Atlanta Hawks: Nuggets 100, Hawks 90
J.J.'s 15 points after halftime couldn't save Hawks.
Denver– I wasn’t thrilled with my seat for the game, which was over a tunnel in a corner opposite the Hawks’ bench. But it turned out to be the perfect vantage point to see the Hawks bumble with transition defense.
- The Nuggets couldn’t wait to get out and run once they collected Atlanta’s errant long jumpers. From my seat I could see why. The Hawks were a jumbled mess as they tried to get back, stop dribble penetration, find shooters and defend the rim. They were lucky if they managed to do one of the four.
- “We had bad floor balance, which is unlikely for us knowing we are playing a team that likes to get up and down the court,” J.J. said. “Knowing that if you didn’t shoot the ball, you have to get back. I messed up a few times on that and it costs us. Just boneheaded plays.”
- L.D.’s message before the game was to control the tempo with good shot selection.
- “Didn’t do it,” he said. “Didn’t even come close to it. We got into a jump-shooting contest early. We ended up 2 for 19 on threes, you are not going to win on the road taking that many threes especially with the other things we gave up. That’s way, way too many to give up on the road. The things we were concerned about coming into this game they completely took advantage of it.”
- To be fair, Hinrich and Smoove could have made a difference for the Hawks in the second half. Hinrich because he’s likely to help the Hawks work for better shots, Smith because when all else fails he can protect the rim.
- “When I went out after the first half, and then Kirk not being able to go I think it hurt us a lot,” Smoove said.
- “I think it helped a little bit by Josh not being in the second half,” George Karl said. “Still a solid win.”
- Josh said he sprained his right medial collateral ligament when J.R. Smith fell on his leg. He’s likely to get an MRI. It’s the same knee he banged earlier this season.
- “For the past two games it was feeling like I was getting back to 100 percent and then this happens,” he said. “It’s kind of frustrating but I can’t control injuries.”
- Al (21 points, 10 of 15 shots) was the most efficient scorer for the Hawks but got just two shots in the fourth quarter (and made both). Marvin was 0 for 4, Joe was 3 for 8, and Jamal was 1 for 3.
- The game got away from the Hawks when they went more than three minutes without a field goal while down 89-85.
- “This was a very winnable game,” Marvin said. “Obviously when Smoove went down the other guys had to step up. We had great looks at it we just couldn’t make shots tonight and couldn’t get stops when we needed it.”
- “We missed looks we normally make,” Joe said. “I don’t know it was dead legs or what.”
- “When they started double-teaming Joe we tried to space the floor,” Drew said. “This was one of those games where we could have used Kirk, could have used Josh Smith. Because one thing those guys can do is space the floor. We turned down some shots out of the double team which we can’t do. If they double team and you get an open look you’ve got to take the shot. We had some guys that were a little bit reluctant.”
- Teague did his part to slow Denver’s dribble penetration in the halfcourt (and got six needed rebounds) but was 1 for 6 on field goals. By my (unofficial) count four of those misses were long jumpers, which still isn’t his thing.
- Raymond Felton and J.R. Smith helped Denver’s bench enjoy a 44-17 scoring advantage. Only Jamal can match that firepower on Atlanta’s bench but the reserves didn’t help matter with poor shot selection during Denver’s rally in the second quarter.
- So the Hawks finished their trip 3-4 with Ws against Detroit, Golden State and Portland and Ls to the Knicks, Lakers, Suns and Nuggets.
- “You know, when you look at the thing as a whole, it’s OK,” Al said. “It could have been worse. This is a game I don’t like to lose but the fact that we came out and competed even though we were shorthanded I liked that fact. We were down one going into the fourth and we had a chance.”
- “It could have been better,” Josh said. “I think we could have won that Phoenix game. We played well in Golden State and Portland.”
- “Not all was bad but you look back at games we could have got,” Marvin said. “The LA game was going to be tough, I think everybody knew that. Phoenix, they got up on us and we fought our way back and could have snuck that one.”
- “Obviously we would have liked to have done better but I think it’s acceptable to finish off 3-4,” L.D. said. “It could have been a lot worse. Now we are still in a position where we can control our own destiny. We have a boatload of games at home and if we have to go home and handle our business.”
- “After the trade as you can see we had a lot of positive things happen,” Joe said. “Those two games were close. We have got to look forward to getting back everybody healthy. Hopefully Smoove’s injury is not serious.”
- It’s Bulls, Thunder, Knicks, and the Lakers at Philips over the next eight days.
- “The good thing about the good teams is there is going to be a crowd there, no matter if they are favoring the visiting team or ours,” Josh said. “I think that gets us going more than anything and trying to play in kind of a playoff environment.”
- “I think we’ve shown that we’ve gotten it together the last few games,” Al said. “Even this game I think we played well aside from the transition aspect. We have to come out with energy and intensity and be ready to go because we have got some real good teams coming.”
- I’m headed home after 15 nights on the road. Ken S. is on deck for the next couple days. Thanks for reading, blog people.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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281 comments Add your comment
Jae Evolution
March 1st, 2011
6:57 pm
A lot of quality role players passing us by…people can say our bench is good, but it’s honestly terrible, aside from Jamal/Hinrich, on occasion Zaza we are thin in that aspect I say we try our best to get Thorton, if not Butler can play some SG/SF and is a marksman from deep…
The Truth
March 1st, 2011
6:59 pm
What the hell was Sund thinking, if the Wizards were willing to release Al Thornton, why didn’t he pick him in the Hinrich trade?
Al Thornton >> Hiltton Armstrong
Ra'mon
March 1st, 2011
7:07 pm
Now that Thornton is available, I change my vote for Brewer to Thornton. Al would be the starting SF in less than 3 weeks. And this would actually help motivate Marvin even more. Imagine this line up
Starters
Teague – Joe – Thornton – Josh – Al
Bench
Kirk – Jamal – Wilkins – Marvin – Zaza
That line up is ten times better than the line up that we had previously. Also no one has says this, but Boston’s trade of Perkins just solidified that Al will be playing the playoffs at the 5 instead of PF. The only center have to worry about is D12.
If the Hawks offer Thornton a two season deal through next season at Mo Evans money, I’m sure he would accept.
The Truth
March 1st, 2011
7:08 pm
The Warriors is not even a playoff bound team. That should be an easy sale for Sund to compete against.
O'Brien
March 1st, 2011
7:11 pm
Rod,
. In looking at Portland’s scoring the guys that killed us in the 4th quarter were Wesley Matthews, Andre Miller, and Lamarcus Aldridge. Marvin can not, and would not check any of those players, so your Marvin should end the game belief does not make any sense..
Considering that Andre Miller and Wesley Matthews are both guards, chances are Jamal was guarding one of them, while JJ played SF. LD should have gone to Hinrich on Miller, and JJ on Matthews, instead he went with Jamal guarding Miller or Matthews.
Marvin would not score 10 points, no argument from me there. But Jamal in the game is just as bad as having Bibby in the game sometimes. It’s easy to get caught up in “Jamal scored 10 points in the quarter” but what gets overlooked is how many points he gives up.
Scoring is our problem in the 4th quarter, not defense..
Hawks gave up 34 points to Portland in the fourth, but defense was not our problem?
mykhalc
March 1st, 2011
7:17 pm
Thorton>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Marvin…PERIOD!!!
Rod from College Park
March 1st, 2011
7:23 pm
O’Brien,
Scoring in the 4th quarter in general, not just that game is what I meant.
I understand what you are saying, but would you rather have someone in the game who scores 10 points and gives up 12, or someone who gives up 12, does not score at all, and trips or gets his shot blocked every time he touches the ball. Hinrich will help, but obviously he does not know are system well enough to be in at crunch time yet. Marvin’s defense is not good enough to offset his terrible offense. Jamal’s offense is good enough to offset his defense. Plus it takes the focus off of Joe Johnson. The real solution is to get a 3 that can score and defend like Thornton or Brewer to replace Marvin, then maybe you won’t see Jamal. Until then, LD is doing the right thing.
Rod from College Park
March 1st, 2011
7:23 pm
“our”
lewis
March 1st, 2011
7:33 pm
Gee,
Bibby was a horrific influence on this team, I don’t care if he starts for a contender. After his first year with us, was only good for handing the ball off to Joe and partying. He saw us as not being a true contender and never gave it his all. He’s expired. I’m very happy he is gone. He was best at exerting the least possible amount of effort as to not get injured, slowly walking the ball up the court and making the first pass leisurely with 12-14 seconds on remaining on the shot clock. He wore his teammates out on the court, and though they miss him as a locker room jokester, i’m sure they feel more confident in Teague/Hinrich/ this teams ability (hence the defensive effort in the past 3 games) to win games.
The Game Has Changed
March 1st, 2011
7:38 pm
Can you imagine if we fall to sixth place and the Heat let the Bulls pass them we will be facing Mike Bibby in the first round
KevinM
March 1st, 2011
7:42 pm
Really disheartening to know that the fan base here keeps adding names to the list that would produce more consistently than our current SF:
Cory Brewer
Al Thornton
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pat Ewing Jr. be able to take minutes away from Marvin…that is, if our coach wasn’t insistent on keeping Marvin on the court for 30mpg.
Drop it to 15 and give anyone else a chance.
Who’s really making the lineup decisions around here?
myrak43
March 1st, 2011
7:47 pm
if we played the Heat in the first round. that would be our best match up, because there three strongest positions just happen to be out three strongest positions and Captain Kirk would eat Bibby’s lunch.
ag
March 1st, 2011
7:52 pm
Why does Thorton want to sign with Golden State? Last year, I felt we should have got Thorton. I know he is better than Marvin. Can anyone tell me what Marvin weighed at NC? I bet he has gained over 50lbs. He is listed at 240, but he is closer to 260.
Shake Something
March 1st, 2011
7:54 pm
I still take Brewer over Thornton, simply because Al cant defend no better than Marvin,but Sund still could have gotten both by simply getting Al in the trade and signing brewer.Now neither will be had and the Celtics look to be getting better with the signing of Murphy and maybe Brewer.
Just ticks me off seeing how the Celtics pay the luxury and actually looks like a team that can compete in the Finals but the Hawks don’t pay it and seriously think they have built a champion without doing so.
Hawks look like a kid on the playground, thats playing with all the other kids,but when the Ice cream truck comes around, they have to watch as the other kids are getting money to buy ice cream with.
ag
March 1st, 2011
8:08 pm
Butler
+ Long wing with limited ball skills, but a solid defender at either spot.
+ Average athlete who rarely rebounds or makes plays around rim.
+ Good long-range shooter with feet set, but can’t create own shot.
Butler is an NBA rarity — a middling athlete who still manages to be a good defender. He’s long and competes, and he doesn’t make mistakes or gamble. In fact, he had the lowest rate of steals per minute at his position.
That carries over to the offensive end, where he posted the ninth-lowest turnover ratio at his position but mostly stuck to the perimeter for his shots. Butler took half his tries from beyond the arc, making a disappointing 33.6 percent, and hit more than 40 percent of his long 2s for a second straight season.
Butler was much better shooting 2s from the left corner than from the right one — he made 32-of-59 from the left and only 11-of-50 from the right. While the left corner shot is slightly easier for a right-handed player because the backboard is less of a factor, one normally doesn’t see such a glaring disparity. In previous seasons, the difference wasn’t nearly as large, so it’s likely a one-year aberration.
For a long-armed 6-7 wing, Butler is a surprisingly bad rebounder. He ranked 65th out of 67 small forwards in rebound rate, and that’s a pretty normal performance for him.
ag
March 1st, 2011
8:11 pm
Kapono
+ Amazing long-range shooter with a quick release. Can hit off dribble to right.
+ Least athletic player in league. Can’t rebound or defend at all.
+ Maddening tendency to shoot long 2s instead of 3s reduces value.
The Sixers won the battle but lost the war. They became the first team to successfully convince Kapono that 3s are worth more than 2s, and as a result he shot more 3s than 2s for the first time in his career. Unfortunately, he made a career-low 36.8 percent of his 3s, eliminating much of the value of the first accomplishment.
If Kapono isn’t lighting it up from outside, he has no value because he provides so little in other areas. For starters, he drew only 15 free throw attempts the entire season for the league’s worst rate of free throw attempts per field goal attempt, including a 27-game stretch where he didn’t attempt a free throw.
He also ranked last among small forwards in rebound rate and second from the bottom in combined blocks, steals and offensive fouls drawn per minute. He offers no defensive value whatsoever and has to be hidden in zones or against non-scorers.
Despite all those shortcomings, he can prove valuable if at least half his shots are 3s and he shoots in the mid-40 percent on them. Short of that, he’s dead weight.
Sautee
March 1st, 2011
8:11 pm
Marvin has a decent post up game. Decent, not good. But he could improve. He should go ahead and gain 20 more pounds and take Powell’s place as backup PF.
Seriously, he’d be better than Powell and he wouldn’t take as many jumpers. We need a low post scorer, don’t we? Let it be Marvin. doc has said for two years that he saw Marvin as an eventual 4.
If all he does is work with his back to the basket, he won’t get blocked quite as often (60% of the time, Rod?
) And with the extra weight he could lean on some bigs and keep them out of the lane.
All in all, since we can’t trade him, let’s use his big butt to our advantage.
But that means signing or trading for a starting 3 or turning it over to Damien. I’d be OK with that, but I’d like a better shooter.
ag
March 1st, 2011
8:13 pm
Thorton
+ Scoring-minded combo forward with accurate jumper. Good finisher at rim.
+ Can score one-on-one but dribbles with head down and makes terrible decisions.
+ Subpar defender who must improve effort. A tweener, between 3 and 4.
I liked how Flip Saunders used Thornton after the trade, putting him in one-on-one wing isolations in which he just had to score and could make a fairly easy read. Thornton can handle that; anything more complex and he’s got problems. His best skill is creating shots, but he doesn’t create very good ones: He rated 48th among small forwards in TS% and generates nothing for teammates.
Thornton also generated one of the league’s biggest rebound disparities, ranking seventh at his position in offensive rebound rate but just 60th at the defensive end. Focus may be an issue here, as his size and leaping ability should make him much more effective on the glass. Thornton will probably start this season, but his ideal role is as a scorer with the second unit. In that environment, in which any kind of decent shot is welcome and quality is less important, Thornton fits to a tee.
Sautee
March 1st, 2011
8:15 pm
myrak43,
If we play the Heat, Hinrich will be guarding DWade and JJ will be resting while he “guards” Bibby.
KevinM
March 1st, 2011
8:18 pm
ag – Marvin was a lean 228 at Chapel Hill prior to the draft. You know he is going to tack on some girth with his personal chef at his side.
Marvin does look like the lower half is growing faster than the upper half.
To someone who said Al only has to worry about D12 at C in the playoffs…so the Celts won’t have Shaq back? I think he ends up being in shape and ready to go come April as much as possible….but they dont’ need big minutes from him anyway.
Sund not taking Al in the trade was simply about the numbers; he wasn’t going to exceed the cap..no way around it….someone clue me in though..if there’s only 1/3 of the season left, how can a salary at this point be enough to exceed the cap? Wouldn’t that just be chump change adding a player to the roster now? Thornton comes here and makes, what, 750K for the remainder of the season?
superiorblogman
March 1st, 2011
8:18 pm
Can’t win them all. Teague is a rookie in minutes and experience. We go 2-2 on the road with him the starter. That is not bad at all. Let’ s see if he plays better offensively at home considering most role players do.
Sautee
March 1st, 2011
8:20 pm
Anybody seen a tweet on Josh’s condition?
ag
March 1st, 2011
8:24 pm
Marvin has a below average back to the basket game. I think Bibby has a better back to the basket game! I will say 80% when he posts up, his shot gets blocked.
ag
March 1st, 2011
8:28 pm
He looked skinny as a pole. He is NOT 240. He needs to lose weight
Najeh Davenpoop
March 1st, 2011
8:35 pm
“What are the excuses for the Braves and Falcons? Attendance for those teams has always lagged significantly behind their record in the standings too.”
The Falcons have historically been even worse than the Braves — no back to back winning seasons until last season, no superstar QB until Vick got here. But they sold out while Vick was here and they are selling out now that the Falcons (at least in the regular season) give off the appearance of being an elite team. (I’d bet though that if they continue losing in the first round of the playoffs, they’ll stop selling out soon enough.)
The Braves drew really well in the 90s when they were a legit threat for a title. They stopped drawing well in the ’00s when it became clear their window for winning a title closed.
The transplants explain the ATL fan base to an extent, but they don’t come close to explaining it entirely. The real problem — if you see it as a problem — is that ATL’s fans only show up if the team has a superstar or a legit chance of winning a title. Throughout ATL’s sports history, attendance has peaked when one or the other was true (I don’t know if this is true or not for hockey though).
You’re not wrong about ATL having a high percentage of transplants, but this is the case in pretty much every city outside of the Northeast or Midwest. When you watch the Celtics go to places like Phoenix, Denver, Miami, etc. there are a ton of their fans there, just like there are tons of Steeler fans or Cub fans in the crowd when those teams travel to those types of locations. I don’t see the evidence for ATL’s transplant population being higher than any of those cities.
Rod from College Park
March 1st, 2011
8:36 pm
Sautee,
Marv could never guard the power forward position unless it a guy like Josh or Dirk who likes to stay on the perimeter. The KG’s Boozers, Gasol’s Stodamire’s and Duncan’s of the world would destroy him. He is too weak, and has no balance. Hell, he can’t even hold post position against Kirk Hinrich, so he would have no chance against any of these guys.
myrak43
March 1st, 2011
8:36 pm
Sautee why Kirk wouldn’t be guarding Wade all the time, it would be JJ on Wade and Marvin and Smoove on Lebron. but I was talking about when the hawks have the ball, bibby is not going to guard JJ, or Crawford, or Smoove, or Horford. he will be guarding Kirk. and Kirk will eat his lunch
Najeh Davenpoop
March 1st, 2011
8:36 pm
^^That first sentence should have been “the Falcons have been historically even worse than the Hawks“
hawksfancents95
March 1st, 2011
8:38 pm
thoughts on hawks..
teague-good to see him get some starts to get his attention as to what kind of player he wants to be in this league,his quickness is good to help push the pace, playoffs will tell if he will be a hawk or not
joe-joe
marvin- Ive been wanting you to turn into a great player but it doesnt seem to be so in atl
josh-Do not even think about trading josh, he is why phillips arena is called the highlight factory, josh at the 3 in the future would be amazing for the hawks i will substitute 3pt shooting for the ability to score on any 3 in the paint
al-a great center in the east and progressing tremendously each year, once we get a legitimate 7foot+ big man and al goes to four our team will no longer be left out of serious disscussions amongst bos mia orl chi, until then..
jamal-your offensive onslaughts are amazing to see, but if the hawks truly want to hold the o’brien trophy we gotta commit to defense first and jamal is too much $ for the hawks to keep after the year, big fan tho
kirk- going to be great defensively and doing the little things, kirk will hit big shots in the playoffs…watch
zaza-the hawks love zaza i would basically say from the playoff series against the celtics in 08 (him v. garnett). We need to package zaz in a deal
The hawks have a good core with joe josh al, if we can get that 7footer to clog the paint and dominate the glass and let our other guys go to their natural positions we can now contend for an nba finals.hfc95
KevinM
March 1st, 2011
8:42 pm
Looking at next year’s salaries, it appears there are going to see some big changes with the roster:
I see 7 players with contracts next year:
Joe – 18.0
Smoove-12.4
Al – 12.0
Kirk – 8.0
Marvin -7.5
Zaza – 4.75
JT – 1.58
That puts us at 64M..you think the bench is thin now? Wait til next year….there will be 6-7 players making the league minimum. In comparison, the Spurs have 9 contracts next year at 57M, with Parker the one that needs a new contract.
I think we gave Joe a bit too much….I see why Gearon wants to get out.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 1st, 2011
8:43 pm
I’m probably going to get ripped to shreds for saying this, but I doubt that Al Thornton would help this team. To me he’s like the small forward version of Jamal — a very good scorer who can’t create offense for anyone else and plays horrible defense — except he doesn’t have Jamal’s automatic jumper. Doesn’t rebound well enough for his position either. The Hawks really need the exact opposite of Thornton — a guy who might not be able to create offense for himself that well, but who will knock down every outside shot, play great man to man defense, and do all the dirty work the Hawks need out of their role players. Marvin occasionally is this guy, but not often enough.
There’s a reason Thornton is about to get signed by the Warriors. They are the perfect team for him.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 1st, 2011
8:45 pm
“That puts us at 64M..you think the bench is thin now? Wait til next year….there will be 6-7 players making the league minimum.”
I think the Hawks are going to try really hard to dump Marvin and Zaza in straight salary dumps, and if Teague shows enough through the remainder of the season to make them trust him with the starting job I wouldn’t be surprised to see them dump Hinrich as well. What sucks is that by giving up their 1st rounder in the Hinrich trade, they no longer have it available as a trade chip to entice teams to take on their bad contracts in the offseason (the way the Bulls did with Hinrich last offseason).
Najeh Davenpoop
March 1st, 2011
8:48 pm
As for Joe, his max contract is probably untradeable right now and he (unlike Marvin, Zaza, and Bibby before he left) is actually providing decent value, but if the Hawks can move him in the summer of 2012 to get CP3 or Deron Williams it would really bring this team up another level. Yeah, it’s wishful thinking, but out of all the possible scenarios it’s the best one for the Hawks.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 1st, 2011
8:52 pm
Rasual Butler would be a great addition though. Good defense and good spot up shooting from the wing? Sucks that he can’t rebound, but I’ll take that combination.
KevinM
March 1st, 2011
8:53 pm
No way they sign Jamal going forward, hench Hindrich is ready to take on that role should Teague start producing more. You lose Jamal off that bench, then wow, there is not a lot of production coming then.
You simply have little leverage for any moves until you move Zaza and Marvin…..we need BK for that kind of miracle.
Marvin is going to have to improve his numbers to attract ‘any’ interest. Sund wasted way too much time this past summer making us trust in the core.
I MUS WRITE
March 1st, 2011
8:54 pm
Lord Have Mecy….. WTF is going on, Stevie Wonder can see that we need help @ SF Marvin /Mo have done absolutely nothing up to this point in the season. Is sund and the ASG are serious about winning they need to buy out Etan, and sign one the recently waived swing men.
My personal preference would be Al Thornton the Hawk Killer, every time that man suits up against us he goes us HAM, maybe playing in his home state will be good for both sides. I would mind brewer either but he is limited offensively and turns the ball over at a high clip. Al would give us better scoring and solid Defense. GET ON THE PHONE DO IT NOW
Wait ….Thornton is signing with GS, as usual we are reactive instead of proactive, Rasul anyone?
man man
March 1st, 2011
8:55 pm
“If Mike is coming here soon, which we all believe, he’s going to help us out tremendously,” Lebron James said.
Now he knows basketball.Every ball player has flaws,but if you plug a ball player into a system where all he has to do is help out and not try to be the man all the time.We all know Bibby is old,but with the right system and the right pieces around him he could come back to life all together.Everyone wants a point guard that is all flashy and all but do you think about the real things.Leadership,Experience,knows how to run a offense.I promise you it might seem all good now because were doing better but losing a vet like bibby is going to hurt this team.Look at Derek Fisher,Hes around good talent and is in the system fit for him,Spot up shooter.
Sautee
March 1st, 2011
9:00 pm
Rod,
But if you can’t even give Marvin away, that would be a better and less disastrous use of his minutes. Keep in mind that in Powell’s role he would mostly be defending second string PFs. With more weight he’d stand up better to a post up.
I’d MUCH rather have him doing that than bricking jumpers.
man man
March 1st, 2011
9:00 pm
Seems to me Lebron and Dwanye like the bibby pick up.They apprieciate what he brings.Solid Shooting
“Certain moves are surprising and unexpected,” Wade said. “The Mike Bibby (trade) was probably the most surprising, unexpected move. A lot of people think it was the Kendrick Perkins move (from Boston to Oklahoma City), but I think it was Mike Bibby. No one expected that. He became available and when opportunities present themselves you’ve got to jump on them.”
I MUS WRITE
March 1st, 2011
9:03 pm
Typos,.my bad…. .3rd glass of moscato -Cheers!!!
Ra'mon
March 1st, 2011
9:06 pm
Najeh, you may be right about Thornton. But I would want to see another wing added to the lineup, and not Mario West, lol.
JeJe
March 1st, 2011
9:08 pm
Amazing how we didn’t even go after Al Thornton.
Would have been a perfect fit as a rotational SF, plus he’s from ATL.
Heard we are interested in Butler.
FIRE SUND
Big Ray
March 1st, 2011
9:11 pm
Your stroke comes and goes, and if you prove yourself in this league to be a scorer, I can’t think of many coaches in the history of the game that would pull you for Marvin Williams, especially on a team that can’t score in the 4th quarter. You put Marvin in crunch time, and you think our scoring problems are bad, Joe will get triple teamed, Josh will shoot more Jumpers with under 5 seconds on the shot clock, and we will end up with more turnovers because Marvin is scared to shoot the open jumper.
Where did I say that Jamal should be pulled for Marvin? WHERE?
And wow…so if Jamal isn’t in the game, we are guaranteed to have Joe triple teamed and Josh shooting jumpers with 5 seconds left on the clock. I guess we can’t go to Horford? We never gave the ball to Bibby? We won’t give it to Hinrich? We just HAVE to go to Jamal? That’s not just a flaw in the roster, that’s a flaw in the gameplan, if it’s true.
It’s a function of how the team is built that Jamal is in the game in crunch time. He and Joe, are the only guys who create their own shots.
I agree. When you hire a guy with career stats like this – (15.5 ppg, 41% on field goals, and historically bad defense) to be a guy you leave in the game in the 4th quarter, you’re definitely gambling that he’ll outscore his opponent more often than not.
So…when that doesn’t happen for two thirds of an entire month of games, it has an effect on the team. Let me quantify that example, despite the fact that you would like to conveniently dismiss an entire month of game time performance:
January – Jamal shoots 42.4% from the field and scores 18.6 ppg. Hawks go 9-4 in that month.
February – Jamal shoots 37.5% from the field and scores 12 ppg. Hawks go 6-6 in that month.
Now, let’s go back to the second part of your statement, that Crawford’s offense makes up for his defense, followed by the theory that one month of performance isn’t how the NBA works.
If you can give credit to Jamal for being a proven scorer, then you have to give his performance in January credit as being a clear asset to a winning record. And if you can do that, then you have to give credit to his poor performance in February as a clear contributor to a record that only broke even.
Sorry, but an entire month’s performance DOES make a difference. Especially when you’re a key rotation player whose sole purpose is scoring.
Deny the record and the stats if you wish. The truth is the truth.
Big Ray
March 1st, 2011
9:11 pm
Ooops…wrong blog….
Sautee
March 1st, 2011
9:12 pm
myrak43,
If we play the Heat, I would expect to see Bibby guarding Marvin, since he’s the least threat. If Spoelsta has a brain, he’ll keep Bibby as far from the ball as possible on defense. That means putting him on Marvin.
If he DOES put Bibby on Hinrich, then you are correct, Josh and Al will be getting oops galore as their bigs rotate to Hinrich penetrating.
niremetal
March 1st, 2011
9:12 pm
Najeh,
It’s something they talk about in urban planning circles. Atlanta is the classic case study in urban sprawl. Sometime in the 90’s, it became the largest developed world city the majority of whose population was born outside the metro area. I’m sure I’ve got a source in some old textbook lying on my shelf. It used to be LA, but most of the population there now is native.
jason
March 1st, 2011
9:12 pm
If i were the hawks i would package zaza for oj mayo in the offseason. They need a back up big man after thabeet was traded. Also i would buy out etan thomas’s contract. 800 k for him to sit on the bench? I dont think so. Hawks should also look in trading marvin. Good rebounder but makes way to much money for him to miss shots.
JeJe
March 1st, 2011
9:14 pm
MC,
any news on us going after these bought-out players?
ATL FAN
March 1st, 2011
9:16 pm
lmfao Big Ray
Grandad
March 1st, 2011
9:21 pm
Rasual Butler = 6-8 with shoes
6-7 in sock ft *[unusually listed @ 6-7] by most
Normally they add an inch or more.
[*50 for 108 from "3' for 47 % in 04 / (career 37 % from '3")*]
Please Note:
Had we traded for Thornton we would have been reponsible
for his full salary !