Trae

[Diesel]

15 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

I actually think if we keep playing how we did last night and versus the Nuggets, we will slowly improve and potentially get a 4 or 5 seed.  Trae cannot shoot this poorly forever, and if he does, we have way bigger issues on our hands, but the more we move the ball and trust the rest of the team, the more they will develop and improve.  A lot of our team is very young right now -- AJ and JJ basically have no NBA experience... and they're getting heavy minutes.  Realistically, we're a year or two away from making another splash in the playoffs unless we get some huge improvement from multiple positions in the roster.  A trade could be the impetus for that.

A lot of the professional predictors here on Hawksquawk don't give any credence to the fact that we are really young,  we have had changing personnel, and we are still learning each other.   A few weeks ago, everybody was all up in love with Cleveland and how they have gelled... Then they hit a Spot.  Before that it was Sacramento...  Then they hit a spot.    Talent is not Cohesiveness.   And you have to have a team to win in this league.   Talent will only take you so far.    We're still gelling but we will get there. 

 

 

 

[Gray Mule]

Diesel is correct.  Basketball is a team sport and, to be successful, there must be a team.  Hawks are not there yet.  We're gaining on it!  That 25 game gap before jumping off a tall building is just now appearing.  Some present starters have no where near 25 games with this Hawk crew.

It hurts when we can't play a great 4th quarter.  Couldn't stop the scoring in any of our recent games.  The Hornets have a center in their G League that I wish we would trade for: Mark Williams.  He could rebound and guard the inside where we get scored on so easily.

[macdaddy]

we're about to hit a lot of road games so we're going to see what this team is made of real soon. 

[benhillboy]

2 hours ago, Diesel said:

A lot of the professional predictors here on Hawksquawk don't give any credence to the fact that we are really young…

 

 

I didn’t like this team getting younger.  The average age of the roster last season was 26.  It has dropped to 25 with the departures of Delon, Dieng, Gallo, Solo, and Lou.  The two teams that look like they’re on a collision course for the Finals average 27 yo (Boston) and 28 (Phoenix). 
 

Anyway as much as I bash Trae y’all know I gotta even it out.  It doesn’t seem as if he’s still a league-leader in PNR frequency and efficiency but indeed he is:

 

Also very impressive he’s also a league leader in transition opportunities along with PPP.  All of these other guys are huge and/ or athletic freaks who go at the rim.  Trae finessing with the semi-break pull ups and such:

 

 

Other tidbits:

Clint is killing it defending shots, boxing out, and in screen assists.  OO also killing it in the latter two.

DJ the only real hustle deflection and loose ball player we got.

Dre was/ is shooting better in isolation than Kyrie Irving?!?!

AJ runs the fastest on offense, Aaron Holiday on D.

I’m not sure how NBA.com determines cuts but John and OO lead the Hawks.  That’s gotta include crashing the glass when a shot goes up.  Either way we didn’t have any guards or wings ranked in the Top 50 smh.

Edited December 6, 2022 by benhillboy

[Sothron]

This is worth listening to:

 

It starts at 9:39 if I didn't get the timer down right. Listen to their comments about Nate and how out of touch Nate is with player's today. Keep in mind both of them did not get along with Nate when they played for him and they both admit it before they comment on it. 

 

[StonedDogs]

3 minutes ago, Sothron said:

This is worth listening to:

 

It starts at 9:39 if I didn't get the timer down right. Listen to their comments about Nate and how out of touch Nate is with player's today. Keep in mind both of them did not get along with Nate when they played for him and they both admit it before they comment on it. 

 

I think we can all agree Nate is not a great NBA head coach. Thats on Schlenk. He was an assistant coach to an assistant coach for a reason. 

The main problem I feel right now is what will make your star happy? Letting him do his thing and play his game or meshing with a creative coach who runs plays for the benefit of the whole team? Its all a mess right now

[benhillboy]

Off topic but I had to post this for @kg01:

 

“I love my son but I ain’t never carried him this long.”  Dead.

[benhillboy]

Y’all please forgive me but I missed the part where someone posted the full article from The Athletic.  I know someone did.  Whoever did embed that for you boy right quick thanks.

[kg01]

9 hours ago, benhillboy said:

Off topic but I had to post this for @kg01:

 

“I love my son but I ain’t never carried him this long.”  Dead.

I have tears in my eyes.  No, not from joy.  I'm crying because ...... because this is the most sincere present I have ever received in life.

Did Christmas come early?  Is it Kwanzaa season?  Is it my birthday?

I take back every bad thing I've ever said about you, benhil.  This gift..... this gift came from the bottom of your cold, dead heart sir.  The love .... the respeck.... you're the brother I never wante...I mean, had.  Brother I never had.

It's not like this was one game or one season.  Thus dude is violating dribblin' laws in every language.  Every Mempis jersey is featured.  Home?  Road?  Neutral?  Don't matter.  Thus dude is carryin' more mail than Amazon.  Homeboy is travelin' more than gossip in middle school.

If there was any doubt he's a league creation, these clips eliminate it all.  This is shameful.

[macdaddy]

11 hours ago, Sothron said:

This is worth listening to:

 

It starts at 9:39 if I didn't get the timer down right. Listen to their comments about Nate and how out of touch Nate is with player's today. Keep in mind both of them did not get along with Nate when they played for him and they both admit it before they comment on it. 

 

That's pretty damning.   Hawks are in a tough spot on what to do though.  Travis' coaching hires track record really sucks.

 

[kg01]

11 hours ago, Sothron said:

This is worth listening to:

 

It starts at 9:39 if I didn't get the timer down right. Listen to their comments about Nate and how out of touch Nate is with player's today. Keep in mind both of them did not get along with Nate when they played for him and they both admit it before they comment on it. 

 

Glad they made it clear they're not fans of Nate before eviscerating him.  Even though it was indeed an eviscerating, it was sorta fair(ish) and in line with a lot of the criticism most of us have had.  The coaching staff exhibits a clear inability to change/adapt.

Interesting to juxtapose this with the character assassination happening to our player because of this.  Articles about everybody hating Trae and whatnot.  I've always said folks have those pre-written.  Just waiting for an opportunity to hit 'send'.

Edited December 7, 2022 by kg01

[AHF]

11 hours ago, benhillboy said:

Off topic but I had to post this for @kg01:

 

“I love my son but I ain’t never carried him this long.”  Dead.

Some of those plays with like 4 steps being taken are true shamockeries.

[AHF]

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

That's pretty damning.   Hawks are in a tough spot on what to do though.  Travis' coaching hires track record really sucks.

 

Hard to argue too much with this.

[Diesel]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

Glad they made it clear they're not fans of Nate before eviscerating him.  Even though it was indeed an eviscerating, it was sorta fair(ish) and in line with a lot of the criticism most of us have had.  The coaching staff exhibits a clear inability to change/adapt.

Interesting to juxtapose this with the character assassination happening to our player because of this.  Articles about everybody hating Trae and whatnot.  I've always said folks have those pre-written.  Just waiting for an opportunity to hit 'send'.

Some of the more less court related stuff, I don't know if it's true.   For instance, Does Nate still require collared shirts and no cellphones?  He may have changed?  I think the most important part is on the court has he lost his team.  These guys says yes... but others say no.

Not Flattering, I saw this today:

 

 

[macdaddy]

8 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Some of the more less court related stuff, I don't know if it's true.   For instance, Does Nate still require collared shirts and no cellphones?  He may have changed?  I think the most important part is on the court has he lost his team.  These guys says yes... but others say no.

Not Flattering, I saw this today:

 

 

So toward the end there he played the audio from the Athletic article where the guy says basically 'some in the organization feel Trae has too much power'.   Right there you know why this 'private disagreement' became public.  The organization wanted it to.   They are trying to keep him in check without actually doing anything directly.  Just like the Draymond 'leak' the org is behind it trying to get some public pressure in their favor which they think will make their guy be more 'reasonable' in their minds. 

The other thing that doesn't add up is if Nate is the guy with all these strict rules then why is there no suspension for Trae for not showing up for a game?   Why?  Because Nate f'ed and everyone knows it.   Either it was a true misunderstanding or Nate was pissed and said something he shouldn't have. 

[JeffS17]

12 hours ago, benhillboy said:

Off topic but I had to post this for @kg01:

 

“I love my son but I ain’t never carried him this long.”  Dead.

This is so egregious lol... meanwhile Hunter getting called for a travel every time he lifts his foot 0.001 seconds too early

[JeffS17]

Just now, JeffS17 said:

This is so egregious lol... meanwhile Hunter getting called for a travel every time he lifts his foot 0.001 seconds too early

To add to this, it feels like the league is letting every teams star player get away with murder on offense this year.  And they're calling extremely soft fouls on star players while not calling sh*t for anyone else.  I saw behind the basket at the OKC game relatively close to the court, and I watched so many dudes get hacked with no calls while SGA/Trae got whistles for the most minimal contact.  Bogi got his arm yanked on a shot right in front of the ref with no call.  Some dude got hacked on OKC that I don't even know his name (so I knew he wasn't getting a whistle).  Wild to watch

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, JeffS17 said:

To add to this, it feels like the league is letting every teams star player get away with murder on offense this year.  And they're calling extremely soft fouls on star players while not calling sh*t for anyone else.  I saw behind the basket at the OKC game relatively close to the court, and I watched so many dudes get hacked with no calls while SGA/Trae got whistles for the most minimal contact.  Bogi got his arm yanked on a shot right in front of the ref with no call.  Some dude got hacked on OKC that I don't even know his name (so I knew he wasn't getting a whistle).  Wild to watch

Agree.  OO got that illegal screen because the guy ran over his foot.   Maybe he dragged it i guess but i thought it was dumb.

[Diesel]

15 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

So toward the end there he played the audio from the Athletic article where the guy says basically 'some in the organization feel Trae has too much power'.   Right there you know why this 'private disagreement' became public.  The organization wanted it to.   They are trying to keep him in check without actually doing anything directly.  Just like the Draymond 'leak' the org is behind it trying to get some public pressure in their favor which they think will make their guy be more 'reasonable' in their minds. 

The other thing that doesn't add up is if Nate is the guy with all these strict rules then why is there no suspension for Trae for not showing up for a game?   Why?  Because Nate f'ed and everyone knows it.   Either it was a true misunderstanding or Nate was pissed and said something he shouldn't have. 

Honestly, I don't think Nate told him to not come to the arena... That just doesn't sound like him.   I believe Nate said, you either come off the bench, don't play, or come to shoot around.   I think Trae decided to go home.    This is what makes me believe that the leak may have come out of Trae's camp.   Simply based on the misrepresentation of what Nate said.  Because "his camp" knows it would look bad if he was given a choice to either come to shoot around, don't start, or don't play and Trae choose to go home. 

I say you go back and listen to Dejounte after the game (Denver) comments.  They are focused... and probably part of the bigger team discussion. 

 

[macdaddy]

Just now, Diesel said:

Honestly, I don't think Nate told him to not come to the arena... That just doesn't sound like him.   I believe Nate said, you either come off the bench, don't play, or come to shoot around.   I think Trae decided to go home.    This is what makes me believe that the leak may have come out of Trae's camp.   Simply based on the misrepresentation of what Nate said.  Because "his camp" knows it would look bad if he was given a choice to either come to shoot around, don't start, or don't play and Trae choose to go home. 

I say you go back and listen to Dejounte after the game (Denver) comments.  They are focused... and probably part of the bigger team discussion. 

 

I agree that Nate didn't mean to tell him to go home.  That would be crazy.  But if his instructions were clear and Trae just decided to not show up then he'd be suspended right now.   So i think that part is a misunderstanding but probably because Nate gave him unclear instructions.

I think this will blow over but it is feeling like LP all over again and I didn't believe that Travis would pull the trigger mid season on LP and he did.  So we'll see how this goes.   Difference here is i think we continue to be a pretty good team.