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The Countdown is On! 1 Day until the Season Opener!


JayBirdHawk

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  • JayBirdHawk changed the title to The Countdown is On! 3 Days until the Season Opener!
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3 days to go...What do you want to see guys improve on this season? (Besides health and defense cause they can all be better and besides the usual stuff)

Trae - more CnS opportunities, off-ball movement

Huerter - freethrow rate and higher 3pt percentage 

Hunter - Rebounding

Collins - midrange dribble pullup, passing out of double.

Capela - missed bunnies (freethrows are a given)

Reddish - rebounding and assists (offensive consistency is a given)

Bogi - dribble drive pullup

 

 

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More misdirection actions involving Trae Young

Now that he is firmly established as the focal point of the Hawks’ offense, defenses have tried to key in on him at all moments. McMillan has shown in this preseason a few glimpses at using that attention against opponents.

Here, Young sets a screen to free Cam Reddish from the sideline out of bounds inbound position to cut to the basket. Once Trae gets the ball back, the extra attention from Collins’ man allows for an easy assist to Collins for the finish at the rim

https://streamable.com/rpfcvs

Will the real Cam Reddish please stand up?

Reddish played the most minutes for the Hawks in this preseason, a clear attempt to establish some rhythm for the young wing. But while he showed some glimpses of solid play, he still remains an inefficient and inconsistent offensive player. Reddish took a team high 52 field goals and only connected on 46 of them while only netting a single assist in 92 minutes of preseason play.

https://streamable.com/wuh0ol

https://streamable.com/d0ybb6

 

John Collins: part-time center?

but his defensive improvement last year has some — this writer included — wondering: could Collins be best utilized as a center in small ball lineups?

With teams going small and prioritizing versatility and spacing in crunch time lineups recently, Collins seems to fit the mold as a 5. The Hawks’ best 5-man lineup by net rating with at least 80 minutes togther in 2019-20 featured Collins at center. And it isn’t mere chance that the Hawks best 5-man lineup by net rating with at least 80 minutes in 2020-21 sported Collins and Danilo Gallinari in the frontcourt together, with Collins usually taking on the role as defensive anchor in these lineups.

Add to the fact that second year big man Onyeka Okongwu won’t be ready to play by opening day, leaving the Hawks down a big man, and it isn’t inconceivable that Atlanta puts Collins in a similar role in spot minutes.

https://streamable.com/3hnv3w

 

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What do I want to see from this season's Hawk team?

1- Healthy roster.

2- Cam becoming 6th man of the year.

3- Capela making a high % of his free throws.

4- Overall improved defense.

All this leading to the NBA championship!  What else is there to say??

:smug:

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What worked with Atlanta’s approach to building their team after drafting Young?

Chris Kirschner: I think the main thing, Tim, for the Hawks, is they understood that because of Young’s size, they had to surround him with lengthy wings who could cover for him defensively and also knock down shots to make the offense as perfect as possible. And to Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk’s credit, that’s what’s happened in Atlanta. Young is surrounded by Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter on the wing, two guys who can shoot at a high clip, create for themselves and others and hold up well defensively. It might’ve been lost for those who weren’t paying attention early in the Hawks’ season, but Hunter was arguably the team’s most consistent player — on both ends — before he tore his meniscus. Young also has John Collins, who’s developed into a floor-spacing four who is also one of the league’s best rim runners, and Clint Capela, who elevated his game this past season and is now a force defensively while also doubling as a lob threat who pairs wonderfully with Young. 

While Young is undeniably one of the league’s best young players, it helps that Schlenk has built almost the ideal roster around him. Young’s strengths are magnified and his weaknesses are covered. I thought Young’s inability to defend well would be exposed in the playoffs, but it wasn’t. 

Schlenk has said numerous times his approach to team-building is having as many large players as possible who can shoot, dribble and pass on offense while having switchability on defense. Outside of Young, the Hawks’ starting five have a lot of length on the floor with guys who all can shoot, dribble and pass, other than Capela but he is necessary for defensive and screening purposes. 

So, my question for you: I don’t think the Mavericks have done as good of a job as they can building the right team around Doncic. Am I offbase with this thinking, or if not, where do you think they’ve gone wrong when it comes to team building? 

Cato: You have good instincts. I’ve harped on the Mavericks’ team-building process plenty — on podcasts, on Twitter, and certainly at The Athletic. I won’t continue doing that ad nauseum, particularly since the team’s front office changed this past summer. But these two teams found themselves in remarkably similar situations three years ago, and I find the contrasts between their respective team-building processes fascinating.

Kirschner: The Mavs’ roster doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence out of me. I get Doncic is amazing and can carry Dallas by his lonesome, which we’ve seen, but outside of him, I find this team to just be OK. As an outside onlooker, I feel like a lot of Dallas’ success hinges on Porzingis’ health, and that’s not a position I would want my team to be in; he’s played in under 50 games three out of the past four seasons. I also don’t think the Mavs have enough shot creators outside of Doncic to scare teams. That’s part of why the Hawks were so deadly throughout the playoffs; they have several guys who can take over games in spurts. I just don’t see that with Dallas. I’m also extremely low on their frontcourt defense with Porzingis and Willie Cauley-Stein. 

 

Quote

For Thursday’s game, I’m mainly interested to see how the Hawks’ starting five looks together in extended minutes. It seems simple enough, but Young, Bogdanovic, Hunter, Collins and Capela only played 16 minutes (!) together last season because of injuries. I believe Hunter is the key to the Hawks’ success this season. If he’s as special as he was before he tore his meniscus, I do think it changes the trajectory for this team. 

What do you want to see out of the Mavs in Game 1? 

Cato: I’m mostly curious about Porzingis: how he looks defensively and how he’s used on the other end. It should be noted he averaged nearly four post-ups last season, 13th-most in the league. The way he was used against the Clippers — where he mostly spaced the floor in the corner — was radically different from his regular-season role, and whether he receives a few more dedicated touches or play calls under Kidd won’t change his importance to the team. But it should give us our first glimpse into what we can expect from him and Kidd this season.

 

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  • JayBirdHawk changed the title to The Countdown is On! 2 Days until the Season Opener!

NBA season opens up tonight (Tuesday) but Hawks 1st game is Thursday.  Atlanta will host Dallas and the Hawk's roster is all set.  Could change.  Not likely, but you never know who will release what players in order to get down to 15.  Travis will be listening.  

:smug:

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What do I want to see?:

#1. Bogdanovic come back playing like he did in April 2021.

#2. Trae shooting 3's at least at 36%.  The way he plays he doesn't need to be at 40% like our shooters, but could hit a higher percentage.

#3. By the end of the year I want to see some game time for our rookies.  Would love for them to join the party

#4. Everyone talks about health, I would like to single out Capela in particular and see him healthy all year.  

#5. Believe. Let's continue the believe and fist mantra started by Coach McMillan.

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5 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

What do I want to see?:

#1. Bogdanovic come back playing like he did in April 2021.

#2. Trae shooting 3's at least at 36%.  The way he plays he doesn't need to be at 40% like our shooters, but could hit a higher percentage.

#3. By the end of the year I want to see some game time for our rookies.  Would love for them to join the party

#4. Everyone talks about health, I would like to single out Capela in particular and see him healthy all year.  

#5. Believe. Let's continue the believe and fist mantra started by Coach McMillan.

Great stuff!   Honestly though i know Coach likes to win every game but I'm hoping we get some load management on Capela.   

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  • JayBirdHawk changed the title to The Countdown is On! 1 Day until the Season Opener!

One more day:

 

Until I remember why I like this time of year (sorry college football).

Until I get a new sense of excitement, even with summer gone and cold weather looming. 

Until I stay up later than I should watching my team crank out a win. 
 

Until I feverishly look at box scores and quotes the next day after a game (and hopefully less on the injury updates this year).

Until the games matter. 

Until I see what the young guys can do. 

Until my Hawks play. 
 

Side note:  I thought the game was today, therefore I had to do something to commemorate the day before we have our epic game threads begin. Go Hawks!

Someone feel free to merge with @JayBirdHawk thread. Definitely overlooked that. 

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They are revealing players 50-75 tomorrow during the Hawks game.. we’ll here lol

 

The final reveal will be Thursday at 6 p.m. ET on TNT ahead of the Mavericks' matchup with the Atlanta Hawks. That game will feature two players who may etch their name into the NBA's 100th anniversary team: Luka Doncic and Trae Young.

If Nique isn’t on it, I’m gonna :angry2: lose it.

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1 hour ago, marco102 said:

Glad to see Hunter's not listed here.

Not to be Debbie Downer, but we're going to find out pretty early how healthy Dre's knee really is... just look at when the team gets its first two-day break... after 12 games...

LWR_Recording.png

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