Hawks Midseason Grades: 19-22 W/L

[JayBirdHawk]

I give them a Big Fat F!  - I'm just not having fun watching the team play and they don't look like they are having fun playing either.

 

Sports Illustrated

 

Offense, D

Atlanta ranks 22nd in offensive rating and scrapes the bottom of the league in every outside shooting metric. To make matters worse, they are second in midrange shot attempts and bottom-five in free throw attempts. Trae Young and John Collins both went through the worst shooting slumps of their career but have since snapped out of it. The emergence of rookie AJ Griffin and Bogdan Bogdanovic's return has helped with floor spacing. Unless Atlanta brings in more help at the trade deadline, they will be mediocre at best on offense this season.

 

Defense, B-

One of the few bright spots of the season so far has been the modest improvement of Atlanta's defense. Their defensive rating improved from 26th (113.7) to 15th (113). That is not bad, considering Clint Capela has missed the last ten games. 

Credit goes to assistant coach and "defensive coordinator" Mike Longabardi. Also, the addition of Dejounte Murray cannot be overstated. The combo guard's length, athleticism, and basketball I.Q. have bolstered Atlanta's permeable perimeter defense.

However, Atlanta's points allowed on fast breaks and second-chance opportunities have taken a step back compared to last year. But that should not take away from the increased effort and individual development we have seen so far.

 

Coaching, D

 

McMillan admits that managing the personalities of new stars has been a struggle for him. However, he has played Griffin a lot more than other rookies in the past. Plus, Jalen Johnson is getting more burn in his second season.

While legitimate complaints, critiques about substitution patterns, timeouts, and schemes are often debatable. Most fans (and media) could not hold a clipboard with McMillan in the film room, let alone during an NBA game. McMillan knows more hoops than us, but everyone can read and interpret stats. Almost all of which state Atlanta is underachieving, and their sum is not greater than the individual parts.

 

Front Office, F

Atlanta's front office hit a home run with their blockbuster trade for Murray. Before even circling the bases, they embarked on a cost-cutting spree that gutted the bench. The front office's austerity measures were a precursor to the turmoil ahead.

 

Travis Sclenk, team president and architect of the rebuild, stepped aside in December. The same week, three high-level executives were let go. General manager Landry Fields and director of basketball and business operations Nick Ressler have been left in charge following the power vacuum.

Atlanta is in the midst of its most perilous stretch since the start of the rebuild. The team's draft capital is depleted, and they have two All-Stars who they must keep happy or face a nightmare scenario. The February 9 trade deadline could potentially dictate the future of the franchise.

 

 

 

[Spud2nique]

D- 

[Spud2nique]

8 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

D- 

I reserve the right to change it to an F+ if we drop the Indy game tomorrow. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Offense:  C+ . . . We've had our moments that have seen this offense been on point.   League average is 114 points.  The Hawks have broken that barrier 25 times for a 15 - 10 record.  The problem, is that we've lost 4 of our last 5 games in which we've scored 114 or more.  Despite most of us not liking the ISO nature of this team, it DOES work at times.  But it fails us in the most critical times.

 

Defense:  D+ . . . I could care less about our defensive ranking.  If the defense was better on this team, we'd be over .500 right now.  And the last part of defense is REBOUNDING.  If you get a stop, and you can't rebound the ball, you give the opponent a chance to score again.  The Hawks have done a piss poor job of closing out teams, not only because of ISO basketball, but because we can't secure defensive rebounds in the most critical moments.

 

Coaching:  C- . . . I'm not on the "Fire Nate" bandwagon, although I'm on the edge of jumping on it, just to shake things up.  Nate's offense is low risk.  Turnovers are low.  2 pt shots are high.  And he says the right things during timeouts ( although you have to wonder if it falls on deaf ears, because he always says the same things ).  But with no creativity in the offense, it's hard to defend Nate. Especially when we've had at least 8 nuclear meltdowns in the 4th quarter.  And Nate's unwillingness to commit to developing the kids is also hurting the team overall.

 

Front Office:  D . . . A pure dumpster fire is best to describe the front office right now.  Schlenk steps down out of his role.  Fields, up until 36 hours ago, had done nothing.  And our owner may be the biggest culprit in all of this, with his refusal to go into the tax to improve the team.  For the most part, tax paying teams are playoff level teams.  And if you're not willing to pay the tax, you're not serious about the playoffs.

 

Overall:  C- . . . The Hawks have disappointed us all this season.  But the injuries have exposed that (a) Nate can't develop effective game plans to compensate for the loss of key starters ( unless it's Trae only ), and (b) the front office did a piss poor job in stocking this team with capable free agents that can be solid rotation players.  While last night gave us a glimmer of hope for the bench, performances like that have happened every full moon, and not on a regular basis. 

The only way the Hawks can make a ( B- ) or better on the season, is if they play ( A- ) basketball.  A- basketball would be going 27 - 14 in the 2nd half of the year, which would get us to 46 wins, and a chance at the 5th seed.

[Hawkmoor]

 

 

[Atlantaholic]

Offense: F

Defense: C

Coaching: D-

Front Office: F

Overall D-

Perhaps the most disappointing season for me up there with the JR Rider and the "Big Three" Shareef + JT + Glenn Robinson teams. 

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Coaching:  C- . . . I'm not on the "Fire Nate" bandwagon, although I'm on the edge of jumping on it

There's still room....

 

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Coaching:  C- . . . I'm not on the "Fire Nate" bandwagon,

 Why the hell not? 

2 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

Perhaps the most disappointing season for me up there with the JR Rider and the "Big Three" Shareef + JT + Glenn Robinson teams. 

If you read my ish then at least give it an emoji before you steal the $hit. Damn man there are rules. You did this $hit before I let it slide but you a vet .

[Sothron]

Defense is a solid B. If Capela could have stayed healthy it would at least be B+. We really have picked things up defensively. Remember that assistant coach they brought in to be the "defensive coordinator"? That's a huge part of why.

Offense is a D. I'd give it a F if I could but we at least can still score points just at a very non efficient manner.

Coaching is a C-. Shocking? Maybe. Nate needs to go because he's making tactical mistakes and has lost the locker room to a degree that I don't think he can get it back. But the defense coaching is making the overall grade higher (see above) since coaching is in fact more than just the HC.

Front office is a F. I can't give it a grade below F. The idiotic decision to make an all in trade and then to have the owner say "but I'm still not paying the luxury tax" makes that move a disaster. Our bench is shot. We are looking at unloading more players to just stay under the LT. Travis who was a good to great GM forced out so the owner's son can run the team. An entitled idiot in Nick Ressler with a first time GM and a superstar in Trae are now running the Hawks...as long as they don't go over the LT. 

A recipe for straight out disaster we haven't seen since the A$G days.

 

[Spud2nique]

3 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

D- 

@JayBirdHawk I did the assignment wrong I gave a collective D- 

[Vol4ever]

I'll just go F!  We have talent but are way too small in the front court.  Coaching staff is awful.  Trying to trade one of our best players because of $$$.    Just all over pathetic.  

[REHawksFan]

14 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I give them a Big Fat F!  - I'm just not having fun watching the team play

This 100% encapsulates my feelings. I've resorted to just watching from afar because there's just no excitement. No fun. No joy in this team. If I watch too intently I just get angry and life's too short for all that.  Hopeful for something, ANYTHING that will jump start this team.  But at this point, we may be better off to, uh, aggressively pursue Wemby.   

[macdaddy]

It doesn't really matter at this point whether Nate is doing a good job or deserves to be fired.   He has to go because the whole world knows that he's gone before next year.   There are a lot of negatives to firing him now but there are some positives in that it will at least show an intent to improve quickly rather than just conveniently.

Eh, what am i saying.  I've lost faith in the franchise.   I don't think ownership is serious about winning.  i think they are trying fool people into thinking they are. 

Resseller came to town with a plan and part of that was getting his brother a sweetheart deal for Centennial yards.  When that development is done and going then I think Tony sells the team and pockets a huge amount of dough. 

[Final_quest]

There's a lot to be disappointed about.  When Capela and Hunter play we win.  I think Kevin Huerter is a scapegoat. The offense is too pedestrian either way.