RedDawg#8

........Awkward lol

I hope he does this no matter what. Keep the pressure on at all times. Plus, guys like Kev and Gallo look a lot better next to the starters. As far as Cam, it is a lot of rust, especially considering his play was up and down prior to the injury. Rust AND inconsistency is a lot to overcome. Unless you attribute his play to dealing with the pain; and now that he is healthy, expect him to perform much better than when we last saw him.

Snell has made bigger impacts when given extended minutes. He has disappeared both parts of the year when he has been strictly used as a reserve. I think he needs to have a rhythm to be effective. Solo on the other hand is a little more versatile and aggressive off the bench. He doesn't need a rhythm to make an impact. He is more hustle than skill.

With the game tomorrow, if they move at the pace they did with Dre, they probably wait until after games 2 & 3 when there are more days off to let him scrimmage and then rest and evaluate. Who knows though. Snell/Hill 's spot has been a non factor aside from some enforcer work. If Cam is cleared there may be opportunity to slide in to the 3 spot off the bench.

Exactly. NY fans were fuming that they didn't isolate him more, but that's because we didn't let them. Bullock was not a threat to drive so Trae had a ton of time to recover after flashing

Stephen A Smith said yesterday that Nate has a contract in place even though it hasn't been announced yet. He said he had "sources" .

They may be more physical but their shooters are more reliable too. I hope we don't let them roam free to shoot because we are worried about defending the paint

Everyone has a place on the team, its just a matter of at what cost and if they are willing to stay for less than they can potentially earn elsewhere?

Oh yeah, Bamba.... some posters were all about that guy and his size. At least half of this board wanted Bagley but word got out that Sac was taking him. Almost everyone hoped that Luka went before we picked so that we didn't have to make a decision on the guy. Nobody knew he would turn out this good, it was pure hype and speculation back then and Hawks fans knew, we would be damned if we did and damned if we didnt take him, which is why we wanted him off the board to alleviate that pressure. To flip him for Trae and a 1st round pick was always seen as a huge win for us, because we at least knew that we got the guy we wanted, and not the guy we were forced to draft.

FACTS you already know it did!!! lol I brought my good buddy a while back to my barber who was cutting from his garage back when businesses were still closed due to Covid. He literally said that he liked the cut, but my barber talks way too much for his liking and he would not be using him again because it takes too long. I'm like dang, that's exactly why I love the guy, I have the best sports debates with all the guys at his shop.

Just got my haircut and one of the barbers swears we are going to the Finals this year, and that he watches more Hawks than anyone in the room, and that we are the only team that goes 12 deep, and he will fight anyone that disagrees lol. Im like, dude, I feel you, but lets pump the brakes and dial it in a bit. We may have a chance against Philly, true, but lets walk before we run.

This might be the funniest sh** I have ever seen. They got Spiderman in full Crip paraphernalia and a bottle of Henny with a God-awful NY accent. I don't even care that they are trashing Trae Young, this is just the most ridiculous thing possible lol

It wouldn't surprise me at all. LP seemed to always play the tough love role towards Trae, attempting to always knock him down a notch or two whenever he had the opportunity. Any time Trae was snubbed he never went to bat for him, it was always an "I told him he wasn't ready yet" mentality. It was truly weird to me because they acted as if Trae had free range to play his style on the court without any repercussion. So if that's the case then his flaws weren't just his fault, it was on the coaching that enabled it. I thought it was a bad look for a coach to be so hesitant to praise his best player and it likely only fueled the negative narratives surrounding Trae. I totally believe this could be true.

Did ya'll see that link below, 4 yrs 181 million for Jimmy Butler. That is a MAX deal, Thats a big difference than the paltry 30+ million a year JC is eligible for and the 24-26 million a year he will likely sign for

I can see them taking turns and giving them both multiple looks for those reasons. Gallo is the one who may struggle the most against their frontcourt Harris, Simmons, Embiid, Howard and Scott. I can only see Gallo keeping up with Scott out of those names

In the spirit of balance, just to make sure no one thinks Im hating on the guy, Trae played some amazing defense especially down the stretch. Bullock got off some open look early, but Trae adjusted and had some PERFECT close outs on him. He moved his feet around screens, and I could only think of one time when there was a miscommunication on a switch that left Randle open. There was a play late where Trae forced a live ball turnover on a dig down against Randle that came at a clutch moment in the game. He was very active defensively and not just hiding out. I am very impressed and proud at his improvement on that end of the floor. Great job Trae and Coach Nate

Right, that's how he attacks teams, similar to Giannis (but wayyyyy worse shooting) He knows how to eat up that space and get you off balanced in the blink of an eye. You want someone who can prevent him from getting a head of steam downhill and can run with him laterally when he changes directions.

100 % agree with everything except the bolded I think that win or lose you have to find ways to improve. Sometimes it's really hard when you are playing at very a high level, but when you can point to an increase of volume shooting on worse efficiency, that's an easy area to look at and say, "Hey, I need to pick my spots better". And a mature player will address those things before they come back to haunt them. The second Bolded part, that's never really been my debate. Trae CAN, WILL and SHOULD do both as needed, no doubt. But how well you do it is the question/issue for me. There are times he makes risky passes that lead to turnovers, there are some times he takes bad shots. I don't really care what his intention is, its about the execution for me. Looking to score doesn't mean taking bad shots, looking to facilitate doesn't mean forcing the ball into traffic. Staying aggressive is important, but so is decision making and discernment. Your overall point that the games weren't in question and it did not put us in jeopardy is what I agree with most. I had no issues with his performance until the very end of the game when he lost the ball out of bounds, then rolled it off John's ankle trying to get too cute. That came with a couple of dagger attempts that missed. At that point, I'm like Trae, get your head out of your butt and focus. We still had a cushion, we were in control, but that wasn't good basketball and coach needs/needed to check him for that. Win or lose, that was not how you want to play.

Simmons can get to the hoop in a heart beat off the drive. Harris is an actual inside out threat but not as strong of a slasher as Simmons. I trust Hunter to be able to move his feet better and keep up with Ben.

OO looked amazing last night. His activity and energy was just what the doctor ordered. You saw a young man rise to the moment to make a huge impact. Im extremely proud of him

Im satisfied with the win. Period. Hawks won, not just Trae. Our defense was spectacular. Our team shooting has been pretty bad on the road so far. Narratives change real fast. The media is loving Trae right now because most of them are casuals that haven't paid him any attention until now. They cannot justify their hate so long as we are winning. We have seen Trae up close. We know that 36 points on poor shooting is far from his best. WE know he is better than that. Forget percentages for a second. Let's talk counting numbers. Trae only took 6 3's per game in the regular season. Through the first 3 games against the Knicks (his best) he shot 5 3's per game. The last 2 games he shot over 12 3's per game. So take away the shooting percentages, which got worse the more shots he took, he literally changed his approach to the game. He starting doing the things that he was criticized for in the first place and not playing the style that got us here. That is definitely something to look at. Did the Knicks force him to shoot more 3's? Can Philly have the same effect? That's a legit conversation to be had. If you want more, you have to do more. Stakes are raised higher in the next round and there will be even more attention paid to us. As the casual media finally has to watch they will begin to tear down every chink in our armor the same way they do everyone else in the playoffs. Narratives change in a heartbeat. You win, ugly stats look better. But you lose, and you are a choker that couldn't raise your play. See what has happened to Randle overnight. He shot slightly better than Trae last night, but they lost, so now he is overrated. He shot .393% to Trae's .387% from 3 for the series, but he was "exposed" and Trae was validated. Winning hides all. Unless we hold that trophy at the end of the playoffs, we will end up getting killed by the media at some point too. Don't fall for the fake love. Drake said it best, "No new friends." On to the next.

Nope, you are right to be critical 36% from the field, 27% from 3pt. Two really bad turnovers late in the game that kept their crowd energized. That was my problem with the trolling. You had an ugly game, just be a sportsman and keep it moving. Our defense locked them down to win that game. Trae was able to live at the line. Im not faulting him for shooting poorly, but it needs to be a part of the convo when you talk about having a "star" performance. First 3 games of the series, Trae was an efficient 51% from the field and 44% from 3. Last 2 games, 39% from the field and 28% from 3. Trae is going to the 2nd round on the back of his two worst shooting performances. Philly has better perimeter defenders. I do not care how much attention and love he is finally and DESERVEDLY getting, he has to re-gain that focus he had prior to the Knicks series and lock in. I love Trae when its him vs the world. Frontrunner Trae plays silly and careless basketball. Need to fix that

Somewhere Cam Reddish is like "really....everybody??? Yall not missing no one???"

Question. Was NY in fact the most physical team we will face? Is Philly any more or less physical than the Knicks?

Green is a legit 6-8. He is, from a movement perspective, the easiest cover for Trae, but if he gets it going he will shoot over top of him all day. If Green is off or a non factor, they will just play Thybulle more. Philly is a tricky one for me. We HAD their number under Bruce Brown, but Doc has these boys playing to their strengths and potential.