RedDawg#8

Rules only apply when it's against us

I don't make fun of injuries, but all of that shimmying and gyrating to start the game came back to haunt real quick.

Are we doing the body language thing again? Remember how miserable the locker room was last year, until we found out these guys were closer than ever? I feel like its dejavu with some of these takes. One unfortunate truth is that this team habitually starts seasons slow since Trae has been here. We could blame youth, suspensions, injuries and new faces in the past. But year 4, we are doing it again. We ALWAYS improve as the year goes along. That's been very consistent over his tenure as well. We shouldn't take until the ASB to see improvements this time though. Heck, I saw a lot of improvement last night. These guys are going to keep playing through the challenges. The chemistry will solidify eventually. The effort was there last night. That should tell you all you need to know about morale or whatever negative body language you think you saw. These guys hate losing. Y'all missed all the hugs and high fives when we were up in the 3rd Im guessing? You'd be pissed too if you just lost your 3rd game in a row.

Playing faster is fine, but the ball needs to be in certain guys hands if we do that. Cam and Kev are both turnover prone when you ask them to speed up. Like someone said, play better defense and you can get more opportunities in transition. That's really where this thing begins for me.

This part. Know where your bread os buttered. This team is built around Trae. Getting him going should be priority #1. This team is only special when Trae is special. If he is average, the depth on this roster doesn't matter because nobody else has the same "it" factor. Teams FEAR Trae. They do not FEAR our depth. They all will live with us trying to get other guys going all day everyday as long as Trae doesn't leave the court with a 40 piece combo. It's hard, but we found this out last season once guys went down. Less mouths to feed, Trae could go off whenever he wanted. Let him be the best player on the team. I promise you the rim starts looking bigger for role players when your star has it going. When teams are in panic mode trying to stop an elite player, shots become easier for everyone else. LP had to learn and Nate will too, if your job is on the line you live and die with Trae Young, not the others. They will figure it out.

The Hawks broke the Atlanta curse in game 5 against the Sixers. That win combined with finishing them off in 7 was unlike anything we are accustomed to in this City. It removed the black cloud from over our sports teams. UGA is up next. Falcons are a ways away. The United already got theirs and it didn't really matter. The Hawks are right around the corner. Positive vibes ya'll. The curse is gone.

I don't hate the yellow. I actually an in favor of utelizing the color. My complaint is the Hawk and the 70's font Atlanta. It reminds me of something you would find at a novelty store back in the early 2000's. Overall I don't hate it. But don't love it. What I want us to do is use predominantly yellow, black and maybe white in a jersey. No team does that and it would look sweet. The added red on top of the yellow, particularly the giant red hawk is what kills the jersey for me. I don't mind the red accents as much. It would have been cool if they could have made the Hawk black instead of red maybe.(or ditched it altogether)

Hawks are sacrificing wins for the Braves right now. Trae even hinted at it after the Cleveland game when the Braves clinched the Pennant. He reposted someone who brought up how both teams were trading W's for L's dating back to our playoff run. And our last Hawks win came the same night the Braves dropped game 2 Long story short, its silly superstition, but best believe the Hawks are all in on the city winning a championship. I wouldn't be surprised if we snapped out of our "slump" the day after the World Series ends. Hopefully that's on Sunday night. Hawks understand the assignment. Braves are 1 game away, the Hawks have all season to go. They can afford to throw away one week for the bigger picture lol I'll be worried if this is still an issue by next weekend.

What kills me is that they did not change the rules on hacks and hand checking. If they did they didn't announce it. That's what needs to be addressed. Not one of the "non-calls" against are of the foul baiting variety. Every time they swallow the whistle on those Trae doesn't say anything. Those are the calls we expected to go away. If they are bringing back real playoff type defense for good then let us know. Because they sure as like to call touch fouls against the Hawks but not for them.

JC is getting a lot more touches so far. He has always been efficient. We are finally giving him the scoring opportunities.

This was hilarious, Stephen A almost lost his mind when Jalen put us ahead of Brooklyn lol Shout out to Wilbon, they are finally doing their research

Random but kind of cool. Definitely the hottest character from the show. I see you Cam lol

They are so off base it isn't even funny at this point. Look, Tyler has game, nobody is denying that. He can hoop, he has heart, toughness, etc... But there are levels to this. They are saying that if he was on a worse team he would be doing what Luka and Trae did. No sir. Haslem acts like these guys just ball out because they are the best player on the team, and doesn't account for the fact that they attract so much attention from opposing defenses that a guy like Herro would not be able to get the same clean looks he gets as a 3rd/4th option. Luka gets the best defender every night. Trae get's blitzed and trapped more than any other player. You think Herro could survive that kind of attention and still put up the crazy stat lines that Luka and Trae do? Hell no. Talk to me when Herro is the primary ballhandler and shot creator for his team. When there is no Jimmy or Bam around. When teams are gameplanning for him night in and out. There are levels to this. Herro is more on par with Dre or RJ at best.

Lou is much better for the bench offense right now until Wright get's more chemistry with our guys. I think we are learning and need to accept that we have to get Trae going in order to get everyone else going. We are a good, deep team, but Trae makes us special. When he is a threat, everything opens up. When he is off, the team is a little stagnant. We have to prioritize making him a threat. He can always playmake off of his scoring gravity. We just seem a little clunky doing it the other way around

I legit said this after the Cleveland game lol

We didn't HAVE to play Cam at the 4. There's this Jalen Johnson kid who plays PF too, but I guess he isn't a viable option for us

Worst defensive quarter of the season. Hawks have to step it up. Cannot let these guys score at will like that. Idc how good we look on the other end

Need us to run more offense for Bogi. Why can't Cam AND Kev ever have it going at the same time, always seems like one or the other is ice cold. When do we get to see Lou Will? He already has chemistry with the guys, and it seems like we could have used a spark last night, which is kind of his thing. He isn't reliable every night, but he always seems to give us a lift when we need it most.

Regardless of how good we are or may be, the media is still about a year behind when it comes to us. How they see us and our talent now is how they should have been looking at us last season. The playoffs were the first time most reporters outside of Atlanta really looked at our squad, and even then we weren't at full strength or playing at our full potential. We were close. But they think that was our peak. Many outsiders are a fan of either Cam or Dre's potential. They haven't even fathomed what the combination can do if BOTH reach their potential. A lot of writers haven't even fully acknowledged what Clint Capela did last season and how impactful he is on the defensive end for us. They all like JC but forget that Gallo is a big time shot maker and seasoned vet as his backup. They still don't know us. Trae is doing his part because he is on the marquee and draws the box office appeal. People will come to see what he does, but they are still looking at their media guides going; "Oh yeah, Capela did lead the NBA in rebounding" "Oh yeah, Dre was defensive POTY in college" "Oh yeah, Cam was once rated above Zion going to Duke" "Oh yeah, we thought Bogi was going to make the Bucks in to dynasty before he went to Atlanta" "Oh yeah, JC can dunk, shoot from deep, score in the mid post, clean the glass and now play defense" "Oh yeah, this Heurter kid does more than shoot 3 pointers" "Oh yeah, Gallo is an 18ppg player before coming to Atlanta to be a backup" "Oh yeah, Lou Williams is still on their team" "Oh yeah, Okongwu played great defense in the playoffs on Embiid and Giannis, and he is the BACKUP to Capela" "Oh yeah, Nate McMillan is a helluva good coach who never had this amount of talent before" "Man, the Hawks sure could be pretty damn good" This is the season they pay attention. This is when they start to appreciate the full picture. I still don't see anyone other than Trae being rewarded for their impact yet. But they are definitely going to build strong cases that will beef up their resumes. It's going to take until midseason before they accept that we are here to stay. By then they would have missed their chance to put more guys in the ASG.

Just call him "12", like the Police. Or is that strictly an urban dictionary reference? Seriously though, I thought his nickname in the locker room was Optimus Prime or something like that

They let Powell get away with some egregious moving screens all night long. That crap is annoying AF

Here's the full commercial

Respect

That'll back them off of Trae

Well deserved, finally