Trae revels in dealing with the MSG crowd. I’ll also apologize for being in attendance for that atrocious game on Sunday vs the Nuggets. It was cool to see Jokic in person, though.
Fuck, was balls deep in work today and because stuff tips off so early for me now I completely forgot about this game. Really happy that Trae pissed off MSG fuckboys again.
Hawks are an abysmal -13.3 points per 100 possessions (753 possessions so far) with Jalen on the bench. That leads me to believe that a decent back-up PF (preferably one that can hit threes) in a trade should be on the menu for Landry soon. Can’t keep playing JJ 40+ minutes a night. I’m fine including either SAC’s first or the MIL/NO pick in 2027 for the right one. Could be the difference in avoiding the play-in. Could Dorian Finney-Smith be that guy? $15M salary with Nance ($11.2M) and Zeller ($3.5M) going back. Nets could then likely reroute Nance for a 2nd. Still allows the Hawks to stay under the tax line next season.
Or maybe we could use all of our resources and actually use the MLE that cheap bitch Tony refuses to touch.
Deandre going to the rack, taking contact from Gianni’s and just missing was a killer but I loved his aggression
Going 32-34 from the line beat out 22-43 from three. I don’t recall a player ever making a bigger leap at 27 from bum to efficient volume scorer than Hunter has.
Was nervous Herro would go for 48 with no DD available but just a really good game all around very connected team
Malcom Brogdon feels like the low hanging fruit from Washington, or maybe Micic from Charlotte. I wonder what Lonzo would cost. Injuries obviously but he’s a back up PG, so his minutes are reduced. who else am I missing?
D-Lo would work if he bought in. Don’t think any contender is going to put him in a starting role at PG barring a long term injury. Nance, Bufkin, and Zeller works salary wise. Would a roll of the dice with Bufkin next year and a second be enough for Brooklyn? Nance (if his hand injury isn’t season ending) might bring in another 2nd to another team. He’s not going to hurt anything long term and “can” provide shooting and creation with the second unit instead of relying on Vit or Dyson. Trae will miss a hand full of games and by the end of the season, D-Lo would likely be in the low 20 minutes on average.
Not sure what real pieces we can get for Capela or Bogi. Who else would we part with? I know it’s a pipe dream but Jabari Smith is really struggling with the Rockets. I wish we could buy low on him but back up PG is more pressing for sure
Stolen from Brad R Trae had his 3rd 20/20 game of the season no one has had 3 in a year since John Stockton in 1990 it’s game 37
Jazz are an awful team so it's a bit concerned they struggled to beat them as well as them dropping multiple games in a row on the road before this.
Everything is an adventure without Jalen and no true back-up PF. Team hasn’t released any details about his shoulder so hopefully it doesn’t require surgery but possibly something that will bother him the rest of the season and require strategic game resting.
True, but it feels like this team is starting to regress to not playing up to their level like they did last year. We absolutely need a backup but Capela is also getting his ass whipped in the paint right now against good teams and that's killing us, Okongwu isn't helping nearly enough.
Capela was quite good for most of this season on defense but he’s likely a little banged up after playing every game so far. He is one those players that really falls off when he is not 100%. Tough to rest him though if Nance is out and there isn’t an effective back-up behind Okongwu. The main reason that the Hawks aren’t better is simply that they are getting killed on opponent threes. Opposing teams are shooting the 2nd most % of their shots as threes (41% compared to 39.1% League Avg) and hitting a league high 38.7% on them (36.4% avg) against the Hawks. Expect the opponent shooting to regress and hopefully Quin can scheme a little better to reduce the number of attempts going forward. Hawks are pretty average at everything else but are very good at creating turnovers, getting to the line and getting second chance points off offensive rebounds. Beyond that, it’s just the lack of back-up PF and PG that really hinders +\- when Trae and Jalen aren’t on the court. When both are on, they are +7.9 points per 100 possessions and when both are off they are a dismal -19.6.
In no particular order *Bogie hasn’t been great, hasn’t been anywhere near last year or Olympic bogie. Hopefully we get that version down the stretch. We need his shooting *back up PG is a disaster. The clippers game was a nightmare when Trae sat. We couldn’t even dribble *back up PF is a disaster. Haven’t used any of our trade exceptions, MLEs, and still have Zeller taking up a roster spot from his living room. Even a Harrison Barnes or Tobias Harris type body for 20-25 min a night would help. mo Gueye developing would help. AJ Griffin being a weirdo didn’t help, he could have been a small ball 4 to provide spacing off the bench. My dream world is Jabari Smith getting phased out in Houston and getting him for Capela salary. Won’t happen though. John Collins would be incredible in this role. A 4 who can play some 5. *Big Rich and Dyson shooting a little better from 3 would help. And like Sanjuro said, hopefully there is some regression in opponent 3 point shooting. Knecht went nuclear. Pattie Mills went crazy for a few minutes. I don’t get it need to find an answer at back up PG and 4. Need Deandre, Trae and JJ to all play as much as possible. We are like 16-4 when they all play. cheap ownership, injury (Kobe) and a bad draft pick (griffin) have limited our depth
Didn’t know Plowden was a real person 5 hrs ago and now I think he’s the greatest baller in the league.
The overtime period was just so composed on both ends. Didnt let Celtics get easy looks. Was just really good basketball