Hawks sign SF Luke Babbitt

[KB21]

12 minutes ago, sturt said:

To @DBac's point, remember we cashed in Korver for a good rebuild asset.

Babbitt's younger and cheaper.... and his stats may look even a little better b/c of the potential additional minutes on a non-contending team.

I'm coming around to thinking this could be a smart move after all.

It's a move that added a shooter and floor spacing, which is something the Hawks severely lacked last year.  With Babbitt, Belinelli, Ilyasova, Muscala, and possibly Brussino, the Hawks have added guys that can make shots from beyond the arc.  That ability has a tremendous impact on the game.  Now, that group won't stop anyone from scoring, but they will make shots.

[Buzzard]

4 minutes ago, KB21 said:

It's a move that added a shooter and floor spacing, which is something the Hawks severely lacked last year.  With Babbitt, Belinelli, Ilyasova, Muscala, and possibly Brussino, the Hawks have added guys that can make shots from beyond the arc.  That ability has a tremendous impact on the game.  Now, that group won't stop anyone from scoring, but they will make shots.

We may be the worse defensive team in Hawks history. Who knows, maybe one of the worse in NBA history. Fast pace of play could be the plan; and just hope the other team gets tired in the fourth quarter.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Buzzard

[sturt]

I feel like there's still too much analysis going on that focuses on this season.

Every and any move has at least a 2 year vision prompting it, imo.

[Admin]

5 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Shoot... I dunno!

(actually, I guess that's about right!)

~lw3

The Hawks should be using this $ to hire @lethalweapon3 to write for them! I'll be your agent I just need a 10% referral fee 

[Peoriabird]

52 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

We may be the worse defensive team in Hawks history. Who knows, maybe one of the worse in NBA history. Fast pace of play could be the plan; and just hope the other team gets tired in the fourth quarter.

lets not get carried away...Babbitt is going to get significant minutes..Nor will Belinelli or Brussino.  Think of them as Bud's Ryan Kelly security blanket. 

[Buzzard]

18 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

lets not get carried away...Babbitt is going to get significant minutes..Nor will Belinelli or Brussino.  Think of them as Bud's Ryan Kelly security blanket. 

I don't think I am getting carried away with my defensive statement. It is one thing to try and replace Sap and Dwight's combined 31.6 PPG; it is a much bigger task to replace their defensive presence and combined 20.4 RPG.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Buzzard

[Peoriabird]

4 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

I don't think I am getting carried away with my defensive statement. It is one thing to try and replace Sap and Dwight's combined 31.6 PPG, it is a much bigger task to replace their defensive presence and combined 20.4 RPG.

Worst defense in NBA history isn't getting carried away?

[Buzzard]

Just now, Peoriabird said:

Worst defense in NBA history isn't getting carried away?

My quote:

"We may be the worse defensive team in Hawks history. Who knows, maybe one of the worse in NBA history. "

Other than Dennis, we have no proven stoppers. Not saying Prince, Bembry, and Dedmon could not turn out to be solid. But my statement "may be" is based on what I have seen so far.

Teams are going to eat our lunches and score at will unless a couple of very inexperienced players really step up.

[Peoriabird]

7 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

My quote:

"We may be the worse defensive team in Hawks history. Who knows, maybe one of the worse in NBA history. "

Other than Dennis, we have no proven stoppers. Not saying Prince, Bembry, and Dedmon could not turn out to be solid. But my statement "may be" is based on what I have seen so far.

Teams are going to eat our lunches and score at will unless a couple of very inexperienced players really step up.

So Bazemore isn't a good defender?  Prince Defensive metrics from last year show that he is a good defender already So does Dedmon's metrics.  So I don't understand how you reached your conclusions.

In fact, Dedmon was #1 in the entire league in defensive ratings

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/stats/2017/Advanced_Stats/Qualified/per/All/desc/1/Regular_Season

[Buzzard]

13 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

So Bazemore isn't a good defender?  Prince Defensive metrics from last year show that he is a good defender already So does Dedmon's metrics.  So I don't understand how you reached your conclusions.

In fact, Dedmon was #1 in the entire league in defensive ratings

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/stats/2017/Advanced_Stats/Qualified/per/All/desc/1/Regular_Season

Here is my take, we lost an all star in Millsap, we lost a top 5 rebounder in Howard. I am not willing to say Dedmon and Collins are ready to replace either of them this year.  And since they can't replace them, who do you think is? The same Mascala from last season? The last time I checked Dedmon, Plumlee, and Collins are the only new bigs we acquired.

Do you somehow think Bazemore is a new player who will improve our defense and help out with our losses. How does that work? How does the same ol Bazemore make up for losing Sap and D12?

Two, three years from now, maybe we can talk. But this year, forget about it already. ROFL.

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, Buzzard said:

Here is my take, we lost an all star in Millsap, we lost a top 5 rebounder in Howard. I am not willing to say Dedmon and Collins are ready to replace either of them this year.  And since they can't replace them, who do you think is? The same Mascala from last season? The last time I checked Dedmon, Plumlee, and Collins are the only new bigs we acquired.

Do you somehow think Bazemore is a new player who will improve our defense and help out with our losses. How does that work? How does the same ol Bazemore make up for losing Sap and D12?

Two, three years from now, maybe we can talk. But this year, forget about it already. ROFL.

So you don't see the difference in saying the Hawk's defense may not be good as last year's defense vs they will either be the worst Hawks defense ever or the worst in the history of the NBA?  If you can't...Good night sir.

[DrReality]

Hoops hype list him just above Dunleavy but at a third the cost.  ? 

Edited August 5, 2017 by DrReality

[DBac]

Bud's pretty good at getting the most out of players on defense. That said, this team is poised to take a significant step back on that end. I don't think they will be like Denver or anything but they will be far from 3rd best in the league (by Defensive rating).

[sturt]

40 minutes ago, DBac said:

Bud's pretty good at getting the most out of players on defense. That said, this team is poised to take a significant step back on that end. I don't think they will be like Denver or anything but they will be far from 3rd best in the league (by Defensive rating).

 

Interestingly, we could... could... have 4 of the best defenders at their positions in the league, and yet, it is as you say.

 

[Buzzard]

11 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

So you don't see the difference in saying the Hawk's defense may not be good as last year's defense vs they will either be the worst Hawks defense ever or the worst in the history of the NBA?  If you can't...Good night sir.

I said they may be one of the worse ever; and I can easily see the difference in what you are saying and what I am saying. I do not think losing Sap and Howard in the same season is a small defensive difference maker. I see it as a huge difference maker.

The points are trivial when compared to the rebounds and defensive presence lost. I think most here are expecting way to much out of an extremely young team.

[Peoriabird]

3 hours ago, Buzzard said:

I said they may be one of the worse ever; and I can easily see the difference in what you are saying and what I am saying. I do not think losing Sap and Howard in the same season is a small defensive difference maker. I see it as a huge difference maker.

The points are trivial when compared to the rebounds and defensive presence lost. I think most here are expecting way to much out of an extremely young team.

This is the last time I will attempt to educate you on Dwayne Dedmon's defensive abilities.  It is widely know that Dedmon was brought here for his defense and it is considered equal or better than Howard in this regard.  See below.

 

The Atlanta Hawks inked a two-year contract with former San Antonio Spurs big man Dewayne Dedmon earlier in the summer and there has been a lot of intrigue about the fit. With that in mind, we reached out to Walker Bailey of SB Nation’s Pounding The Rock about Dedmon’s time in San Antonio and what Hawks fans can expect from Dedmon upon arrival.

Q: There is been a lot made about the connection between Atlanta and San Antonio and Dedmon has cited it in his introductory comments. What kind of fit was he with the Spurs?

A: He was one of San Antonio’s "diamond in the rough" type of finds. He was great defensively for about 75 percent of the year but kind of fell off towards the end of the season.

Q: Obviously, the Spurs had a couple of quality veteran bigs in LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol but Dedmon started about half of the team's games yet averaged only 17.5 minutes per contest. Is there something in his game that might lend itself more to a bench role or do you think he could stretch his workload a bit without faltering?

A: The problem with Dedmon was always the fact that he was terrible about getting himself into foul trouble. Dedmon's relentless fouling was most of the reason he didn't play extended minutes and he also wasn't much of a plus on the offensive end.

Q: Much has been made of his potential defensive impact, but what should Hawks fans expect from Dedmon on the offensive end of the floor?

A: Hawks fans should expect a lot of the same as what they got from Dwight Howard (editor’s note: or at least what they wanted from Howard). One element that he seemed to work on was a short mid range jumper. He could become a plus on the offensive end with proper development.

Q: Going back to defense, is Dedmon an impact defender or rather one that is simply solid and effective on that end?

A: Dedmon is an impact defender. He blocks shots and players often don't score when they attack the rim against him. As I said earlier, the problem with Dedmon is him getting into foul trouble.Q: Seeing the contract that Dedmon received, were you surprised at all that he received so little (or so much)?

 

A: With Dedmon, I wasn't surprised by the contract at all. He's a guy who right now isn't very good offensively but Is a great defender. He got paid for his defense and Atlanta will have to tap into some of his offensive upside.

 

https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2017/8/5/16061994/atlanta-hawks-dewayne-dedmon-san-antonio-spurs-q-a

[High5]

No way we're the worst defensive team. We'll rank higher than some teams just based on our hustle. And Bud will coach 'em up to rank a few spots higher still. I'm more concerned with the offense. We're going to need at least a couple of guys to take a big step forward to avoid being at the bottom of those rankings. 

[Buzzard]

18 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

This is the last time I will attempt to educate you on Dwayne Dedmon's defensive abilities.  It is widely know that Dedmon was brought here for his defense and it is considered equal or better than Howard in this regard.  See below.

 

The Atlanta Hawks inked a two-year contract with former San Antonio Spurs big man Dewayne Dedmon earlier in the summer and there has been a lot of intrigue about the fit. With that in mind, we reached out to Walker Bailey of SB Nation’s Pounding The Rock about Dedmon’s time in San Antonio and what Hawks fans can expect from Dedmon upon arrival.

Q: There is been a lot made about the connection between Atlanta and San Antonio and Dedmon has cited it in his introductory comments. What kind of fit was he with the Spurs?

A: He was one of San Antonio’s "diamond in the rough" type of finds. He was great defensively for about 75 percent of the year but kind of fell off towards the end of the season.

Q: Obviously, the Spurs had a couple of quality veteran bigs in LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol but Dedmon started about half of the team's games yet averaged only 17.5 minutes per contest. Is there something in his game that might lend itself more to a bench role or do you think he could stretch his workload a bit without faltering?

A: The problem with Dedmon was always the fact that he was terrible about getting himself into foul trouble. Dedmon's relentless fouling was most of the reason he didn't play extended minutes and he also wasn't much of a plus on the offensive end.

Q: Much has been made of his potential defensive impact, but what should Hawks fans expect from Dedmon on the offensive end of the floor?

A: Hawks fans should expect a lot of the same as what they got from Dwight Howard (editor’s note: or at least what they wanted from Howard). One element that he seemed to work on was a short mid range jumper. He could become a plus on the offensive end with proper development.

Q: Going back to defense, is Dedmon an impact defender or rather one that is simply solid and effective on that end?

A: Dedmon is an impact defender. He blocks shots and players often don't score when they attack the rim against him. As I said earlier, the problem with Dedmon is him getting into foul trouble.Q: Seeing the contract that Dedmon received, were you surprised at all that he received so little (or so much)?

 

A: With Dedmon, I wasn't surprised by the contract at all. He's a guy who right now isn't very good offensively but Is a great defender. He got paid for his defense and Atlanta will have to tap into some of his offensive upside.

 

https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2017/8/5/16061994/atlanta-hawks-dewayne-dedmon-san-antonio-spurs-q-a

I am not going to get all hyped up about a career bench player; I don't care what team he played for. We got all excited when we "stole" Splitter from the Sprus a few years ago. How did that work out?

You and the beat writer are certainly entitled to your opinion though.

[Lurker]

You're not talking about potential with Dedmon's defense.

You're talking about results. And he didn't have Duncan to help him on defense either, guys like Aldridge and Pau are stiffs on defense.

I understand being depressed about having a potentially bad team but I think guys are starting to get a little irrational, you have not lost prime, DPOY version Dwight. However, you can see how this team will be bad. It fits a lot better than 15/16 in that it makes much more sense but the starting lineup will be bad offense, good defense and the bench will be really bad defense with good offense.

[Lurker]

2 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

I am not going to get all hyped up about a career bench player; I don't care what team he played for. We got all excited when we "stole" Splitter from the Sprus a few years ago. How did that work out?

You and the beat writer are certainly entitled to your opinion though.

Splitter also had Duncan hiding him...this is for real, not fake with Dedmon, especially considering that Pau and Aldridge are absolutely AWFUL on defense.