Official Game Thread: Jazz at Hawks

[BrazilianHawk]

10 hours ago, AtLaS said:

Can someone remind me again why we are playing Garrison Mathews over AJ?

AJ is that bad. Or perhaps he's uncoachable. Who knows? Who even cares, anyway? 

[Mikey]

If you weren’t sure about Kobe Bufkin before last nights game I think he gave you a lot of reason to be sure 

[macdaddy]

Went to the game.  What a game from Kobe.  He boxed out Kesseler on one play with ease and even guarded Lauri successfully on a drive. 

Jazz are really something.  No idea what they are doing out there.  Not a very good team and i don't know about the coach but there seemed to be no real offensive plan other than chuck some shots.  I feel bad for JC really.  Yeah he looked bad but whatever offense they are running isn't going to be one you'd want JC in. 

As far as Trae, it was just about six weeks ago we got blown off the court against Sac and Warriors in games Trae missed so not sure we want to jump to conclusions.  I'm blaming OO right now. 

Got good seats for $16 on tickpick.  No fees.  It was like being back in the 80s.  I thought it would be empty but it was actually a really great crowd.  

[AtLaS]

1 hour ago, BrazilianHawk said:

AJ is that bad. Or perhaps he's uncoachable. Who knows? Who even cares, anyway? 

We are playing Garrison Mathews over him, who is 27 and will probably be out of the league in 2 years.  We aren't winning a championship this year and unlikely to make the playoffs, why wouldn't you develop your 20 year old.  

Did you AJ play last year?  How is he that bad?  

 

[JeffS17]

59 minutes ago, Mikey said:

If you weren’t sure about Kobe Bufkin before last nights game I think he gave you a lot of reason to be sure 

His screen navigation is some of the best I've seen, he moves like water on defense, it's beautiful.  I think the time in College Park was probably well spent refining his game, and for his confidence

[macdaddy]

9 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

We are playing Garrison Mathews over him, who is 27 and will probably be out of the league in 2 years.  We aren't winning a championship this year and unlikely to make the playoffs, why wouldn't you develop your 20 year old.  

Did you AJ play last year?  How is he that bad?  

 

It's all guesses right now with any player but especially with AJ given how his year has gone.  But I"ll guess and say that Quin is very strict and you have to show something in practice to get on the court.  I'm guessing that's how Garrison got in to begin with.  I can see it.  If you are out playing someone in practice but they still get PT over you because they were a high draft pick then that player thinks they don't have to work as hard.  

So it really isn't about Garrison at all but about molding AJ into the player they want.  Remember Bud did this to THjr when we acquired him.   

That's my guess based on nothing. 

[KB21]

Just now, JeffS17 said:

His screen navigation is some of the best I've seen, he moves like water on defense, it's beautiful.  I think the time in College Park was probably well spent refining his game, and for his confidence

Bingo!  You don't have to be thrown into the deep end of the pool before you are ready to get developed.  He has played a lot of minutes at College Park, and he has developed a lot of the aspects in his game you are seeing on the court now by playing at that level.  Now, when his number has been called, he's far more ready to contribute than if they had foolishly thrown him into the fire from the beginning just to see what he can do.  

[KB21]

3 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

It's all guesses right now with any player but especially with AJ given how his year has gone.  But I"ll guess and say that Quin is very strict and you have to show something in practice to get on the court.  I'm guessing that's how Garrison got in to begin with.  I can see it.  If you are out playing someone in practice but they still get PT over you because they were a high draft pick then that player thinks they don't have to work as hard.  

So it really isn't about Garrison at all but about molding AJ into the player they want.  Remember Bud did this to THjr when we acquired him.   

That's my guess based on nothing. 

It's much better player development than the stupid shit Lloyd Pierce used to do.  Nate McMillan didn't do any player development at all.  

Bud is the best player development coach we have ever had (best coach we have ever had as well), and I think Quin is going to be right up there with him before it is all said and done.  

[BrazilianHawk]

28 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

We are playing Garrison Mathews over him, who is 27 and will probably be out of the league in 2 years.  We aren't winning a championship this year and unlikely to make the playoffs, why wouldn't you develop your 20 year old.  

Did you AJ play last year?  How is he that bad?  

 

The few minutes I saw him play this season he's been horrendous on both sides. It's not to say Matheus is much better, but something is telling me his relationship with Quin is bad. I don't really know the answer, but his play gives me no reason to want him on the court.

[KB21]

8 minutes ago, BrazilianHawk said:

The few minutes I saw him play this season he's been horrendous on both sides. It's not to say Matheus is much better, but something is telling me his relationship with Quin is bad. I don't really know the answer, but his play gives me no reason to want him on the court.

I'm not buying that his relationship with Quin is bad.  I don't see Quin being that way, period.  I think there have been a lot more issues than the media knows about behind the scenes.  Like I said the other day, it's a big coincidence that AJ Griffin gets shut down and a month later, his father gets fired with a 30-13 record.  

[gurpilo]

Is no surprise for me that when we have been able yo get on the court a starting lineup with adequate size we are winning games easily.

I like the backcourt of DJ and Bogi, I like Kobe as backup for DJ. 

Bey as starting SF IS average, Hunter as backup is great.

JJ as a PF is becoming a star, we lack a backup

Capela is average as Center. OO is average and a bad fit for Capela.

If there is a trade out there that gets us a star wing and a good center for Trae and OO or Capela I would do it and a Heartbeat.

A starting lineup of DJ/star wing/Bogi or Hunter/JJ/Big C IS in my mind a contender

 

 

[Dnice]

Good not to see a track meet of 130 allowed, I'll take it.

[bleachkit]

What's going on with Mouhamed Gueye? We could use him. 

[KB21]

4 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

What's going on with Mouhamed Gueye? We could use him. 

He's not ready.  He's much better off from a developmental standpoint to play at College Park than get 4 minutes in Atlanta.  

[Atlantaholic]

37 minutes ago, gurpilo said:

Is no surprise for me that when we have been able yo get on the court a starting lineup with adequate size we are winning games easily.

I like the backcourt of DJ and Bogi, I like Kobe as backup for DJ. 

Bey as starting SF IS average, Hunter as backup is great.

JJ as a PF is becoming a star, we lack a backup

Capela is average as Center. OO is average and a bad fit for Capela.

If there is a trade out there that gets us a star wing and a good center for Trae and OO or Capela I would do it and a Heartbeat.

A starting lineup of DJ/star wing/Bogi or Hunter/JJ/Big C IS in my mind a contender

 

 

Frustrating to me that our biggest need (backup bigs) are the exact type of thing we could have addressed but didn't.

13 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

What's going on with Mouhamed Gueye? We could use him. 

I thought he was basically out all year

[AHF]

3 hours ago, theheroatl said:

WE ALL WANTED TO SEE LOTS OF BUFKIN BECAUSE HE WAS READY TO BE OUR STAR POA DEFENDER... WE ARE FINALLY BASKING IN THIS!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!! I was about to explode there if Quin played vets in the 2nd half.

I am loving what we are seeing from him.  He is showing me something I didn't think we'd see from him this year and man do we need it.

[bleachkit]

18 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Frustrating to me that our biggest need (backup bigs) are the exact type of thing we could have addressed but didn't.

I thought he was basically out all year

He was called up from the G league if I'm not mistaken.

[AHF]

25 minutes ago, KB21 said:

He's not ready.  He's much better off from a developmental standpoint to play at College Park than get 4 minutes in Atlanta.  

While I think AJ has already shown enough in the NBA to have a quick path back when personal issues are resolved, I have zero expectations for Gueye to play in Atlanta at all this year.  He was extremely raw coming out of college and needed this year in the G-Leauge for sure.

With AJ, I hope that they have some very specific things for him to be working on defensively.  I don't buy that he needs to be in the G-League to work on his shot or anything.  I throw the numbers from the summer and earlier this year out given that there were clearly off-the-court issues of some sort that seriously impacted him.  Not going to speculate on the specific nature of them but I don't doubt something had to be handled to get him back in a place where he was ready to compete on the floor.

[KB21]

28 minutes ago, AHF said:

While I think AJ has already shown enough in the NBA to have a quick path back when personal issues are resolved, I have zero expectations for Gueye to play in Atlanta at all this year.  He was extremely raw coming out of college and needed this year in the G-Leauge for sure.

With AJ, I hope that they have some very specific things for him to be working on defensively.  I don't buy that he needs to be in the G-League to work on his shot or anything.  I throw the numbers from the summer and earlier this year out given that there were clearly off-the-court issues of some sort that seriously impacted him.  Not going to speculate on the specific nature of them but I don't doubt something had to be handled to get him back in a place where he was ready to compete on the floor.

I think, when looking at his play in summer league, there were certain things they wanted to see him do that he struggled with.  They had him running the offense at times during the summer.  I think that's something they believe he can eventually do.  I don't get the feeling they feel like he is a guy who can play the wing like Bey or Hunter.  I think they see him as more of a long term Bogi type, but I think they want to see if he has a bit more upside from a creation standpoint.  So, I think that's why it is beneficial for him to be working on that aspect of his game at College Park rather than being relegated to spot up shooting duty on this team.  

[Nash]

Hawks didn't record 2 consecutive wins with a net rating of 44 points the entire season. Not even against  tanking teams, let alone PO contenders. Not when fully healthy and eager to play. The reason for it is Trae and DJM pairing. Neither can guard their positions. Neither can play without the ball. Neither is a good catch and shoot 3pt shooter. They just starve each other and we're mainly playing 4 on 5 with both on the floor. The only player on this team that can play 1, 2, 3 and is a good catch and shoot guy is Bogi (3rd in the league) but his minutes get cut from 35+ to 26min hurting his confidence. Bogi's more valuable on the floor than on the bench even on the nights when the shots are not falling in as the floor looks wide open and JJ and DJM have wide open driving lanes. Can't wait for the next 3 road games to see how this lineup looks on the road.