Is Dennis the PG of the future? Can he win a playoff game?

[Diesel]

Dennis is a skilled guy, but will he ever develop a mentality needed to win in the post season?

I know he has fans... for cultural reason, for nationality reasons, for potential...

However, I have not been a fan of what I have seen of him when the games mean the most.  It's 4 years and the same story... he doesn't know how to get others going.  That loses in the playoffs.  I know that there will be a lot of flames to follow and a lot of he's young... i.e. The Marvin Williams believe he will change mantra.   However, after all the forced sacred cow devotion, should our management stay the course with Dennis or should they seek out new guys like:  Lonzo Ball (For instance)...  A guy who seems like he will be a several time allstar...  Trade for him... or even trade for D'Angelo Russell if a good package is there. 

 

 

[Bankingitbig]

Dennis is not the reason we lost. He had 25 points and 9 assists and was efficient. He made a dumb decision to pull up for a three on a fast break and could have played some better defense but that is about it.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Bankingitbig

[Lurker]

Sigh, let me say it again, and I'll preface it with I didn't see one minute of actual game action, but it takes two to dance with Dwight Howard getting, or not getting involved.

Dwight Howard is not going to receive good post passes from Dennis, or any of the young guards on the team, as that simply is not taught anymore, so do NOT, and I mean NOT bring that up as a problem. But unless Dwight is going to set screens and dive hard to the hole, he's not going to get involved much at all with the starters, unless you play him with Jose Calderon, and THEN he can post up like he wishes, but that has a CATCH, even IF Dwight is HITTING his post shots, it has a history of THROWING OFF THE REST OF THE OFFENSE this year (RE: Cleveland in the last regular season game, he was excellent with his post ups in the second quarter, but what exactly did it lead to in that quarter? Nothing, because before Dennis even returned, the deficit was still already....."drumroll", at least 15-17 points).

I did not see this game, but when I see Dwight only getting 6 shots, being 2-6 on them, 1-5 outside of the putback dunk, my assumption is he begun the game being a lazy bum on the PNR, and there was one short video that backs ME up. I'm not going to post it here, but my case in point in that short video is he rolls a little but, doesn't go all the way when Gortat leaves, is NOT in position to receive a pass that would result in a good shot attempt from him (the only shots I want to see him get are catch and layup or catch and dunk), so no wonder Dennis tries to lay it up. He DOES get the rebound, and does NOT kick it out when he gets, it, so its a turnover.

You, and Graham would make me think Dennis took something dumb like 22+ shots. The time to criticize is not a game in which he took 16, had 8 assists when the game was somewhat in doubt, 9 in all, and was efficient.

The time to criticize is when he isn't efficient and takes 20+ shots.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Lurker

[macdaddy]

16 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Dennis is a skilled guy, but will he ever develop a mentality needed to win in the post season?

I know he has fans... for cultural reason, for nationality reasons, for potential...

However, I have not been a fan of what I have seen of him when the games mean the most.  It's 4 years and the same story... he doesn't know how to get others going.  That loses in the playoffs.  I know that there will be a lot of flames to follow and a lot of he's young... i.e. The Marvin Williams believe he will change mantra.   However, after all the forced sacred cow devotion, should our management stay the course with Dennis or should they seek out new guys like:  Lonzo Ball (For instance)...  A guy who seems like he will be a several time allstar...  Trade for him... or even trade for D'Angelo Russell if a good package is there. 

 

 

Is this a trade thread or a playoff thread.   I'd trade Dennis in the summer in a package for JImmy Butler.   But Dennis has been really good this year.   He's better than Teague and I'm a huge fan of Jeff.   This team isn't the type of team that is going to lead to double digit assist numbers for the PG but Dennis has been consistently good all year except for that 2-3 weeks he sucked.

[Diesel]

I don't care about Dwight getting touches... That's not it.  I watch Dennis play and he can be easily goaded into making the game 1 on 1.  Wall did it to start the 2nd half.  Call it competitiveness if you want to, but that pride thing makes allowances for smarter guys to get us out of the team game.  I watched while Teague was here and it was good to have Teague who would return us to a team game.  Now we put Baze on the floor as PG and he gets Smoked defensively.

In Free Agency, we should get a guy like George Hill and let there be competition for the starter if we can not find a trade for a marquee talent. 

 

[Lurker]

5 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I don't care about Dwight getting touches... That's not it.  I watch Dennis play and he can be easily goaded into making the game 1 on 1.  Wall did it to start the 2nd half.  Call it competitiveness if you want to, but that pride thing makes allowances for smarter guys to get us out of the team game.  I watched while Teague was here and it was good to have Teague who would return us to a team game.  Now we put Baze on the floor as PG and he gets Smoked defensively.

In Free Agency, we should get a guy like George Hill and let there be competition for the starter if we can not find a trade for a marquee talent. 

 

More like Paul Millsap let himself be taken out of the game due to frustration over the refs, beginning at the end of the second quarter.

[ISOJOE]

Lonzo Ball? Really? 

This dude is one of the most overrated prospects I've ever seen.  I would pick Ntilikina over him.

Keep Schröder and draft a Big who can run the picknpop AND wants to run the picknroll. Trade some spots up if necessary.

[Guest]

Just like I gave Teague a chance to grow into his game. I'll give Dennis that same chance (unless it's for an excellent trade).

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Diesel said:

In Free Agency, we should get a guy like George Hill and let there be competition for the starter if we can not find a trade for a marquee talent. 

Where are we getting the close to max money needed to sign George Hill?

[Lurker]

6 minutes ago, ISOJOE said:

Lonzo Ball? Really? 

This dude is one of the most overrated prospects I've ever seen.  I would pick Ntilikina over him.

Keep Schröder and draft a Big who can run the picknpop AND wants to run the picknroll. Trade some spots up if necessary.

idk about most overrated, but you'd have to build a team specifically for him and doing so would not include Dwight Howard. Ball's a bad defender that would need an aggressive hedging big man on the PNR to help conceal some of his defensive difficulties.

Wait a minute...

[ISOJOE]

vor 17 Minuten, Diesel sagte:

In Free Agency, we should get a guy like George Hill and let there be competition for the starter if we can not find a trade for a marquee talent. 

 

STOP ! I like Hill but he will not come to Atlanta unless we give him the max and if this is the case Millsap will get the paycheck too. The ownership would pay luxury tax for a decent time that has no shot to win the championship. Well done

[ISOJOE]

vor 12 Minuten, Lurker sagte:

idk about most overrated, but you'd have to build a team specifically for him and doing so would not include Dwight Howard. Ball's a bad defender that would need an aggressive hedging big man on the PNR to help conceal some of his defensive difficulties.

Wait a minute...

I think he has the potential to be a starter in this league (secondary ballhandler and he should guard the offball guard imo) but it's borderline ridiculous to think that he will run a good NBA team. He hasn't shown anything as a half-court playmaker and scored how many points per game . NBA wings with a long wingspan will block his jumpshot all day. 

Edited April 17, 2017 by ISOJOE

[Lurker]

In general, with the PGs in this draft that I know about from college, you get a general idea with all of them:

Markelle Fultz: I haven't seen much of him, but I know that he is a special all around talent. He has the tools to be a good defensive player in the future and is already good offensively. Can be baited into 1v1 on offense and while he's already good offensively, he still needs to develop some more moves.
Lonzo Ball: Savvy passer and excellent at pushing the tempo. Very questionable defensively, also very questionable with his own offense. Can he get around defenders that have more lateral speed in the NBA?
De'Aaron Fox: Very aggressive score first PG that was the guy that fueled Kentucky last year. Already a very good defender, too. He can pass, but he's an aggressive score first PG that has quite a bit of love for the game.
Dennis Smith Jr: I didn't see much of him, but from what I do know, he's also an aggressive score first PG. He can do both, but he's more of a scorer.

[BudBall]

The man is 23 years old and first year as a starter. Hell he is one of the main reasons we were still in the game yesterday. I think Dennis has played above expectations and will continue to get better as a passer as he matures. He is one of the few bright spots we have on this team!

[Lurker]

5 minutes ago, ISOJOE said:

I think he has the potential to be a starter in this league (secondary ballhandler and he should guard the offball guard imo) but it's borderline ridiculous to think that he will run a good NBA team. He hasn't shown anything as a half-court playmaker and scored how many points per game . NBA wings with a long wingspan will block his jumpshot all day. 

That'd be interesting to look at. Most of his best moments on offense came in pushing the pace and off of the ball where he doesn't have to create his own shot.

[Guest]

Heh, I'm just in for the lulz.

Lonzo Ball's just gonna come in and start beastin' better than 25/9 in the playoffs.  What next?  Start Calderon?  Somebody's thinkin' it.  Who'll be brave enough to put it out there?

#GetchaPopcornReady

[ISOJOE]

vor 13 Minuten, Lurker sagte:

That'd be interesting to look at. Most of his best moments on offense came in pushing the pace and off of the ball where he doesn't have to create his own shot.

Imagine him against the low-pace Jazz. He wouldn't score a point.

[NBASupes]

Dwight is trash. 

[BigDog90]

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Is this a trade thread or a playoff thread.   I'd trade Dennis in the summer in a package for JImmy Butler.   But Dennis has been really good this year.   He's better than Teague and I'm a huge fan of Jeff.   This team isn't the type of team that is going to lead to double digit assist numbers for the PG but Dennis has been consistently good all year except for that 2-3 weeks he sucked.

Hawks don't have the assets for Butler.

2 hours ago, Diesel said:

I don't care about Dwight getting touches... That's not it.  I watch Dennis play and he can be easily goaded into making the game 1 on 1.  Wall did it to start the 2nd half.  Call it competitiveness if you want to, but that pride thing makes allowances for smarter guys to get us out of the team game.  I watched while Teague was here and it was good to have Teague who would return us to a team game.  Now we put Baze on the floor as PG and he gets Smoked defensively.

In Free Agency, we should get a guy like George Hill and let there be competition for the starter if we can not find a trade for a marquee talent. 

 

Hill is too expensive for the Hawks. He turned down 88 mil through 2020 from the Jazz. 

[BigDog90]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Just like I gave Teague a chance to grow into his game. I'll give Dennis that same chance (unless it's for an excellent trade).

Bud/Wilcox just need to surround him with shooters and bigs that'll consistently set screens for him and give him space. Dwight is a bad fit for him. Pero and Horford would have been great. 

2 hours ago, ISOJOE said:

STOP ! I like Hill but he will not come to Atlanta unless we give him the max and if this is the case Millsap will get the paycheck too. The ownership would pay luxury tax for a decent time that has no shot to win the championship. Well done

If only ATL had gotten Hill in the Teague trade :(