did more with less time. 

However,  Tristan Thompson pulled down 6  offensive rebounds per game.   That's 6 more offensive possessions per game.  That's a +12 point difference and a possible 24 point swing.   In essence, Thompson's offensive rebounding was more important than JR Smith's scoring.  Moreover, when you consider that we were in games 1 & 4 til the end, that says that Tristan Thompson should be holding up a Semifinals MVP.

 

 

 

Yeah Buds gameplan was questionable. I'm of the mindset let Lebron an Kyrie get what they want just don't let the others hurt you. Because LBJ and Kyrie's best performance together was when they both snaggged 41in the finals... Combined that's only 82... If you can hold them to their averages or slightly above and the rest to a respectable 25, and with budball score in the upper 90s you should be able to defeat that team...