TheNorthCydeRises

LOL . . . Taylor tried to take KAT's SOUL on that drive to the basket. WTF? Highlight of the season if he converted that and got fouled.

LOL @ the T-Wolves. You got a guy who could've gone for 70 points tonight, and they won't give him the ball on every possession? They're going to mess around and let the Hawks get within 1 possession.

I'm not the biggest Delaney fan in the world, but I'm glad that HE hasn't lost his self respect during this period of tanking.

LOL . . ya'll are sad. If Mike Molly didn't get locked up, no way Dennis is going to jail.

Thank the Hawks for their sudden rise in 3 point shooting, and their 13 - 5 record since the All-Star break. It's not quite to the extent that we did back in 2003, when we handed the Pistons their final piece to their championship puzzle in Rasheed Wallace. But we did give them decent role playing pieces nonetheless. Meanwhile . . the Hawks got 2 lbs of rocks ( not crack, but real rocks ) and a bag of stale Funyuns for buying out Beli and Ily. Tanking = let's give all of our good players away to everyone else, to make them better, while we suck.

In the G-League, he looks like Steve Nash. In the NBA, he looks like Pluto Nash. You can see how the speed and the size of the players in the NBA really affects his game.

LMAO @ the Hawks post-game show talking about how "vital" it is to get Dennis back in the lineup, after they thought he was "fine" after the Golden State game. Ya'll don't have to embellish to the fan base. We know that we're tanking. Mysterious injury DNPs are just part of the process. Hopefully they have at least one more win in them next Friday night.

51 three point attempts by the Rockets. They've made 20, so that's actually decent shooting. It's just sad that because of the evolution of the game as a 3 point shooting one, guys don't even try to get a team in foul trouble anymore. Only Nene currently has 3 fouls. And Houston only has only committed 12 fouls total, while the Hawks only have 13.

Isaiah Taylor is having a very nice game though. He has tools that Delaney just doesn't have. Delaney is a better defender though.

I just bought a $25 ticket to the Philly game on Friday, mainly to see Embiid and Simmons in person. It would be nice to see Collins featured for once in the offense, just to see how he'd play if he were to get the ball in the high or low post, and have the green light to shoot the ball. Check that, they don't play to the strengths of the team, which is still on the coaching.

They don't play the right way. And that's on the coaching. Collins and Dedmon have 1 shot between them in the 1st half. That's sickening. But I guess it's Collins fault that he doesn't have a 3 point jumper, so that he can be involved in the offense.

First off, thank you for introducing me to a website that I didn't know about. I can play around with that a little. But once again, I think you're missing something significant here. League average eFG% in the 2016 - 17 season was .514 ( this season it is running at .527 ). The Hawks eFG% in 2016 - 17 was .504 ( 19th in the league ). This season, it's at .512 ( 26th in the league ) https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html In the 1st link, it definitely shows that some players eFG% slighly dropped with Howard on the floor, whether it was his fault or not. In the case of Dennis, if he has to rely more on his midrange jumper on the pick and roll ( which he became pretty good at last year ) because defenders would sag off Dennis to protect against the lob to Dwight, you can see the slight drop off in percentage. John Collins had this same effect on Dennis this season: https://www.pbpstats.com/player-on-off?Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamId=1610612737&PlayerId=1628381&Stat=EfgPct As you can see, Schröder's eFG% with Collins in the game was a below average .443. With Collins out of the game, it rose to a still below average .485. In fact, if you look at that link with Collins, he supposedly had the same effect on his teammates eFG% that Dwight did. Does that means that John Collins has a negative effect on the Hawks offense? Even if the eFG% rose with Collins off the floor, the team was still below average. And maybe, just maybe, the TRUE ISSUE is that the team's offense doesn't play toward what is its actual strength. This has been the beef of myself, Diesel, Peoriabird, Volman, and a few others on this site, for over year now. And while I don't agree "all the way" with it, this is also why Diesel criticizes Dennis. As the PG, it's his job to get the ball to the right people in the right spots. To me, this is a clear indication that Bud is trying to run an offense that he really doesn't have the personnel to play. Yes, when you have Kyle Korver and Demarre Carroll on the wings bombing away at a 40% clip, you can play the style that he wants to run. But when your team overall can't shoot the basketball, or has problems creating their own shots, it makes no sense to be running a "pace and space" offense. That's why when Dwight was scoring the basketball last year, we were a +.500 basketball team. And when he didn't score, we were below .500. Next season, if the team finally decides to increase Collins' usage in this offense, you'll see the team win more as well.

Baze is vastly improved from what he was last season, there's no doubt about that. He was atrocious last season. If we get another playmaker on the team who can take the ball handling duties away from Baze, he may improve even more. But if Baze has to be the initiator of offense at times, he'll try to do too much. A guy like Doncic would be Baze's best friend, if his passing ability translates from the Euro league to the NBA.

Unfortunately, I agree with you. The GM has set us on a course for a few years of losing. Keeping Baze is actually an asset, if you want to keep losing.

LOL . . . without that start, we miss the playoffs. We actually started out 9 - 2 . . . then went 1 - 10 . . then got out act together after Christmas and won 11 out of 13. Then we go on the losing streak when Millsap got hurt. Last year was a straight roller coaster. Every game matters.

This team started the season last year 9 - 2, with Dwight balling and just about everyone playing well. Once everyone else started to suck, that's when the team started to become highly inconsistent. This is a good article, when the Hawks were playing well to start the 2016 - 17 campaign. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dwight-howard-has-transformed-the-hawks/

This article in 2016, citing the problems with the Rockets, is typical of the narrative that people bestow on Dwight. I was a believe in this narrative, until I actually got to see him play on a nightly basis. https://www.inquisitr.com/2786209/rockets-trade-rumors-dwight-howard-deal-likely-as-houston-rockets-fall-out-of-playoff-spot/ Here is the box score for the game in question. https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201602100POR.html The play by play of that game shows that Houston was right with Portland in that 1st quarter, led by Dwight and his 11 early points. Houston up by 4. As soon as he leaves the game, Portland battles back to tie the game at the end of 1. Dwight starts the 2nd quarter, with Harden on the bench. Dwight comes in and still does work. By the time he scores his 6th point in the quarter ( for a total of 17 points ), the Rockets are back up 3. The game is tied at 40 when Harden comes back in. Rockets are then outscored 17 - 6 to end the half, and are down by 11. Why? Turnovers. Dwight is still on the floor, but he doesn't get the ball like he had in the 1st quarter. "Somebody" needs to get their points. That guy ( Harden ) didn't score a single point in the 2nd quarter, and committed 3 turnovers that led to 6 Portland points. The 2nd half was a turnover fest as well. The Rockets made a little run in the 4th, but Portland pulled away. Final stats for Houston: Dwight: 28 pts - 13 rebs ( 13 - 17 FG ) . . . but ( -24 ) for the game Harden: 34 pts - 11 asst - 9 rebs . . but 8 turnovers Rest of the team: no one else in double figures scoring, and shot a combined 14 - 39 FG Narrative: "Look!! They were -24 with Dwight on the floor. He MUST be the issue."

The PPP stat shows that he was a below average guy from a PPP standpoint, when receiving the ball in the post. The two factors with that, has to do with his turnover rate and his FT rate. This still doesn't mean that if you didn't get him the ball more, that it would be more beneficial to the team. The overall numbers flat out show that when you make the commitment to get him the ball, not only does he produce, it helps his team. Even if the overall efficiency isn't there, the production is. And on a team where only 1 guy consistently produces ( Kemba ), they need that. We needed that last season, when guys were struggling with their jumpshot. As for the article, it's interesting how things change in a month's time. https://swarmandsting.com/2018/01/14/charlotte-hornets-mid-season-report-card-grades/

Dwight definitely solved the issue with the Hawks. We couldn't rebound worth crap. And we had no post presence around the rim. He solved both of those things. Yet, the offense was 27th in the league, with two of the big reasons were the Hawks being 28th in the league in turnovers, and 23rd in the league in 3 point shooting. One guy played as about as bad as any starting SF in the league for a 2 month stretch. The rookie SF didn't get a chance, until the starter was just so bad, they had no other choice. The backup PG was atrocious. The starting PG improved, but had his head messed with a little by the coach. And the All-Star PF had one of his less efficient seasons in 8 years. Honestly, if it wasn't for the steady play of Dwight, and the mid-season emergence of Tim Hardaway, we miss the playoffs. But the correlation everyone keeps coming back to, is that Dwight didn't help the team? Dwight did his job. All of the numbers and the game tape shows that. His play in the playoffs was subpar. That, I can't defend. Even if the coach refused to get him more touches, he still could've played better. Maybe he was sulking. I don't know. To me, it's just a lazy narrative to act like he didn't help us, then see the shape that we're in now. We're a bottom 6 team defensively, instead of being a top 5 defensive team. And we're slightly better ( by the numbers ) offensively, mainly due to the increase in 3 point shooting. Schlenk knew that if he got rid of Millsap and Howard, you'd take the defensive soul away from the team. And by not re-signing Hardaway, you take away the one guy that could explode for a big game on any give night. Even if all 3 of those guys had their flaws, all 3 helped the team. Another advanced stat in Dwight's favor last year. Estimated Wins Added. His 11.3 EWA led the Hawks, and was 32nd in the league http://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/sort/VORPe/year/2017

Your're going to have to support your claims with legit data, not hyperbole. Root Cause Analysis Problem Solving: Define the main problem. Gather data Set your targets to track, after the solutions have been implemented List the possible causes of the problem. Break down each cause, preferably using the "5 why's" method The last "why" should be the root cause for that particular item. Use those root causes as possible solutions to solve the main problem. Run experiments, if possible, to test your solution approach If experiments are effective, develop action plans to make them standard procedure Track your results, to see if your actions have been effective Review at the end of the period ( or in this case, the season ) If Dwight is truly the issue in Charlotte, or in Atlanta, or in most places he's been, you can use this method to prove it.

That's a $13 meal where I live, which is ridiculous for fast food. And I pay that in a heartbeat, because the food is so good.

The data doesn't support what you're saying, from an in game standpoint. When Dwight is treated like the 5th option in Charlotte, they play at a level a little worse than the Hawks. When his usage is high, they're at least a .500 level team. And when his usage is high, he's usually playing very well, while the rest of the team is sucking. Dwight is literally the only person in the NBA in which people see increased and efficient production from him, as a negative on the team as a whole. I do this for a living Mace. Root cause analysis is what I do.

No . . what I did was took the data that you tried to prove to blame Dwight for those losses, and dove deeper into the data to see what actually went on in those games. You went on the basic premise that if Dwight got more shots, the team loses. The actual data shows that if the guy is producing in those losses, and everyone else around him is sucking at doing their basic job, the person producing may not be the root cause of the problem. This is what Lebron James was going through in the middle of this season. He was playing at a high level, but the guys around him sucked. So they made a trade to change out some of their aging pieces, to see if that would do the trick. It did . . for a while. Now that Love is back, the talent level around him has increased, and the team is winning again. Of course, Dwight is no Lebron James, and can't produce at a 22 ppg - 12 rebs level on a nightly basis. But if he's treated like a 5th option in the offense, and options 2 - 4 are schizophrenic as hell from a production standpoint, you will find yourself struggling to maintain stability.

That's why I used advanced stats . . . just for you. If he was the leader in TS%, PER, WS, and WS/48, Dwight was NOT the reason why this team underachieved last year. He played poorly in the playoffs, so he has to take some of the blame for that. The other part of the blame had to do with the scheme that we were running, which relegated him to be a 5th option in the offense, which was asinine.

So let's look at the 8 losses in which he took those 15+ shots. These are his numbers: 22.5 ppg 12.5 rebs 2.8 blks 2.3 TOs . . 73 - 139 FG = 52.5% FG 33 - 50 = 66% FT I mean, damn. If he's playing like that in losses in which his usage is higher than normal, it's his fault if they lost? Or could it be this . . . Dwight: 30 pts ( 12 - 17 FG ) vs Philly . . . Kemba Walker: 1 - 9 FG for 2 points Dwight: 25 pts - 20 rebs - 6 blks ( 11 -23 FG ) vs Chicago . . . Walker & Batum: 9 - 30 FG . . . 29 pts Dwight: 26 pts - 18 rebs ( 9 - 20 FG, 8 - 11 FT ) vs Houston . . . Walker + Batum + Marvin: 10 - 31 FG, 2 - 14 3FG . . 26 points Dwight: 14 pts - 13 rebs ( 6 - 17 FG ) vs NY Knicks . . . rest of starters: 9 - 30 FG . . 30 points . . ( I'll blame Dwight for that loss ) Dwight: 22 pts - 16 rebs ( 9 - 16 FG ) vs New Orleans . . . Hornets 3 pt shooting: 6 - 21 Dwight: 20 pts - 16 rebs - 4 blks ( 7 - 16 FG ) vs Miami . . . Hornets 3 pt shooting: 5 - 24 . . Dwight was +9 in the game. Dwight: 22 pts - 11 rebs ( 9 - 15 FG ) vs Indiana . . . Walker and Batum did their job ( combined 45 pts ) Dwight: 21 pts - 3 rebs ( 10 - 15 FG ) vs Boston . . . Walker was good, too much Kyrie ( 34 pts ) ( shrugs ) . . but let's blame Dwight for their woes, when he's playing well. If that were Paul Millsap putting up those numbers in losses, no one would have a thing to say to him.