Hawks v. Grizzlies

[RedDawg#8]

My only knock on LP was him not putting in a PG to run the bench on far too many occasions. We looked night and day better when Goodwin ran point instead of Kev or Bogi (Bogi was better than Kev though, tbh).

I think his idea was to give Kev a chance to get comfortable, but my hope is he wont do that in the reg season.

Letting Kev struggle through PG reps not only exposed him, but it destroyed any kind of offensive rhythm for the other guys to get going. We didnt look great with Trae, Rondo, or Goodwin, but it was at least an organized hot mess. With Kev it was like watching a youth team struggle to get the ball past half court, let alone run a play or find a good shot.

We shot ourselves in the foot with that and lost valuable shot opportunities for guys to gain confidence without Trae. Bad on LP

[Peoriabird]

3 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

My only knock on LP was him not putting in a PG to run the bench on far too many occasions.

[bleachkit]

21 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Patience is key considering what we all knew back in March, and then when the bubble came:

The long time off would be extremely detrimental to young franchises like ours. 

That's not an excuse, it's something we all agreed to be true.

That being said, the best chemistry still involves all of the young guys who have been together the longest.

So we have 2 obstacles against us. A bunch of talented vet FA's who have to  find their chemistry with each other and our guys. And a bunch of youth that plays well together but are still shaking off youthful habits and mistakes.

Add to that, we still don't have key defensive additions like Dunn and OO, or a career 40% 3pt shooter in Snell who will also need to be worked in. 

We are at the beginning stages of building this thing on the court. We see glimpses. We see talent. Its just not cohesive yet. Got to let that thing marinate and slow cook.

If we aren't careful we will slow cook our way back to the lottery. If things aren't humming by game 10 we might be in trouble. The east in more competitive this year, there are actually quite a few good teams. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by bleachkit

[Gray Mule]

The sad part of everything was:  Capela, our new and improved center, started with 4 old Hawks from last season's crew.  Should know how to play together.  Didn't show it if they did.  Shocking.

Getting better is a matter of time and, right now, time is up.  Pre season is history.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

I agree. I hope we hold their feet to the fire. I know it takes time to gel, but we really can't afford a bad start to the year.

As long as Trae isn't playing like he did to end the season last year and instead trying to incorporate the new guys, it's going to be growing pains. He has the steepest learning curve.

[LucastheThird]

With all this doom and gloom going around, I'm surprised that KB hasn't showed his head again. 

 

Training camp and preseason are the times to try these weird lineups and see if they work. Come the regular season, we will get and see what our actual team looks like.

[terrell]

22 minutes ago, LucastheThird said:

With all this doom and gloom going around, I'm surprised that KB hasn't showed his head again. 

 

Training camp and preseason are the times to try these weird lineups and see if they work. Come the regular season, we will get and see what our actual team looks like.

Yeah Im going to just chill on my evaluations until the real games start..lol..Trae has never really played well in preseason.(Plus we have all the new acquisitions)...Then he steps it up when the games count. I hope this trend continues...

Edited December 20, 2020 by terrell

[RedDawg#8]

1 hour ago, Peoriabird said:

Yup. Rotations with the available bodies were what they were. Guys on minutes restrictions, being held out, no other backup Center on roster, etc....

Execution was up and down, some good, some bad. Turnovers arent on the coach. Missed open shots arent on the coach. Not closing out on defense isn't on the coach. And if you cant send a message by benching a guy for poor effort because they need to be on the floor to get chemistry, and not over work someone else as a result, I mean what are you going to do. 
We got blown out in game 3 2nd half playing that stupid zone that they agreed to play. Other than that, the guys looked equally rusty as they did competitive. Again, missed open shots aint on the coach. You got to let guys play through that in preseason. Missed shots lead to transition scoring opportunities. It goes hand in hand.

The only thing that made me upset that LP directly controlled was trotting out Kev at PG. Everything else was arbitrary or typical of preseason play. 

 

 

[NBASupes]

24 minutes ago, LucastheThird said:

With all this doom and gloom going around, I'm surprised that KB hasn't showed his head again. 

 

Training camp and preseason are the times to try these weird lineups and see if they work. Come the regular season, we will get and see what our actual team looks like.

KB normally doesn't entertain the preseason like that

3 minutes ago, terrell said:

Yeah Im going to just chill on my evaluations until the real games start..lol..Trae has never really played well in preseason.(Plus we have all the new acquisitions)...Then he steps it up when the games count. I hope this trend continues...

Honestly, this is true. Trae never looked good in the preseason 

[JeffS17]

2 hours ago, bleachkit said:

If we aren't careful we will slow cook our way back to the lottery. If things aren't humming by game 10 we might be in trouble. The east in more competitive this year, there are actually quite a few good teams. 

Yeah, I agree with this but our schedule is working against us here.  The must-win games are in January and our February schedule is absolutely brutal.  We have to be rolling on all cylinders and looking REALLY good by february, hopefully going into the month with a decent >.500 record

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

KB normally doesn't entertain the preseason like that

Honestly, this is true. Trae never looked good in the preseason 

I can understand if his shooting his off, but he's not making his usually reads passing the ball. Not gonna hit the panic button just yet though. 

[aali34]

When the season starts we should see the team going back to things that worked last season while also incorporating what they've been working on in training camp(hopefully it looks better than whats been shown but idk).

They didn't free up Trae with double drag screens much and there wasn't any 1-4 pnr or that many horns sets. 

 

[AHF]

Not doing anything other than repeating what others have said but Trae was all kinds of out of rhythm in these preseason games.  He is our most important player.  Last year, this would have been 0-4 preseason or not.  This year we have better depth but this team won't have the chance to hum until Trae is doing his thing.  I don't have reservations on him but until he starts cooking we won't be consistently good.

[sillent]

On 12/19/2020 at 8:28 PM, Peoriabird said:

I notice someone is silent... Right @sillent?

Just getting game ready. I honestly knew we were going to win by 5 128 -123 even early in the 3rd but I was honestly wrong. Than I thought I was off by 10 118-113 & both teams found a way to mess that up but one thing I've learned and actually been working (philosophies) is and before I say this it's no knock on no one just an understanding and that is "only a loser complains about a win". If we seriously think about it nobody should be going home made because they won. Everybody dreams of hitting the buzzard beaters but the buzzer beater means the game was close and you just got away whether it be one, two or three points. I just want us to take that philosophy going into the season that "only a loser complains about a win". A winner might have things they need to work on but they should have nothing to complain about. Maybe in boxing or something similar lol but especially not in basketball.

[Gray Mule]

8 hours ago, sillent said:

Just getting game ready. I honestly knew we were going to win by 5 128 -123 even early in the 3rd but I was honestly wrong. Than I thought I was off by 10 118-113 & both teams found a way to mess that up but one thing I've learned and actually been working (philosophies) is and before I say this it's no knock on no one just an understanding and that is "only a loser complains about a win". If we seriously think about it nobody should be going home made because they won. Everybody dreams of hitting the buzzard beaters but the buzzer beater means the game was close and you just got away whether it be one, two or three points. I just want us to take that philosophy going into the season that "only a loser complains about a win". A winner might have things they need to work on but they should have nothing to complain about. Maybe in boxing or something similar lol but especially not in basketball.

Those 2 final Hawk free throws, both of which went in, proved to be the winner!  Hawks went up by 4 with only 2 or 3 seconds remaining.  A three pointer only brought our opponent up to 1 behind, the final score!