This iteration of thw\e team is heavily flawed and changes will be made

[aali34]

When you watch this team you see the same things happen over and over again. The offense is bland and cookie cutter. The defense has holes like cheese. How does a team drop from an ECF appearance to the lottery?

TOO MANY LIMITATIONS!!!

Trae, Cap, JC, Kevin, Bogi, Gallo, an are all large contributors that all got PAID but have huge deficiencies in key areas. Even the coach has deficiencies. 

• Trae - His size and defense are issues. BUT he makes up for it and then some because he's a top 5 offensive player in the NBA. I'd like his effort to on defense to be better and for him to emulate a bit of Curry.
• Cap - If he's not a DPOY honerable mention than he's not as valuable. The Jazz can't win without Gobert and we can't win without DPOY Capela. Jazz are on a 5 game losing streak and if anyone hasn't noticed Gobert has been out for them. Not to mention that his touch is terrible. Can't finish if his life depended on it.
• JC - Elite play finisher and good locker room guy. Favorite personality on the team. Can't create at all. Limited by length and girth so he can't play bully ball and he isn't skilled enough to be a finesse player. Passing has improved, but not good enough to be a consistent go-to.
• Kevin - Multi-faceted team player with a variety of skills. Passing, shooting, and handle are all above average. But he does nothing elite. Can't get to the rim and is inconsistent. Not too much of a problem if he remains a bench player.
• Bogi - A confident sniper with solid playmaking ability. But when his shot is off he does NOTHING. 
• Gallo - Needs to be protected when he's on the court. Makes it hard to play him with Trae and Bogi since they need protection as well. Still a good offensive player.

The trend is we have a plethora of limited offensive or defensive players and we lack consistency.

All these issues aren't the reason we are losing individually but together it adds too many holes teams can exploit collectively. We have to play a sophisticated style of defense and have to make up for holes but we only have 2 actual defensive minded players in Dre and OO. JC is improved but it's not his forte.

Nate's style of offense isn't suited for this team. He gives the players too much freedom and doesn't have creative ways to get them easy shots. Kev and Bogi can't get to the rim and JC can't create on the perimeter. It was ok when teams ran drop coverage on Trae, but they don't do that anymore.

What needs to be done?

We need changes to the bench and to 1-2 of the starters. 

Kev and JC can't play with Trae as is. They both have played well with him but together their lack of consistent creation is magnified when they share the court. 

We need a guy like Jaylen Brown or Donovan Mitchell that can attack scramble situations consistently and don't need Trae to create for them. Or we need Ben Simmons to play the Draymond Green role and create for the limited shooters once Trae is pressured.

Or like @NBASupes says, we need a KAT like big and spam a 2 man game with him and Trae.

[Diesel]

• Trae - His size and defense are issues. BUT he makes up for it and then some because he's a top 5 offensive player in the NBA. I'd like his effort to on defense to be better and for him to emulate a bit of Curry.

We all know that the team is built around Trae.   If the building is wrong then we change that but Trae is not going anywhere. 

• Cap - If he's not a DPOY honerable mention than he's not as valuable. The Jazz can't win without Gobert and we can't win without DPOY Capela. Jazz are on a 5 game losing streak and if anyone hasn't noticed Gobert has been out for them. Not to mention that his touch is terrible. Can't finish if his life depended on it.

Cap has a specific purpose... Defense and Rebounding.   He's very good at both and this little stretch without him has shown us his effect.  He also represents our toughness.   Capela is untouchable. 

• JC - Elite play finisher and good locker room guy. Favorite personality on the team. Can't create at all. Limited by length and girth so he can't play bully ball and he isn't skilled enough to be a finesse player. Passing has improved, but not good enough to be a consistent go-to.

I would debate you on whether JC is a finesse player.  He's definitely skilled enough to be.  He's our best 3pt shooter by percentage.  He's also our best finisher and he's a decent shot blocker (because of his timing and athletic ability).  I would hesitate to move him. 

• Kevin - Multi-faceted team player with a variety of skills. Passing, shooting, and handle are all above average. But he does nothing elite. Can't get to the rim and is inconsistent. Not too much of a problem if he remains a bench player.

Kev got paid and still does bone headed stuff.  I would move him. 

• Bogi - A confident sniper with solid playmaking ability. But when his shot is off he does NOTHING. 

Bogi is definitely one dimensional.  And you're right, if he's not hitting his threes above 38%, he has no value. 

• Gallo - Needs to be protected when he's on the court. Makes it hard to play him with Trae and Bogi since they need protection as well. Still a good offensive player.

Gallo has a lot of trade value both on the court and financially. Sadly, I like him.  He's guaranteed points.  He's in shape now and even his defense looks good. 

 

There are some guys you didn't mention.

Hunter.  I like Hunter even though he got scorched by Barrett all night.   Hunter is a steady defender but you can't look to him to stop Randall and other bigs.  He's a wing defender and does well against wings. 

JJ.  New Guy.  I don't think we have invested anything in this guy that we should feel bad about trading.  If he could fetch us back something, he's in the deal. 

Delon.  This guy has grown on me.  He plays technically.  He's not flashy but he's smart and deliberate. 

Dieng.   Vet Big with a surprising 3pter.  He plays OK defense but not against bruisers.  He has some value. 

Lou.  Old faithful.   I don't know why Lou gets such a bad rap. You put him in the right situation and he can shine. 

The elephant in the room and what we don't talk about is the fact that our shooters are not hitting.  ONly Gallo.   If Bogi and Kev can't hit shots with consistency then their value decreases alot.   Especially with Bogi offering nothing and Kev making bone headed plays.  I know Kev is trying to make something happen but he has to be deliberate.   He should work with Delon.   The other thing is we need real hustle and not fake hustle.   Against Miami, the last Kev foul.. he got it by diving on PJ Tucker.   The problem with the foul is that he watched the ball get loose.  Tucker dived on the ball.  Kev watched him dive and seconds later Kev dived on Tucker.  That's fake hustle.  A lot of times, our guys are just watching.   Tonight Hunter and Barrett going after a ball going out of bounds.   Hunter kind of trotted over.. Barrett went all out and I believe he stepped out but the refs said different and NY got two points from his hustle.   Too often, we're lax.  We don't make good passes.  We don't come to the ball.  We jump with the ball but without a plan.  I read over and over again people blaming Nate for rotations.  I believe that Nate should crack the stick with these guys playing lax... I don't care if we have to call back some 10 dayers and let them get the time.. when our guys go out there pussyfooting, Nate should punish them by letting them watch hungry player play the rest of the quarter.... since we're not winning anyway. 

The point is we don't have a mission statement.   We don't have an identity.   We want to win but all we have is want to... The time for being kids out there is coming to a close.   We made serious steps last year.  It's time to match that seriousness. 

 

[aali34]

18 minutes ago, Diesel said:

We all know that the team is built around Trae.   If the building is wrong then we change that but Trae is not going anywhere. 

 - Facts. Trae is the life of this team.

Cap has a specific purpose... Defense and Rebounding.   He's very good at both and this little stretch without him has shown us his effect.  He also represents our toughness.   Capela is untouchable. 

- Cap can't be traded this season, but his regression has hurt us. This current situation reminds me of Hassan Whiteside in Miami, although Capela is wayyyyy better.

I would debate you on whether JC is a finesse player.  He's definitely skilled enough to be.  He's our best 3pt shooter by percentage.  He's also our best finisher and he's a decent shot blocker (because of his timing and athletic ability).  I would hesitate to move him. 

- JC is a kinda finesse player. He makes his living in the paint, but can't do much when congested. His touch isn't reliable and his length is what stops him from getting deep in the paint.

Kev got paid and still does bone headed stuff.  I would move him. 

- I would like to keep Kev as the only finesse wing on the team. But I can see him getting moved.

Gallo has a lot of trade value both on the court and financially. Sadly, I like him.  He's guaranteed points.   He's in shape now and even his defense looks good. 

- Gallo has looked better, but he can't play with JC despite the fact he's had to out of necessity. He's getting moved just to avoid paying him.

There are some guys you didn't mention.

Hunter.  I like Hunter even though he got scorched by Barrett all night.   Hunter is a steady defender but you can't look to him to stop Randall and other bigs.  He's a wing defender and does well against wings. 

- Hunter hasn't been a problem so that's why I didn't mention him. I only listed the guys that got multi year deals.

JJ.  New Guy.  I don't think we have invested anything in this guy that we should feel bad about trading.  If he could fetch us back something, he's in the deal. 

- He's in a deal for sure. I'd like to see him play next season though. He has alot of skills in areas we need.

Delon.  This guy has grown on me.  He plays technically.  He's not flashy but he's smart and deliberate. 

- He was trash but yeah he's grown on me too.

Dieng.   Vet Big with a surprising 3pter.  He plays OK defense but not against bruisers.  He has some value. 

- He's alright. A tier over meh to me.

Lou.  Old faithful.   I don't know why Lou gets such a bad rap. You put him in the right situation and he can shine. 

- Nah he's washed lmao. 

 

 

 

[shakes]

You completely omitted the complete lack of defensive effort from Bogi/Huerter/Gallo.     To me that is the biggest problem with the team.

[NBASupes]

I think the Hawks are well envisioned. It's just really hard to have a small backcourt and small frontcourt, play our style of Basketball with our personnel, and win. 

I think Atlanta got some personnel work to do. Especially with the bigs as that's the area I see the most long term issues. 

 

I don't see how you can do better than Bogi. I understand he's having a down season but his touches are down by 7 a game and he's reality the ideal fit. 

Hunter doesn't fit heliocentric ball like that. I do think he's expendable even if I value him more than everyone else on this roster outside of Trae. 

JC fits Trae but he doesn't fit this style of play. I think he needs to be in a player movement system like we had in our 60 win team. Not currently us. He is expendable 

Clint can always be had for an upgrade but that's very very hard to find. Just a few options at best. 

[aali34]

17 minutes ago, shakes said:

You completely omitted the complete lack of defensive effort from Bogi/Huerter/Gallo.     To me that is the biggest problem with the team.

More like forgot than omitted. But still true. I'd rte Kevin as better but still needs work.