RedDawg#8

Hornets are 26-22 with Gordon Hayward healthy, 4-10 without him (Really 4-11 as he was injured after only 6 minutes in his last game) I'm thinking that's the main reason for their struggles. (They are actually 4-3 without Lamelo this season fyi) Same thing with last season, they were 24-20 with Hayward, 9-19 without, but still 10-10 without Lamelo (5-9 without both) So Hayward's presence has a much greater impact on their record for sure compared to Lamelo who is allegedly their "best" player. So, just like with us, it's hard to overcome an injury to your 1st or 2nd best player.

This is probably true. I mean, we are consistently getting scorched from deep, but at the same time teams that choose to attack the paint get little resistance as well. It's usually one or the other, the fact is the perimeter defenders are typically out of sorts.

I think momentum plays a huge part as well. The summer before last season, Dre was putting in work and looking legit in his pickup games, and that carried over in to the season. Since his injury, he has been in and out of the lineup. He spent this past summer rehabbing and not doing a ton of full court. And, they typically don't do a lot of 5 on 5's during the season. He was starting to look better this season before going down again with injury. I just think there hasn't been a consistent stretch of health that would allow him to work back in to his pre-injury form. That's why I say wait to see what happens once he has a (hopefully) healthy offseason to refine his game and get his confidence back. His hot streak wasn't a matter of him just getting scorching hot shooting, like Bogi was last season. He was able to attack of the dribble and break his defender down, as well as punish mismatches in the post. That isn't something that just comes and goes. Those tools are still there, he just hasn't been able to put it all together on the court. If we trade him in a deal for a big piece, Im ok with that. But Im not willing to pull a Cam trade just to move him. I think there is more there given health.

Nobody asked me but considering Trae is a starter and Clint is a starter, their minutes overlap a lot, and it has been reported ad nauseum that our defense with Trae is pretty trash, so that would explain the question with Clint. I will say, Clint did a much better job last year of cleaning up other people's mistakes. This season he has been a step late to help or recover to his man. I think guys are making the same amount of mistakes, but the eraser has been less effective this time around. That's my 2 cents

Brooklyn gets KD back this week, they are not going to keep sliding.

Facts. I just want to win man. Sometimes CC has the matchup going in his favor, sometimes OO has a little extra juice that night. Ride the best matchup, and give OO his credit when its his night. Im starting to think Nate is hearing more chatter behind the scenes from people around team advocating for OO. Its the only reason he would get so defensive whenever the media brings him up. I don’t see anyone claiming OO should start or to get rid of Clint to open up minutes. Everyone is just generally excited that our #6 overall pick sophmore is looking like a damn good NBA player, which is what you would want. So whats the big deal to give him praise coach?

I notice this too. I hate this mindset from former NBA players turned coach. They always feel the need to go out of their way to hold younger players to a different level of accountability, just because they went through the same thing. Im sure Clint runs circles around OO in the film room and with X’s and O’s. But even a blind pig can see Clint has regressed a step this season and OO has taken a huge leap. Mistakes and all. The gap between their on court play is not that big, and some nights outright favors OO. Its a good problem to have when your backup is pushing your starter for more minutes. Nate is trying to pacify Clint a little too much and just needs to let OO get his due praise.

We are destined for the play in. Unless we get scorching hot and some help, we are not going to catch any of the top 6. The conversation at this point is where in the play in do we finish? We have to climb into the top 8. Thats the target if you ask me.

Agreed. Every team, whether rebuilding or over the cap with max contracts, has to find minutes and hopefully roles for young guys, especially while they are cheap. Freezing them out of the rotation will only hurt you in the long run. Our problem is we are loaded with mid level-type players on medium sized contracts. Starting next year, our payroll is going to become much more top heavy and these rookie deal guys are going to be a huge relief for us. They got to get prepared to contribute

MJ wasn’t much for passing, but still a dope accomplishment lol

It makes sense considering how deep we were and that the only opening we had was backup center. He isn't the 1st or last player to ask not to be drafted. Hell, dont forget Dre didn't work out for another team after he saw us and we promised to draft him.

We needed this loss. If we would have pulled this out it would have covered up a ton of sloppy mistakes that we cannot afford to allow to continue. Trae needs to check himself. EVERYONE missed free throws all game. A terrible start at the beginning of the game. Dre going AWOL at the half. Just a lot of bad basketball that we almost overcame. Oh well. 3 games under .500 and counting

Missed FT’s btw, smdh

I can’t watch the end. That was 3 bad possessions in a row for us. Trae really shot us in the foot. Hopefully we pull it out, but I can’t even look right now.

Dre and Cam are/were best friends. Inseparable according to reports. Just saying man..

Those 8 missed free throws are huge right now. If we win tonight, we earned it. If we lose tonight, we earned that too

Anyone buying that Dre is all of a sudden “ill” I think something happened in the locker room.

Should be leading. A bunch of points left on the table so far. Bulls letting us hang. We need to get going before they catch fire. Where is Dre at?

He’s not even running yet. He is out at least another week. If this was earlier in the year he likely would sit out longer, but I do believe they will rush him back at 75% since we are in the stretch run. Give it a fee games though. All this is my opinion obviously

They basically said Ben would be back for the game against the 76ers (go figure) They have 7 games before that, all against East playoff teams. So the Philly game would make 8. Kyrie wont be able to play in 4 of those games (3 home, 1 Canada). The way they have been struggling lately I agree that they likely continue to fall. Problem is, our schedule is tough too and we have no room for error. We are the underdog in our next 4 games. We cannot afford to lose all 4. We can barely afford to go 2-2 against them. We will have to play above our heads and do it without JC for at least another week. Its a huge order for us. We could be out of the play-in this time next week. Not dead yet, but behind the 8 ball for sure. My hope is to finish top 8. That way if we are in the play in we get 2 chances to win 1 game, and not the win 2 or go home scenario of the 9 and 10 seed. Top 6 does not look likely anymore. Too much has to happen in our favor and this season is not in our favor to date. Good news is, we are as likely as any to upset a higher seed. We just need to get in the dance

You’re counting on a lot of teams that are playing great basketball to not just cool off/slow down, but finish with a losing record in the 2nd half. And for us, with a tough stretch out of the break to finish 17-7, which would our best stretch of basketball all season. Its so crazy it just might work lol

https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/atlanta-hawks-2022-23-nike-city-edition-jerseys-leak-online 2022-23 CITY Jerseys leaked online They were spot on about the 404's so I believe this is accurate as well. Thoughts?

Lets go Hawks!!! #nationalmargaritaday

100% Dre showed us his potential before his injuries in 2020. He was getting back to that before his freak fall against the Hornets. I say, he has had some bad injury luck the past year or so. But the tools are there. The frame is there. The mind is there. Everything is there except staying healthy long enough for it to make a difference for the team. I think as long as he can finish the season healthy, let him get back in to his bag over the offseason instead of having to re-hab, we should see a major difference going in to next year. Dre is hella nice at his best. Maybe not a superstar, but like JC level nice, peak Paul Millsap level. Stay the course unless we can bring in someone bonafide in his place. Health is the determining factor.

I too hate self victimization but I think we are generally more self aware as NBA/Hawks fans than say, Falcons fans. There are still things that mean more than being nominated as an All-Star starter; All-NBA teams MVP Olympic Selection (maybe on the same level, but their is a different kind of respect) And we aren't even talking about Finals/Championship goals yet. The voter/opinion based awards rely on Trae to build a case that is air-tight and undeniable. We cannot keep being a losing team at All Star break and think people will give us flowers. And the media was generally easy on Trae this time around, ignoring the record and saying that we are clearly playing better. But facts are facts, and we are 10th in the East. That's never going to cut it if you want people to go to bat for you. So, there is my stance I guess lol