Premium Member Popular Post JayBirdHawk Posted June 23, 2020 Premium Member Popular Post Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 Celtics, Pelicans and Grizzlies in top 3. Quote I think this has the makings of a ridiculously special offensive roster if ownership doesn’t get in the way and short circuit the rebuilding process by forcing them to try to win now as opposed to developing organically. The combination of production and efficiency that Trae Young and John Collins have shown thus far is ridiculous. Quote 1. Trae Young, G | 21 years old | Three years, $21.2 million. Last year team option 2019-20 stats: 29.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 9.3 assists, 1.1 steals, 43.7/36.1/86.0 Simply put, Young has developed into one of the most creative offensive forces in the NBA, regardless of age. The elite-level skill and production he showcased at Oklahoma — where he led the NCAA in both scoring and assists — have translated at basically the same level. The individual numbers Young achieved in 2019-20 are pretty mind-boggling. He averaged 29.6 points and 9.3 assists on a pretty ridiculous 59.5 true-shooting percentage. The players who posted at least that many points per game total on that level of efficiency? It’s a veritable set of Hall of Famers that sprinkle the NBA’s all-time elite. Try these names on for size: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Larry Bird, Stephen Curry, Adrian Dantley, Kevin Durant, George Gervin, James Harden, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Bob McAdoo, Shaquille O’Neal and Kiki VanDeWeghe. Quote 2. John Collins, F | 22 years old | Two years, $6.8 million 2019-20 stats: 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.6 blocks, 58.3/40.1/80.0 Similar to Young, Collins is something of a controversial building block because of his incredible offensive production and very real defensive question marks. Let’s start on that offense, though, because I’m not sure enough people have recognized just how intriguing Collins is on that end. There is a lot of Amar’e Stoudemire here to Young’s Steve Nash impression. Collins is 22 and he’s coming off of a season in which he averaged 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds on an obscene 65.9 true-shooting percentage. Similar to Young, his productivity has been genuinely special for his age. The list of players to have done what Collins did this year isn’t exactly long. It’s Collins and Charles Barkley. Heck, even reduce that down to 21 points and 10 rebounds on a 60 true-shooting percentage and you get Barkley and Collins with Kareem, Shaq, Karl-Anthony Towns, Moses Malone, Anthony Davis, Giannis, Dwight Howard, David Robinson, Karl Malone, Artis Gilmore and Wilt Chamberlain. That’s pretty outrageous for someone this young. He’s an elite roller. He can short roll and attack off the bounce with quickness. And he can knock down shots. If you play drop coverage, he’s going to hurt you from 3. If you blitz Young or play tight, he’s so fast and so smart at slipping screens that he’s going to get to the rim too fast to recover. Really, the only thing missing in his arsenal is the passing read when teams crowd him. If he brings that, he’ll be one of the genuinely elite bigs in the NBA offensively. Even if he doesn’t, I think he’s going to make All-Star games. I’m honestly that high on Quote 3. Cam Reddish, W | 20 years old | Four years, $19.3 million, last two years team option 2019-20 stats: 10.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals, 38.4/33.2/80.2 Reddish had a fascinating year. He started the season getting a ton of minutes, but unfortunately was performing pretty darn close to unplayable during those minutes for the first half. And really, it’s not a massive surprise that there would be early struggles. Reddish was long seen as one of the elite prospects in his age group.....I think it actually helped his long-term NBA career. Reddish had to learn how to move without the ball, get free, play harder and make an impact without the ball in his hands regularly. Off the bat, I thought Reddish was actually pretty solid on defense. He took on some difficult tasks, and while he wasn’t totally prepared for the NBA, I thought he did a nice job in terms of using his length and mobility to pester opponents. His effort level was quite strong on that end, too. He displayed much stronger anticipation and reactivity than what you’d expect from a rookie still adapting to the league. Quote 4. Kevin Huerter, W | 21 years old | Three years, $9.7 million, last year team option 2019-20 stats: 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 41.3/38.0/82.8 It’s difficult to evaluate Huerter’s second season. He had an early-season knee injury that held him out of training camp, then a shoulder injury that held him out for the start of the year, and then he dealt with various hip and groin injuries that gave him discomfort as he tried to play through them. It’s probably not unfair to sort of throw this season away from a developmental standpoint. At the end of the day, Huerter had basically the same season as a sophomore as he did as a rookie. Honestly, given everything he went through, that speaks well of him. He averaged 14 points per 36 minutes a year after averaging 12.8. He saw very minimal increases across the board in terms of rebounds and assists. His true-shooting percentage was 53.6 as a rookie, and 53.9 as a sophomore. His assist rate and turnover rate was very similar. Basically, Huerter was the same floor-spacing, smart decision-making, perimeter-oriented 2-guard. Plus, if you take his averages from Jan. 1 onward, after he took December to readjust coming back from his shoulder injury, you might come away thinking this was a slight step forward. In that time, he averaged nearly 14 points per game while shooting 40 percent from 3, and averaged 4.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Quote 5. De’Andre Hunter, W/F | 22 years old | Four years, $32.1 million, last two years team option 2019-20 stats: 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 41.0/35.5/76.4 Hunter’s rookie season was weird, and yet his value was likely as expected. The weirdness came from his strengths entering the draft not totally bearing themselves out. However, his potential flaws were figured out in a real, tangible way that inspires some confidence long-term. Overall, Hunter established himself as a solid, steady rotational player, having played more minutes this season than any other rookie in the league. But things weren’t perfect. Leaving Virginia after being the best player on a national title team, Hunter was renowned for his defensive ability. At 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, he was a switchable monster capable of taking on a real variety of tough defensive assignments. At the collegiate level, he was one of the best on-ball defenders I’ve evaluated in a while, and did his job rotationally off the ball on defense despite not forcing a ton of turnovers. But with the Hawks this season, while he took on a wide variety of defensive assignments, he wasn’t quite as effective as expected. Maybe too much was asked, and it’s unfair to compare him to Reddish, who stood out on that end. But Hunter was basically the average to above-average rookie defensive wing, struggling a bit to adjust to the increased pace and speed of the NBA game. He knew where to be, but often got beat. Full Hawks Article: https://theathletic.com/1545973/2020/06/23/2019-20-nba-rookie-scale-rankings-no-4-atlanta-hawks/ View other teams here: https://theathletic.com/1255114/2020/06/22/sam-vecenies-2019-nba-rookie-scale-prospect-rankings/ 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud2nique Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said: Celtics, Pelicans and Grizzlies in top 3. I think we have a better young core than the Celtics. I’m biased I’d put us at 1, Grizz at 2, Pels at 3. Edited June 23, 2020 by Spud2nique 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted June 23, 2020 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 Any chance Marcus comes over? He can surely help our shooting. Quote 6. Marcus Eriksson, W | 26 years old | ALBA Berlin; Draft rights owned 2019-20 Euroleague stats: 11.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 46.6/46.6/81.2 This is probably a bit of a surprise, but Eriksson has morphed into one of the absolute best shooters in the world over the last three years after being selected 50th overall by the Hawks in 2015. This is not an exaggeration. While playing in Euroleague, Eurocup, Spanish top division, and German top division competition, Eriksson has made 46 percent of his 797 attempts for Gran Canaria and ALBA Berlin. Currently playing for Berlin, Eriksson was brought over last summer by the team’s sporting director (essentially the general manager) Himar Ojeda. When Eriksson was drafted by the Hawks, Ojeda was the team’s director of international scouting. So the connection to the Hawks is still strong, although Eriksson did sign a four-year deal with Berlin last summer and it’s unclear what the outs look like. In general, shooting is really the only NBA-level skill Eriksson brings to the table. But again, he’s utterly elite at it, and he brings all of the ancillary pieces necessary to be successful at it to the table. He moves well without the ball and makes really strong decisions. But he’s not really making things happen out there beyond that. He’s not a particularly good defender. His ballhandling isn’t awesome, although he’s at least developed the ability to side-step a heavy closeout with a dribble and knock down a shot. I think he signed a new contract recently, not sure if it has an NBA out clause. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Popular Post JayBirdHawk Posted June 23, 2020 Author Premium Member Popular Post Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBASupes Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 Great article! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted June 25, 2020 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 NBA Rookie Scale Prospects Ranking: The top 50 prospects Quote 5. Trae Young | 21 years old | Atlanta Hawks 2019-20 stats: 29.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 9.3 assists, 1.1 steals, 43.7/36.1/86.0 Simply put, Young has developed into one of the most creative offensive forces in the NBA, regardless of age. … He averaged 29.6 points and 9.3 assists on a pretty ridiculous 59.5 true-shooting percentage. The players who posted at least that many points per game total on that level of efficiency? It’s a veritable set of Hall of Famers, guys who sprinkle the NBA’s all-time elite. Try these names on for size: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Larry Bird, Stephen Curry, Adrian Dantley, Kevin Durant, George Gervin, James Harden, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Bob McAdoo, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kiki Vandeweghe. That’s 14 guys, 13 of whom are Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers, plus Vandeweghe, who did it in one of the insanely uptempo Doug Moe seasons in Denver, where the Nuggets posted a pace that was absurdly nine possessions above the league average per game. And the number of players to post that scoring combination while also averaging nine assists? How about just Young this season and Harden in 2017? … To complain about what he’s accomplished at this point would be missing the forest for the trees. Quote 20. John Collins, F | 22 years old | Atlanta Hawks 2019-20 stats: 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.6 blocks, 58.3/40.1/80.0 Similarly to Young, Collins is something of a controversial building block due to his incredible offensive production and very real defensive question marks. Let’s start on that offense, though, because I’m not sure enough people have recognized just how intriguing Collins is on that end. There is a lot of Amar’e Stoudemire here to Young’s Steve Nash impression. Collins is 22 and he’s coming off of a season in which he averaged 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds on an obscene 65.9 true-shooting percentage. His productivity has been genuinely special for his age. The list of players to have done what Collins did this year isn’t exactly long. It’s Collins and Charles Barkley. Heck, even reduce that down to 21 points and 10 rebounds on a 60 true-shooting percentage and you get Barkley and Collins with Kareem, Shaq, Karl-Anthony Towns, Moses Malone, Anthony Davis, Giannis, Dwight Howard, David Robinson, Karl Malone, Artis Gilmore and Wilt Chamberlain. That’s pretty outrageous for someone this young. Quote 28. Cam Reddish, W | 20 years old | Atlanta Hawks 2019-20 stats: 10.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals, 38.4/33.2/80.2 Reddish had a fascinating year. He started the season getting a ton of minutes, but unfortunately was performing pretty darn close to unplayable during those minutes for the first half. And really, it’s not a massive surprise that there would be early struggles. … Off the bat, I thought Reddish was actually pretty solid on defense. … The bigger questions came on offense early on. Reddish went through a disastrous, prolonged shooting slump to begin his career, the likes of which I can’t really remember from a top 10 pick. Through his first 32 games (basically the entirety of the 2019 portion of the season), he shot a terrible 31.8 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3. His assist-to-turnover ratio was quite negative. Everything looked like it was moving way too fast for him. … But then a funny thing happened: Reddish started to figure things out. He looked a lot more comfortable on the court. The shot didn’t look as sped up and it started falling at a rate more commensurate with how clean his mechanics look. Quote 36. Kevin Huerter, W | 21 years old | Atlanta Hawks 2019-20 stats: 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 41.3/38.0/82.8 It’s difficult to evaluate Huerter’s second season. He had an early season knee injury that held him out of training camp, then a shoulder injury that held him out for the start of the year, and then he dealt with various hip and groin injuries that gave him discomfort as he tried to play through them. It’s probably not unfair to sort of throw this season away from a developmental standpoint. … Above all, he remains a monster shooter off the catch. Among the 162 players league wide to take at least 100 catch-and-shoot shots, Huerter was 14th in terms of efficiency with a 64.3 effective field goal percentage, and again that came in a year where he navigated a shoulder injury that held him to 32.4 percent from 3 in December as he played his way back into shape. Huerter is going to develop into one of the league’s elite level shooters. Like the kind of shooter who has a chance to win a 3-point contest someday. Quote 39. De’Andre Hunter, W/F | 22 years old | Atlanta Hawks 2019-20 stats: 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 41.0/35.5/76.4 Hunter’s rookie season was weird, and yet his value was likely as expected. The weirdness came from his strengths entering the draft not totally bearing themselves out. However, his potential flaws were figured out in a real, tangible way that inspires some confidence long-term. Overall, Hunter established himself as a solid, steady rotational player, having played more minutes this season than any other rookie in the league … while I think the defense was slightly worse than I expected, his offense was better. Hunter hit 35.5 percent from 3 on nearly five attempts per game, which is a great starting point for him as a rookie on such high volume. In the last decade, only 10 other rookies have made that percentage on at least 300 attempted 3s, and the only really questionable long-term shooter among the players on that list is Kyle Kuzma. There is a real track record for guys who experience this type of success early on. Do you agree? Who's too high or too low? https://theathletic.com/1860883/2020/06/25/nba-rookie-scale-prospects-ranking-the-top-50-prospects/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted June 29, 2020 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted June 29, 2020 Very Long Read. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco102 Posted June 30, 2020 Report Share Posted June 30, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said: Very Long Read. This line right here! Just made me mad. Quote but requires Young to hit the very tippiest toppiest of his possible outcomes for the Hawks to reach legit contender status. Raise your hand if any of you thought Trae would average 30 and 9 his second season on great efficency. None of these guys did. Now they are acting like everything he does on offense just isn't quite as good because the Hawks are losing. Most of these MFers said he was a bust. I can't stand that Seth guy either. Ranting over. EDIT: The below shows we have something good brewing with the young guys and our vets last year were bootay. None of that needs to be said here of course. Quote Moving on, Huerter, Reddish or Hunter, who ya got? For me, I’ll take the shooting and on-ball creation potential of Huerter along with whichever of Hunter and Reddish best grows into both prongs of the 3&D role. Or are we even in a position where Atlanta needs to choose? In 442 non-garbage time possessions with Young and Collins joined by the three youthful wings, Atlanta outscored opponents by 10.7 points/100. Edited June 30, 2020 by marco102 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud2nique Posted June 30, 2020 Report Share Posted June 30, 2020 3 hours ago, marco102 said: Ranting over. Why I kind of enjoyed you bitching everyone out. Wanna know why? Cuz for once it ain’t me That, and I know I’m not alone when I wanna drop kick that “Seth” guy in the teeth (paraphrasing of course)... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted July 1, 2020 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 Quote But for being a rebuilding team, Atlanta has a strong foundation in place and a star player to build around, which is the hardest part to attain after gutting the roster to the bare bones. The Hawks also have John Collins, a 22-year-old pick-and-roll monster who pairs perfectly offensively with the electrifying playmaker. We’ve seen that duo become one of the league’s best pick-and-roll threats, and Young and Collins should only grow even more with more experience together. Plus, the surrounding pieces of Kevin Huerter, Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter all profile as long-term starters with the potential to be even more valuable than just complementary piece 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted July 5, 2020 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted July 5, 2020 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted July 5, 2020 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted July 5, 2020 Our two wings each bring different defensive styles: Cam is more of a steals, deflections, playing passing lanes, blocks guy. Hunter is a one on one position defender, quick enough on the perimeter and strong enough in the post. I'm excited. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud2nique Posted July 5, 2020 Report Share Posted July 5, 2020 3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said: Our two wings each bring different defensive styles: Cam is more of a steals, deflections, playing passing lanes, blocks guy. Hunter is a one on one position defender, quick enough on the perimeter and strong enough in the post. I'm excited. I concur with Bird’s assessment. While playing 2K, if our wings harass on the perimeter and Capela work it’s it on the inside D it’s over. We are long and athletic on the perimeter and mobile on the interior. Schlenk! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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