Lost Identity?

[JayBirdHawk]

The Hawks have lost their identity that made them special last season.

 

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MILWAUKEE — One of the most frustrating themes for the Hawks early last season was their inability to hold leads late in games...... Under Nate McMillan in the second half of the season, the Hawks became one of the best teams at winning games in clutch situations — deemed by the NBA as games within five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. They went from the second-worst clutch team under Pierce in the first 34 games to the third-best team for the rest of the season after McMillan took over. The Hawks went 12-5 in clutch situations in the second half of the regular season.

What also made last season’s Hawks special was their resiliency. It never felt like they were out of any game, and there wasn’t a reason to doubt their ability to make a comeback. The Hawks oozed confidence......

 

 

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That version of the Hawks — that fearsome version of the Hawks — is gone this season. They are the third-worst clutch team in the league by net rating and have a 12-16 record in such games.......I’d urge Hawks observers to think back to some of those late-season games and the playoffs and remember how they felt watching this team. It felt like anything was possible, right? This season? Those feelings are fleeting at best.....

 

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The obvious question is what has changed, then? It’s mostly the same roster. The same coach. The same star player. ..... As one person close to the team told The Athletic earlier this week when discussing the differences between this year and last year: “Anyone could have coached the team. They would have loved anyone.” A year later, that initial rush has faded.

An observation this season is the over-reliance on Trae Young to be scorer, distributor, organizer, everything. Opposing teams know this. ... Young is arguably the best pick-and-roll playmaker in the NBA, and teams in late-game situations lately have been switching more and eliminating it from his arsenal.

“I think a lot of times in late games we rely on Trae to make big plays,” Kevin Huerter explained. “It’s one-on-one; it’s break teams down. There are games he does that and we win, and some games he isn’t able to do that. I don’t think we always get the best looks. Our execution isn’t what it should be on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, we have to get stops. (Against Detroit), we could have won the game on either side multiple times and weren’t able to do it. It’s a mixture of things.”

https://theathletic.com/3173543/2022/03/10/the-hawks-have-lost-their-identity-that-made-them-special-last-season/

[Diesel]

Yes, this is the case.   I think for the most part, last year we caught everybody off guard.   This season, we're catching nobody off guard..  Dewayne Casey gameplanned for the PNR.  He made sure that they were not going to be beat by the PNR and it worked.   Last night, Milwaukee did not gameplan against the PNR.  Trae had those guys going under screens all night.  The PNR worked just about everytime we used it.   It felt like we could turn it on and beat Milwaukee... BUT... the game was poorly officiated. 

Some have said it's about the pick set.   Pick setting is an art.. but I don't think that's it.   I think players have become unreliable on the offensive end.  I think JC had the worst night of his career last night and Nate was right for holding him out.   We have seen Hunter be completely unplayable and Kev be MIA a lot. 

There is an over reliance on Trae...  This is where JayHawks call for a second scorer comes from.  Right now, that second scorer is Bogi.   But Bogi doesn't play defense well.  Moreover, he's better as a reserve (Ginobili like).  Maybe Ayton is the answer.   Trae will definitely make him and he has enough skills to make himself.   However, I would have to believe that somewhere at the 2, there's a better answer than Kev/Bogi. 

 

[Q45T]

Trae knows that the team relies on him too much which is why he ready to have a fire sale at the trade deadline just to get a better scorer/playmaker on the team. There is no one you can give the ball to in crunch time other than Trae and opposing teams know this as well.

[Final_quest]

1 hour ago, Q45T said:

Trae knows that the team relies on him too much which is why he ready to have a fire sale at the trade deadline just to get a better scorer/playmaker on the team. There is no one you can give the ball to in crunch time other than Trae and opposing teams know this as well.

Yet we're going to hear a message for the next several months that Trae can't play with anyone that has playmaking skills or someone that can create their own shot off the dribble.  

We need more playmakers and shot creators.  Better wing players.  

[Dnice]

Hell yeah.

[macdaddy]

This is why i keep saying that Bogi is our most important player because he's the only other semblance of a playmaker we have.   We have to address this in the offseason but it's going to be hard.    We need to get over the idea that Kev / Dre can be our starting wings of the future.   They are both too limited on offense.  

[NBASupes]

Teams can do what they want but you can't stop the PnR if the roller is a monster. Clint is too limited a roll man. That's been a killer. JC just too small.

[Gray Mule]

In one of our recent games, the last one I think, Hawks cut the lead to 5.  Our opponent, in two trips down the court, hit a two, then a three.  Quickly that 5 point lead became 10.  

We can't continue to give up points like this and expect to win.  Hawks worked and worked for two or three minutes to cut the lead down to 5.  We did it!  15-20 seconds later it's back to 10.  

I know.  The NBA champions.  Yet we lost.  Didn't help any that the refs were so bad Nate got tossed.  Time to re group and see if we can win one tonight.

GO ATL HAWKS !!

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

Teams can do what they want but you can't stop the PnR if the roller is a monster. Clint is too limited a roll man. That's been a killer. JC just too small.

If JC is too small then who is a roller who's a monster in this league?  

[Atlantaholic]

I keep seeing posts about our offense and it's ridiculous to me. We are close to dead last on defense. That's the problem. Our offense has been much better than last year by every statistical measure. 

[AHF]

31 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

If JC is too small then who is a roller who's a monster in this league?  

Embiid, Giannis, AD probably are really low hanging fruit.

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

If JC is too small then who is a roller who's a monster in this league?  

So many rollers with more size or length. 

Sabonis

Ayton

Gobert 

AD

Capela who we spam way more

Embiid

KAT 

Allen

Mobley

Even Zion 

 

JC is legit but man, it's hard to have him and win with Trae. 

1 hour ago, Atlantaholic said:

I keep seeing posts about our offense and it's ridiculous to me. We are close to dead last on defense. That's the problem. Our offense has been much better than last year by every statistical measure. 

Trae is the WOAT on that end. Unless we move him, there is not much to talk about outside of upgrading Capela for Gobert 

[Final_quest]

My other thought along these lines has been, were Tony Snell and Solo really this good?  

[NBASupes]

1 minute ago, Final_quest said:

My other thought along these lines has been, were Tony Snell and Solo really this good?  

Yes, for the RS, they added value. They didn't require touches and all they wanted to do was help the team as vets

[AHF]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

 

Capela who we spam way more

 

Two quick notes on Capela as the roll man:  

First, he isn't as good at it as JC.  

Second, it is the only thing he can do on offense.

Put these together and things make sense.  Trae is great at running the PnR but you can't run it with CC and JC at the same time.  Since one of them hits open jumpers at an extremely effective rate and the other can't be trusted more than 3 feet from the basket, this means that Capela is the guy who we spam in the roll role.  

[Atlantaholic]

6 hours ago, NBASupes said:

So many rollers with more size or length. 

Sabonis

Ayton

Gobert 

AD

Capela who we spam way more

Embiid

KAT 

Allen

Mobley

Even Zion 

 

JC is legit but man, it's hard to have him and win with Trae. 

Trae is the WOAT on that end. Unless we move him, there is not much to talk about outside of upgrading Capela for Gobert 

Then how were we top 12 in defensive rating under Nate for 40 games last year?

[NBASupes]

8 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Then how were we top 12 in defensive rating under Nate for 40 games last year?

Teams were bricking trying to keep up 

[JTB]

20 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Teams were bricking trying to keep up 

Sounds like good defense to me!

[Diesel]

We may have lost our Identity.. but we still know how to open a can of Whoop Ass.

[NBASupes]

5 hours ago, JTB said:

Sounds like good defense to me!

Naw