Atlanta Hawks: J.J.: ‘We all are jump shooters. That’s pretty much what it is.’
J.J. may have gotten to the crux of the matter when asked today if the way for the Hawks to get their offense back on track is to attack the basket.
“Maybe,” he said. “But you look at a jump-shooting team–we are a jump-shooting team. If shots are falling then, great, we are rolling. But one through five, we all are jump shooters. That’s pretty much what it is. Like I said, if we are making shots then we are probably unstoppable. But when we are not making shots those are the games we have to grind out.”
With the notable exceptions of the recent games against Portland and Chicago, the Hawks haven’t been able to “grind out” against better opponents. They remain, essentially, a group that wins by outscoring opponents, and one that generally must do so by making a high percentage of their long jump shots.
They still do so at an above-average rate for the season but not well enough to counteract their lack of scoring on free throws, their below-average 3-point shooting and their conversion of 2.4 full less baskets at the rim per game than the average NBA team. Atlanta’s effective field-goal percentage has nearly dipped to the league average.
Go figure: The Hawks now have a below-average NBA offense and an above-average defense. The Hawks had a much more efficient offense last season because they were much better at offensive rebounding and taking care of the ball.
I figured all along Atlanta wouldn’t be as efficient scoring this season, with a potential trade off that they wouldn’t be as predictable to defend in the playoffs. I didn’t know the offense would end up falling off this much. And now they are predictable in another way. It used to be that the ball stayed on one side of the floor as Joe did his thing so the defense had it easy. Now the proper plan vs. the Hawks is to induce them into taking long jump shots, collect the rebounds and beat them in transition as they scramble.
Back to J.J.’s point: Since the Hawks are clearly best at regularly creating open jump shots (no small thing in the NBA) and making them, why shouldn’t they just keep jacking jumpers until they fall and try to grind when they don’t? Their rate of making them is going to fluctuate but at least we know they can do it. Eventually. I mean, right?
What are the other options with this roster? They have no post game to speak of, unless L.D. can suddenly convince Smoove that he’s better off in the paint (unlikely since both men see this as a viable option). Joe, Jamal and Al can attack off the dribble but Joe isn’t making his floater now, Jamal’s iso game seems stymied by the offense and Al is more pick-and-pop than pick-and-roll or drives.
The Hawks can try to run more but that means defending, rebounding and/or forcing turnovers (which the Hawks do at a below-average rate). Running also means more turnovers, unless Kirk Hinrich (who is off to a high-turnover start with Atlanta) can organize the break.
And, anyway, the design of L.D.’s offense, at least as recently executed, seems to lend itself to creating open jump shots. Notice that when he talked about a Plan B yesterday, it involved feigning jump shots and driving to the basket past closing defenders. In other words, the main impetus is getting an open jumper and then using that threat to create a better shot, not getting that better shot through the execution of the offense in the first place.
What happened to all the post-ups and cuts we saw in the preseason and early in the year? Dare I say more Iso-Joe and Iso-Jamal going at the basket is a better plan than swinging the ball around only to jack up long jump shots anyway?
“I just think we have to continue to know where we are trying to get to and know who we are trying to get to score that play, whatever it is,” Jamal said. “If we point the ball in a certain direction I think we will be more efficient offensively.”
“We have to be more aggressive going to the basket,” Al said. “I think we can get baited into taking a lot of jump shots. Even though we are good jump shooters, at the end of the day you have to have a balance. We have to be able to do both to be successful.”
If he’s right about that but the Hawks just can’t do it because, as J.J says, the are a jump-shooting team at heart, then they are capable of looking really good in the playoffs because those shots are falling or really bad because they are not. Taking into account the nature of the playoffs, Atlanta’s poor ability to stick to a plan, and the fragile psyche as exposed by Orlando last spring, do you think the jump-shooting Hawks can carry the day as an underdog in a seven-game series?
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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376 comments Add your comment
UGA
March 9th, 2011
9:50 pm
Based on what I have seen………I think we match up best vs. the Bulls. So we would need to be seed 7 to face them. But, we are 2-0 vs Orlando this year too………..
EmirS.
March 9th, 2011
9:57 pm
@RealSquawk
I never mentioned that Larry Drew is a good coach.
EmirS.
March 9th, 2011
9:58 pm
However, my hopes are’nt high on Larry Drew and his “mentality”. Afterall, he was Mike Woodsons assistant.
RealSquawk
March 9th, 2011
10:06 pm
@EmirS.
I hear that.
you said not bad i assume you must mean good, but apparently not.
Man this is the day of call outs isn’t it.
drmaryb (*_*)
March 9th, 2011
10:11 pm
Ron
Aye man, I know it felt like you were under attack. Hey, I’ve been called out for doing the same, back in the day. Everybody on this blog has misquoted someone at some point. We just help each other keep it real on this blog, again, I’ve been on that hot-seat.
I loved your post, I rather enjoyed your opinions myself. I hope you keep it coming.
_______________________
Ignore the jerk. Its past his bed time. He’ll be fine with rest.
tony
March 9th, 2011
10:17 pm
James, here’s my thoughts on LD. I think he should coach recreation basketball because he has only one position(sg) in his offense. His system isn’t design for a traditional pg to create scoring opportunities for his team and passing and running the offense: setting up plays on the court, getting the ball to the teammate that he feels is in the best position to score, and dictating the tempo of the game. The pg is the most important position on the floor.
Either the players don’t listen to him or he doesn’t coach good fundamentals. Passing is poor, shot selection is poor, basic screening and cutting is poor, basic post moves is poor and finishing at the rim is poor.
It’s those little things that make the best teams and players. If you can master those little fundamentals, they work no matter what!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
10:21 pm
“well, i said iso “going at the basket.” Joe can get to the paint with his floater or post-ups. Jamal can do it with his crossover. but if you say it’s asking too much for either guy to do these things consistently then, well, yeah i feel you.”
It’s not that it’s “asking too much” as much as it’s asking for something that is against either player’s nature. If Joe was the kind of player who was inclined to get in the paint off isolations, he would have done it a hell of a lot more over the last few seasons. And the inability of Joe to get to the foul line takes away one of the best possible outcomes that isolation provides.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
10:31 pm
“Would you have traded Josh last year for Amare (if that deal was possible, as some people suggested)?”
If Amare would have signed an extension, yes. But I’m not a fan of renting players unless they are going to show up and win you a title, and Amare instead of Smoove on last year’s team wouldn’t have won the Hawks a title.
Mike is back
March 9th, 2011
10:32 pm
MC, dare I say this on blog…but I missed the game again…the Hawks are no longer worth altering your schedule for…we might as well admit it…these guys are on a path to no where.
JJ’s comments…only reinforces what I said about him on a previous blog…how can you have a guy that’s suppose to be a leader on your team…saying that kind of crap…like I said MC…your level of decorum is unmatched.
I don’t blame LD…the ASG needed a bargain from the Salvation Army…and they got one…This time the BASG is referring to broke in terms of knowledge not money…these cats should be banded from owning another professional sports organization…so it’s hard for me to blame LD alone. He was a feel good story.
However, I don’t know about you…but I ain’t feeling to giddy about feel good stories these days…in fact…I’m all TF out of feel good stories. lol
Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez…GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
10:34 pm
“Would u move Josh Smith if you KNEW u could land a penetrating PG who knows how to draw fouls and make ‘and 1s’ and get a decent Center who only rebounds well and who could clog the lane OR would you keep Josh Smith if u KNEW it could land u Dwight Howard in 2013?”
So basically you’re asking me to pick between these two lineups:
A: Teague, Joe, Smoove, Al, Dwight
B: Devin Harris, Joe, Marvin, Al, Tyson Chandler
I’d take Team A. Dwight would change everything for this team.
northcyde
March 9th, 2011
10:38 pm
So people are mad at JJ for telling the truth? LOL.
Percentage of shots that were jumpshots, taken by each Hawk player this year: ( 09 – 10 percentages listed in parenthesis )
GUARDS
Bibby: 93% this year . . ( 93% last year )
Jamal: 85% . . ( 82% )
Johnson: 80% . . ( 79% )
Teague: 67% . . ( 61% )
FORWARDS
Marvin: 70% . . ( 61% )
Powell: 69% . . Joe Smith ( 69% )
Smith: 64% . . ( 36% )
Damien: 53% . . Evans ( 69% )
CENTERS
Horford: 66% . . ( 51% )
Collins: 60% . . ( 83% )
Zaza: 34% . . ( 35% )
So it’s not like JJ is lying.
But I guess the irony of his comments, is that he’s been our worst jumpshooter this year out of our main guys, while not reducing the amount of jumpers he takes as a percentage.
But the irony of that irony is that I believe he leads the Hawks in the amount of shots taken within 10 feet of the basket. A decent amount of his “jumpers” are those 7 – 9 foot floaters he shoots.
Let me check that to see if I’m right on that.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
10:40 pm
I posted earlier that forcing Smoove and Al to roll off pick and roll plays would be one possible solution to the jump shooting problem. Another thing the Hawks really should do is post up Smoove more often. Not only would this keep him on the block where he belongs, but Smoove passes the ball out of the post when he sees the double coming more quickly than anyone else on the team, and this forces everyone else to move the ball more quickly. Yeah, it more often than not results in a jumper, but it’s worth the result of keeping him in the paint.
Wabe
March 9th, 2011
10:41 pm
I’m a little late to this discussion, but I’ll agree with northcyde about Damien.
I like Damien, and I like the effort he gives. But don’t kid yourself. Northcyde’s explanation is pretty much pinpoint. Damien looks like a better option than what we’ve been forced to live with in Marvin Williams and Mo Evans. But, there’s a reason why he was on 10-day contracts. There’s a reason why other teams weren’t lining up to sign him.
He’s a decent plug-in at times. But, he’s not really a legit SF that you tend to see on quality playoff teams. This teams bench is pretty pathetic. I’d disagree with northcyde about Teague, because truth is, he’s been given the raw end of the deal on this team. He’s never had a real opportunity to develop. He’s raw, no argument there. But, the Hawks track record developing other players would be?
Teague really didn’t look all that bad when he got the nod to start. He showed flashes, which is all you can expect him to show at this point. The problem with him with the 2nd unit is quite obvious. He’s depended on to be more aggressive with his offense (which isn’t there), whereas with the 1st unit, he can play facilitator and look good playing defense. Plain and simple, development. The Hawks SUCK developing.
Melvin
March 9th, 2011
10:42 pm
Watching the Magic/Kings game. If Dwight and DeMarcus keep going at it like this, they will be fighting before the game is over….
Wabe
March 9th, 2011
10:43 pm
Teague showed more than enough people here when he got a couple of starts in a row that he’s capable of being pretty good down the road. I think more than a couple of people here said that it’s quite obvious he needs to work on his offensive game, but if he’s given a chance, he could improve.
Either send him to the D-League, or give the kid 15-20 minutes. It’s useless having the kid sit on the bench bumming.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
10:52 pm
“I’d like to know what the general perception of L.D., as a head coach, is at this point. Are you impressed with his coaching? Do you feel like he’s doing an adequate job? Are you disappointed in his coaching? Do you feel like he’s a coaching genius (that’s probably a stretch), or do you feel like he’s totally incompetent (that’s another big stretch)?”
I think he has the potential to be a good coach and certainly has shown that he has good ideas when he comes to designing plays, but the fact that he is a rookie coach is quite plainly obvious, and his close pre-existing relationship with the players on this team seems to be working to his detriment.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
11:01 pm
Knicks are within 2.5 games of the Hawks after their win at Memphis.
AUG24
March 9th, 2011
11:11 pm
I watch the Hawks every night, same old crap. No more excuses! This team is not improving! It might have been better under Woodson. I’m glad we didn’t extend Jamal’s contract. We as Hawks fans are so frustrated it isn’t even fun anymore.
Little Fawkers
March 9th, 2011
11:14 pm
The excuses are old guys. It’s so bad right now that the Hawks announcers kept talking about how excited they were to play a losing team (Bucks) during the Lakers “game”.
Aren’t we supposed to want to play the best and beat the best? No teams like the Bucks will be in the playoffs. Sorry Dominique.
Raybud
March 9th, 2011
11:21 pm
Start Teague, put Hinrich on the bench….Teague was successful when he started. As for right now, i agree with AUG24. We may as well kept Mike Woodson. The reason this time hasn’t moved up is because of Rick Sund. It’s easy to put the blame on the coach when he can’t make moves to get new players. I actually liked Woody. He’s the only coach in NBA history to improve his record 4 straight years since his first year. Fire Sund!!!!! Make Teague the start. The Hinrich move should only help us with players on the bench and to provide that extra energy.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 9th, 2011
11:24 pm
Looks like even if the Hawks had wanted to hire Tom Thibodeau, it may have been harder than originally thought.
brigadierjerry
March 9th, 2011
11:28 pm
Lets face it. This Hawks team is not as good as the Hawks team of the last 3 years. This Hawks team is the sum of it parts. Also when you think about it Joe Johnson is a nice player. He is a 20-25 point guy. The problem is Joe isnt that type of player that is going to take his team on his back and score 10 points in a row to grind or bail out wins if the team is struggling. He is paid to be a first tier but he is a second tier player. He has the same problem Andre Igudola and Danny Granger stars of their teams but arent good enough to carry their team and that is why their respective teams struggle.
Johnson signing reminds me a lot of the Alan Houston signing. Only way Joe Johnson will get traded will have to be to a bad team that feels he can be a piece as part of a winning team.
The Hawks struggle because a lot of the players struggle to score in big spots. We know what Marvin is about. Josh can be up and down and Horford. They are nice players but you cant count on them to carry the team on their back. Johnson has to be that guy and he really isnt that type of player. He plays more of a cereberal game. Also the thing even if you are struggling as a star player is you need to get to the line. Kobe does it. James, Wade does it. Melo does it even Amare does it. Rose, Durant. Johnson not going to the line avoiding contact kills the team.
Also Teague I like. Toe me he can be a Tony Douglas type of player is what I see his ceiling as.
northcyde
March 9th, 2011
11:42 pm
Nope . . I was wrong. Josh Smith still leads the team in attempts within 10 feet of the basket.
Smith – 6.6 attempts
JJ – 6.5 attempts
Horford – 5.9 attempts
last year
Smith – 9 attempts
JJ – 7.1 attempts
Horford – 6.5 attempts
rusty
March 9th, 2011
11:42 pm
Woody,I mean woody lite & jj both suck. Nortcyde enough of your stupid stats trying to validate your opinions. Take your face out of jj’s butt
SteveW
March 9th, 2011
11:46 pm
Maybe Grandad is indeed justified with his wish that if LD is going to run the motion O, we need better jump shooters.
Over the summer, he kept wanting Troy Murphy and whoever else, because he said that was what was needed to be successful in the Motion O.
Good job Grandad! You saw this one coming. .
Not Sund
March 9th, 2011
11:48 pm
Thank you for playing L.D., your work here is done. Not because you are not a good coach or a nice guy but because your system does not work with this group of players. Your jump shooting system gives players who are all to willing to take the easy way out, the easy way out.
SteveW
March 9th, 2011
11:50 pm
Northcyde – Phenomenal stats as always.
That 28% increase in Josh shooting J’s probably tells us why his overall shooting % is down a good bit this season.
Everybody else about at what you would think.
And I agree with Northcyde. I love Damien’s game, and may think a little higher of him based on his production defensively with the team. But the dude is no starter. Great off the bench, very good D, hustle, won’t hurt you, but he has limitations.
SteveW
March 9th, 2011
11:52 pm
SI saw this train wreck coming in September with an article on the new coaching hires. I’ve posted it a few times, so you can google it if you want to see it.
prison mike
March 9th, 2011
11:55 pm
Josh
18.5 – 6.6
Al
21 – 10.6
These are the numbers they put up when joe was out for 9 games. I omitted the celtics game cause they were horrible for that game(no joe or jamal for that one). As you can see joe is stunting their growth into one of the better dynamic front courts.
SteveW
March 9th, 2011
11:56 pm
And say what you want, but we can still beat Chicago on Fri.
And no, I will not say a 14 point loss at home was a good game, when you’ve beaten the Lakers 3 straight years at home. Your a 53 win 3 seed not the Wizards!!
When we accept 14 point losses at home as good, was the 24 point beat down at LA good to? If so, we have reverted to Pacer/Clipper territory.
And i still say, if Phil coached ATL, he beats LA if coached by Larry Drew. Phil would have beenn throwing Wilkens, Marvin, JJ at Kobe.
Posting up JJ on D Fish.
Running Teague around Fish and Blake.
Putting bodies on Bynum like Collins and ZaZa
Josh on Artest
Hilton to combat the length of Odom and Gasol, and maybe even Marvin as well.
Phil would have found a way to win.
SteveW
March 10th, 2011
12:06 am
Two 2nd round picks that the Sixers have developed beautifully came thru for them tonight.
Lou Williams – 22 pts. in 23 minutes.
Jodie Meeks – 17 points, 7 boards.
The Hawks hate developing young talent worse than any team I know of in the League. Talk about no foresight. Maybe Sy will come thru for us.
SteveW
March 10th, 2011
12:15 am
In ‘06 we did draft Solomon Jones in the 2nd round with the 33rd pick. I have no idea why we let him go. He’s way better than Josh Powell. He’s better than Hilton. He’s probably better than Collins for what it’s worth really.
Royal Ivey is still in the League whom we drafted 37th in the ‘04 draft, but he is buried deep on OKC’s bench.
Chris Crawford in ‘97 did play 252 career games.
That’s about it for the last 14 years of second picks, of which we have had 16 second picks total.
The player development machine – ATL!
cp
March 10th, 2011
12:24 am
A bunch of talking from the head coach and players. They always seem to know what to do but wont do it. No more talking start doing.
SteveW
March 10th, 2011
12:44 am
Marvin is not our only bad example of drafting. In 2007 we took Acie Law IV with the 11th pick.
12th – Thad Young went to the Sixers
15th – Rodney Stuckey
16th – Nick Young
22nd – Jared Dudley – who has beat out our former 6th pick for playing time, Josh Childress
23rd – Wilson Chandler
24th – Rudy Fernandez
26th – Aaron Brooks
27th – Arron Afflalo
31st – Carl Landry
35th – Big Baby Davis
48th – Marc Gasol
56th – Ramon Sessions
Ouch – what if we would have traded down with the 11th pick, and picked up a Aaron Brooks and Marc Gasol? Could’ve happened. Maybe even a Sessions to boot.
Jae Evolution
March 10th, 2011
12:46 am
Well, we can still get home court if we manage to string together a run, 3rd spot is our ceiling and the 7th spot is worst case scenario. I think we stay 5th come playoffs facing Orlando.
SteveW
March 10th, 2011
12:51 am
In ‘06 – It’s Shelden with the #5 pick
#6 pick is Brandon Roy
#8 is Rudy Gay
#21 is Rajon Rondo
#24 Kyle Lowry
The list just goes on and on….
South Ga boy in the Atl
March 10th, 2011
12:53 am
What a pile of crap from JJ. Either he’s delusional or full of it. JJ is a 6′8″ SG who has a height advantage almost every game and there is no reason for him not to use by driving to the basket. He either has gotten to lazy to do it or just wants to take the easy route and shoot. Josh is just stubborn and will not listen to coaching, which is why it’s time to trade him this off-season, because everyone in the world knows he’s at his best posting or driving to the hole. These 2 do what they want. JJ can’t be moved but it’s time for Josh to go and get a true 5 for him, give the keys to Teague next yr, and start Damien with Marvin off the bench. It’s as though the core of “the core”, JJ and Smoove, are going to do what they want and to hell with everyone else.
South Ga boy in the Atl
March 10th, 2011
1:06 am
To answer your question Najeh, I think LD is a very good assistant. Good offensive mind and can be a good counter-balance to a demanding HC, but he has been a big disappointment this year. 1st he’s way to easy-going for this group of players. If we had a demanding field general like Koby or Kevin G. then his easy going style would probably fit. Of course, we have the opposite with a no. 1 player who barely says anything along with a talented hometown guy like Smoove who has the maturity of about a 14 yr old. 2nd, like Woody, he’s “Job scared.”. He’s afraid to get in anybody’s face for fear of a complete rebellion (see Pistons this yr or Hawks in Orlando series last ) where ASG would feel compelled to do something drastic and fire him this yr. It’s the worst of all possible situations with LD who’s probably afraid this may be his one and only HC chance and will not rock the boat at all. That’s my 2 cents anyway.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 10th, 2011
1:18 am
Good fortune smiles on the Hawks once again. Carlos Boozer got flagrant fouled in tonight’s game and injured his ankle. The Hawks and Bulls play Friday.
Judging from the Hawks’ recent play and how much better the Bulls are at home, though, I’m not quite as high on the Hawks’ ability to take advantage of the situation.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 10th, 2011
1:19 am
“Ouch – what if we would have traded down with the 11th pick, and picked up a Aaron Brooks and Marc Gasol? Could’ve happened. Maybe even a Sessions to boot.”
The flip side to this, of course, is that the Hawks are so bad at player development that who knows if they would have even turned those players into something productive. For that matter, who knows how Acie or Teague may have turned out if they had landed on a different team.
Jae Evolution
March 10th, 2011
1:25 am
“The flip side to this, of course, is that the Hawks are so bad at player development that who knows if they would have even turned those players into something productive. For that matter, who knows how Acie or Teague may have turned out if they had landed on a different team.”
This is also true that we missed out on a bunch of quality players, is it because we are so bad at the developing stage or did we just draft busts? If you ask me, real talent will find a way to get there I mean you look at the other names that we passed up I’m pretty sure they were all scrubs, so maybe we just have no luck drafting quality players.
Grandad
March 10th, 2011
1:27 am
Najeh…answering your poll query about LD;
with exp. I think LD will become a good coach someday.
Right now;
he’s learning on the job.
A wise man [much brighter than myself (not sayin' much)]
mentioned that LD has been castrated by the ASG & Sund.
I agree.
I think LD wished to make changes, went public, then was told;
“maybe you shouldn’t oughta said that”.
He has a philosophy and I think he has a plan for where he wants
to go with this team. We could never say that with Woody.
Given time he will do a solid job.
HOF = probably not, most arn’t.
To his credit he has inherited a talented team of *[soft] misfits.
*[not tough minded or physically]
whyyoumad
March 10th, 2011
1:52 am
Joe was the reason yall made the playoffs in the first place, dont get brand new like this team been winning forever, the reason why there losing is drew dont kno how to coach, and dont kno when to play the players, before joe came this team sucks, you notice great teams put great players around there star player, and the ownership hasn’t done that, this is a major city like LA, New York, Chicago, Miami and this suppose to be a major team, but the blame is on joe i see cause he got his moneys worth, if he was scoring 40 points and they was losing sumtin there still would be something said, but tell me, who else got all the skills that he got, he didnt get paid off of how many commercials he done, or dunks he made , or shoes he sold, he got paid cause of his skill level, yall can be mad and blow your brains out, they still get paid regardless of what we think, and if we dont show up at another game LOL!!!! so your mad for no reason, the NBA id like the WWE, they already kno whos gonna win and the NBA is controlled by stern, and it will be MIAMI vs LA cause thats Big Money #POW
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 10th, 2011
2:04 am
I’ve never really been a guy that wants to settle with “at least we’re a playoff team” but after watching and reading a few things these past couple days, I’m leaning in that favor.
I watched Drew in the post game say that we “competed” in a game we got blown out in. I watched Drew say he turns to Zaza for offense (good luck with that).
I saw some commercial, Atlanta Hawks 360 or something, with one of the owners saying that since they’ve been there they’ve always been about championships.
I saw JJ say that 1-5 they are all jump shooters (been playing with Josh Smith this long and he says this?)
These people are so clueless and full of lies, delusions, etc. it’s amazing we’re this many games above .500
KC
March 10th, 2011
2:39 am
I’ve given up on this team… The Hawks need new ownership, period. Joe Johnson needs to be traded along with Josh Smith.
RED ZONE 1
March 10th, 2011
3:46 am
YOUR CAPTAIN HAS SPOKEN!!!! If this is the general consesus of the team, then its time to break up the team!!!! Ownership has made it clear, THEY WON’T SPEND ANY REAL MONEY, so a respectable coach (ala Jerry Sloan) is out of the question, but from a financial position breaking up the current team’s core will change the teams mindset. Get rid of the your biggest cancers in a package deal Josh Smith/Marvin Williams for (players and or picks). Unload Kirk for Louis Williams or Jerryd Bayless. Teague understands going to the rim b/c his jumper is to inconsistent at this point in this career. BUILD AROUND HORFORD AND LET JOE BE THE SIDEKICK THAT HE IS.
hawks_4_life
March 10th, 2011
4:06 am
JUST AS I FINALLY FLY TO AUGUSTA THE DARK AGES FOR MY HAWKS STARTS CREEPING IN
JeJe
March 10th, 2011
7:19 am
I feel like we get a “Georgians in the NBA” feature article like 5 times a season
O'Brien
March 10th, 2011
7:27 am
Hawks are 2 games up on the Knicks in the loss column. However, Knicks play at Dallas tonight, so I think they lose, which allows the Hawks lead to go back up to 3 (until tomorrow night anyway).
As for my assessment of LD, I expected more out of him (rookie HC or not). Having been here 6 years as an assistant, he knew the players well, and talked a good game at his press conference. I have been disappointed by his inability to follow up on some of his comments.
Rick Sund said elite means having homecourt in the first round, and winning your first round matchup. Its very unlikely Hawks will have homecourt, and its quite possible they will lose in the first round.
If that happens, I think both Rick and LD will be on the hot seat next season.
O'Brien
March 10th, 2011
7:28 am
Najeh,
I’m not blaming the Hawks or Woody for Salim, but I think if he was drafted by the Spurs (instead of the Hawks), they would have helped/motivated him to play to his strengths, and I think he would have had a better career as a Eddie House type player off the bench.