What percentage of our current problems do you all put on Nate?

[Wurider05]

I reading stuff where folks are calling for his head but how much of the blame do you guys place at his feet?

[sturt]

None.

25 game pledge intact. There's nothing to "blame" him for, any more than most parents can be "blamed" for their teenagers being teenagers... development/maturity doesn't happen all at once. It naturally takes time.

In fact, he gets a bonus from where I sit until BogBog is not just fully healthy, but another 10 games after that.

 

Serious judgment has to wait until there's been time for players to gel. This is part of why you don't trade KVon, by the way. The more turnover you embrace, the more new chemistry has to be given time to evolve.

[Diesel]

13 hours ago, Wurider05 said:

I reading stuff where folks are calling for his head but how much of the blame do you guys place at his feet?

Yesterday, Sturt asked the question about GM, Coach, Player. 

IN actuality, the Coach can only work with the players that he is given.

I don't think Nate wanted Kev moved. 

I can't blame Nate for Bogi's knee.

Nate's Job is to take the pieces that he has been given and make them cohesive and win with them. 

 

Right now, he has a lot of new pieces that he has to figure out.   He has to devise a scheme that would work with the incoming pieces and what he already has. 

All the things that people have placed at Nate's feet... how many of them are true?

1.  Doesn't play Rookies...

Griff Money is getting a plethora of playing time.  The same is true of OO too. 

2.  Reliant on Vets....

I have seen less of the Holidaze and more of guys from G-League and whoever will fit the bill (Culver) lately. 

3.  Has an old, uncreative offense....

There's some truth to this.. but we don't know what it takes to make everybody effective.  IF I have Trae and Clint... I'm going to run PNR too.  How else could Clint be effective on offense?  PNR has made Clint into an offensive Powerhouse.   Isn't that what coaching is about, putting players in their best light.   To that end, I think he has dropped the ball when it comes to JC.   And this is part of the changing dynamic... If JC could drop that 3 ball like he has done previously, then I would have no commentary.  However, his finger is different, his three ball is not falling.   It's time for Nate to draw up somethng new for JC.   Chris Webber is not walking through that door. 

 

So all and all, I give a small amount of blame to Nate.. but as long as the players are still listening, he's good. I would love for him to hire D'Antoni and see this group really run.

 

 

 

[macdaddy]

30%

[Gray Mule]

There is enough blame to go around.  No one is exempt.  GM, coach & players.  All share in where we are now in the east and where we are in our division.  Hawks are in 1st place there, by the way.

GM is the one who makes all the trades and is responsible for all playerrs that are on the team (And those who no longer are here).

Nate is the one responsible for who plays and how much.  He's the one who decides about what to do, both the offense and the defense.

The players are who must play the game and make all the plays on offense and defense. 

Any one of the three parts are subject to break down at any time.  All three must be in sink for victory to be.  These three must be a team.  Then, the players must play as a team.  On the same page.

[AHF]

It depends not only on the issue but on which aspect of the issue you are talking about.

Let's look at offense.  We are bottom of the league in 3pt shooting.  A huge part of that is no Huerter and no Bogi.  What % is Nate responsible for that?  0% (absent him really selling TS/LF on dealing Huerter).

What about how rare it is in our offense for us to run action where our best shooters get freed up by screens and action to get optimal catch and shoot opportunities?  That is near 100% on Nate.  I say "near" because maybe he has a bunch of stuff he is planning to role out once Bogi is back but that doesn't really make sense to me (the team should be running the action we plan to focus on whether a given player is there or not).  

So I have some really powerful concerns about the systems and design we are running on offense that I attribute primarily to Nate but there are other areas that contribute or are primarily responsible for certain struggles that are largely or even completely outside of his control.

[Diesel]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

What about how rare it is in our offense for us to run action where our best shooters get freed up by screens and action to get optimal catch and shoot opportunities?  That is near 100% on Nate.  I say "near" because maybe he has a bunch of stuff he is planning to role out once Bogi is back but that doesn't really make sense to me (the team should be running the action we plan to focus on whether a given player is there or not).  

I hear you on this. I don't know what that would look like.   Do we have anybody that can catch and shoot off the screen?  I don't know.   All accounts is that we don't .    JC and Hunter not being natural three point shooters but adopting the three pointer shoots more of a set shot.   The only person that fits that bill is maybe AJ and BOgi.

Bogi is that one.. but we need this guy:

 

 

[AHF]

6 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I hear you on this. I don't know what that would look like.   Do we have anybody that can catch and shoot off the screen?  I don't know.   All accounts is that we don't .    

Last year we had both Bogi and Huerter and didn't do much of this.  This year of course AJ can do this and Bogi can when he returns.  The other guy who I think can do this is Trae.  Trae clearly doesn't have a natural instinct for off ball movement but if you actually ran plays where he had somewhere specific to be then I am confident he could do that.  

For the rest of the guys like Hunter, I'd say we don't know.  We haven't tried so how would we know?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

19 hours ago, Wurider05 said:

I reading stuff where folks are calling for his head but how much of the blame do you guys place at his feet?

 

Yeah, I'm not on the "Fire Nate" train, although there are things that he can and must do better.  I am encouraged that he's at least trying to see any deficiencies in his rotations.  He's mixed it up multiple times, trying to find the right fit.  But I also can't destroy Nate for playing to the team's strengths.

The fact that he has us taking a bunch of 2s right now is actually helping the Hawks more than it's hurting them.  We can't shoot worth a damn right now.  So keeping our 3 point volume down is actually a good strategy to keep the offense flowing in games. You get less points per possession, but at least you are continually scoring.

But when you play like that, your defense has to be on point at ALL TIMES and you must get to the FT line. In the grand scheme of things, you can really only say that our offense lost the game on 3 or 4 occasions.

Even with the 3 point shooting, the games say that the Hawks are just as likely to win when they're hot from 3, than when they're ice cold from 3.  It basically shows that it's a 50/50 split either way.

The Hawks are 3 - 3 when they've made 12 or more threes

Compared to 4 - 2 when they've made 7 or less threes.

 

The barometer for this team has been defense.  113 points has continued to be the magic number for the Hawks. 

• Score over that mark, and you'll likely to win the game ( 9 - 2 when we've scored 113 or more ).  
• If the opponent scores over 113, you'll likely to lose ( 2 - 8 when the opponent scored more than 113 . . and those 2 wins came in OT )

 

It's going to be VERY INTERESTING to see how this team holds up without Collins and Hunter, 2 of our best defenders on the frontcourt, but also 2 of our most inconsistent scorers in the starting lineup.

 

So as for blame on Nate?  With Bogi out, but also with an offensive that lacks creativity, I'll place about 30% of the blame on Nate.  When it reaches 60% for me, that'll be when I'll start talking about replacing him.

[ShooterSays]

RUMOR - take it with a grain of salt… but

 

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, ShooterSays said:

RUMOR - take it with a grain of salt… but

 

Well this won't be hard to figure out.   JC and Hunter weren't there.  Certainly wasn't anyone off the bench so we got Trae/DJ/Capela.   I doubt it's Capela.   Most will think it's Trae but my money would be on Murray maybe?  I don't know.   

[lethalweapon3]

"Stay calm. Stay clear. Sta-- wha-- whatchucallme?"

~nat3

[Spud2nique]

11 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Well this won't be hard to figure out.   JC and Hunter weren't there.  Certainly wasn't anyone off the bench so we got Trae/DJ/Capela.   I doubt it's Capela.   Most will think it's Trae but my money would be on Murray maybe?  I don't know.   

I got Murray too.  Something about tapping people on the head makes me think he might be the one. Just a hunch. Nothing more.

[JayBirdHawk]

Maybe it was CC?

 

 

[Spud2nique]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

Maybe it was CC?

 

 

CC vs Nate? 
 

I got CC in a first round KO  

[BangHolman]

Didn't Trae hit the Injury Report after Shoot Around?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

[ShooterSays]

Trae right shoulder soreness after shoot around… Trae take a swing? 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Diesel]

2 hours ago, AHF said:

Last year we had both Bogi and Huerter and didn't do much of this.  This year of course AJ can do this and Bogi can when he returns.  The other guy who I think can do this is Trae.  Trae clearly doesn't have a natural instinct for off ball movement but if you actually ran plays where he had somewhere specific to be then I am confident he could do that.  

For the rest of the guys like Hunter, I'd say we don't know.  We haven't tried so how would we know?

Shooting off the screen is not as easy as you think.

I don't know if Trae has that ability.   Watching Trae, he can shoot off of his own movement.   i.e. he gets a guy in the switch, he makes two moves and jacks the shot.   As I watch Trae, he searches for his spot when he has the ball.   He's very unlike what I have seen with Reggie and what I see with Euro Bogi.   EuroBogi and Reggie can do one thing that I have not seen Trae do...  Square up.   Even though Reggie had the most flicted release, when you looked at his body, his body was always square.. which made him excellent off the screen.  Bogi does that too.   Probably why both of them can shoot high percentage from three.   If Trae is square, I really can't tell.   He kinda hoists up the shot from what I consider odd angles.  It's unique and impressive but I think it's based on being in his preferred spot. 

Even now.  Off ball.  Trae is a killer when he's already standing in his spot and somebody passes him the ball.  I have to watch closely to see if he can catch and shoot... I don't know if he can. 

AJ has that same trait as Bogi.  He squares up... so even though I don't know if he can catch and shoot consistently, I believe that he can.