Collins is going to have to have a breakout game soon. He definitely hasn’t stood out with the new guys and internal improvement offensively from Cam, Hunter and Huerter.
make because he’s surrounded by shooters, you can’t blitz him at half court like last year. last year he’d have to pass it to Deandre Bembry. Now he’s passing it to legit playmakers.
Completely missed that Rando had 8 freaking assists in only 15 minutes yesterday, that's like him with the Celtics numbers.
Good lord, the good news is that the Nets probably will be insanely good with all that talent this year. The bad news is that this team needs to learn how to play some fucking defense.
Capella Rusty as hell and gets lift. Hopefully in a month or so he’s back in game shape and OO is transitioning in. Wish Gallo didn’t get hurt. Wish Huerter would be more aggressive. if we stay healthy we are a 6 seed
Encouraging despite giving up a million points. Kyrie and KD are just too good. And seems like Kyrie is out for blood this year. Just happy we are in a game like that with a chance to win.
Was not expecting them to respond this well defensively, trying my hardest not to get my expectations way up.
Shlenk has hit it out of the park the past 2 years. Reddish/Hunter in the same draft is pretty fn elite. We didn’t play Gallo, Rondo, Snell or Big O and are 4-1.
I remember people were worried about Cam and Dre when we made the signings but they still start and our bench is incredible without Gallo and Dunn really playing yet.
And you can tell as this group becomes more cohesive, there is so much room for growth. I mean Trae hasn’t even had one of his supernova from 3 nights yet.
As both a Hawks and UVA fan, I love watching Hawks fans coming around on Hunter. I still think it’s fair to question his ceiling due to his age, but I don’t think it was ever a reasonable possibility that he wouldn’t be a solid contributor.
2nd game in a row we’ve given up a 15 point lead 2nd game in a row the bench has shit the bed in the 3rd and the starters haven’t been able to get back on track
Could you elaborate more on the locker room issue? I don't understand how they're having problems of that nature nine games into the season.
its being reported out so a lot of uncertainty, sounds like an issue between Trae and JC. LP does not seem to have command, obviously. And that sucks bc I think he is a great guy and great for this community.
I'll post the athletic article. But basically Collins spoke up and said Trae takes bad shots too early in shot clock. Coaches and Capela didn't necessarily agree but they did adress a need to get deeper into the offense. That's why trae pouted and took like 8 shots last game.
Hawks’ film session puts spotlight on Trae Young, early growing pains: By Chris Kirschner and Sam Amick 1h ago Constructive criticism is part of any NBA film session. But when the Hawks convened Tuesday at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, the day after they had blown a 15-point lead in the second half for the second consecutive game in a loss to New York, there was something different about the most memorable message being sent: It wasn’t coming from the coach, Lloyd Pierce, but from a player. John Collins, the fourth-year big man who just weeks before bet on himself in a big way during his failed extension talks with the Hawks, shared his unfiltered and unhappy views about the way franchise centerpiece Trae Young was running the offense. According to three sources who were either in the session or had knowledge of what was said, Collins raised several issues about the way these Hawks were functioning with Young at the helm. Collins talked about the need to get into offensive sets more quickly and to limit all those early shot-clock attempts that leave his teammates on the outside looking in. He shared his desire to be more involved and expressed a desire for more ball involvement and flow on offense. There was no back-and-forth between the two, but the pointed criticism caught the attention of the room. And Young, sources say, made it clear to others later that he strongly disagreed with Collins’ assessment. “Trae is my brother regardless,” Collins, who chose not to elaborate further, told The Athletic via text message when he was asked about the situation . In a round-about way, Collins offered a reminder to his teammates that growing pains are an unavoidable part of this process. With Pierce in the final guaranteed year of his contract and playoff expectations upon them all, the question now is whether the Hawks can navigate these next few months well enough to make the most of this revamped roster. The winner of the latest offseason, this franchise that added so many respected veterans such as Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn around its young and talented core, must now find a way to work together in the kind of way that leads to synergy and success. Yet as the Hawks have seen just eight games in, jumping out to a 4-1 start that came with all sorts of national hype only to endure a three-game losing streak that came with tough conversations along the way, the pitfalls of professional sports have a way of impeding progress. And the mood, quite clearly, can change quickly after just a few bad days. Even after the film session came to an end, the dialogue about how these Hawks should operate continued. Only this time, it was Hawks big man Clint Capela who decided to weigh in during a private discussion with Young. Capela, the 26-year-old who was acquired from Houston at last season’s trade deadline, had seen a similar act unfold before during the Dwight Howard-James Harden era with the Houston Rockets. Sources say Capela’s message focused on that cautionary tale, how Howard’s demands for the ball along with Harden’s reluctance to give it up more freely widened the divide between them and led to collective failure. This kind of push-and-pull between talented wing players and big men is as old as the league itself, but Capela clearly saw no reason to let history repeat itself. But one night later, when the Hawks fell 102-94 to Charlotte in Atlanta, it was clear there had been a ripple effect from the day before. And not for the better. Young finished with just seven points — his first single-digit scoring total since a nine-point outing in a 25-point loss to Detroit on Nov. 22, 2019 — and he only had three assists. He clearly had chosen not to be aggressive, taking just three attempts from beyond the 3-point line (his fewest since an 11-minute stint on Oct. 29, 2019) and nine total field-goal attempts and giving up seven turnovers. Collins, meanwhile, finished with a team-high 23 points on a team-high 16 shot attempts. “Not wanting to force too much,” Young said. “They were hedging hard, and I was just getting off the ball. I just kind of wanted to let everybody else try to make plays. Whenever I got off it, they were face guarding. They were trying to make it tough on me to catch it back. That’s what it was.” Throughout the game, Young appeared disengaged with the offense. He spent most of his time off the ball, not moving, and was careless when he did have the ball in his hands. The Hawks were down 20 two minutes into the second quarter but did mount a comeback in the third quarter with Brandon Goodwin and Kevin Huerter leading the offense. The ball was moving much better with those two than Young. There was a moment during a timeout in the third quarter when, perhaps sensing Young was not happy, Collins put his arm around Young’s shoulders and patted him on the back to encourage him. Young did not say anything nor reciprocate Collins’ friendly gesture and instead walked away. This isn’t the first time Collins has raised issues within the team to be more involved, but sources within the team and close to the situation pointed to his recent contract negotiations as a possible explanation for his frustration, though there also appears to be genuine intent from Collins to see this team continue to progress as a contender. Collins, who was one of only four players who averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds last season, has made little secret of the fact that he sees himself as a maximum-salary player . It’s that belief that compelled him to turn down the Hawks’ extension offer last month, when sources say he left a deal worth more than $90 million on the table with the hopes that he would prove worthy of much more this offseason. Others see Collins’ views differently, claiming his focus in the film session was on the need for Young to maximize the deep roster of talent that now surrounds him. Some Hawks have agreed with Collins’ stance and believe when he’s featured more, the team plays much better. After Collins spoke up in the team’s film session, the message from the coaching staff was that the Hawks have to do a better job of making opposing teams work on defense because of the offensive weapons they now have, and settling on bad looks early in the shot clock is not a recipe for success. It’s understandable why Collins would speak out on the importance of more ball movement because that’s how he thrives in this offense. Collins is not a play initiator and not someone the Hawks comfortably can rely on to take over games by himself. Instead, he gets his points from offensive rebounding and pick-and-rolls — whether he’s rolling, popping or slipping the screen, which Kevin Durant called him the best in the league at doing just last week. Through eight games, however, the stats suggest the two-man lineup of Young and Collins is working smoothly, as those two have a team-best 16.7 net rating, according to NBA.com’s data . That’s even with Young struggling from the field in the past three games, particularly on Wednesday. Season stats PLAYER POINTS ASSISTS REBOUNDS SHOOTING 3-POINT SHOOTING Trae Young 25.9 8.4 4.3 43 31 John Collins 17.9 1.8 7.5 54.5 32 At least one Hawks player told The Athletic he believed the aftermath of Tuesday’s film session carried over into Wednesday’s game and was the reason for Young’s passive and lethargic performance. Pierce characterized Young’s night as “uncharacteristic.” Wednesday against Charlotte PLAYER POINTS ASSISTS REBOUNDS SHOOTING 3-POINT SHOOTING Trae Young 7 3 5 2-9 0-3 John Collins 23 1 11 9-16 0-0 As the game progressed, Collins appeared to be his normal self — enthusiastically cheering everyone on — while Young appeared disinterested. It points to a recurring theme from last season when some of the players expressed Young’s vocal leadership needs improvement, especially with him being the team’s star player. Young is 22 years old and still finding his voice, but speaking up is not something that comes naturally to him. For Pierce’s part, he has encouraged Young to continue growing as a vocal leader and said before the season that he felt there was progress on that pivotal front. But the basketball relationship between Young and Pierce continues to be worth monitoring, with multiple sources saying the disconnect between them remains an issue. But Young is not the only Hawks player who has been frustrated with Pierce at times, as multiple players have questioned his in-game decisions at various times since he was hired in 2018. In the loss to Cleveland on Saturday, the second unit blew an 11-point lead as the starters sat for seven minutes. Pierce was asked why he left the bench players in for so long and said he actually brought in the starters earlier than what he normally would in the fourth quarter. His answer speaks to another point of contention some players have with Pierce: a perceived lack of accountability in the media. On multiple occasions last season, Pierce’s penchant for saying the team had no energy and “didn’t compete” wasn’t received well by some players. The undercurrent, it seems, is a sense from some players that the coaching staff isn’t willing enough to share the responsibility on nights when they fall short. There’s significant pressure on Pierce to lead this team to the playoffs this season, especially with him stating in March that was the expectation — a comment that caught Hawks owner Tony Ressler by surprise , as it was not something the two had discussed. The fourth year of Pierce’s deal, a team option, has yet to be picked up. Yet after losing three straight games against perceived weaker opponents, a source with knowledge of the situation said Pierce is in no imminent danger. There’s an understanding that injuries to Gallinari, Rondo, first-round pick Onyeka Okongwu, Dunn and Tony Snell demand a need for patience. There’s the reality of the roster turnover, too, with ample time needed to incorporate nine new players into the team’s culture and Pierce’s system. This will take time to make it work as smoothly as the Hawks hope. The Hawks continuously have expressed confidence that they can be a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference, with Collins saying after their win against Brooklyn that “we’re not a joke.” And even with the challenging dynamics behind the scenes and the three-game losing streak, their two most important players have insisted the excitement about their hot start remains. “You look at my first game after we won, I told you I’d never get too high or too low this season,” Young said after Wednesday’s game. “We’re eight games in. We’re 4-4. Any team can go on a stretch and win five games in a row. Any team can lose five. It’s all about how you prepare for the next one. For us, if we dwell on the three home games that we lost, this can carry over and continue to happen. We can’t let that happen.” Said Collins: “I still feel like our potential is very high. As I said before, we have a lot of new pieces to work with as well as us being young. I feel like all of those are excuses for us going out there and trying to win the game. It’s just a lot of different factors that factor into us losing these games, but honestly I don’t want to harp on anything other than us trying to win the games that we should