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
SteveW
March 10th, 2011
3:43 pm
And Marvin shooting 14.3% from 10-15 feet is abysmal.
I say over the summer, trade Marvin for Sessions – the Cavs want Marvin (or did).
I could live with a backcourt of JJ, Sessions, Hinrich, and Teague. 2 guys over 30, 2 guys 25 or under. That would be a good rotation. All 4 can play either G spot to varying degrees of efficiency.
Move Josh to 3. I now can live with that also. He has convinced me this year he may need to move to 3, and play 4 on occasion, and not vice versa. I think it is his choice on what aspects of his game he is choosing to emphasize, and he’s emphasizing the perimeter over the post.
SteveW
March 10th, 2011
3:45 pm
Najeh – Co-sign on that Ben Wallace deal. If we’re trotting Collins out there when we play big, I think Wallace would be an upgrade on Collins.
And if you had a team of Horford, Hinrich, and Ben, you are definitely changing the culture of the team in a positive direction.
Booo!
March 10th, 2011
3:57 pm
You know who isnt a jumpshooter?
Jeff Teague.
Start Him.
We looked better and had better balance with him starting anyway.
Tony
March 10th, 2011
4:18 pm
Good point Big Dave…we do need a point. And yes Marvin is a decent player perhaps in another system, but Atlanta has to rid itself of befriending certain players. Marvin should be traded. He would probably benefit in a system such as a bench playing Celtics team or somewhere like LAC.
Joe Don’t Lie. Hawks Love to Take Jumpshots. « Soaring Down South | An Atlanta Hawks blog
March 10th, 2011
4:22 pm
[...] most Hawks fans have heard or seen, Joe Johnson told the AJC’s Michael Cunningham that the Hawks are a jumpshooting team. To be more specific, here’s what he said: you look at a jump-shooting team–we are a [...]
James
March 10th, 2011
4:44 pm
Joe only re-signed with the hawks cause they offered the most money he don’t care about winning he only cares about money.
WreckingBall
March 10th, 2011
4:49 pm
Somebody wrote a blog the other day that was probably the best one ive seen in a while where the person said that “coaching” has an aweful lot to do with draft picks who are coached well and develop into great players. Rondo of Boston was mentioned in that blog. I believe that two keys to the Hawks who will make them a great team if their skills develop are MARVIN WILLIAMS and JOSH SMITH. Like I mentioned yesterday, Larry Drew is INEPT at coaching these two talented studs to greatness. Both of them combined have the potential to score 50 points a night (Josh scoring 30 and Marvin scoring 20). However, the coaching staff (Drew) can only get 20 out of them Josh (15) and Marvin (5). Its unfortunate because both of those guys would help the Hawks lead the NBA in scoring if they were being coached “UP” properly. I take my hats off to former coach Mike Woodsen because at least Woody was a masterful teacher and a great coach. If Woody was allowed to stay another year, the Hawks would have won the NBA title this summar. Oh well, thats what happens when management makes an emotional decision and fires someone prematurely.
ShempHoward
March 10th, 2011
5:32 pm
If Larry Drew wants his team to win the NBA championship this season, all he has to do is make a couple of “tweaks” in his motion offense. His motion offense is great, wonderful, stupendous, sensational and we are all amazed by it. In fact the great Doug Moe who coached the Denver Nuggets years ago when they had Kiki Vandeweigh, Alex English, Dan Issel and others and led the league in scoring by putting up about 130 points per night, coach Moe ran a MOTION OFFENSE, the same offense that Larry Drew is running. The only problem with the motion offense is that it wont work if you dont have the horses (athletes) to run it. Fortunately for the Hawks, THEY DO HAVE THE ATHLETES TO RUN IT. Coach Drew doesnt know how to maximize his great young players and get the right return for their efforts. All Drew has to do to get 50 points a night out of Marvin and Josh is instead of having them run around in a circular motion spinning their wheels and going nowhere, have them cut to the basket the exact same way that SLASH (Dwayne Wade of Miami) does for the Miam Heat as he gets his 27 points a night. JOSH AND MARVIN ARE ATHLETIC ENOUGH TO DO THE SAME thing and their scoring averages will triple if they start doing this. If Marvin cuts to the basket he wont be able to stuff the ball on Dwight Howard, but Marvin knows how to lay the ball up against the glass and score layups because he did this in college repeatedly. If Josh Smith gets the ball at the rim he will stuff it home and slam dunk it 99 times out of 100 and his scoring average will go up exponentially. Josh Smith will lead the NBA in scoring average if he does this on a consistent basis. Have those 2 guys cut to the basket and watch the Hawks soar to heights theyve never been to. Once this game plan is executed the Hawks will soar so high at heights weve never seen before you will think that Captain Kirk has beamed scotty up to the moon and the Hawks will be on their way to winning the world championship.
Tony
March 10th, 2011
5:38 pm
The only issue with this motion offense though is that it is not good for this team. What’s good for KiKi may not be good for JJ…and the fellas. We have the advantage of some post players that need action to implement some sort of inside game. And what to say about coaching defense. Give it to Woody for being a litttle more well rounded in the coaching arena. LD sold ASG on this new offense, and now that he is at the helm….shucks, it is nonexistent.
Peter
March 10th, 2011
5:54 pm
Well if the entire team is a jump shooting team the GM should be fired for this MIX. The team is really silly at best, no one with an athletic mind seeing that getting the other teams players in foul trouble is to their advantage.
DUMB is the best way to describe this team……thus fire the GM, better yet find owners who know basketball…..cause these guys don’t know basketball or Hockey for that matter.
ICECOLD
March 10th, 2011
6:03 pm
Basically , if you say you a jump shooting team, you need a point guard thats going to drive and dish, attack the rim hard, get doubled team, disit to the open man…. if not doubled , lay of up finish at the rim, or get fouled ….. since this seasons looking bad and since we gon make the playoffs , start teague …. let him drive and dish and drive and layup/dunk… he might as well get all his practice in doing that… might lose a few games , but about the times the playoffs come , he will be ready….
Who does that sound like ….( RONDO!!!! )
slimjr
March 10th, 2011
6:08 pm
“And Marvin shooting 14.3% from 10-15 feet is abysmal.”
I knew Marvin was horrific but now we have a number?????????? 6′9″ and shooting that low of a percentage at 10 feet!!!!!!!!!!!!
He can’t fix that??? Waive his sorry azz..
Worst #2 Lottery pick in Atlanta Hawks History by a long shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…..Thanks Billy Knight for screwing this franchise for the next 10 years…………………….
Marvin for a bag of doughnuts………..LOL
slimjr
March 10th, 2011
6:09 pm
Marvin= D-League scrub…………………………..
ashah
March 10th, 2011
6:50 pm
This has been a pretty disappointing regular season. Even though we got blown out last year by the Magic in the second round, we had a promising regular season where we beat a lot of tough teams (we sweeped the season series with the Celtics) and it seemed our main problem was that our offense could get stymied because of a lot of our guys were playing iso and not moving around much (this problem was exposed in the series against the Magic). That’s why I had high hopes with LD coming into the picture this year…especially with our core group of guys coming back (even though Bibby is gone now) and having had improved each year for the last three years.
So the fact that we are playing terrible against good teams and that we have a worse record at this point than we did last year should point to the fact that something is not clicking with our team. We do have our weaknesses (lack of a true center, more turnovers than usual, bad perimeter defense which has been helped a little bit with Kirk) but a lot of these weaknesses were present last year. So then why the sudden drop-off? Has the competition really gotten that stiff in the East? I think it has, but I expected us to compete. It seems like everyone on this blog had higher expectations for the Hawks and they are underachieving.
Maybe the problem is the fact that the players on the team don’t feel as though they are underachieving. JJ is saying that our team should keep being jump-shooters, but if that is clearly not working…then why not try something different? Why stick to something that only works well to a certain degree. I think we have a great core group of guys and a lot of potential if we can get a deeper bench, but I think our offensive philosophy has to change and the guys have to want IT more. A playoff birth is no longer what they should be aiming for; it should be the ECF or beyond. Doesn’t seem like the guys want that.
Was anyone at any of the Hawks-Boston series at Phillips a few years ago? Best series ever! Not only was the crowd crazily into it, but our players actually played with some fight. I think that’s what’s missing…from the players and from our fans. Maybe one side of the see-saw can fix the other? Maybe if our fans are more passionate, it will ignite the players? Or maybe if the players play with some more heart, the fans will start showing up. Something’s gotta change.
Ok enough rambling, haha. GO HAWKS
jason
March 10th, 2011
7:22 pm
Omfg, Hawks are going to dump marvin and i think he knows it.
ICECOLD
March 10th, 2011
8:06 pm
The hawks problems are simple
Point guard … still need one .. my solution, give teague a chance , hawks are already losing what, more can you lose , give teague a chance
Sorry starter , Marvin Williams … move him to the bench , move josh smith to small foward, his jump shot is better then Marvin , and he can drive to the basket and dunk , Marvin can’t dribble at all
Need a center , or another powerforward who is going to run the floor , Al is a powerforward , let him play it and stop forcing him to do something he doesnt want or need to do.. he really should request either get a true center or somebody else to start at center or trade him… its only fair and I wouldn’t blame him..
So… starters
Teague
Joe
Josh
Al
Any center that is a true starter in the League .. everybody happy and you do change the make up of this team , by shifting players around …. I bet it work
ATL
March 10th, 2011
9:29 pm
Let Damien Wilkins start… Trust me I see more potential in him then in Marvin or Collins… The guy is a pure beast… he’s the only player on the team that looks like he wants to play… And hawks fans step it up man… Lets show some love
SEAN LOGAN
March 11th, 2011
5:07 am
I WATCH THE HAWKS FAITHFULLY AND FIND MYSELF UPSET MORE THAN A HAPPY FAN. I SEE A TEAM WITH TALENT AND I SEE A TEAM THAT IS INCONSISTENT. LD IS A JOE JOHNSON TYPE OF GUY COACHING A JOSH SMITH TYPE OF TEAM. AL HORFORD IS DEF OUR BEST PLAYER AND JOE JOHNSON IS GETTING WORST BY THE SECOND. I DUNNO WHAT TO THINK NEMORE MAN ITS FREAKING SAD… MARVIN WILLIAMS IS A BUST, JOSH SMITH IS TAKING JUMPERS ALL THE TIME AND SOMETIMES THEY GO BUT THATS NOT HIS GAME MAN , HE NEEDS TO CRASH BOARDS, STAY IN THE HOLE , ATTACK THE RIM ALONG WITH ALL AND JOE. JOE JOHNSON IS TRYING TO SHOWBOAT HALF THE TIME AND LASTELY HE HAS BEEN MISSING ALMOST EVERY ISO JUMPER. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE OF A LINEUP LIKE HORFORD AT THE 4 AND SMOOVE AT THE 3 AND USE JOE AT THE POINT SOMETIMES..MIX IT UP ..USE ALL UR PLAYERS TO THE POTENTIAL MAN ..FROM WATCHING MY HAWKS DAY AND NIGHT I CAN ALMOST PREDICT WHAT THEY DO MAN AND IM A LINE COOK AT APPLEBEES. I HOPE THE BEST FOR MY TEAM BUT THEY GOTTA TURN IT AROUND AND I DONT SEE THAT HAPPENING NETIME SOON BUT I GOT MY FINGERS CROSSED. AND KIRK WITH THE TURNOVERS..DAMN PLAY TEAUGE MORE ..ATLEAST HE TRYS TO BE AGGRESSIVE. AND ANOTHER THING …IM A DIE HARD FAN BUT ITS A NUTSHOT WHEN U WATCH UR TEAM PLAY THE KNICKS FOR 3 QUARTERS IN PHILIPS AND THEY GET BURNED BY SEAN WILLIAMS AND ROGER MASON JR IN THE 4TH AND UR HOME CROWD IS FULL OF BLUE JERSEYS AND THEIR BOOING US AND CHEERING FOR THEM YANKEES. CAN WE BLAME OUR HAWKS OR THEY MIGHT NEED SOME MORE SUPPPORT FROM US FANS..OR DO WE EVEN HAVE ENOUGH FANS. IT HURTS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yessir
March 11th, 2011
7:13 am
You guys just won’t give Woody credit.
Tony
March 11th, 2011
7:22 am
Woody deserves a lot of credit. He is one of only a couple of coaches who have made the Hawks playoff contenders. There was more to his leaving than what is told.
Gamer
March 11th, 2011
8:52 am
Enter your comments here
ICECOLD
March 11th, 2011
9:07 am
yeah.. him and Billy Knight Had a plan…. and now, they are complicating what ever plans that they had… i think you have to make a change…
AND honestly … I think Joe Johnson should play the 1… we need another shooting guard.. Josh Smith at the 3.. Al at the 4… and a center…
or
start jeff teague… only way he can get better is if he gets real playing time now… He has the raw talent… and he just needs the real nba experience to develope his skill.
and Marvin Williams should not start at all.. He hurts this team…. I can see if he was neutral… but he really hurts the team.. If you are going to start a player that hurts the team… You might as well start a center!!! because what team who has ever been anything… small forward is the worst starter on the team… your small forward suppose to be your best athlete!!!
thats the problem..
Teezo
March 11th, 2011
9:24 am
This is not a jumpshooting team, they made themselves that..No need to go into detail but this team did as well as it can do LAST SEASON..They only 2 players worth keeping is Horford and JJ, everyone else should be trade bait..From what I saw in Phillips Arena at the NYK and LAL games the city, fans, and team needs a STAR point blank..If management can’t see that then there is a problem, no need to go on b/c any real Hawk fan can see where I’m going…GET A STAR TO ATL, I’ll deal with a few bad years in order for us to build around a top tier player b/c it’s not like we’ve been on a major playoff run, this winning this just started 3 years ago…peace…
W.R.Terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:15 pm
Well the first half is over and we are leading 50-48. That “smoove” person has been playing point, holding the ball too long and taking dumb shots, I guess him and LD are communicating and ISO has tried to drive but it is unfamiliar to him because he has gotten stripped 3 times so far, but, it is a change. Marvin should not play anymore tonight, really, he’s a waste of time. The team appears to move better without that “smoove” fella doing his thing and yes I know, he has at least 10 points but he took enough shots to get em. The half will be over shortly and we head into the final 2 quarters, here are a few questions. (1) Can that “smoove” fella play within a team concept, give the ball to the guard and try to score under the basket (2) Will ISO Joe continue to go to the hoop and hopefully hold the ball even tho that may be foreign (3) Will they keep Marvins ass off the floor and start someone else (4) will they put forth the effort it will take to win defensively and (5) Will Jamal at least think about playing some defense, I hope so.
W.R.Terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:30 pm
Well that “smoove” person is letting us see what STOO-PID ball is. Damn, he just makes you ill
Bill Hackett
March 11th, 2011
10:53 pm
i agree that the biggest problem with this team is Larry Drew, he sucks as a nba coach, these players don’t respect him as a coach, he is not in control, josh smith do what he wants to do. jj really don’t care now, now that he’s got the big contract.marvin william is a joke