I really like this squad for 2024-25

[NBASupes]

Let me prefix this by saying, I am always overly optimistic before the season because I tend to focus mainly on best case scenario. It's only directly after FA which is truly the middle of SL and around the draft where I tend to be fully realistic. 

I've been pretty harsh on Trae over the years. Even during the ECF year. The reason is, not sold on him as an elite scorer. I see him as more of a #2 option but he can't play off the ball which hurts freelance Basketball, think 60 win Hawks. He doesn't run an offense well at all, think Marbury for someone who is a plus passer. His defense used to be WOAT, now he's clearly below average where he's good on defense in some areas but still the woat in others and that's not gonna change just due to what he can't control which his measurements and lack of tools. 

That said, I never thought we put the right players around Trae. I think early on, the focus was being a replica of the Golden State Warriors with Trae as Steph, Spellman as Draymond, Hunter as Barnes, Kevin as Klay, Cam as Iggy, and JC as an explosive small ball Bogut. 

We played this out for the most part and they just never came close to GS players. Trae never got as good as Trae even though he started off clearly better early on. Kevin just wasn't the super off ball stud that Klay was. He mainly is a short movement stud. Hunter you could argue reached Barnes level, but Barnes level isn't really that high. Cam busted, never got close to Iggy. So did Spellman. I guess you can say JC was that but it was clearly Atlanta couldn't win with him as a 5 so they had Dedmon and CC replace that role and JC just never had a great offensively role after that. 

Basically, Travis plan flopped. 

Then we went to plan Ressler. 

This was the sell out to get Trae another star. He had the full support of HS who turned on me and called me names and said I am an idiot for not wanting another star with Trae. Well I want another star with Trae but Murray just didn't make sense to me. Too small off the rip. 

Well... I was right. It failed bigger than anything thing else. 

Now let's talk about the Goat postseason in Atlanta Hawks history. The ECF run. In my personal opinion. This was a tale of two seasons. LP tried to do what he felt was the best route for this team long term and he failed tremendously. Hawks had one of the worst records in the NBA at the time he was fired. 

We hired Nate. Sticks with LP scheme but he switches things up. No more 1/4 PnR as the stable. No more running a bunch of sets. He just simplified it. We are spamming the 1/5 PnR with CC. Who at the time, was basically a garbage man for LP. And we will attack the paint at all times. We did that with LP for the most part too but teams would just crowd the lane. Once we started spamming the 1/5 PnR, teams would end up giving up a so many open 3s and the Hawks was drilling them with the personnel we had at the time. 

Injuries. That was one of the most injured squads we have ever had. Even more considering the game missed via percentages than even last year. Why did we win and not suck last year. Well, we hit on scrubs that year and it wasn't just them getting much better by the end of year like last year. Solo Hill and Tony Snell were scrub studs. We started so many games with them and we played better than ever. Why? Tony Snell small movement unlocked Trae elite vision perimeter vision for not just creating open 3s attacking but he was also good at finding the open perimeter player if open and Snell seemed to always be open and made over 50% of his 3s and mostly open too. He didn't need quality touches as he directly created them. Solo was another movement guy who just worked to get good looks and Trae found him. Both of these guys were in their last useful year in the NBA but boy, we had a season with these two in particular. 

Why I like this team? 

The core perimeter players fits Trae. Bogi always worked with Trae but he never really fit Trae. Like all other perimeter players, he doesn't get enough quality touches from Trae. Just not in rhythm. This has negatively impacted almost everyone outside of Snell and rookie Kevin. But playoff Snell had teams sitting on him as did post rookie Kevin so it became harder for them to exploit defenses due to Trae's attacking gravity. 

That said, DD has 3 skills I admire.

He's a secondary ball handler who can really run an offense at a decent rate. 

His movement skills while not elite is good in all areas. Small, short, long, aggressiveness to read rebounds and what the defense is doing. He's just relentless on or off the ball in terms of decisions similar to Derrick White.

I really like the fact that he's pass first. This is our first pass first guy since Delon and I really think that would help the others as even non quality touches can equal maybe a better shot for someone else. 

I was never high on the idea of White because 6'5 195 next to Trae is just too small but Daniels is 6'8 with the perfect length. That's a big difference. He could play the 1, 2, or 3. He was far more intriguing. 

Next is Zaccharie Risacher. This is the player who was either 1, 2, or 3 on my BB for most of the season last year. At the end of the day, I think I underestimated him like I did with Al Horford where I knew they were damn good as prospects but I didn't realize they can do all of this. 

Risacher is a world class movement talent. He still needs to work on his strength for the long movement that Klay has but he's already supreme in short and small movement. Risacher is aggressive. He attacks closeouts and is not scared to get his shots up. Needs to work on being shot ready and feet set. His form and shooting release is already pro ready. 

Risacher is fluid and can attack many areas of the floor. He's not scared to battle inside and that's unique for a guard. 

Risacher shot creation isn't much to talk about but it has promise especially as he grows into his body. 

For the first time Tony Snell and Kevin Huerter, the Hawks put plus off ball players around Trae. We all knew Kevin issue with Trae was always defense. Whereas both Risacher and DD are at least good defenders especially DD who is great. 

JJ looking like he might take another jump on O. Could he jump to JCs level of scoring? 

Center is still questionable. CC had a tremendous 2nd half where he looked like CC of previous years and not the washed guy we saw in the 1st half of the year. What will he be next year. OO had a great February but his season was a clear regression overall. That's probably my big concern. 

I really love our bench for the first time since 2015-16. That bench was 

Dennis

Hardaway Jr

Thabo

Mike Scott but I am not 100% sure

Splitter

We had the best bench in the NBA and I really like what we have this year. 

Kobe

Bogi

Hunter 

Nance Jr

Likely OO in my mind. Could be different but I need to see OO play mentally better first. 

Right now, the Knicks is the best bench and I like our bench against their current bench. 

Kolek

Hart

OG

??

??

 

I don't know who their backup 4 is right now and I know Mitchell will start to replace Hartenstein. I don't know who their backup 5 is either. 

I think people are sleeping on us. I really do. 

Defensively, we are miles better with DD and Risacher alone. Nance is no scrub either. He's the best 4/5 we gotten for the bench outside of OO since Gallo. 

I like this team. While their floor is still low like 30 wins low. Their ceiling is 2nd in the east behind Boston. Chemistry will be more important this year this last. I don't believe Quin will try to do too much this year as he did last year. I do think we will see freelance ball back which is the best Trae but with the movement players around him, this could help him in some ways too. 

I tried to use AI to edit this but it removed most of the message and made the thread pointless. 

[Gray Mule]

I sincerely believe that the pieces in our picture-puzzle team is a much better fit than ever before!

[bleachkit]

Who is going to be our third scorer after Trae and JJ? And is JJ ready to be a 20+ scorer? Overall I'm not bullish on this team. I think we will be better defensively though. 

[NBASupes]

20 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Who is going to be our third scorer after Trae and JJ? And is JJ ready to be a 20+ scorer? Overall I'm not bullish on this team. I think we will be better defensively though. 

My belief is this will be balanced. Risacher is who I see as the #3 shot taker. But Daniels will be #3 in touches. CC as a starter will likely get the least amount of shots. 

[Final_quest]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Who is going to be our third scorer after Trae and JJ? And is JJ ready to be a 20+ scorer? Overall I'm not bullish on this team. I think we will be better defensively though. 

We're exchanging a clearer 2nd and 3rd option for defense and balance.  To me the bar is from 41-45 wins, and if they go above the bar I will be pretty impressed.  

I'm not expecting fireworks with this team, but could we see fireworks?

[Dragitoff]

2 hours ago, bleachkit said:

Who is going to be our third scorer after Trae and JJ? And is JJ ready to be a 20+ scorer? Overall I'm not bullish on this team. I think we will be better defensively though. 

Bogi

[RedDawg#8]

2 hours ago, bleachkit said:

Who is going to be our third scorer after Trae and JJ? And is JJ ready to be a 20+ scorer? Overall I'm not bullish on this team. I think we will be better defensively though. 

Bogi and Dre are both still scoring options for us. Likely 17ppg each. JJ is our 2nd best player, but he is not as explosive of a scorer as those two and likely is 3rd in points most games, albeit filling the stat sheet otherwise.

[Packfill]

I like this team for 2025-26.  DD and ZR need experience.

Also, I don't think the Hawks will start both young guys - too little shooting.  One will likely start with either Bogi or Hunter taking the other wing spot depending on which of DD or ZR starts.  

[deester11]

Well..I must retort as I'm not bullish on this team at all while acknowledging defensive improvement....which was a must. That was accomplished.  I see scenarios where the scoring lull is going to hurt this team.  The "ifs" are big enough to be pessimistic. But I can say I'm optimistic that there will be better team ball.  I'm still in wait and see mode. Guess we all are.

[JayBirdHawk]

I'm usually on the optimistic side in years past. This year, not so much. Maybe this is just me reverse jinxing myself.

I think we've addressed overall fit, size, depth and defense but not necessarily the overall talent. 

Too many things have to go exactly right, expectations of a young squad to be exceeded and in the end, the burden of the offense still depends on Trae to drag everyone up.

I hope I'm wrong in how I 'feel' about this team. After preseason, I'll have a better feel and set my expectations accordingly.

[terrell]

6 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Let me prefix this by saying, I am always overly optimistic before the season because I tend to focus mainly on best case scenario. It's only directly after FA which is truly the middle of SL and around the draft where I tend to be fully realistic. 

I've been pretty harsh on Trae over the years. Even during the ECF year. The reason is, not sold on him as an elite scorer. I see him as more of a #2 option but he can't play off the ball which hurts freelance Basketball, think 60 win Hawks. He doesn't run an offense well at all, think Marbury for someone who is a plus passer. His defense used to be WOAT, now he's clearly below average where he's good on defense in some areas but still the woat in others and that's not gonna change just due to what he can't control which his measurements and lack of tools. 

That said, I never thought we put the right players around Trae. I think early on, the focus was being a replica of the Golden State Warriors with Trae as Steph, Spellman as Draymond, Hunter as Barnes, Kevin as Klay, Cam as Iggy, and JC as an explosive small ball Bogut. 

We played this out for the most part and they just never came close to GS players. Trae never got as good as Trae even though he started off clearly better early on. Kevin just wasn't the super off ball stud that Klay was. He mainly is a short movement stud. Hunter you could argue reached Barnes level, but Barnes level isn't really that high. Cam busted, never got close to Iggy. So did Spellman. I guess you can say JC was that but it was clearly Atlanta couldn't win with him as a 5 so they had Dedmon and CC replace that role and JC just never had a great offensively role after that. 

Basically, Travis plan flopped. 

Then we went to plan Ressler. 

This was the sell out to get Trae another star. He had the full support of HS who turned on me and called me names and said I am an idiot for not wanting another star with Trae. Well I want another star with Trae but Murray just didn't make sense to me. Too small off the rip. 

Well... I was right. It failed bigger than anything thing else. 

Now let's talk about the Goat postseason in Atlanta Hawks history. The ECF run. In my personal opinion. This was a tale of two seasons. LP tried to do what he felt was the best route for this team long term and he failed tremendously. Hawks had one of the worst records in the NBA at the time he was fired. 

We hired Nate. Sticks with LP scheme but he switches things up. No more 1/4 PnR as the stable. No more running a bunch of sets. He just simplified it. We are spamming the 1/5 PnR with CC. Who at the time, was basically a garbage man for LP. And we will attack the paint at all times. We did that with LP for the most part too but teams would just crowd the lane. Once we started spamming the 1/5 PnR, teams would end up giving up a so many open 3s and the Hawks was drilling them with the personnel we had at the time. 

Injuries. That was one of the most injured squads we have ever had. Even more considering the game missed via percentages than even last year. Why did we win and not suck last year. Well, we hit on scrubs that year and it wasn't just them getting much better by the end of year like last year. Solo Hill and Tony Snell were scrub studs. We started so many games with them and we played better than ever. Why? Tony Snell small movement unlocked Trae elite vision perimeter vision for not just creating open 3s attacking but he was also good at finding the open perimeter player if open and Snell seemed to always be open and made over 50% of his 3s and mostly open too. He didn't need quality touches as he directly created them. Solo was another movement guy who just worked to get good looks and Trae found him. Both of these guys were in their last useful year in the NBA but boy, we had a season with these two in particular. 

Why I like this team? 

The core perimeter players fits Trae. Bogi always worked with Trae but he never really fit Trae. Like all other perimeter players, he doesn't get enough quality touches from Trae. Just not in rhythm. This has negatively impacted almost everyone outside of Snell and rookie Kevin. But playoff Snell had teams sitting on him as did post rookie Kevin so it became harder for them to exploit defenses due to Trae's attacking gravity. 

That said, DD has 3 skills I admire.

He's a secondary ball handler who can really run an offense at a decent rate. 

His movement skills while not elite is good in all areas. Small, short, long, aggressiveness to read rebounds and what the defense is doing. He's just relentless on or off the ball in terms of decisions similar to Derrick White.

I really like the fact that he's pass first. This is our first pass first guy since Delon and I really think that would help the others as even non quality touches can equal maybe a better shot for someone else. 

I was never high on the idea of White because 6'5 195 next to Trae is just too small but Daniels is 6'8 with the perfect length. That's a big difference. He could play the 1, 2, or 3. He was far more intriguing. 

Next is Zaccharie Risacher. This is the player who was either 1, 2, or 3 on my BB for most of the season last year. At the end of the day, I think I underestimated him like I did with Al Horford where I knew they were damn good as prospects but I didn't realize they can do all of this. 

Risacher is a world class movement talent. He still needs to work on his strength for the long movement that Klay has but he's already supreme in short and small movement. Risacher is aggressive. He attacks closeouts and is not scared to get his shots up. Needs to work on being shot ready and feet set. His form and shooting release is already pro ready. 

Risacher is fluid and can attack many areas of the floor. He's not scared to battle inside and that's unique for a guard. 

Risacher shot creation isn't much to talk about but it has promise especially as he grows into his body. 

For the first time Tony Snell and Kevin Huerter, the Hawks put plus off ball players around Trae. We all knew Kevin issue with Trae was always defense. Whereas both Risacher and DD are at least good defenders especially DD who is great. 

JJ looking like he might take another jump on O. Could he jump to JCs level of scoring? 

Center is still questionable. CC had a tremendous 2nd half where he looked like CC of previous years and not the washed guy we saw in the 1st half of the year. What will he be next year. OO had a great February but his season was a clear regression overall. That's probably my big concern. 

I really love our bench for the first time since 2015-16. That bench was 

Dennis

Hardaway Jr

Thabo

Mike Scott but I am not 100% sure

Splitter

We had the best bench in the NBA and I really like what we have this year. 

Kobe

Bogi

Hunter 

Nance Jr

Likely OO in my mind. Could be different but I need to see OO play mentally better first. 

Right now, the Knicks is the best bench and I like our bench against their current bench. 

Kolek

Hart

OG

??

??

 

I don't know who their backup 4 is right now and I know Mitchell will start to replace Hartenstein. I don't know who their backup 5 is either. 

I think people are sleeping on us. I really do. 

Defensively, we are miles better with DD and Risacher alone. Nance is no scrub either. He's the best 4/5 we gotten for the bench outside of OO since Gallo. 

I like this team. While their floor is still low like 30 wins low. Their ceiling is 2nd in the east behind Boston. Chemistry will be more important this year this last. I don't believe Quin will try to do too much this year as he did last year. I do think we will see freelance ball back which is the best Trae but with the movement players around him, this could help him in some ways too. 

I tried to use AI to edit this but it removed most of the message and made the thread pointless. 

Depth sounds good until the Hawspital strikes like it ALWAYS does.....

[Dragitoff]

I think the eternal optimist in me sees hope with this squad due to a more cohesive roster structure.  With Trae and DJM, the Hawks had two great talents at guard, but ones that poorly fit together.  We also lacked significant depth at key positions that had tons of injuries last year.  While we're still thin at PG and PF, we also have cornerstone pieces at those positions so barring significant injury to either or both Trae and JJ, we should be fairly good there.  DD and ZR should drastically improve our defense while simultaneously adding two offensive players who play their roles well and don't need the ball to impact the game.  ZR should eventually become a high-volume bomber for this team on the wing and Trae thrives with shooters.  While another poster stated they didn't see DD and ZR starting together due to lack of shooting, I disagree and think ZR shooting skills will translate to him putting up at least as many as Hunter, if not more.  That move allows Hunter to move to the bench to back up at the 3/4.  He thrived in that role last season and hopefully the reduced workload would translate to his first healthy season of his pro career.  A bench unit led by Bogi and Hunter could help with the "Trae off the floor" problems that have plagued the team in the past. 

[JTB]

@NBASupes this is an excellent write up!

I have been big on this teams bench unit and I too believe that we have one of the  best benches in the nba where things currently stand. 

We don’t have a secondary star so we need to keep the strong bench in my opinion. No need to trade Hunter, Capela, OO, Nance if we can have an extremely talented good depth like this.

When it comes to the starters….We unfortunately are missing an easy bucket getter  or I should say efficient scorer in the starting line up which is why I wanted Ayton.

Ayton would change the dynamic of this team and that’s the one move that would put us at a sure 50 win team in my opinion.

 

but great write up Supes…we feel the exact same way about this team for the most part. We definitely have stronger wings and by far the most fitting wings we’ve ever had around Trae at one time.

hawks could be a sneak attack team this season if they have an aggressive play style.

 

oh and one last note I don’t agree that Trae can’t be a #1 scorer…it may just be best that he isn’t because he can generate more offensively by not being the #1 scorer. In todays game however you almost have no choice but to have a 1a and 1b…ultimately I think that it’s what’s around him that matters more. Trae is going to get guys open but he has to have efficiency in shooters and finishers.

[AHF]

The biggest challenge for Trae as a #1 scorer, imo, is that he lacks the size and athleticism to maintain his efficiency when teams key on him and start with the double and triple teams.  This doesn't mean he can't have a nice gave with that happening but I have seen a consistent trend of his shooting numbers dropping off when he is forced to create due to the lack of threats on the floor.  

As far as how that impacts our team construction this year, I think that we will need 2-3 of Bogi, Hunter, ZR, and JJ to be "on" on any given night.  I don't think DD, OO, CC, or Nance are going to be big enough threats to consistently space the floor for others (or dissuade opponents from stacking the defense on Trae) although I expect that each of them should have some good scoring games over the course of the season.  Nance is the biggest floor spacer of the 3 but didn't score 15 or more points at all last year and DD's passing ability could do a lot to create opportunities for himself and others if the opponent is loading up but his perimeter shooting isn't a big threat.  OO and CC are sufficiently limited (in the absence of a breakthrough from OO) that they are largely lob threats and not a ton else.

So when everyone is available and things are clicking, we should have plenty of weapons produce on offense and our D should be substantially improved.  When people are missing or guys are having rough nights, we could have some real struggles.  Big question is how improved the defense is.  Having a rough night defensively can undue a lot of good things on offense and a good night defensively can offset some real struggles.  

It is going to be an interesting year and will be really insightful as far as how Quin manages with a pretty different set of wings next year.

[RedDawg#8]

Our top 10 in minutes last season

Trae, DJ, JJ, Bogi, Bey, Hunter, CC, OO, GMathews, Bruno.

We got an average of 63 games out of them or 75% of the season. Very rarely was our starting 5 healthy together, very rarely was our top 8 healthy. We had major minutes played by Vit, Forrest, WMatthews, Mills, etc….

This season our top 10 projects to be Trae, JJ, Bogi, DD, ZR, Hunter, OO, CC, Kobe and Nance.

Injury is always a factor, but going in to the season, you are hoping to get more health from Trae and JJ and OO, and hopefully more games in fewer mpg from CC and Hunter.

We are essentially swapping DJ+Bey for DD+ZR, however you see the positions/lineups shaking out. We are getting Kobe in the rotation over the minutes GMathews was forced to give us, and finally Nance in place of Bruno as the 4th true Big.

So as far as “talent” it’s DJ, Bey, Bruno, Mathews vs DD, ZR, Nance and Kobe.

Fit wise, we are essentially 2 inches taller on average as a team versus last season (2.2 inches). We lost a bit of grit with DJ and Bey even though our defensive profile looks to be much improved. I think we will miss their toughness more on the offensive end when it comes to physical play.

This team looks more like the ECF Hawks than it has since then. The exception being there’s no Lou Will/Gallo on this roster aka professional shot makers. Bogi is Bogi, he evens himself out.

All in all, the biggest difference for us will be health if anything, and getting most out of our main guys compared to an injury cursed 23-24. Fit is better but I think gets offset by youth and chemistry that will take time to develop and mesh.

If we improve our defensive profile even modestly, we are a winning team. That alone puts us in 6-8 range.

[Gray Mule]

Great improvement with the players who are down at the end of the bench and the two-way players headed to the Skyhawks.  Don't forget these players.  No one even mentions them, yet there they are, ready to step in and fill any spot where there is a need.  We all know how many man-hours was lost last season.  These are the replacement players when it happens this season, and we just know it will.  We're much better, deep down in the roster!

[therealist]

18 hours ago, AHF said:

The biggest challenge for Trae as a #1 scorer, imo, is that he lacks the size and athleticism to maintain his efficiency when teams key on him and start with the double and triple teams.  This doesn't mean he can't have a nice gave with that happening but I have seen a consistent trend of his shooting numbers dropping off when he is forced to create due to the lack of threats on the floor. 

totally with you here. trae clearly views himself as a closer. when you watch him at the end of close games, he almost always wants to close it himself. other teams notice and certainly key in on him. he often looks gassed at this point in the game, since like you said, it takes so much more energy for someone of his size to score with that defensive pressure. compare that to other closers around the league like say, kevin durant or jayson tatum who can score over defenders with using too much energy, and it's an easy criticism of this roster to point out we lack an elite closer/finisher.

if we do stay on the trae path for the next few years (big if at this point IMO), i'd love to see us go all in for an elite finisher somehow. obviously easier said than done, especially with the new CBA and lack of FRPs, but trae's elite creation + an elite finisher would be something to really get excited about

[AHF]

1 minute ago, therealist said:

totally with you here. trae clearly views himself as a closer. when you watch him at the end of close games, he almost always wants to close it himself. other teams notice and certainly key in on him. he often looks gassed at this point in the game, since like you said, it takes so much more energy for someone of his size to score with that defensive pressure. compare that to other closers around the league like say, kevin durant or jayson tatum who can score over defenders with using too much energy, and it's an easy criticism of this roster to point out we lack an elite closer/finisher.

if we do stay on the trae path for the next few years (big if at this point IMO), i'd love to see us go all in for an elite finisher somehow. obviously easier said than done, especially with the new CBA and lack of FRPs, but trae's elite creation + an elite finisher would be something to really get excited about

Trae should still be a hub at the end of games, imo, but we need to be unpredictable.  Trae going solo cannot be option A, B, or C.  Top options need to be open looks for good shooters so if Trae is gong to be the target on a play, there needs to be some action to free him up.  Otherwise, Trae drawing attention and feeding Bogi or ZR or hitting JJ or DD cutting to the rim, etc. should all be preferred over Trae simply breaking his man down off the dribble with defenders cheating to help on him.

[AtLaS]

Great writeup and I agree.  I was not that bullish on the Hawks before last season, this season I am much more bullish considering our depth at the wing and bigs.  I'm betting on 45+ wins, assuming Trae plays 70+ games.

Last year, we had zero PF depth so anytime JJ was out the team died.  This year it's different.

If a wing gets hurt we have a TON of depth.  And if two wings get hurt we can play Mathews/Kritchi which are pretty good in their role.

Having Hunter, Bogi and one of CC/OO off the bench is insane.  That may be the best bench in the NBA.  We will go on big runs when other teams starters are off the floor.  What if Kobe takes a step up too?

My biggest worry is PG, if Trae misses any time we are in trouble.  Last year we had DJ so Trae getting hurt didn't sting as much since we had an all-star to replace him.  Without DJ the Hawks probably would've gone 5-20 with Trae injured.  I know DD can run some point but not for a full game.  I wouldn't trust DD/Kobe to be the PG all game long, that's going to be difficult.  Right now the only other option is Wallace and we are screwed if he is playing.

I still want to trade CC b/c his lack of floor spacing or ability to put the ball on the floor kills this offense in so many ways.  The entire teams FG% around the basket increases with him off the floor.  Ayton would help us so much IMO.

 

 

[therealist]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

Trae should still be a hub at the end of games, imo, but we need to be unpredictable.  Trae going solo cannot be option A, B, or C.  Top options need to be open looks for good shooters so if Trae is gong to be the target on a play, there needs to be some action to free him up.  Otherwise, Trae drawing attention and feeding Bogi or ZR or hitting JJ or DD cutting to the rim, etc. should all be preferred over Trae simply breaking his man down off the dribble with defenders cheating to help on him.

i agree 100%. i think trae has a little too much mamba in him to consistently do this though. at least right now. you can tell he doesn't want to pass at the end of games. he wants to prove guys like us wrong who don't think he can be an elite closer. but even if that is the case, there's nothing saying he can't change with the right voices in his ear.

that being said, i have no idea what goes on in his head or in meetings with team/coaches. i could be talking about my a$$ completely. it's just what it looks like to me