Front office in charge of JJ and Sharife's minutes?

[Diesel]

From the Athletic Mailbag:

 

"Have the Hawks answered why they felt it was unnecessary to play any of the rookies? — Andrew B.

Publicly, no, they haven’t answered why they used this year as a redshirt season for both Jalen Johnson and Sharife Cooper. Privately, the plan for both was to bring them along slowly. If either gave the organization a reason to put him into the rotation throughout the season, it would’ve happened. The Hawks weren’t going to consider this season a failure for Johnson and Cooper if neither played much, because they viewed both as long-term projects rather than go-to options in the short term. I know it was frustrating to see certain players, like Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, play over Johnson, and I didn’t understand that for the most part either; however, the Hawks didn’t feel as if Johnson was ready to contribute nightly at an NBA level yet. Cooper was almost never going to play because of the point guard depth on the roster.

The Hawks still believe in both players’ futures, but neither were expected to play much in Year 1, and that’s exactly what happened."

[thecampster]

JJ was getting coaching every day but what he lacked (game feel) was very hard to teach in practice sessions.  I do know they had practice games/sessions where he ran a lot of 3 vs 3, 5 v 5 where the opposing team was supposed to make him switch, recognize sets from the 3/4/5 positions.  But realize there is a difference between practice players and NBA real game time.  He made great strides but it can't replace minutes of NBA action and scrub time doesn't count.

[Diesel]

16 minutes ago, thecampster said:

JJ was getting coaching every day but what he lacked (game feel) was very hard to teach in practice sessions.  I do know they had practice games/sessions where he ran a lot of 3 vs 3, 5 v 5 where the opposing team was supposed to make him switch, recognize sets from the 3/4/5 positions.  But realize there is a difference between practice players and NBA real game time.  He made great strides but it can't replace minutes of NBA action and scrub time doesn't count.

Well, he missed a lot of scrubb time in HS and College.  He's come a long way from a guy who barely played in the last two years.   I think with JJ, if he has the skill set, he may be the heir apparent at PF. 

[JeffS17]

Honestly, with our cap situation (tight), we really need sharife and JJ to develop into very solid bench pieces, at worst.  I actually think Sharife could have helped our bench this year as he provides a nice punch of scoring/playmaking, and imo defense is not very important at all for guards on the second unit in the regular season.  Emphasized those three things specifically because I highly doubt he could contribute to any post season minutes.

[JayBirdHawk]

3 hours ago, Diesel said:

the Hawks didn’t feel as if Johnson was ready to contribute nightly at an NBA level yet. Cooper was almost never going to play because of the point guard depth on the roster.

Two things:

1. No one was expecting nightly contributions as part of the REGULAR rotation - just not a total of 70+ minutes

2. We had so much PG depth that Nate said  'Delon was not in the rotation' - cool story.

[Diesel]

25 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Two things:

1. No one was expecting nightly contributions as part of the REGULAR rotation - just not a total of 70+ minutes

2. We had so much PG depth that Nate said  'Delon was not in the rotation' - cool story.

[JeffS17]

2 hours ago, Diesel said:

Oh my god this gif just brought me back 25 years lol

[hazer]

4 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Two things:

1. No one was expecting nightly contributions as part of the REGULAR rotation - just not a total of 70+ minutes

2. We had so much PG depth that Nate said  'Delon was not in the rotation' - cool story.

I like that you’re taking up for my losing side of your winning bet 🫱‍🫲

[JayBirdHawk]

19 minutes ago, hazer said:

I like that you’re taking up for my losing side of your winning bet 🫱‍🫲

LOL. I have not forgotten.

I didn't expect either to be regular every game rotation guys, but I expected some sort of preparation for life after Gallo and Lou for this upcoming season.

[hazer]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

LOL. I have not forgotten.

I didn't expect either to be regular every game rotation guys, but I expected some sort of preparation for life after Gallo and Lou for this upcoming season.

For real though! My fat white ass could’ve gotten 70 minutes

 

[thecampster]

3 minutes ago, hazer said:

For real though! My fat white ass could’ve gotten 70 minutes

 

 

[hazer]

5 minutes ago, thecampster said:

 

“LeeeEEET it rain! RAINdrops!” 🌧 

[Watchman]

11 hours ago, Diesel said:

Well, he missed a lot of scrubb time in HS and College.  He's come a long way from a guy who barely played in the last two years.   I think with JJ, if he has the skill set, he may be the heir apparent at PF. 

Everyone says that Collins is too small to play PF.  Hate to tell you this, but JJ is smaller than JC.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

12 hours ago, Watchman said:

Everyone says that Collins is too small to play PF.  Hate to tell you this, but JJ is smaller than JC.

Collins is the ideal size to play PF. His main struggles come vs bigger and stronger PFs and Cs.

We need him to be a STRONG 6-9 ... 230 lbs. A nice off the dribble game in the midrange would be nice too.

[thecampster]

17 hours ago, Watchman said:

Everyone says that Collins is too small to play PF.  Hate to tell you this, but JJ is smaller than JC.

The both have good footwork and touch around the basket. There are 2 facets of the game where the game comes easier for JJ, the rest are currently advantage Collins.

Those 2 areas are:

1) JJ has much better handles + drive to the basket.  Especially once around the basket, he is very smooth in going either side.  JJ can face up his man and take him off the dribble and/or play back to the basket. In the back to the basket game, Collins is suspect to turnovers, pokeaways. He is deliberate with the basketball. Better than most PF, but JJ, if he plays PF has SF handles.

2) Rebounds come very easy to JJ. I think at this point Collins is a better rebounder but JJ's nose for the basketball, his ability to sense the carom is better.  JJ has some instincts that are hard to teach, rare to see. Collins works very hard to rebound and helps others rebound by boxing out. If JJ put in that kind of work, he'd be a rebound machine based on his instincts. Watch some video of him playing when the ball isn't in his hand. When the shot goes up, he's headed toward one side of the rim and gets a lot of long rebound, floater rebounds. If anything, he's the Yin to JC's Yang.

 

The criticism of Collins being too small to play PF is legitimate in context.  He lacks that muscular bulk needed to bang. Right now he's trying to bang, being asked to bang. In his first few years in the league, he relied more on instincts and athleticism. His age means lack of old man weight....that'll come but it takes till like 26-28 for that chest to round out and it takes a toll on your legs. This is why right now he's a better fit next to a bulky, brawling, defensive center.  Clint is a good defensive center but he's not an intimidator. There is a difference. JC's inability to bang exposes Clint's flaws (however slight).

[thecampster]

PLAYER	TEAM	AGE	HEIGHT	WEIGHT
Clint Capela	ATL	27	6'10	256
Danilo Gallinari	ATL	33	6'10	236
Gorgui Dieng	ATL	32	6'10	248
John Collins	ATL	24	6'9	226
De'Andre Hunter	ATL	24	6'8	221
Jalen Johnson	ATL	20	6'8	219
Onyeka Okongwu	ATL	21	6'8	240
Kevin Huerter	ATL	23	6'7	198
Kevin Knox II	ATL	22	6'7	215
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot	ATL	27	6'7	215
Bogdan Bogdanovic	ATL	29	6'6	225
Delon Wright	ATL	30	6'5	185
Skylar Mays	ATL	24	6'4	205
Trae Young	ATL	23	6'1	164

 

The argument can be made that Jalen has the better potential frame but we're really nitpicking.