Defense and Hustle Tracking: 2023 - 24 season

[JayBirdHawk]

Can we get our front court to up their defense?

 

 

[AHF]

39 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Can we get our front court to up their defense?

 

 

Caruso hiding in the upper right corner, lol.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[benhillboy]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Glad to hear the third sentence in his quote.  I had doubts about his mindset, gives me a little confidence that a significant move will be made to bolster the defense.  Not a lot tho.

[benhillboy]

21 hours ago, AHF said:

Caruso hiding in the upper right corner, lol.

Two years straight and that’s the least of his defensive value.  He’s like a Pro Bowl Mike LB the way he orchestrates.  But I had no idea he’s above .677 eFG/ TS.  The second best box plus minus on the Bulls is DeRozan at 2.7 points less than Caruso.

He could instantly and consistently add 3 points to the Hawks differential.  I hope Landry is doing due diligence at least.  He’d invigorate Dre and Clint a great deal but those would likely be the guys being shipped out.

Edited December 6, 2023 by benhillboy

[AHF]

1 hour ago, benhillboy said:

But I had no idea he’s above .677 eFG/ TS.  

Definitely one I'd put in the "unsustainable / SSS" category.  His career average TS% is .558% and his career high is .588%.  This year he is sitting at .697%.

The defense is where I'd pay value for him.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Sothron]

As I've said it isn't our backcourt defense killing us. We are getting killed in the front court.

Caruso is having a career year shooting. I don't think he can keep it up but his offense is just a bonus. His defense and communication on defense is what I would trade for.

 

[Final_quest]

I know some of you guys are triggered by their names, but Brad Rowland and Glen Willis laughed at the idea that we have the assets to get Caruso.  I think what they mean is that Caruso would require us to empty our cupboard.  So we would improve but at the cost of using all of our future remaining draft capital. They didn't think it was likely.  

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 hours ago, Final_quest said:

I know some of you guys are triggered by their names, but Brad Rowland and Glen Willis laughed at the idea that we have the assets to get Caruso.  I think what they mean is that Caruso would require us to empty our cupboard.  So we would improve but at the cost of using all of our future remaining draft capital. They didn't think it was likely.  

I disagree.

At the end of the day, Caruso is still just a 9.4 million dollar player.  When you talk about "cupboard", we're talking about AJ + Bruno or Bufkin + Bruno.  Maybe you throw a 2nd round pick with one of those deals, to get Chicago to bite.

Caruso is NOT a game changer for this team, because he won't play enough minutes with Trae, DJ, and Bogi in the backcourt.  Adding Caruso means you have to cut Bogi's or Bey's minutes, to make sure he can play enough to have a true impact.  If Quin does that, yes, he could be an impact player.  Have to commit to play him 25+ minutes a game though.

What we really need, is a "Caruso" that is a wing or a PF. 

[Sothron]

4 hours ago, Final_quest said:

I know some of you guys are triggered by their names, but Brad Rowland and Glen Willis laughed at the idea that we have the assets to get Caruso.  I think what they mean is that Caruso would require us to empty our cupboard.  So we would improve but at the cost of using all of our future remaining draft capital. They didn't think it was likely.  

Why would any Hawk fan be triggered by Brad Rowland and Glen Willis? Brad has the best Hawks podcast out there on his Locked On Hawks podcast. Glen Willis is great at his podcast and his game breakdowns on Twitter/X. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

From a defensive standpoint, I think this lineup would've been very good

• Trae
• DJ
• JJ
• Collins
• Capela

I firmly believe, and have believed since Day 1, that JJ can play the 3 on both ends of the court.  Even if JJ has his deficiencies, his athleticism and ability to switch on guys at the 3 - 5 spot, would be highly valuable with this team.  Add that with Collins at the 4 and OO/Capela at the 5, the issues we have with defensive rebounding would disappear.

This is why if defense and rebounding continues to be an issue with this team, Quin must play BIG, not small, to try to offset that.  A lineup he could throw out there a times, could look like this:

 

• Trae (  6 - 1 )
• DJ  ( 6 - 5 )
• JJ  ( 6 - 9 )
• OO  ( 6 - 8 )
• Capela  ( 6 - 10 )

 

Offensively, we'd have to get JJ involved more in the half court offense, at the very least as a facilitator, but also as a secondary scorer.

I still say one of the best lineups that Nate ever put together, was when he lost "Wingstop" ( who wasn't stopping anything in that 2020 - 21 season ), and was forced to play ( 6 - 10 ) Gallinari at the 3, with Collins and Capela during that 2021 playoff run.

Gallo's defensive deficiencies at guarding 4s and 5s, was actually covered up when he played the 3.  And it gave him an offensive advantage because he could post smaller guys up, or just shoot right over them.  For some crazy reason, Nate never went back to playing the "big" lineup the following season, which limited Gallo's effectiveness.

Hawks aren't tough enough or athletic enough to play small ball, and be successful . . . unless they're shooting lights out.

[Final_quest]

1 hour ago, Sothron said:

Why would any Hawk fan be triggered by Brad Rowland and Glen Willis? Brad has the best Hawks podcast out there on his Locked On Hawks podcast. Glen Willis is great at his podcast and his game breakdowns on Twitter/X. 

I don’t know of any other noteworthy podcast out there.  But got the sense some people had a negative reaction to them.  I could be wrong.

They definitely thought Caruso was out of reach.  

 

[JeffS17]

Front court is not great rn, but the reason Trae/DJ might look good in this isolated statistic is because they are constantly playing passing lanes and gambling for steals.  This is also why we give up more points at the rim and corner threes than anyone in the league.  Every time they get blown by or die on screens, the entire defense has to collapse and not even a Rudy Gobert, Giannis front court would be able to make up for that.  We have a problem with our perimeter defenders (not just these two but also Bogi, Bey, AJ) and while Quin has schemed the best he can to make up for the limitations, its a big issue.   

The question with bringing DJ in was could we make it work on offense with two PGs, but in my opinion, since DJ has been here the much bigger issue is defense with those two on the court.  You cannot consistently win games if every perimeter defender is at risk of getting blown by every possession.  No front court upgrade is going to fix that. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Brooklyn ( 12 / 6 )

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/bkn-vs-atl-0022301209/box-score?type=defense

 

 

To many, this may have been Trae Young's best defensive game as a Hawk.  In the first 3 quarters of the game, he was active, staying in front of his man, challenging all 3 point attempts in his area, and held the man he was guarding to 2 - 13 shooting.  Brooklyn deliberately tried to target Trae in the 4th quarter, and shot 4 - 9 when Trae was guarding them.  But as we know, Trae made the biggest defensive play of the game toward the end, that should've led to a go-ahead bucket on the other end.  Stellar performance by Trae on that end of the ball.

 

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/bkn-vs-atl-0022301209/box-score?type=hustle

 

 

Trae contesting 9 shots in a game has to be a career high.  Plus he drew a charge along the baseline in the 1st half.  Capela contesting 14 shots is great, but alarming.  With JJ gone, there's no one else on the team challenging shots at a high rate around the rim.  Capela with 6 box out rebounds is nice to see.

Contested shots:  48 out of 94 = 51.1% contested

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Philadelphia ( 12 / 8 )

 

Defense

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-phi-0022301218/box-score?type=defense

 

 

Capela could do nothing with Embiid.  He was BBQ chicken whether he was guarding Embiid in the post, out on the perimeter, or keeping him off the boards.  He definitely tried, but he was just too small, not strong enough, and not athletic enough to contain the reigning league MVP.

Good defensive efforts from 12 and Bogi.  12 was great in the first 3 quarters, holding the man he was guarding to 2 - 9 FG.  Bogi was great in the last 3 quarters, holding the man he was guarding to 0 - 7 FG.  Unfortunately, both were not active at all in the 4th quarter defensive wise.  12 gave up 3 early 4th quarter buckets, and didn't defend a FG after the 7 minute mark.  Still a good game defensively overall.

 

Hustle

https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-phi-0022301218/box-score?type=hustle

 

 

DJ's activity on defense wasn't as evident in the Philly game, due to the Sixers really taking care of the ball ( 10 turnovers total ).  1 deflection by DJ is rare, which also was his only steal of the game.  Bogi was Mr. Deflection in this game, with 4.

Once again, Clint had to defend Embiid, so his contested shot total was going to be extremely high.  Still would like to see someone else be double digits in contested shots with him.

Contested shot %:  47 out of 87 = 54% shots contested

[JayBirdHawk]

First Quarter Woes!!

Most times we give up lots of 3s and ORebs.

[theheroatl]

Here's the thing Trae has gotten a lot better at defense and our frontcourt might be the worst in the league at defense. It goes to show you that our defense is not as how trae young goes defensively. It's always been bad because we don't have a stacked defensive team surrounding our offensive playmakers which allow us to be near the top of the league each year in offense.

LANDRY GET US DEFENSIVE PLAYERS WE SUCK

Edited December 13, 2023 by theheroatl

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JeffS17]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Can't take any defensive stat seriously that has Dame at the top lol