Official Game Thread: Hawks at Hornets (7 PM EST) -- The Season Opener!

[Spud2nique]

Trae

DJ

Bey

JJ ( apology forthcoming)

OO 

What about this starting lineup?

CC

Hunter

Bogi

off the pine  

[NBASupes]

11 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Ngl, I agree here.  Kg and supes on the same page?  Whew, should we all be afraid?  I know I am. 

I am afraid too. We haven't been on the same page since the ECF run 

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, macdaddy said:

We didn't get much from AJ. 

Not ally all but that one spin o ramma playground move… wooooooo weeeeeee I jumped off my like WOWWWW. 

[NBASupes]

11 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

By the way, regarding Lamelo, he reminds me of CARmelo. It’s all swag and he not his team will ever win a ring. He plays playground ball which is ok but he took so many bad shots that NBA players know they shouldn’t take. That one airball was waaaayyy off. 
 

Deapite Trae’s shooting woes last night I’d take Trae times over Ball.

Ball had some excellent possessions in terms of creating and movement. His shot selection needs serious work and always has. That said, I was a fan of what I saw from Ball last night. 

[Packfill]

My overreaction post from the first game is that Charlotte will be lucky to win 35 games this season, maybe far less as I see them unloading vets like Rozier at the deadline to pick up assets to build for the future around Melo, Williams and maybe Miller.  

It is one game but these are exactly the types of games - meaning against mediocre teams - the Hawks need to win if they want to rise above .500.

[kg01]

7 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Yup for sure he’s gotta work on keeping the personals down. He’s ultra aggressive and bodies people and gets calls against him, plus he’s undersized so he’s gotta compensate there.

@kg01 should my JJ apology come today or is that a marathon thing too?

Agreed.

No apology letter needed, it's still early.  I can't speak for @thecampster who is the assistant to the manager of the JJ fan club.  He may require his pint of blood.

[kg01]

5 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I am afraid too. We haven't been on the same page since the ECF run 

Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be back to beefin soon. 

[Spud2nique]

9 minutes ago, kg01 said:

He may require his pint of blood.

He already got a pint from me from before for zinging him about Huerter the shagger..

I gotta start storing my own blood ..

[Spud2nique]

15 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I am afraid too. We haven't been on the same page since the ECF run 

Holy $hit are Smith n Wesson getting back together? This could be a glorious day in Squawkland. DO IT! and make up life is short.

[Final_quest]

Defense looks promising.  JJ could actually give us more than peak Collins.

Shooting was a concern coming in to the season, and it won't be this bad regularly but it will cost us games.

The fit with DJM and Trae continues to look like a problem.  After being a huge supporter going into last year, I'm starting to lose patience and belief in the fit.  Still glad Murray signed the extension, but we might need to split this pair up eventually.

This team has a lot to prove, but I believe we're gonna make some big strides this year towards winning.  

 

[Spud2nique]

Hunter: He needs to stop thinking out there… or start. Seriously he might be overthinking it. Why is he so methodical and mechanical with his moves. Dude needs to take a dance class or something. Calm down and loosen up. 
 

Traditionally I’ve hated mechanical dudes.

MECHANICAL- Hunter

NON MECHANICAL- AJ

Basketball is played like poetry with rhythm and flow. Hunter doing some weird tap routine out there by himself. WTF D.

[Spud2nique]

It’s really weird last nights loss didn’t upset me because we did so many things RIGHT. Ball didn’t bounce our way and we are adjusting. Give it 20 games we should be fine.

 

Quin lost last night I stayed calm.

Different that Nate, when we lost under Nate I felt like we had no game plan whatsoever. Not last night though. We are gonna be one of the smarter teams in the league.

[AtLaS]

The volatility of our shooting gives us a very high ceiling, and a very low floor.  Because of this, there are no guaranteed W's on our schedule even if a team is load managing it's top 4 players.  

The Hornets were very clearly the inferior team but we just couldn't make a damn shot.  I thought we got good looks for the most part, we only had 12 turnovers.  Should've been a fairly boring 10-15 point win if we just shot average.  

We will have plenty of these games this season.  Beat a top team, then lose to a bad team when we can't shoot.  Hopefully we minimize the amount of games where we shoot 10% from three.  

[JayBirdHawk]

59 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

I'm just trying to see where our growth is going to come from. JJ could be a game changer for us. If it's just more of my turn/your turn Trae and DJM, I'm not bullish on that as a winning formula. 

Same. Part of that is sticking to Quin's scheme when the shots aren't falling. They can't revert to what's come easy. Like Quin said 'it has to become habitual'

53 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Agree.  Rotations were better under Quin though.  Seemed like Trae and DJ played a lot without each other which is good.  I don't like the taking turns with both on the court.  When Trae is out there he needs to be the playmaker.  

We didn't get much from AJ.  wouldn't mind seeing Patty get a try as the guard off the bench.  

Agreed.

When shots stopped falling, by everyone  they got back to what's comfortable in trying to do it themselves. 

When shots stopped falling it also affected their defense, which I was generally please with the direction. Still lots to work on.

[JayBirdHawk]

57 minutes ago, Packfill said:

It is one game but these are exactly the types of games - meaning against mediocre teams - the Hawks need to win if they want to rise above .500.

[Plainview1981]

4 hours ago, NBASupes said:

1/4 then once the NBA caught on, the 1/5 PnR was our bread and butter but the centers and PFs in this league have gotten so much better in terms of movement and defending PnRs. Games like last night made me instantly realize why I continue to preach the need for KAT for our squad. 

 

Sometimes you need a guy that's going to get his despite the defenses best efforts to shut it down. 

 

I really really like this roster. A lot more than some here do and I considered last year's squad to be the biggest disappointment from the Hawks, even bigger than the playoff guarantee Hawks. 

That said, man, I don't know of the fit between Murray and Trae. Most of the time, it looks bad. I almost rather see Bogi and Trae which hasn't always worked either. At this point, we need to get an elite 5 which is what Trae needs and just go from there. 

If we don't land KAT or Embiid. I think it's time to consider looking for a young stud for Trae. Maybe a trade of Donovan Mitchell for Trae. Murray and Mitchell will work a lot better than Murray and Trae. 

Part of it also is that when Trae came to the team there wasn't any expectations to win. So, him doing his Trae thing was fun. But yeah, teams have adjusted to Trae. Not to the extent that they will shut him down nightly or anything, but it doesn't feel like the Trae/Cap combo works aswell as it did a few years ago.

I do think Trae can benefit from a big man that can shoot, pass and display versatility. Could you imagine Trae and The Joker? Geez.lol

[kg01]

44 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Holy $hit are Smith n Wesson getting back together? This could be a glorious day in Squawkland. DO IT! and make up life is short.

Haha ....

And I hope folks are ready for Friday night.  That's another team that has had our number.  An L would be disappointing but not surprising.  It's all about growth so I hope we put it together.  But can we not let the sky fall if it doesn't happen? 

[macdaddy]

Just now, Plainview1981 said:

Part of it also is that when Trae came to the team there wasn't any expectations to win. So, him doing his Trae thing was fun. But yeah, teams have adjusted to Trae. Not to the extent that they will shut him down nightly or anything, but it doesn't feel like the Trae/Cap combo works aswell as it did a few years ago.

I do think Trae can benefit from a big man that can shoot, pass and display versatility. Could you imagine Trae and The Joker? Geez.lol

Yep.  for sure.  This is why JJ is key right now.  

Just now, kg01 said:

Haha ....

And I hope folks are ready for Friday night.  That's another team that has had our number.  An L would be disappointing but not surprising.  It's all about growth so I hope we put it together.  But can we not let the sky fall if it doesn't happen? 

Friggin Knicks.  I'd love to see them go 0-2 and watch the sky fall in nyc

[JayBirdHawk]

Just now, kg01 said:

Haha ....

And I hope folks are ready for Friday night.  That's another team that has had our number.  An L would be disappointing but not surprising.  It's all about growth so I hope we put it together.  But can we not let the sky fall if it doesn't happen? 

I'm ready and I'm going to the game, so they had better put on their stomping boots and beat the Knucks!

[kg01]

7 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Yep.  for sure.  This is why JJ is key right now.  

Friggin Knicks.  I'd love to see them go 0-2 and watch the sky fall in nyc

You're a mod now, macd.  Can't be Petty Labelle.  That's my job.