TheNorthCydeRises

Well the Nuggets did get to an WC Final with Melo, once they added Billups to the mix. And the Knicks won 54 games when Woody became the coach, but took the bait when he struggled the next year and got a chance to add Phil Jackson in a managerial role. But go look at those Melo teams that lost in the 1st round of the playoffs all those years, or his recent Knicks teams. Those teams weren't talented. And most star players need multiple guys on the team who can ball, in order to win. Despite their age, a Melo, Millsap, Howard frontcourt would be ideal. It would also give us an opportunity to play Melo with the bench, in order to give them a go-to scorer in the half court. Dennis - Hardaway Jr - Melo - Millsap - Howard . . . I'd take that as a starting lineup Dennis - Hardaway Jr - Prince - Melo - Millsap . . . I'd take that as a small ball / shooting lineup . . possibly to close games New PG - Bembry - Prince - Melo - Humphries . . . I'd take that as a bench group.

The question is . . . does LaLa ( Melo's wife ) trust him to be in Atlanta, with all of the sharks in this city? And I'm not talking about ocean sharks. I'm talking about the type of sharks that smell like flowers, look like models, and have 42 inch booties.

Baze and Ersan would have to be the 2 feature guys, along with those draft picks. As much as I like Ersan, he might be the one piece that could entice the Knicks to pull the trigger on a deal like that. Of course, Hawks fans would overvalue Ersan, and refuse to let him go . . even for an All-Star caliber player.

That's not true. As much as NBA teams talk about flexibility and building for the future, they also want to be in the playoffs or at championship level right now. And if they get a chance to add a quality player, they'll do it in a heartbeat. As long as there are no lingering effects from Millsap's recent knee injury, he's going to get PAID via a 4 year - 150 mill+ deal. Millsap would be doing him and his family a disservice, if he took a 2 year - 80 mill deal from Atlanta, when he can get double that somewhere else. Teams like Toronto, Washington, Portland and Houston, who need a very good frontcourt player to add with their All-Star guards, would max out Millsap. And lottery teams itching to make the playoffs, like Denver, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago . . and the New York Knicks . . may do the same.

Malcolm Delaney currently has a +/- of ( +3.1 ), Does this mean that Delaney has impact on the Hawks? Or is that an "empty" +/- number? When looking at his win share numbers, Delaney is -0.1 and has a WS/48 number of ( -0.03 ). So what is Delaney's true impact on the Hawks? Win shares are much more of an indicator of who the team needs and is making an impact on the court, than +/-. If you value +/-, that's fine. But to see who is actually impacting the game, take that +/- and compare it with your net production. That's why I've always liked how 82games.com does their overall rating of players. They basically take net on-court production at your position plus a players +/- number on/off the court . . . to get a "simple rating". So if you have a net production number of ( +5 ), and your +/- is ( -2 ) . . . your "simple rating" is 3 When you do that, here's how the main rotation Hawks look Hardaway Jr: +7.2 Millsap: +6.0 Howard: +5.0 Ilyasova: +4.1 Schröder: -0.7 Sefolosha: -0.7 Humphries: -2.0 Prince: -3.5 Bazemore: -3.8 Delaney: -5.6 Muscala: -5.8 To me, that's a pretty dang accurate portrayal of who are the true impact players on the Hawks.

One of the choices on Hardaway: Subpar shooting guard who seemed improved over last season but is actually at the exact same TS% with a higher turnover rate and lower WS/48 rate. We need to be sure not to overpay him. LOL . . Great job on balancing out the survey AHF. But I'm pretty sure which option you chose on Hardaway. ( gasp ) . . . I stand corrected.

Watching the full highlights of the game. Heck of a 4th quarter sequence by Dennis, when they got down by 7. Back to back 3s, got an assist off an aggressive Prince drive, and drew a charge. Maybe his best sequence of plays for the year, and possibly a playoff saving sequence.

Plus, remember how things normally work for the Hawks. It's normally a role player going off and having a big night, that kills us. So if the Hawks lose, it'll be less because Booker went off, and more because a guy like Tyler Ulls went off.

23 pts ( 7 - 18 FG ) Hawks have to win this game, right?

Getting swept . . . regardless of who the opponent is.

Congrats to @turnermx. He's the winner of the challenge. Only thing in question is how much will he win by? So can the mod's give him a trophy avatar or something? A special name under his username?

Letting Millsap walk only puts us back in the lottery. It doesn't fix any of our problems. In fact, with this teams long history of NOT finding that franchise guy, unless it's via trade or free agency, we can't be sure if the right guy will EVER come along. One thing is for sure, the fan base will not put up with what we've been seeing the past few weeks. But the fan base also has to realize that you can't win a dang thing with a bunch of role players. You MUST have that alpha dog type scorer on the team, that can carry the squad when the rest of the team is playing horribly. The current management group didn't want to trade for guys like Demarcus Cousins or Carmelo Anthony ( nor did the fans ). They didn't want to pay for, and bring in a quality vet like a Joe Johnson ( nor did the fans ). They wanted no part of journeyman guys like Jordan Crawford ( nor did the fans ). The big thing this franchise needs to do, is start acquiring guys that can do more than just one thing. Ilyasova is the type of role player that can be valuable to us, because he can do multiple things. But bringing in guys who can just make a 20 foot shot ( and only if wide open ), isn't conducive to winning. Bringing in point guards who can just make an 18 foot jumper, and not finish ( or even get to ) the basket, isn't conducive to winning. Brooklyn looked like the more talented team today, especially their bench. There's no way that should be possible. Even with 3 starters out, our 9 through 12 guys should be better and more versatile than what they are. But when your talent is limited, the coach must drastically reduce the rotation, so as to keep the best players on the floor as much as possible. Start playing guys 36 - 40 minutes a game, if need be. Nique routinely played 36+ minutes a game as a Hawk. Joe Johnson played 40+ minutes a game in his early years as a Hawk . . three times . . and never played less than 35 minutes a game Steve Smith played 39 minutes a game in two of his seasons as a Hawk. Stop playing scrubs, and play the talented people.

Instead, the Bucks are about to lose, keep us in 5th place, but bring Chicago within 2 games in the loss column of both Milwaukee and Atlanta. Hawks win tiebreaker vs Milwaukee and Chicago. Lose it vs Detroit. Game vs Indiana on the final night of the season, may decide the Hawks fate. Seeing that we still have 2 games vs Cleveland, and that they may be battling Boston for the #1 seed, we're probably not going to get any breaks in April. Hawks honestly need to win at minimum 3 of their next 4, to be assured to get into the playoffs. Chicago game next Saturday in Chicago, becomes the biggest game of the season. Lose that game, and we may be done.

Bud gonna be like Gee Money in New Jack City "What God has brought together, let no one put asunder. You may kiss the bride." `

Schröder Tremendous in the midrange on the right side and in the left short corner. Decent midrange game all around. Excellent on the few corner 3s he's taken. Average to below average shooter on above the break 3s. Below average finishing around the rim ( despite a good number of his FG makes coming around the rim. )

Millsap An average to above average shooter on the left side. Great in the "Joe Johnson midrange" ( that 10 - 15 foot area that JJ used to excel at ). Bad to horrific shooter on straight away and right side 3s above the break. Struggles finishing around the rim.

So in this world of analytics, is anybody on the Hawks noticing all of this? Or are they just putting guys where the offense says they should be? Like with Prince. He's ALWAYS in the corner. But if he's a bad corner 3 shooter, and much better above the break, why do you have him shooting corner 3s all the time? Bud and his team has to do a better job in getting the ball in the spots where people can be the most effective.

Just giving people what we're looking at, when we talk about these wings Prince Average shooter on above the break 3s. Excellent in the short corner on the right side. Bad shooter from 3 in the right corner. Horrific around the rim and in both the left short corner and from 3 on the left side.

Hardaway Jr Elite shooter on right side corner 3s and in the short corner. Above average finisher around the rim and on straight away 3s. Bad left side shooter on deep 3s. Horrific in the midrange on right side and straight away 3s, and in the left side short corner.

Baze Average shooter in both corners. Decent in the midrange above the break on both sides. Excellent in the short corner on the right side. Bad around the rim and on above the break 3s from straight away and on the left side. Horrific in the short corner on the left side.

Thabo Horrible from the corners. Shoots decent from above the break on the left side. Even in the short corner, he's bad. Pretty good shooter in the midrange above the break.

We weren't a good jumpshooting team though. 14 - 15 season was mainly about Kyle's historic shooting, along with Demarre's timely 3s. Since then, we've been average to below average.

We ARE actually built for the playoffs, outside of us having an Alpha Dog go to scorer. But playoff basketball is also predicated on defense most of the time. If they stop trying to help on everybody driving into the lane, and just let the big in the paint be the deterrent, all of those open 3s wouldn't happen. But Bud's system is predicated on pressuring the ball on the outside, and especially when the ball handler goes into the paint. Problem is, all of these PGs are looking to either take the midrange shot ( which is actually good ), or go all the way in and kick it out to a shooter ( which is bad ). And teams are being coached into being patient and making the extra pass, when the Hawks are in scramble mode after trying to stop the dribble drive. Bob Rathbun said it a few weeks ago. Bud has to play the athletes. And he meant the young guys. Guys who can be active defensively, and run the floor when a turnover happens. Bud may still see value in Delaney, Moose, and Dunleavy, but they're not what this team needs. They need guys who can have active hands on defense, can rebound the ball, and can push the ball or run the floor in transition. We need more Prince and Bembry. We're not this great jumpshooting team . . . really never was ( outside of Kyle ). So we have to play, dare I say it . . . "Highlight Factory" basketball, in which you trust your main offensive weapons in the halfcourt, and you try to use your athletes to get out and run on the fastbreak. If the rotation has to be shortened to achieve this, so be it.

That's how it always goes with him. His stubbornness is one of his major weaknesses as a coach.

When I turned on the game, and saw that we were down 42 - 24, that's exactly what I thought too. At least they're playing better with me watching now. Best 2 minute sequence of the year for Dwight. As much crap as he takes from fans these days, he's the ONLY ONE playing with a little passion these days. Dennis playing like garbage again. THJ playing worse.