In their/our DEFENSE

[sillent]

I've been hearing way too much about our players like Dennis, Prince and etc. not being good defenders. Are we forgetting last year we were not attempting to win alot of games so defense was not a main focus. Obviously there was more of a focus on 3's for players like Prince and Dedmon. Dedmon was mainly a shot blocker before he got to our team and after his shot blocking talents were highly absent last season. Is he a bad defender too? Before last year we had guys like Prince and Bembry D ing up guys like LeBron and Harden (pretty well at that) but now Prince can't defend? After holding his own as a rookie against (one) the best player in the league in LeBron James as well as being a dog (of the DeMarre Carroll mold) he some how lost his defensive instincts? Dennis Schröder came into the league his 1st 2 yrs guarding people full court and being a pest on defense allowing him and Teague to play together without major issues defensively and now he can't defend either? Either some of us have horrible memories, are newbie fans or don't understand to lose effectively as we did last season while still looking competitive we had to take defense out of the equation. Hawks University knew what we had defensively in our squad but in order to tank like so many were so excited to do we sacrificed defense and put more focus and emphasis on the 3 ball. Hearing us dog our own players especially by judging last years performance is just sad and fickle as Josh Smith would call us. Either we sacrifice full talent/ potential to get more talent/ potential or we play to the best of our abilities and see where we stand. Playing to our best abilities obviously wasn't on the menu last year and possibly not this year either but don't dismiss our players talents because it wasn't on display in a year where we are obviously not trying to be that good. This year with new head coach Pierce we may decide to emphasis straight defense. I'm sure the new story will be nobody can shoot on our squad even though all of our players are very capable shooters with Plumlee being the lone exception. 

 

Point is if you want these beloved draft picks so bad some things have to be sacrificed on the court. You can't have a great defensive team and lose like we did last year. I'm sure we will forget offense a bit this yr to lose while emphasizing defense. Can't have both although I think it'd be best for us to play to our best abilities and see where we land. We could win the 1st next year and Schlenk would trade back for the 10th so what's the point of tanking? Schlenk draft track record for us looks good outside of the lottery. Maybe we should play to his strengths and do the absolute best we can so he can do what he does best and not fumble high picks. Not saying Trae is a bust (atleast not yet) but I think we all can agree he wasn't top 3 or top 5 in this draft and we could've played closer to Bulls/Knicks level if we were going to pick a Trae. I do not want to see us throw away another year to get a top pick just so we can trade down. We gathered offense. We actually do have high quality defenders so let's let them put their full talent on display so we can 1 not be so forgetful and 2 to actually know where our team stands and let the picks fall where they may. That's what the draft was made for in the 1st place and I hope Silver does more and more to encourage natural progression of teams while discouraging those trying to sabotage their way into a spot. Most of the time the tankers end up screwing it up some how some way anyway and stars/good to great talent end up slipping in the draft to teams that were already pretty good or atleast tried their best. Ask yourself seriously do you really want to continue purposely tanking just to not get the stud you were looking for in the draft anyway? Or worst to get the player you wanted just to see him turn into a bust? Some GM's I don't trust with any picks but Schlenk seems to be pretty good at finding talent no one was looking at or knew of outside the lottery so let's let him do what he does best and allow our players to do what they do best (while getting better) on the court and let the chips fall where they may. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Welp . . . looks like we're panicking.

 

You can stop this, Trae.  Just play better this weekend in Vegas.

[nathan2331]

This is a good post, and most of what you said is undeniable. However, I still believe it's in our best interest to tank in this upcoming season. I've always said that we're not that far from being a playoff team in the East, we're just nowhere close to contending. It sucks seeing the team make personnel decisions I don't agree with, but I can't deny the upside.

 

My problem now is that how long this rebuild will take. Had we done things my way, we'd be tanking again this year and trying to compete in 2020. Now it's looking like Schlenk wants to be the Sixers. He's already squandered the best asset we had in Coach Bud and after watching Summer League I don't like what I've seen from Pierce. It's early days, but I'm not liking what I'm seeing so far.

[Sothron]

Was half the OP randomly in bold or was that just me?

[Buzzard]

8 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Welp . . . looks like we're panicking.

 

You can stop this, Trae.  Just play better this weekend in Vegas.

Bagley is averaging 8 and 5 over his three games and shooting 31% from the field.

JJJ Take away his monster game against us and he is averaging 9 and 6. Even with his monster game he is shooting only 42% from the field.

There is no sense in panicking. These are 19 year old kids and in college they had 30 plus games; and perhaps a thousand hours of practice in the same system. It is summer league, nothing more nothing less.

 

 

[Buzzard]

6 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Bagley is averaging 8 and 5 over his three games and shooting 31% from the field.

JJJ Take away his monster game against us and he is averaging 9 and 6. Even with his monster game he is shooting only 42% from the field.

There is no sense in panicking. These are 19 year old kids and in college they had 30 plus games; and perhaps a thousand hours of practice in the same system. It is summer league, nothing more nothing less.

 

 

Here is a link to Summer League stats.

http://www.nba.com/summerleague/2018/stats

[Sothron]

10 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Bagley is averaging 8 and 5 over his three games and shooting 31% from the field.

JJJ Take away his monster game against us and he is averaging 9 and 6. Even with his monster game he is shooting only 42% from the field.

There is no sense in panicking. These are 19 year old kids and in college they had 30 plus games; and perhaps a thousand hours of practice in the same system. It is summer league, nothing more nothing less.

 

 

You can't defend 23% shooting on a guy with almost double the amount of shots as the next player on the team. It really is ok to say someone is playing badly.

[Buzzard]

Just now, Sothron said:

You can't defend 23% shooting on a guy with almost double the amount of shots as the next player on the team. It really is ok to say someone is playing badly.

Sure I can, I just defended him and the other two top picks that played in Utah. Try your best to understand you are no ones boss here.

[JayBirdHawk]

12 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Bagley is averaging 8 and 5 over his three games and shooting 31% from the field.

JJJ Take away his monster game against us and he is averaging 9 and 6. Even with his monster game he is shooting only 42% from the field.

There is no sense in panicking. These are 19 year old kids and in college they had 30 plus games; and perhaps a thousand hours of practice in the same system. It is summer league, nothing more nothing less.

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Here is a link to Summer League stats.

http://www.nba.com/summerleague/2018/stats

Stats schmats - Trae has been underwhelming.  

At least the other guys gave you a decent glimpse of something before crashing back to earth.

Yeah, I know...it's SL...but I'm still annoyed.

[Ropadope]

Trae not shooting well doesn't bother me at all. He can shoot. That will come around. He's getting to good spots and getting open. He's distributing well.

I'm more concerned with his complete lack of athleticism and length once he gets into the lane. No burst or separation and inability to score near the rim. He got swatted and deflected so many times, even on fast breaks. This lack of length and athleticism will likely prevent him from being the complete player he needs to be once defenses gameplan to take away his strengths. 

[Sothron]

Just now, Buzzard said:

Sure I can, I just defended him and the other two top picks that played in Utah. Try your best to understand you are no ones boss here.

So you are saying he's playing well then? Shooting 23% with almost double the shots as the next guy on the team is playing great basketball? I just want to make sure we are establishing what is and what is not good games from Acie Law 2.0 going forwards. Cuz it sure sounds like nothing he does is wrong around here. Basketball Jesus indeed!

[Buzzard]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Stats schmats - Trae has been underwhelming.  

At least the other guys gave you a decent glimpse of something before crashing back to earth.

Yeah, I know...it's SL...but I'm still annoyed.

I am annoyed to and would like to see one great game from him. Maybe it happens in Vegas. I don't have any likes to give out, your post would have got one.

[JayBirdHawk]

2 minutes ago, Sothron said:

You can't defend 23% shooting on a guy with almost double the amount of shots as the next player on the team. It really is ok to say someone is playing badly.

It really shouldn't be defended but.........you'll hear it's SL...and look at everybody else.  I don't care about anybody else.

This has to work for the Hawks and I'm praying it does but so far...I'm uncomfortable.

I'm hoping for a better showing in Vegas.

[Buzzard]

1 minute ago, Sothron said:

So you are saying he's playing well then? Shooting 23% with almost double the shots as the next guy on the team is playing great basketball? I just want to make sure we are establishing what is and what is not good games from Acie Law 2.0 going forwards. Cuz it sure sounds like nothing he does is wrong around here. Basketball Jesus indeed!

You are posting that not me, Try harder to not tell people what to do and what to say, You really suck at it.

[sillent]

Sorry if this looks like a panic post. lol... Just foresight on if we play this rebuilding game for too long. I don't expect to be too good this year but I do expect to have a better winning percentage than last year. Atleast I did before the Dennis fiasco because we have all our main core intact and all our players should see some improvement. With the Pierce wrinkle and possible Dennis trade I expect one more year of rebuilding. The year after this next draft I expect us to be a new up and coming team. If we're still tanking than we've lost and who knows how long it will take to bring a winning culture back to Atlanta. As much as we are die hard Hawks fans every year passing is also a year of our lives. I don't want to be 45 - 50 just to finally see my team do something special. I don't care if we lose but I want to know we put our best efforts out there so we can truly naturally get better instead of degression. The East is up for grabs now meaning we have an opportunity sooner than later to start grabbing and I expect the 2019-2020 season to reflect that.  

[Sothron]

2 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

You are posting that not me, Try harder to not tell people what to do and what to say, You really suck at it.

How about answering the question instead of trying to insult me. Let's try that. Is he playing great so far or not? Simple question. I can't make it more simple for you.

[Sothron]

1 minute ago, sillent said:

Sorry if this looks like a panic post. lol... Just foresight on if we play this rebuilding game for too long. I don't expect to be too good this year but I do expect to have a better winning percentage than last year. Atleast I did before the Dennis fiasco because we have all our main core intact and all our players should see some improvement. With the Pierce wrinkle and possible Dennis trade I expect one more year of rebuilding. The year after this next draft I expect us to be a new up and coming team. If we're still tanking than we've lost and who knows how long it will take to bring a winning culture back to Atlanta. As much as we are die hard Hawks fans every year passing is also a year of our lives. I don't want to be 45 - 50 just to finally see my team do something special. I don't care if we lose but I want to know we put our best efforts out there so we can truly naturally get better instead of degression. The East is up for grabs now meaning we have an opportunity sooner than later to start grabbing and I expect the 2019-2020 season to reflect that.  

A rebuild in the NBA usually takes 3-5 seasons to at least get back into the playoffs. There are exceptions either way but I don't think we're looking at the playoffs by the 2019-20 season. And that's if, btw, all our draft picks pan out exactly like we hope.

[Buzzard]

Just now, sillent said:

Sorry if this looks like a panic post. lol... Just foresight on if we play this rebuilding game for too long. I don't expect to be too good this year but I do expect to have a better winning percentage than last year. Atleast I did before the Dennis fiasco because we have all our main core intact and all our players should see some improvement. With the Pierce wrinkle and possible Dennis trade I expect one more year of rebuilding. The year after this next draft I expect us to be a new up and coming team. If we're still tanking than we've lost and who knows how long it will take to bring a winning culture back to Atlanta. As much as we are die hard Hawks fans every year passing is also a year of our lives. I don't want to be 45 - 50 just to finally see my team do something special. I don't care if we lose but I want to know we put our best efforts out there so we can truly naturally get better instead of degression. The East is up for grabs now meaning we have an opportunity sooner than later to start grabbing and I expect the 2019-2020 season to reflect that.  

I agree and if we keep Dennis and Baze, I agree that we will win more games than last season. We still need a 3rd PG because Dorsey is not  it.

[Buzzard]

2 minutes ago, Sothron said:

How about answering the question instead of trying to insult me. Let's try that. Is he playing great so far or not? Simple question. I can't make it more simple for you.

Such a stupid question deserves an insult. Are you not watching the games? If so you should not have to ask that question. Here is what I see from you:

You want to get into a 200 reply bashing player tantrum, and I don't want any part of it,

[Sothron]

3 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Such a stupid question deserves an insult. Are you not watching the games? If so you should not have to ask that question. Here is what I see from you:

You want to get into a 200 reply bashing player tantrum, and I don't want any part of it,

So you can't answer a simple question and still try to insult me. Cool story bro.