Official Game Thread: Hornets "at" Hawks

[BrazilianHawk]

10 hours ago, timebomb said:

Signing Bogi basically meant you definitely couldn’t sign both Huerter and Trea and Collins when the time came. And we wanted to be aggressive. Good job ownership on being aggressive but Collins is not a max player, Huerter is better than Bogi and you have to super max Trea? We need a new head coach quick to figure this out. And I don’t think that’s going to happen.

At this point in time, I would be OK in drafting a PG with some upside and getting value for Trae rather than to let Huerter or Collins go. Yup, I'm that disappointed in Mr. Young.

[JayBirdHawk]

13 minutes ago, Carmine said:

I love Big O and get the pick but to see Hali delivering NOW hurts. We need that type of production. The best ability is availability, Rondo & Dunn nowhere to be found.

We went into the offseason needed a capable ball handler besides Trae, we are still searching for one. 

[BrazilianHawk]

10 hours ago, timebomb said:

I still believe Cam could be the second best player on this team. And I’m way higher on Dre than most. Hunter is the second best player on this team currently, he and you just don’t know yet. 

I respect your beliefs, but I don't see Cam ever being better than Hunter. But maybe that's just me.

[JayBirdHawk]

4 minutes ago, BrazilianHawk said:

At this point in time, I would be OK in drafting a PG with some upside and getting value for Trae rather than to let Huerter or Collins go. Yup, I'm that disappointed in Mr. Young.

I'm disappointed, but I'm not going that far - you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[Gray Mule]

56 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

In all fairness, Big O is extremely productive and effective as well.

Great!  I wish we could actually see him.  I'm hoping that he will be great.  Greater than Haliburton!  Meanwhile, we wait for his healing while the Kings win with their draft pick.

GET WELL SOON !!  

We need you agent 0017.....

[BrazilianHawk]

1 hour ago, benhillboy said:

Cam’s eFG at .407.  That needs to be fixed like asap.  I fear Capela might be clogging it up for some.

I see Capela working wonders, but his FT gotta get better. Best rebounder we have in quite a while. If he clogs the paint a little, they gotta try and fix it some way or maybe design some plays for him in the offense.

I really like the way Capela is playing, though.

[BrazilianHawk]

1 hour ago, benhillboy said:

 

I figured the “increased effort” he showed early was a mirage.  I thought his steals were trending towards 1.5 a game this season.  Now he’s at .5, lower than any point in his career illustrating absolutely no ball pressure.  His maximization is a package deal with Dunn actually being available.    
 

At least he’s better than complete sieves who are much bigger/ stronger like Lilliard, Russell, and Wiggins.  Wtf happened to Gary Harris?

I still remember people telling me we shouldn't pursue Vucevic, because his defense was terrible... So, in other words, our "superstar" is a poor man's McCollum... Sad. 

[Atlantaholic]

1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

The problem is Solomon Hill. 

He's a negative on defense, but especially on offense.  All of his metrics across the board are horrible.

So if I was LP, I'm pulling a Shawn Michaels, and Superkicking him out of the NWO Hawks rotation.

 

 

 

 

How can Solomon Hill be THE problem when has barely played the last three games? 10mpg the last three. THE problem is clearly Trae, followed by Cam. 

[benhillboy]

6 minutes ago, BrazilianHawk said:

I still remember people telling me we shouldn't pursue Vucevic, because his defense was terrible... So, in other words, our "superstar" is a poor man's McCollum... Sad. 

Lol yeah he is right there with Dancing With The Stars CJ (wasn’t he on there for real?) but I’d rather go Harden or Steph, who usually would be slightly above the line on defense as a compliment to Dray and Klay.

Vuc has always been a good positional defender I’m guessing.  Those types always get marginally better with amassed corporate knowledge.

Edited January 7, 2021 by benhillboy

[SerbianHawk]

Is there a worse team than us in the league right now?

[Dnice]

Washington?

[Sothron]

That first quarter might have been the ugliest quarter I've ever seen in Hawks history. 11 points. ELEVEN points. And we only went to 11 at the end of the quarter. 

Did our guys get drugged before the game? They looked like zombies in the first quarter. We dug such a hole that it was impossible to climb out of it.

Every team has the ugly game in a season and this was ours. Don't give up on the team because of one bad loss.

[JeffS17]

A lot of dramatic takes after that 3 game stretch -- and rightfully so -- but I still believe Trae Young has the "it" factor if we can manage whatever that was last night (rebellion? pouting? is he hurt? misguided by coaching?? trying to be a "true" PG?).  Trae needs to be a score first point guard.  It open up the floor for everyone else when defenders know he's capable of attacking the basket and floating in 2 points at will.  Last night he played like a subpar college point guard, dribbling twice then passing it around the key, rinse and repeat.  I don't know the driver behind that weird play and behavior last night but it needs to be rooted out.

I'm not worried about the other guys...

• It's infinitely harder to teach defense than offense so my hope is that Cam comes around.  We've seen how good he can be on offense but that clearly hasn't been a focus for him and the 9 month break reset some of the gains we saw on that end of the floor. 
• Hunter is exceeding expectations at this point imo and can/will be a solid team defender. 
• Heurter is also looking better than I expected -- I was admittedly down on him this offseason but he's been playing well within his means.  He will never be a primary ball handler but he does O.K periodically taking control and his shot is still solid which provides spacing on offense.  Hopefully his defense can improve to just barely below average instead of bad.
• Collins has looked solid and honestly looks like the real leader of this team.  I saw him talking Cam up after a timeout when we were down big and leading by example with his play.  He's missed a few bunnies recently which needs to be cleaned up but he's proving to be a level-headed mature guy on the floor that can manage the emotions of the team.  Not commenting on whether he deserves max or not but there is definitely value there
• Bogi looks like he's playing through nagging injuries or he's just slumping, not sure.  He was hesitant to shoot last night which is worrisome because imo his value is only on offense and making defenders respect him.  I think he will come out of this slump
• Capela has looked good.  I know everyone thinks you can't play him late in the 4th because of fouling, but I want to see him out there.  He makes our defense so much better and fouling him is still typically resulting in ~1 point, which I will take over what I've seen from this team in the clutch.  The guy is too good for our defense to be sitting out late in games, and his +/- routinely reflects that.
• As for all of our injuries, I think we will start to phase these guys in throughout the season.  I feel like the coaching staff has an issue of too many mouths to feed right now so there's not much harm letting guys sit out.  And by not much harm, I don't mean winning/losing, but I mean no matter who is available, we need time to see what combinations of lineups work versus ones that don't.  The only injury that actually worries me is Gallo -- I hope he comes back 100% because we need that guy on that floor.

This isn't to say I'm not sorely disappointed with out last 3 games because I am, but I don't think it's time for too many hot takes on the players.  I do think LP's leash is getting shorter though.  I'm having a harder time than usual disagreeing with @Bonkers

[REHawksFan]

1 hour ago, BrazilianHawk said:

At this point in time, I would be OK in drafting a PG with some upside and getting value for Trae rather than to let Huerter or Collins go. Yup, I'm that disappointed in Mr. Young.

LOL....

We can all hate his performance of late because it has been very below average bordering on horrendous, but anyone that thinks there's even a remote chance Trae gets traded is not thinking rationally.

For better or worse, Trae is the player the franchise is hitched to for at least the next 5 or 6 years. That’s just reality. All this talk about moving or or trading him is nonsense. 

IMO, Trae is still Trae. He's still got a superstar ceiling and an all star floor. He's just not playing like it the last 3 games or so. We need to all hope he turns it around cuz he ain't going anywhere.

[AHF]

Yeah, I feel like people are way overreacting on this.  Trae is our superstar.  We've seen enough to know that he will routinely give us better performances than what we've seen over the last 3 games and dramatically better than last game.  He is a hard worker and isn't all about jacking up the maximum number of shots for himself.  I believe in him and remain a Trae Young supporter.

This team needs a bounceback win in the worst way.  We led in the 4th quarter yesterday and McRib had himself a game so it wouldn't take anything more than regressing to the mean for that to happen.

My legit worry is if LP is losing Trae and this team.

[Atlantaholic]

53 minutes ago, Sothron said:

That first quarter might have been the ugliest quarter I've ever seen in Hawks history. 11 points. ELEVEN points. And we only went to 11 at the end of the quarter. 

Did our guys get drugged before the game? They looked like zombies in the first quarter. We dug such a hole that it was impossible to climb out of it.

Every team has the ugly game in a season and this was ours. Don't give up on the team because of one bad loss.

I don't mind the loss per se, but what the hell was the effort, especially by Trae. His tape of yesterday looks like that scene in Blue Chips where the scout is showing Nick Nolte how his star player was shaving points. It was sickening. 

[cam1218]

6 minutes ago, AHF said:

My legit worry is if LP is losing Trae and this team.

I hate to think this after only 8 games, but there has been beef with Trae and him before. One thing to keep in mind, is that all of these new veterans we signed have been practicing with the team for only a month or so now. I'm sure early on it was a cluster of trying to get everyone on the same page. Now they are starting to see how the team is ran, what coach expects, etc.

Maybe the vets aren't impressed with his coaching either and Trae is having one of those "I knew I was right" moments regarding Pierce and is trying to prove a point? Or maybe the vets agree with how coach is handling things and Trae feels like it is his ideas vs what coach wants. When the players went to LA and played in the pick up games, I'm guessing there were no coaches, and maybe feel they played better doing things a different way? It is all pure speculation at this point, but something does seem off. I've always been on the give Pierce some time train, but this is the first time he isn't coaching a team where a group of young players are your best players.

To me, as a first time head coach, it would be easier to lead younger players as opposed to guys who have had personal and playoff success (including seeing how a championship caliber team is ran). Sure, we had Vince, but he was the sole veteran. Now we have a group of veterans, which leads to a louder collective voice. I hope all of this is just some random weirdness and we move on, time will tell! 

[gHost83]

Trae cannot play this terribly without it being on purpose.

[BrazilianHawk]

1 hour ago, Sothron said:

That first quarter might have been the ugliest quarter I've ever seen in Hawks history. 11 points. ELEVEN points. And we only went to 11 at the end of the quarter. 

Did our guys get drugged before the game? They looked like zombies in the first quarter. We dug such a hole that it was impossible to climb out of it.

Every team has the ugly game in a season and this was ours. Don't give up on the team because of one bad loss.

Fair enough. O counted three bad losses in a row, but yeah.

CLE = bad legs

NYK = I've got to get some help here... not sure what happened.

CHA = our once-a-season collective brainfart. 

 

Let's see what happens next.

[macdaddy]

Cleveland i can chalk up to the back to back.   The Knicks beat us.  They were the better team from coaching on down.   Charlotte?   Let's be honest Charlotte SUCKS.  They should have won that game by at least 20.  they practically begged us to get back in the game.   So the question is did we lay an egg or do we suck?  The truth is in the middle somewhere but based on what we've seen the Hawks with just this group of healthy players is probably a .500 team at best.   With Rondo, Gallo, Dunn/Snell, and hopefully OO we should be much better.    Getting those guys healthy is a huge ? over this season though.