Official Game Thread: Grizzlies at Hawks

[kg01]

45 minutes ago, Vol4ever said:

You could be correct.  My basis is they play good defense and we are terrible most of the time aside of Cam and Bembry.    

We've gotten better.  They won't get much better offensively, if we're being honest.

[NBASupes]

49 minutes ago, Vol4ever said:

You could be correct.  My basis is they play good defense and we are terrible most of the time aside of Cam and Bembry.    

They do play good defense but they have superior defensive personnel. Especially off the bench.

[terrell]

On 3/4/2020 at 9:42 AM, NBASupes said:

Other than Lou Williams, all of those guys have became decent to good defenders. Trae will have to make that same leap. It's possible. Trae actually has defensive talent contrary to popular belief 

But no length.

[Atlantaholic]

4 minutes ago, terrell said:

But no length.

Length is always going to be a big problem in the perimeter. Even when Trae in position his contests at the three point line are often completely inconsequential as most players can shoot over him with ease. What he can improve is fighting over screens and stopping ball penitration, but to project Trae as anything other than a below average defender is probably not very realistic. 

[Spud2nique]

41 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Length is always going to be a big problem

 

[KB21]

6 hours ago, Vol4ever said:

You could be correct.  My basis is they play good defense and we are terrible most of the time aside of Cam and Bembry.    

Their coach can actually coach defense, and they focus on winning.

[AHF]

23 minutes ago, KB21 said:

Their coach can actually coach defense, and they focus on winning.

I guess they flipped the switch this season after several years of not focusing on winning.  Gives you hope!

Atlanta / Memphis

2016-17  43 wins / 43 wins

2017-18  24 wins / 22 wins

2018-19  29 wins / 33 wins

 

 

[KB21]

3 minutes ago, AHF said:

I guess they flipped the switch this season after several years of not focusing on winning.  Gives you hope!

Atlanta / Memphis

2016-17  43 wins / 43 wins

2017-18  24 wins / 22 wins

2018-19  29 wins / 33 wins

 

 

It helps when you are only bad because of injury and not the self inflicted wound of making yourself bad from a roster standpoint with the intent of getting more ping pong balls.

[AHF]

9 minutes ago, KB21 said:

It helps when you are only bad because of injury and not the self inflicted wound of making yourself bad from a roster standpoint with the intent of getting more ping pong balls.

You keep telling yourself that.  They didn't try for lottery picks.  It was just injuries.  Which is why they held out people when they were healthy enough to play, traded them away when they could have won more games to get younger and future assets, etc. and ended up with the same win totals as a team you would say was deliberately tanking.  

[lethalweapon3]

I feel a SPLIT, coming in the air tonight! Oh Lawd!

 

~lw3

[KB21]

19 minutes ago, AHF said:

You keep telling yourself that.  They didn't try for lottery picks.  It was just injuries.  Which is why they held out people when they were healthy enough to play, traded them away when they could have won more games to get younger and future assets, etc. and ended up with the same win totals as a team you would say was deliberately tanking.  

It is a fact that Memphis did NOT tear their roster down in order to be bad enough to get a high draft pick.  
 

This idea that they sat healthy players isn’t even rumor.  It’s conjecture.  

[macdaddy]

10 minutes ago, KB21 said:

It is a fact that Memphis did NOT tear their roster down in order to be bad enough to get a high draft pick.  

You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means

[KB21]

9 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means

OK.  So, detail me the moves the Grizzlies made that specifically lead to them bottoming their team out.  

[JayBirdHawk]

10 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means

Never gets old. 

[Vol4ever]

1 hour ago, KB21 said:

Their coach can actually coach defense, and they focus on winning.

I agree 100% with this^^^^^

[macdaddy]

15 hours ago, KB21 said:

OK.  So, detail me the moves the Grizzlies made that specifically lead to them bottoming their team out.  

It started with the firing of Fiz and the hiring of noted turnaround artist JB Bickerstaff.   So they fire fiz for starting the season 7-12 and JB goes 15-48.

Gasol played a lot that season but the other players leading the team in apperances are : Dillon Brooks, Jarell Martin, Devonta Davis, Andrew Harrison

Next season they trade Gasol, Green, Temple, and Mack for picks and short term contracts. 

[KB21]

4 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

It started with the firing of Fiz and the hiring of noted turnaround artist JB Bickerstaff.   So they fire fiz for starting the season 7-12 and JB goes 15-48.

Gasol played a lot that season but the other players leading the team in apperances are : Dillon Brooks, Jarell Martin, Devonta Davis, Andrew Harrison

Next season they trade Gasol, Green, Temple, and Mack for picks and short term contracts. 

Again, when did they tear the team down with the intent to lose games?

Fizdale was fired because his relationship with Marc Gasol had deteriorated.  They were bad in 2017-2018 because of injuries, not because of a nefarious plan to be bad.  

They never set the goal of getting a high draft pick.  The only thing similar that they did to what Atlanta did is play the young players.  They coached the crap out of those young players though, which the Hawks have not done, and they didn’t eschew having veterans around those young players that can show them the way to win.  

The Grizzlies have built a culture, and the Hawks have only collected young talent.  There is a difference, and you see that difference in the level the two teams are at.

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, KB21 said:

Again, when did they tear the team down with the intent to lose games?

Fizdale was fired because his relationship with Marc Gasol had deteriorated.  They were bad in 2017-2018 because of injuries, not because of a nefarious plan to be bad.  

They never set the goal of getting a high draft pick.  The only thing similar that they did to what Atlanta did is play the young players.  They coached the crap out of those young players though, which the Hawks have not done, and they didn’t eschew having veterans around those young players that can show them the way to win.  

The Grizzlies have built a culture, and the Hawks have only collected young talent.  There is a difference, and you see that difference in the level the two teams are at.

It's a fact that they put JB in charge and played the 2017 season to not win games.  It's a fact that they unloaded most of their quality vets in the 2018 season so as not to win games.  

[KB21]

4 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

It's a fact that they put JB in charge and played the 2017 season to not win games.  It's a fact that they unloaded most of their quality vets in the 2018 season so as not to win games.  

They won 33 games after trading Conley and Gasol.  That’s not tanking.  Plus, Bickerstaff had a stronger resume than Lloyd Pierce, who some of you think is actually a Bud level coach for some reason.

[macdaddy]

2 minutes ago, KB21 said:

They won 33 games after trading Conley and Gasol.  That’s not tanking.  Plus, Bickerstaff had a stronger resume than Lloyd Pierce, who some of you think is actually a Bud level coach for some reason.

No they didn't.  They won 33 for the whole season.  Plus conley wasn't dealt until the offseason.  

They won 18 games before January 1.  They won 15 games the whole rest of the season.   They weren't trying to win games.  

JB is a horrible coach but that's just my opinion not fact.  Although he doesn't have much to say otherwise.