Team played great. Trae had 2-3 really bad possessions in the last 4 minutes which could have cost the W. Can’t win without him, but he can be more efficient. I’ll chalk it up to new teammates still trying to understand spacing with him.
With oo starting now, it sucks so badly that Jalen is hurt. Jalen and OO are amazing together and connecting them with Trae / Dyson and Rich would have really been some nasty work. Also would have let Mo and Niang be really good off the bench
Sitting courtside was a great experience that I will likely not be able to repeat for some time. The main thing I noticed is how huge Banchero is to everyone else on the court and how skinny the Hawks are. Rizz needs to hit the weight room hard in the offseason and Hawks need to bring in a bruiser for one of their roster spots in the offseason to help that beef disadvantage. LeVert isn’t as good of a finisher or shooter as Hunter but he is better at everything else. If the Hawks can get him to resign for something like 2/$25M (around the MLE) then they should do it.
Some tough shooting luck last night I know we got the best player back in the Dejounte trade, starting to think maybe we got the best player back in the Hunter trade? maybe a fresh Capela helps us off the bench after the break.
Seven steals is insane. I feel like this team is still going to finish around 500 though, we are dearly missing JJ when no one else steps up to help Trae.
This whole season was about JJ, Dyson, ZR and OO coalescing into something, particularly JJ/DD and ZR and the 2-4 spots. JJ going out has just made me want to see Dyson and ZR up their offensive game and OO become the elbow facilitator he should be. I was hoping we could get to 6 but I doubt that happens. bufkin and Vit injuries low key hurt. Kobe needed to become a back up PG and Vit was growing tremendously and getting a lot of minutes.
The core 4 is gonna be so nice. Just need a big enough center(sorry OO) to complement our lightskin avengers and Trae.
Zac is gonna be way better than people think. He’s been shooting lights out recently, plays above average D already, has plenty of athleticism, and barely turns the ball over all at 19 years old.
He was definitely the correct long term pick at that spot in the draft. His floor as a 24-28 year old is going to be really high and his ceiling is still TBD (in a good way). They've got a pretty fun core of long young athletes with Jalen, Dyson and Zac. Have to figure out the long term Trae plan and supplement it, but it's a nice group to build around and they play a fun brand of basketball.
The plan was getting those type of guys around Trae. If we were the Lakers or anyone else and Jalen was healthy we could be talking about having the DPOY, ROTY, and MIP all playing next to Trae and all being young as hell. They need time to mature, depth, and for Tony to stop being a cheap fucking asshole.
he is like 46% from 3 the last couple of weeks. If he lives between 38-42% his ceiling is crazy , esp living next to JJ and Trae. wish Vit, Jalen and Nance didn’t get hurt, and wish Bogie wasn’t ass when we had him. Also wish we’d moved Capela to the bench earlier
https://www.reddit.com/r/AtlantaHawks/s/YRiAVTY5m2 The ease with which this mother fucker plays D. Most casual looking guy out there lulling you into believe you are safe before he wrecks you.
Did it against Bane too, not some bum he’s getting steals against the number one option on every team, every night
It's almost impossible how consistently he gets steals without ever fouling or even more importantly getting called for fouls because he looks like he's fouling. His decision making/quickness line up at a level I can't ever remember seeing for a defender in the NBA. He isn't reaching, guessing, gambling. They're all just perfectly timed cobra strikes.
Risacher with the Rookie of the Month. Finally some respect for our guy. Now get the Rookie of the Year.
Makes the JJ injury so frustrating. With how OO is moving the ball on offense from the elbow, and how ZR is settling in, no doubt in my mind we are pushing in the 5/6 seed range.
Was working on the salary cap for the offseason. Making some assumptions on Barlow’s contract, we have 11 spots filled with 2 potential firsts to fill 2 more. I’m going to guess that LeVert is likely to be resigned around the MLE ($13M starting) and the picks are 14 & 25. That leaves about $21.5M under the tax line for the last spot and the ability to bring that salary (and less) in with the $25.2M Murray TPE. Should be the deepest Hawks team in a while if that last slot is used prudently.
probably need a back up center and maybe a back up PG. maybe we get lucky and get 75 games out of Kobe. I’ll never forget his defense on Jalen Green
I have no dog in this fight, went to the game tonight (Pistons fan, just in town), but Young is really, really dumb in person. Happily rooted for Caris and was excited he put up close to 25 hilarious ending, one kid was happy as they were tired, other was pissed it didn’t go to OT. much easier watch as a neutral fan, but Young would make make me pull my hair out
With Jalen out, Young is forced to create offense without a legit #2 and people confuse that when him being reckless.
Feels like instead of getting another PG/playmaker after Jalen and Kobe went down, they are trying to build Dyson’s confidence in that area and honestly I’m not mad about it.
agreed 100% and think you will see a crazy jump when you re insert Jalen in there next year. I love it everytime when Dyson attacks the rim. I also kind of had the realization last night that both Cleveland and Atlanta won the Hunter trade. lavert was miscast as a 5th guy in Cleveland, and Hunter was miscast as a 3rd ish guy here. Hunter is big and can hit open 3s. He doesn’t do a ton else, but with Mitchell, garland, etc that’s all they need him to do lavert can just do so much more and now he has room to. I hope we bring him and Niang back on reasonable deals next year. Basically run this entire team back except find a decent back up center. I wish Trae had a lob threat as well
out of control, reckless and careless with the ball, bad passes, get hurt and miraculous WWE recovery return in the 4th, not out playing defense up 1 with 17 to go, idk, seemed like a lot of “dumb” for the star player like I said, I don’t follow your team and maybe he’s injured, but seemed like a lot times he could penetrate, he was just fine to do a jump cut and heave a long two, streaky start got them a big lead, his errors let the Pacers slowly get back in the game, but it’s sports, I don’t expect a superstar to be perfect, just trying to convey that in person he seemed really frustrating and had stretches of poor judgement and execution Funny story, guys in front of us, hated Niang, screaming to get “dad bod” on the bench especially after his tech
you are asking why a 6ft PG with limited athleticism is not out playing defense up 1 in crunch time Trae Young is star for his scoring and passing. He knows the nba rule book like the back of his hand and has forced the NBA to change how they call games because of it. His defense has improved to be serviceable from Dead fucking last in the league.