How serious of a playoff threat are we this season?

[Spud2nique]

6 minutes ago, AHF said:

I don't think we will be in the playoffs so I won't be on there but this should look really attractive for the optimists on the Squawk.

It’s so juicy AHF! I’m tempted! 

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

On 8/8/2019 at 12:37 AM, capstone21 said:

We are a year away ... we win over thirty but lack of D and need of development keeps us away from playoffs

This.  Our current talent only translates offensively and our rookies, while talented, are a year away from consistently contributing.  Defensively, we are going to be chasing our tails most games... we are similar to the Falcons in this except our offense isn't good enough to keep it close.  I put us at 30-35 wins.

[gurpilo]

I expect an improvement but I don't think we should realistically expect to make the playoffs as we are a new and very young team. 

I expect improvement from Trae, John and Huerter, solid (same as last year) contributions from Len and Bembry and early and even season struggles from Reddish and Hunter, they are really young and although they could show some highlights is difficult they can produce consistently. I am expecting offensive struggle from Hunter and overall struggle from Cam.

Wild cards will be Crabbe, Parker and Jones if they exceesd last year production perhaps we could make it but I think we still have many weaknesses to make the playoffs.

[Spud2nique]

Can somebody name 8 teams in the east that are better than us...sure the first 4 or 5 are easy but 8?...

We might be a default playoff team because the east still sucks a bit.

[JayBirdHawk]

37 Wins...I was holding this 'nimber' until after preseason, but what the heck. I reserve the right to change it after that time 

[Gray Mule]

Ha!  We all know how serious we are.  Vince Carter is chasing that championship ring, so he signed on here !!

Really, our odds seem to be pretty good at making it into the playoffs since there will be 8 teams from the east and we expect to have a good shot at 6, 7 or 8.

If you can't dream big, at least make an effort at it!

[Gray Mule]

Seriously.  Bet you didn't know.  Posters here are well aware how I feel about free throws.  They are "free" and should be made the majority of the time.  I found this juicy tidbit this summer.  Bruno hit 79.9% of his free throws while in college!  Being able to score from the free throw line is a + and bodes well for him to step out to the three and make a good % from there.

Hawks are not as weak as some would hope that you believe.  Some teams are going to get a headache when they begin to worry about playing us...

[gurpilo]

hace 3 horas, Spud2nique dijo:

Can somebody name 8 teams in the east that are better than us...sure the first 4 or 5 are easy but 8?...

We might be a default playoff team because the east still sucks a bit.

Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklin, Toronto, Indiana, Miami, Detroit and Orlando are better in my opinion. Miami might be in discussion but they added Butler, Herro and Leonard and lost Richardson and Witheside, they have 3 young up and cong players that will improve in Adebayo, Derrick Jomes Jr and Winslow, they could improve their 39 wins.

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, gurpilo said:

Miami might be in discussion but they added Butler, Herro and Leonard and lost Richardson and Witheside, they have 3 young up and cong players that will improve in Adebayo, Derrick Jomes Jr and Winslow, they could improve their 39 wins.

So I assume you are @kg01‘s BIL? 

Its nice to meet you, we’ve ah, we’ve heard a lot about you. Well, welcome, come inside take a look around and let me know if @JayBirdHawk can get you some coffee or another beverage.

[gurpilo]

hace 34 minutos, Spud2nique dijo:

So I assume you are @kg01‘s BIL? 

Its nice to meet you, we’ve ah, we’ve heard a lot about you. Well, welcome, come inside take a look around and let me know if @JayBirdHawk can get you some coffee or another beverage.

???, I don't know what to think about that answer

 

[Thomas]

Forty two wins or so gets you in the East do believe. So, yeah we make it but have a very awkward splash in the playoffs. We will still have to score a ton to win there and the playoffs can really adversely affect offensive numbers (refs being a part of that historically) so am being realistic at least at that point. Won't prevent us from growing as a team but will actually embolden us moving forward. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Gray Mule said:

Seriously.  Bet you didn't know.  Posters here are well aware how I feel about free throws.  They are "free" and should be made the majority of the time.  I found this juicy tidbit this summer.  Bruno hit 79.9% of his free throws while in college!  Being able to score from the free throw line is a + and bodes well for him to step out to the three and make a good % from there.

Agree on all this.  High on Bruno's future for us and if he develops it is nice to know we won't have to pull him off the floor in key moments because he is a liability at the line!

[AHF]

1 hour ago, gurpilo said:

Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklin, Toronto, Indiana, Miami, Detroit and Orlando are better in my opinion. Miami might be in discussion but they added Butler, Herro and Leonard and lost Richardson and Witheside, they have 3 young up and cong players that will improve in Adebayo, Derrick Jomes Jr and Winslow, they could improve their 39 wins.

I think Miami improved this offseason.  They lost Richardson but gave Whiteside the boot.  They wanted to free up those minutes for Adebayo and wanted to remove a distraction.  That was addition by subtraction, IMO, and Butler is a real positive impact on their bottom line for 2019-20.

[Spud2nique]

35 minutes ago, AHF said:

I think Miami improved this offseason.  They lost Richardson but gave Whiteside the boot.  They wanted to free up those minutes for Adebayo and wanted to remove a distraction.  That was addition by subtraction, IMO, and Butler is a real positive impact on their bottom line for 2019-20.

An audition for @kg01‘s BIL takes place in the auditorium at 3:30 after the pep rally!  

I will say Miami might have a bit more identity but Butler needs to reinvent himself a bit. He came in as an underrated hard worker but I don’t know now. He seems a bit of a “I take the team to  the top or nobody does” kind of guy. 

I still like him cuz he’s a 2 way player but the Heat have a few holes 🕳 imo.

[Gray Mule]

WE  BELIEVE !!

Alex Len has told us how much he has learned since becoming a Hawk.  He believes he would be much better now if he had been taught by his current coaches when he first arrived in the NBA.

We believe that Damian Jones will improve in the same way this season.  Bruno Fernando will begin his NBA career under the teaching of the same coaches that Alex Len is talking about.

While our center position will probably begin as one of our weakest positions, we believe that, with our coaching staff, the position will grow rather quickly and become very solid when all is said and done.

Alex Len believes he has personally improved a lot since the end of the season.  He knows what he needs to work on.  I'll bet, somewhere in the dark reaches of the off season summer, Damian and Bruno are quietly at work, preparing for the upcoming winter of NBA competition.

Damian Jones will be asked to change his game.  He has been known as a solid, around the rim, player on both ends of the court.  He will be moving out further with the Hawks.  A different look for him.

Bruno, a big, bull in the china shop.  Certainly not afraid to mix it up with the big boys inside.  He has the size to carry this out.  So much difference in the NBA game and he has so much to learn.  The thing is, the Hawks have the staff already in place to teach this.  Alex Len says this is true and we believe.

With the Hawks early, tough schedule and with so much learning for so many Hawk players, we don't expect to be seen blasting out of the gate.  As the early losses pile up, those who predict a 30 win season will be feeling secure. 

We believe!  As the season progresses and our youngsters mature, we see our beloved Hawks being harder and harder to defeat and the wins beginning to pile up.  Those doubter will be wondering, what happened?  We know!  Our team is growing up!  We are now ready to take on all comers.  We believe!!

[AHF]

16 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

An audition for @kg01‘s BIL takes place in the auditorium at 3:30 after the pep rally!  

I will say Miami might have a bit more identity but Butler needs to reinvent himself a bit. He came in as an underrated hard worker but I don’t know now. He seems a bit of a “I take the team to  the top or nobody does” kind of guy. 

I still like him cuz he’s a 2 way player but the Heat have a few holes 🕳 imo.

I think they'll be in the playoffs but where they land specifically will depend on a variety of factors, injuries of course being one of them.  I just like them a little better than last year since I think this group is a little more talented and a little more hungry. 

Not exactly dropping leading the band wagon for kg's BIL who is likely making plans for what hotel to stay at during the ECF.  I'm calling them a 5-8 seed and a likely first round out in the playoffs. 

[Peoriabird]

On 8/20/2019 at 7:12 AM, Gray Mule said:

 

 

We believe!  As the season progresses and our youngsters mature, we see our beloved Hawks being harder and harder to defeat and the wins beginning to pile up.  Those doubter will be wondering, what happened?  We know!  Our team is growing up!  We are now ready to take on all comers.  We believe!!

And then Schlenk will start selling or buying out pieces while taking on bad contacts. And then the playoff crowd will say what happened?

[hazer]

12 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

And then Sclenk will start selling or buying out pieces while taking on bad contacts. And then the playoff crowd will say what happened?

 

[Peoriabird]

Atlanta Hawks projected for 10th-place finish by ESPN

17 comments

By Brad Rowland@BTRowland Aug 21, 2019, 8:57am EDT

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Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

Much has been made of ESPN’s RPM projections tempering enthusiasm surrounding the Atlanta Hawks. On Wednesday, a panel of experts from the worldwide leader combined for a friendlier evaluation of Lloyd Pierce’s team.

As part of ESPN’s summer forecast, the group voted on the projected order of finish in the Eastern Conference and the Hawks landed in the No. 10 spot. The projection came with a record of 34-48 and, while Atlanta was seven games out of the No. 8 spot (held by Orlando), the voting did have the Hawks narrowly out-pacing their consensus Las Vegas over/under projection.

As part of a 5-on-5 roundtable, Chris Herring of ESPN shared positive thoughts about the Hawks as one of the more underrated teams in the NBA:

I wasn’t in love with some of the Hawks’ summer moves (the Jabari Parker signing doesn’t strike me as a great fit), but I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a slightly bigger jump than what’s projected here (34 wins, No. 10). We all know about Trae Young, but if other youngsters like John Collins and Kevin Huerter show linear growth -- and the team can actually learn to make stops -- I think Atlanta could get closer to the high 30s. After a 21-41 start, the Hawks came to life and played nearly .500 basketball in March. They seem another year or two away from doing real damage, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they give chase for that last spot in the East.

In the grand scheme, there is nothing ground-breaking here, but a bit more optimism is never a bad thing to display. At the very least, the human voting at ESPN likes the Hawks more than their (controversial) RPM projection and the nine teams projected ahead of Atlanta — including last season’s eight playoff teams and the Jimmy Butler-led Miami Heat — actually make sense on paper.

Stay tuned.

[bleachkit]

Call me crazy, but I'm bullish on this year's team. I think we squeak in.