Hawks locker room is not healthy after "quiet" trade deadline

[NekiEcko]

1 minute ago, terrell said:

The defense still didnt look good tbh...

Yeah, the defense does not look good right now and you have to pray that Trae has to put up those numbers to even keep even keel right now.

@thecampster, @NBASupes and @Sothron You guys are the best, you all do not have to give us all of this information and might cause issues with your sources about this information but thank you very much for that.

Tonight, you can see it even in victory they don't see so happy right now and its shows.  All of us wish that Trae can do more defense but when he is outscoring the bench, he cannot do it all, but he also cannot throw out stats like that.

Right now, I do not want to be in Travis shoes right now, he might have to break up this team.

[terrell]

So the coaches gave up on trying to get Trae to play defense? Wtf??  Id be pissed if I were the other guys too.. lol. 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

On 2/8/2022 at 10:34 PM, JayBirdHawk said:

....did anyone think the team wasn't as 'happy' tonight?  usually when we are up big, they are yucking it up, lots of high five etc...they seemed a little subdued tonight.  I think the Trade deadline is weighing heavy on them.

This was my post after the Indy game a week ago, I guess it was more than just the trade deadline angst. 

One thing I noticed that game was Trae not doing his little hop when he tossed a lop to Clint or JC, he usually did the jump with them.

 

[bleachkit]

Bottom line, winning cures everything. So we have to figure out how to build a winner. 

[Sothron]

I still can't believe how much of a positive impact Solomon Hill, who I always call Hobo, had on this team. I played college basketball. It is true you need a guy in the locker room that everyone is cool with and they can get guys to buy in and at least get along on the court. Solo did that for us. We need to bring him back or find someone else in that role. 

[bleachkit]

1 minute ago, Sothron said:

I still can't believe how much of a positive impact Solomon Hill, who I always call Hobo, had on this team. I played college basketball. It is true you need a guy in the locker room that everyone is cool with and they can get guys to buy in and at least get along on the court. Solo did that for us. We need to bring him back or find someone else in that role. 

I am concerned about Trae's leadership skills. It does not seem like players naturally gravitate to him, for whatever reason. 

[Sothron]

9 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This was my post after the Indy game a week ago, I guess it was more than just the trade deadline angst. 

One thing I noticed that game was Trae not doing his little hop when he tossed a lop to Clint or JC, he usually did the jump with them.

 

The days leading up to the deadline is when a lot of the "oh shit, Trae really is trying to get us traded for Ben" was confirmed to some of the players whose names were leaked by the disgusting Philly front office.  @thecampster mentioned this before the deadline that Philly was intentionally leaking other team's players names to avoid tampering charges but also lobbing grenades into other team's locker rooms. 

Winning cures everything. We need to get back to winning this season and let the FO do whatever roster retooling they want in the offseason. This is a team where you haven't really seen the core guys being seriously discussed in trade rumors or having one of them in Cam actually being traded. And Cam asked for the trade. The hurt feelings towards Trae and Travis are real. 

What I hope they realize is that if they play better on defense the wins will come. The more we do as a team this season the stronger the chance Travis will NOT make trades in the summer.

[Sothron]

1 minute ago, bleachkit said:

I am concerned about Trae's leadership skills. It does not seem like players naturally gravitate to him, for whatever reason. 

Collins is considered more of a leader in the locker room than Trae is because Collins has sacrificed his stats in a contract year and going forwards to try and make the team better. He also plays good defense. Trae is willing to sacrifice touches/stats but he wants a talent he can really trust in to do that. 

[terrell]

Like me and a few others have been saying.. We have to find the right players to put around Trae.. Guys who dont care about touches, but are still willing to be a dog on DEFENSE...Now, I'm not saying Trae shouldn't be accountable for his defensive responsibility... it's a part of the game...He has to get better... But let me be Abundantly Clear.... He's not going anywhere. Hes our Star player and he knows it.....So  frankly everybody around him has to be TOTALLY committed to Defense to cover for his deficiency.....Because Lord knows without his offense ... I don't know where we would be....if his teammates don't understand that..then like Cam.... they have to go!!!! That's just how it is....

Supes was right.. A wing like Snell was perfect for Trae(too bad he's washed)....Hawks need to find some young wings like that.. Dont need alot of touches.. And can hit open shots, set screens, etc..without even really getting into rythym(handling the ball that much)..Also willing to play hard on defense EVERY night..Hell, even Solo is a good fit, if he could shoot.. lol.

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by terrell

[terrell]

4 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

I am concerned about Trae's leadership skills. It does not seem like players naturally gravitate to him, for whatever reason. 

Ive said it time and time again. We have no leader..Everyone says JC, but like I said Trae aint listening to no damn JC.. lol

[Sothron]

1 minute ago, terrell said:

Ive said it time and time again. We have no leader..Everyone says JC, but like I said Trae aint listening to no damn JC.. lol

It is hard to have a team where the biggest voice isn't the superstar. You can do that and win but it is rare. GSW with Green is the best example of this. Trae is a leader in the locker room. He truly does want to win and he would rather lead the league in assists than any other personal stat. I think his biggest issue is his inability to keep his defense elevated for a season. You can't keep preaching at people to play harder on defense and not do it yourself.

[bleachkit]

3 minutes ago, terrell said:

Ive said it time and time again. We have no leader..Everyone says JC, but like I said Trae aint listening to no damn JC.. lol

JC has the personality to be a leader. But does he have the game? It also must be hard for JC to totally buy in when he's constantly in trade rumors. With Ben Simmons off the market, no chance he gets traded. 

[bleachkit]

8 minutes ago, terrell said:

Like me and a few others have been saying.. We have to find the right players to put around Trae.. Guys who dont care about touches, but are still willing to be a dog on DEFENSE...Now, I'm not saying Trae shouldn't be accountable for his defensive responsibility... it's a part of the game...He has to get better... But let me be Abundantly Clear.... He's not going anywhere. Hes our Star player and he knows it.....So  frankly everybody around him has to be TOTALLY committed to Defense to cover for his deficiency.....Because Lord knows without his offense ... I don't know where we would be....if his teammates don't understand that..then like Cam.... they have to go!!!!

Supes was right.. A wing like Snell was perfect for Trae....Hawks need to find some young wings like that.. Dont need alot of touches.. And can hit open shots, set screens, etc..without even really getting into rythym(handling the ball that much)..Also willing to play hard on defense EVERY night..Hell, even Solo is a good fit, if he could shoot.. lol.

 

We can do better than Tony Snell though. Yes, we need some dogs though. 

[Wretch]

Man, these guys look so happy on the court though...  Well, when they're winning I guess and I suppose it all makes sense - maybe this is why Cam wanted out.

Trades
Dudes need to get out of their feelings about getting traded.  First of all, this is a business with millions and millions of dollars on the line.  Our owners and the management they assembled have every right to adjust this team as they see fit.  Even if it's something as ridiculous as how that Russian billionaire bought the Nets and demanded a title.  It wasn't smart, but it was his team regardless of how anyone feels about it.

Secondly, trades happen.  I love these guys, but if we get a chance to land a guy like Jaylen Brown, KAT, or if our star says "Get me Simmons"...it's just the business.  At the end of the day, we have to take care of our franchise player AND we cannot keep running on a treadmill.  Not with this kind of player and I hope our front office understands that.  Trae is elite.

Toughness
We soft man.  I hate to say it, but we are.  I love our team, but they're all too....nicey-nice.  I feel like I could hang out and roast marshmallows with all these dudes.  That's what's wrong in the locker room.  Too many cats in their feelings.  This team needs some really productive, high energy, goons. Veteran guys with talent and who KNOW how to win big games...  Guys that'll check the egos either on the court or off.

Defense
Woody used to say, play defense and the offense will take care of itself.  I think the opposite.  I feel like hitting shots takes the air out of the building and knocks the opposition down a notch.  I'm a HUGE fan of defense and I love players like Capela, but the game is won by putting the ball in the damn basket.  Outside of Trae, nobody on this team can get it done.  Not when it counts.  We can win games with consistent defensive effort, but we can't contend without a 2nd consistent scorer.  The best defense is a good offense^TM

When we get hit, we've got to be able to hit back AND play quality defense.

John Collins
I don't have anything to say about JC except don't trade him.

Trae
This ain't a conversation.  Everybody needs to STFU.  Basically.

[Q45T]

Kinda sucks reading this but it’s understandable… the team usually seems like a family in front of the camera but we never know what’s goin on behind closed doors. I wish the players had thicker skin but I guess they’re pissed because they all WANT to be in Atlanta and didn’t like finding out that their names were being floated like that. In all honest I knew we were never getting Simmons and didn’t want him. After reading about what Philly did f*ck them and f*ck Morey. They wanted Harden all along and threw other teams, including us, under the bus.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

39 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

This was my post after the Indy game a week ago, I guess it was more than just the trade deadline angst. 

One thing I noticed that game was Trae not doing his little hop when he tossed a lop to Clint or JC, he usually did the jump with them.

 

Damn . .. now I have to look for that from now on, because that used to be his thing.

[Atlantaholic]

41 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I still can't believe how much of a positive impact Solomon Hill, who I always call Hobo, had on this team. I played college basketball. It is true you need a guy in the locker room that everyone is cool with and they can get guys to buy in and at least get along on the court. Solo did that for us. We need to bring him back or find someone else in that role. 

Why tf did NY even want him lol. Just to ef with us. 

[Carmine]

2 hours ago, marco102 said:

Oh well. Trade everyone if they refuse to play defense. 

They seemed to play better tonight or maybe they were carried by Trae?

This idk about hurt feelings when you getting paid millions of dollars to do your assignment. If you can't bring it on a nightly basis then let's find someone who will. Can miss me with all that. Good win today though, I wasn't expecting that & at least they still showing fight.

[Atlantaholic]

It's clear there is some stuff going on with the effort which translates into this incredible inconsistency and wouldn't shock me in the slightest if the source of some of it was the stuff in the locker room.

I don't know how much of the specifics I believe about the first post but the general gist is probably true. Trae has shown a lot of diva tendencies which I don't care for, none less glaring than his lack of effort on defense. Capella being disgruntled makes sense to me he is clearly not himself, around 30% of the player he was last year, pretty sure there is something going on with him and seems like a foregone conclusion he will be shipped at some point next year. Bogi not being happy about coming off the bench is obvious if you read between the lines of what he has said when asked. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

This sounds just like what my work rec league team went through back in 2015 ( I think ).   I was the coach.

We had a lot of talented players, but no real superstar . . although two of the guys thought they were, and the other players on the team "somewhat" gave them that respect.  Problem was, they took HORRIBLE shots, despite both being our "shooters".  They could shoot lights out, when in rhythm.  But their shot selection was just horrible.  And neither could play the point, despite claiming that they could.

After winning our first 2 games, I had a situation where my fringe bench players wanted more playing time, because they didn't like my set rotations in the 1st half.  I even went to the extreme and printed out my 1st half rotation, just so everyone knew when they were going to play and come out of the game.  Once the drama started, it went to the main players, and the team started to unravel.

We lose 3 games in a row, people were mad at me, and 2 of them even got into a fight ( err . . . wrestling match ) with each other after one of the games.  That fight almost got us kicked out of the league. 

LOL . . we all would be at work, and I'm leaving my team leader job to go talk to our players to see where their heads were at.  Some of them were friends, but even that was getting strained because of the losing and the bickering. And they were starting to lose respect for me as a "coach".

The climax of the drama came when I wrote a long Facebook post on our private team page, pretty much breaking down everyone's role, and what they did and didn't do well.  Needless to say, that didn't sit well with our main "shooter", and he basically cussed me out and called me a bad coach . . lol.  Maybe I was.  But on the low, most of the team agreed with what I said, even if I was talking about them.

Then it came . . . the turning point

We played the best team in the league, who was undefeated, and beat them by 15 points.  We did it by playing stellar defense and playing together on offense. Turns out, about 5 of the players had a real sit down with each other, and just aired everything out.  After that meeting, they really started to play their best ball of the year.

Long story short, we win our next 4 games, but lose in the semifinals of the playoffs to the team that we beat to start the win streak. We fell back into our bad selfish habits offensively.  I even did a Bobby Knight, threw my clipboard halfway across the court at halftime and showed them one of our simple plays to get our offense going.  My crippled ass was out there running the point, trying to show them that the play will work if they ran it.

Start of the 2nd half, they run the play and get a 3.  They never ran it again, and we ended up losing by 17.  The other team shot lights out and just took it to us.

The next season, they asked me to coach again, but that was too much drama for me from grown men.