Official Game Thread: Rockets at Hawks

[Sothron]

2 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Has he made the playoffs yet? Oh wait, let me guess, his surrounding cast wasn’t good enough. I got news for you Soth, KAT is one of the most overrated players in the league. 
 

If he was as great as you all think, he would have made the playoffs or had a winning record with the Wolves. The truth is the guy is just a stat guy.

 

 ya that’s not KAT. He is the guy that lumbers up and down the court and fake hustles.

KAT was the best player on the Minnesota squad that made the playoffs and it wasn't even close. Butler just gave him a reliable second scoring option and a wing player that could actually play defense. Minnesota is much better this year because D-Lo is healthy and KAT has Ant to play with him. The team has some big holes at both forward spots but at least the guys they got at forward hustle and play defense. 

KAT is more than just a stat guy. 

[macdaddy]

We need to face facts that this is the team we built and right now there ain't a lot we can change with it without taking steps backwards.   We just have to hope Bogi and Hunter and OO are back on the court before it's too late.   

We can't trade Capela until february and even then we aren't going to find a trade

We could trade Gallo but then what do we have on the bench. 

We could trade Hunter/Cam but for what that will help us now?  

There isn't anything feasible yet that will make us a better team but the good news is we have what we need.  We just need health and an attitude adjustment but we've seen this team do that before.   

[Sothron]

1 hour ago, Watchman said:

KAT's rebounding has dropped off noticeably this year.   Some on here say his defense has improved this year.  I don't see him play enough to have an opinion on his defense.

However, I lose count of how many layups and dunks Capela and Collins give up.  I have been  a staunch Collins supporter, but he's frequently in foul trouble and he lets Capela grab all the rebounds and take most of the PNR plays from him.  Maybe Collins is too passive, but I believe when he blocks a shot or makes a dunk, it fires the crowd up more than when Capela does it.  I don't think Collins and Capela can coexist on the same team.  At this point, I'm okay trading whoever we can, if we get something worthwhile in exchange.

Bogi is always injured.  Hunter is always injured.  OO is always injured.  We need some tough guys on this team.  What good is all of these guys' potential if they are never available?  None of them are a real second option on offense.

Last year McMillan used Pierce's offense and defense, rather than trying to recreate the wheel midseason, and the players respected him, and we won.  This year, he implemented his own offense and defense, and we are pathetic.  His inflexibility on his substitutions is ridiculous.

Pardon my rambling.

 

KAT's stats this year:

24 PPG, 9.2 RPG on .501 FG shooting and .815 FT so @Gray Mule will have a Hawks center that can actually hit free throws. It is night and day how much better he is than Capela. 

1 minute ago, macdaddy said:

We need to face facts that this is the team we built and right now there ain't a lot we can change with it without taking steps backwards.   We just have to hope Bogi and Hunter and OO are back on the court before it's too late.   

We can't trade Capela until february and even then we aren't going to find a trade

We could trade Gallo but then what do we have on the bench. 

We could trade Hunter/Cam but for what that will help us now?  

There isn't anything feasible yet that will make us a better team but the good news is we have what we need.  We just need health and an attitude adjustment but we've seen this team do that before.   

Capela can't be traded until next offseason because he signed an extension. Same reason why Brogdon on the Pacers can't be traded until next off season.

[Final_quest]

3 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Why? He will hate playing with Trae.

Are you saying Trae can’t play with a legit 2nd option?  Not sure what you mean.

[kg01]

26 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

We need to face facts that this is the team we built and right now there ain't a lot we can change with it without taking steps backwards.   We just have to hope Bogi and Hunter and OO are back on the court before it's too late.   

We can't trade Capela until february and even then we aren't going to find a trade

We could trade Gallo but then what do we have on the bench. 

We could trade Hunter/Cam but for what that will help us now?  

There isn't anything feasible yet that will make us a better team but the good news is we have what we need.  We just need health and an attitude adjustment but we've seen this team do that before.   

Technically, this isn't the team we built.  Technically .... but I'm not giving them the injury out.  These recent efforts have been offensive.

Sprinkle in the rookies some - and that's a departure for me 'cause I didn't want to see either of them this year.  At this point, may as well see if either of them has ... something.  Energy/effort at least.

[AHF]

The most immediate thing I want to see is Nate to mix things up a bit.  Running the same predictable rotations and trotting out the same gameplan in the fourth quarter is not working.  The results are showing up very reliably with us falling off in the fourth.  

The Hawks are outscoring their opponents in the first, second and third quarters but have a losing record because teams adjust in the 4th and we don't.  

[NBASupes]

14 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

Are you saying Trae can’t play with a legit 2nd option?  Not sure what you mean.

Yep. He can't unless it's a big who dont get in the way

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, kg01 said:

Technically, this isn't the team we built.  Technically .... but I'm not giving them the injury out.  These recent efforts have been offensive.

Sprinkle in the rookies some - and that's a departure for me 'cause I didn't want to see either of them this year.  At this point, may as well see if either of them has ... something.  Energy/effort at least.

Yeah that's true but my point is there is very little we can do in terms of trades that is going to have a big impact.   And there is literally nothing we can do without shipping out some of our core guys.   

On the rookie thing, i get it.  Twitter is screaming that Nate's a fool for not playing the rooks out of fear of bad defense when our defense just got torched anyway.   But we know that now...after the fact.   The coach's main job is to put the players on the floor with the most likely chance of success.   Nate knows that the guy's in the rotation CAN do it.  If they go out and play like chumps he can't really do much about that in the moment.   Now if they continually do it then sure you got to do something about it.   You have to develop the rooks but my guess is that the one thing Hawks coaches know for sure right now is that Coop and JJ WILL suck royally on defense because they are sucking at in the g league.   

So are we going to have them learn it in CP or in an NBA loss just so the fans can see them play?

 

4 minutes ago, AHF said:

The most immediate thing I want to see is Nate to mix things up a bit.  Running the same predictable rotations and trotting out the same gameplan in the fourth quarter is not working.  The results are showing up very reliably with us falling off in the fourth.  

The Hawks are outscoring their opponents in the first, second and third quarters but have a losing record because teams adjust in the 4th and we don't.  

I agree with this.  Why not have Trae play the whole 4th instead of most of the 3rd.   

[NBASupes]

8 minutes ago, AHF said:

The most immediate thing I want to see is Nate to mix things up a bit.  Running the same predictable rotations and trotting out the same gameplan in the fourth quarter is not working.  The results are showing up very reliably with us falling off in the fourth.  

The Hawks are outscoring their opponents in the first, second and third quarters but have a losing record because teams adjust in the 4th and we don't.  

Is it fair to say teams downloaded us.

They know Clint can't hurt them on switches because they just hack him and they bringing in a wing to shoot to space the floor. 

Trae gets raped defensively as they put him constantly in weak side actions forcing JC, Kev, Gallo, and Clint to pick up for him. Some of the wings in these actions are Nwaba, Brown from the Nets, Tybyulle, these aren't offensive juggernauts at all.

Teams double Trae in the 4th. 

It's like clockwork 

Edited December 14, 2021 by NBASupes

[terrell]

36 minutes ago, Sothron said:

KAT's stats this year:

24 PPG, 9.2 RPG on .501 FG shooting and .815 FT so @Gray Mule will have a Hawks center that can actually hit free throws. It is night and day how much better he is than Capela. 

Capela can't be traded until next offseason because he signed an extension. Same reason why Brogdon on the Pacers can't be traded until next off season.

Can anyone explain to me why Schlenk gave Capela an early extension? I mean wtf man? Did he not watch the Playoffs? Or is he content with just MAKING the playoffs? 

[JayBirdHawk]

23 minutes ago, AHF said:

The most immediate thing I want to see is Nate to mix things up a bit.  Running the same predictable rotations and trotting out the same gameplan in the fourth quarter is not working.  The results are showing up very reliably with us falling off in the fourth.  

 

#That'sTheRotation - get that ish outta here!

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, Sothron said:

Minnesota is much better this year because D-Lo is healthy and KAT has Ant to play with him.

Indeed, world beaters. Should we crown them now or..? 
 

Minny has been this way every year. 

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, terrell said:

Can anyone explain to me why Schlenk gave Capela an early extension? I mean wtf man? Did he not watch the Playoffs? Or is he content with just MAKING the playoffs? 

You’d be saying the opposite had he NOT given him an extension. Can’t play Monday morning QB everyday Terrell that $hit gets old.

No front office bats .1000

[Final_quest]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

Yep. He can't unless it's a big who dont get in the way

Doubt it.  I think he would play just fine with KD, Lebron, etc.  Not saying those guys are options but conceptually Trae could play with a number of guys.  

[AHF]

Capela is an interesting one.  He has never been a world beater and so expecting him to be truly elite really isn't fair.  That is why we got him for so cheap a price in our trade.  But he clearly makes a big impact on the team when he is healthy and active and you see a clear gap between the team's performance when that is happening and in the games where his impact is minimized.  He gives you a baseline level of contributions but has never been a true difference-maker on either side of the ball (and is particularly limited on offense).  But he is much better than a "just a guy" body filling space and he isn't paid like an elite big.  He is making less than half of what Rudy Gobert makes this year and he'll be earning less than half of Embiid over time.  I'd say he is probably paid in the right range for what he brings to the floor.

[macdaddy]

24 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

You’d be saying the opposite had he NOT given him an extension. Can’t play Monday morning QB everyday Terrell that $hit gets old.

No front office bats .1000

Well that's true as everyone was cheering pretty loudly at the time.  I questioned why Capela should be the highest paid guy in the league who can't make a shot outside of 1 foot (and doesn't make the 1 footers consistently), but that was shot down as dumb.   But i do see that competent centers aren't easy to come by and we definitely needed one.   We'd be starting Dieng rn w/o CC.   Or maybe we'd be starting Collins at center which maybe isn't that bad of an idea.  We just don't have enough healthy wings.

[Spud2nique]

3 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Or maybe we'd be starting Collins at center which maybe isn't that bad of an idea.  We just don't have enough healthy wings.

Once we do though we run:

c- JC

pf- Hunter

sf- Cam

sg- Bogi

pg- Trae

Thats what the rockets did with Wood and putting him at center and they reeled off 8/10, now I’m not saying small ball will work, but I think it can against certain teams or at least for stretches. Our guys will have to play bigger not smaller than their size though for it to have impact.

Like Hunter has to man up and so does Cam. I’m sorry but they are always injured. Im not against dealing one either, they might end up leaving for nothing. We can’t panic but we need to look around and make smart decisions in the next 6 months for sure.

[macdaddy]

I'm cautiously optimistic that some time, this year or next, Capela may still start but will play 15-20 minutes and OO 20-25.  

[terrell]

58 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

You’d be saying the opposite had he NOT given him an extension. Can’t play Monday morning QB everyday Terrell that $hit gets old.

No front office bats .1000

What? No the hell I wouldnt..He had 2 years left..I just dont see the point...

Edited December 14, 2021 by terrell

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, Final_quest said:

Doubt it.  I think he would play just fine with KD, Lebron, etc.  Not saying those guys are options but conceptually Trae could play with a number of guys.  

Durant can be used as a big. LeBron wouldn't like playing with Trae