Official Game Thread: Jazz at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“’John The Latter-Day Saint.’ Hm. I think it’ll be catchy…”

 

It’s a reunion day in The A! Quin Snyder gets to strategize against his longtime former team, the Utah Jazz, for the first time as the Atlanta Hawks head coach. And John Collins returns to the factory where he once restored the highlights.

Snyder’s star pupil, and Collins’ most famous lob partner, will have to watch tonight’s proceedings (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, KJZZ in SLC) from New York City, coincidentally where the Hawks are headed after this homestand concludes versus the Jazz. Trae Young won’t be sipping any fancy tea for a while, not until the ligament around his pinkie finger is fully surgically repaired. That leaves Coach Quin soldiering on through the sunset of this season trying to keep the remaining Hawks (25-32) Play-In relevant.

I have long been enamored with Hawks-rookie-scale-player-makes-good guys finding new leases on life elsewhere, after their leases in Atlanta began to expire. Marvin Williams, for one, wasn’t much better of a player in SLC. But he found himself better off, unburdened by the he’s-no-CP3 pressure there, and Jazz fans loved his tenacity and defensive effort.

One inevitability I cannot stand, though, is New Team Media, once a prominent Hawk leaves the nest, flocking to test how much shade the player chooses to throw his ex-employer’s way. The dangling carrot tends to hang from the string like: “So, you’ve been here for a few weeks. What do you like most about your new team?” As the man best known for his bunnies was queried at his introductory Media Day press conference, The Human Trade Exception couldn’t help but take a nibble.

“I’d say the one thing that has surprised me is the lack of ego here,” Collins offered. “It’s refreshing to have a group of guys that truly emphasize playing team basketball and want to do so. It’s nice for me to see. It’s exciting for me to be around. And, you know, it helps me wake up in the morning motivated to play.” Who needs Folgers in your cup anymore?

Well, it only took about three weeks’ worth of games that count before Will Hardy had to urge Collins and the Jazz awaken to smell the coffee. “Everybody has to be willing to take something and put it in the middle and be willing to give it up,” Utah’s replacement for Snyder sounded off, imploring more selfless play amidst a 2-7 start to the season. “There’s a difference, between wanting to win, and wanting to win your way.”

John The Baptist didn’t wait for Lent to begin giving up touches around the rim, ceding finishing plays to 2023 All-Star and MIP-award-winning forward Lauri Markkanen. However selfish Collins perceived Young, and Dejounte Murray during their brief time together under Snyder’s watch, to be, he now gets to try Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, and Talen Horton-Tucker on for size.

It only took another month before Utah fans started peeling back the welcome mat. “Collins has been poor all season,” scribed Chad Porto for Fansided’s The J-Notes in December, “mostly on defense, not always putting the effort in and being slow to pick up his assignments… He’s somehow become a shell of his already shell-like self.” Arguably, the nadir came when the Jazz, absent Markkanen and Clarkson, lost 147-97 in Lukaland, Collins finishing at a minus-40 over the space of 23 minutes. Kelly Olynyk had to be traded at the Deadline, for the ghost of Otto Porter, just to stop Jazz fans from clamoring in desperation for Olynyk to play ahead of Collins.

After a mid-month illness, Hardy returned JC to action slowly, first off the bench, then with reduced minutes as a starter. And for a minute, it worked well.  A 12-2 run for the Jazz through mid-January (Collins down to 24 MPG during that stretch) raised their record above .500, a feat in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference. Alas, the fun times didn’t last.

Utah’s own trek to Gotham, at the end of last month, initiated a 2-8 skid, including five straight losses, before ending their mostly dour run of home games with a merciful 19-point win over on Sunday the visiting Spurs. There are hints of late that Collins (last 10 games: 15.3 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 54.4 FG%, 31.3 3FG% over 29 MPG; 13.0 RPG and 5-for-11 3FGs in last 3 games) is beginning to find his footing. But Utah will need a lot more than utilitarian play out of Collins, and more consistency from him and others, if they are going to catch up with the Lakers and Warriors for the final Play-In slots.

Thanks to a summer 2021 salary dump of Derrick Favors (not Danny Ainge's fault at all), if Utah finishes in the tank standings between #11 and #14, they might get to watch somehow-Northwest-Division rival OKC assume their lottery position. There is no guarantee that the Jazz (27-31) can tank enough to slip “ahead” of Atlanta (25-32), currently recalibrating with Young out of the picture, or Houston and the other Western also-rans, and salvage their Top-10 pick protection. And, again, the likelihood of a surge into the Play-Ins looks bleak, too.

It's the kind of situation that would have me hitting the snooze button on game days. Right, John?

Collins is but one of several Jazzmen at the center of questions by fans about whether Hardy is working with Laurel to design rotations. The next player taken after the Hawks took Kobe Bufkin off the board, Keyonte George has carved a notch in Hardy’s backcourt with Sexton and Clarkson, including 21 starts, and his 25.2 MPG exceeding Sexton’s 24.7.

Defensive intensity must be what Hardy is looking for, since when it comes to offensive efficiency for George (39.0 FG%, 34.4 3FG%, which includes an outlier 9-for-16 3FGs outing before the All-Star Break vs. GSW; 3-for-13 FGs vs. SAS), I don’t think he’s got it.  It's a similar circumstance for Walker Kessler, the shot-blocking center (2.7 BPG, 3^rd in NBA) who was a pleasant surprise as an All-Rookie First Teamer last season but has yet to present another useful dimension to his play on the court.

Kessler lost his starting gig in November, first to the since-traded Ochai Agbaji as Collins became the small-ball five-man, then to the since-traded Simone Fontecchio, and he didn’t get it back until a trial run this month. After the Break, Kessler was back on the bench again, this time in favor of lotto-rookie Taylor Hendricks. While the idea of an offensive boost is noble, on a team that turns the ball over a ton (NBA-worst 15.6 team TO%), the returns with two rooks in the starting unit have been meager.

Hardy’s patchwork lineups are just good enough to pull out victories when any two of Markkanen, sixth-man Clarkson, Collins, and Sexton can have strong two-way performances simultaneously. But they struggle to help one another string buckets together for meaningful runs, and they seem lost when it comes to defending the perimeter (39.2 opponent 3FG%, worse than ATL’s 38.7 and ahead of only Kevin Huerter’s Kings at 39.6). Utah, incidentally, has become one the few NBA situations where Coach Quin probably can look around and thank his lucky stars he’s securely employed by Atlanta.

Snyder’s Hawks probably will face more mid-game adversity than they did in the second-half on Sunday evening, as the short-handed and traveling Magic were beginning to feel the lead in their legs. But so long as Murray (25 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds incl. 8 D-Rebs, 2 steals) and De’Andre Hunter help Atlanta’s bigs keep Collins, Markkanen and Kessler from generating second chances for Utah (NBA-high 33.5 O-Reb%), and if the team keeps the cheap fouls to a minimum (UTA 82.4 team FT%, 3^rd in NBA), the Hawks can further convince themselves that Sunday’s defensive display (92 points allowed vs. ORL, fewest since January 2022 vs. Bruno Fernando’s Celtics) was no mirage.

There’s no reason to believe Collins is wistful about suiting up in Atlanta, although there is little doubt he longs for the heydays when he was helping Trae tilt against the likes of Randle, Embiid, and Giannis at playoff time, times that don’t look to return soon without a change in scenery. With Collins, Quin would be able to offer the advice he himself is learning, that one can feel “better off,” once granted a new situation, but it doesn’t mean things will get that much “better.” Not unless you commit to getting much better.

Sometimes you can have a good notion of how things will turn out, but it just doesn’t take off the way it first seemed when the concept was swimming around in your head. Kind of like strapping on aviator goggles and hurdling a model plane in a dunk contest.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

Tribute video: Yes or No? 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[lethalweapon3]

Utah has all of their active One-way players available to start this week's Southeastern road trip (ORL on Thursday, MIA on Saturday).  You won't see Otto Porter all night long, as he is being withheld while awaiting his buyout deal. Nothing new on the Hawks' side of the Boo-Boo ledger.

Former Jazz rookie Trent Forrest used up his ATL allotment but apparently not his CPK games, so he'll stick with the Skyhawks going forward. Mo Gueye being upgraded to Questionable ahead of his G-League assignment is a minor development, too.

Jazz GameNotes points out that Marietta's second-finest (after Shareef, naturally), Collin Sexton is among seven NBA players splitting 20 PPG/50 FG%/40 3FG% in NBA starts (included w/ Jimmy, KD, LeBron, Kawhi, Sabonis, and KAT). Momentary former Hawks backup Kris Dunn ranks just ahead of Sexton in 4th among NBA qualifiers for O-Rating. Seven of Coach Quin's current coaching staff members (video coordinators included) also worked under him in Utah.

It was just Wemby and the Spurs, but Utah is also hoping they've found a defensive spark. The 39 first-half points they allowed to San Antonio was a season-low.

Hawks GameNotes cites Jalen Johnson's third-game this season, meeting or exceeding 20 points/10 rebounds/5 assists, on Sunday tying the most by any young Hawk, in their rookie/sophomore/junior seasons, since John Collins' sophomore campaign  in 2018-19.

As the Jazz try to stem a three-game road skid, the Hawks seek to end Utah's winning streak at State Farm Arena, now at four games and counting.

 

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

9 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Tribute video: Yes or No? 

Appears to be the case, yes. 

 

 

[shakes]

32 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Appears to be the case, yes. 

 

 

shortest tribute video in the history of tribute videos.  It's gonna be several angles of the dunk on Embiid and then several angles of the mangled finger.  Roll credits.

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, shakes said:

shortest tribute video in the history of tribute videos.  It's gonna be several angles of the dunk on Embiid and then several angles of the mangled finger.  Roll credits.

I think you're short changing him by a LOT.  

[Diesel]

I would love to see the Night start with a tribute video...

A Thank you JC chant that last about 3 minutes...

 

And then...

 

We boo him the rest of the night!!

 

[lethalweapon3]

The math, contrary to popular opinion, IS mathin'.

Meanwhile, Jazz owner Ryan Smith is pushing hard for his Field of Sch... um... Dreams in downtown Salt Lake.

~lw3

[Vol4ever]

I'm a big JC fan.  We misused him by trying to make him a wing 3pt shooter.  He was dominate in the post and midrange.  

Did he and Trae not see eye to eye?

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

JC well loved by his teammates 

 

 

[HawkingAwesome]

awww the boys miss jc

[JayBirdHawk]

Was that lil Nicky towards the end of the vid?

 

 

[Nash]

Let's beat these goons!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Clint man ....he's still struggling with that injury.

[MaceCase]

Someone scored!

[terrell]

The fk is Murray doing with these passes? Geez

lol JC dribbling