TheNorthCydeRises

Flexibility is overrated. And flexibility isn't normally destroyed by overpaying talented players. What destroys flexibility, is when you overpay bad to mediocre players. It's those bad multi year mid level contracts that destroy teams. Dennis in Philly would get superstar responsibilities. That's why they'd pay him top dollar. If the Hawks won't, that's fine. But both Teague and Dennis will get paid in the Summer of 2017. And the Hawks better decide which guy they rather overpay, because it's going to happen. If not, Shane Larkin or the great Acie Law ( who is now playing in the Philippines ) will be the Hawks PG in the 2017 season.

Please edit the thread title to Come Back Home ISO JOE. JJ could literally swing the balance of power in the East. If he doesn't come back to Atlanta though, the fans who have booed him for the last 3 years ( despite him not bailing from the team on his own ), needs to take the blame. JJ returning to the Hawks would illustrate just how much of a man the guy is, despite the fans and organization turning their backs on him. At the end of the day, we may have a better chance of bringing JJ back if we send a delegation of Atlanta's finest adult entertainers to woo him, than to try to sell him on basketball reasons.

He should gear the offense even more toward Horford and Millsap. Horford especially needs more touches and shots. I loved how aggressive he came out in the Warriors game.

So in other words ... he's the PF version of Kyle Korver

Just based on this season See what other teams are offering Horford. If one offers the max, counter by offering Al a 5yr/125 mill deal. Do NOT go higher than that number. If Al wants an opt out clause after year 3, give it to him ... only if he's willing to give us a team option after year 4. This will essentially guarantee him 100 mill in the first 4 years.

No. I'm saying that we essentially go to a 3 man rotation at the PF and C spot. Don't even waste minutes playing Moose on the floor. Give those minutes to Scott, while moving Millsap to the backup C spot when Horford is out.

It's to the point now where Bud pretty much has no choice but to play his best players. These next 7 games could literally knock us to the bottom of the playoff pack, with no way to catch Miami to win the division. Its do or die time for this squad. Bud isn't going to play Edy, or simply believes he is not ready. And Moose just isn't a reliable big man on the NBA level. So I say Bud needs to increase the playing time of Mike Scott. Like most of the team, he's in a little bit of a funk right now, but he's been a bright spot off the bench for most of the season. So how can the Hawks increase Scott's minutes? Millsap at C - Scott at PF This is a combination that you hardly ever see, but we did see it in 3 very short stints last night ( and in the Miami game as well ). If the goal of the Hawks is to keep their best players on the floor, and they're not going to give Tavares a chance to play backup center, playing Millsap more at center vs backups may be our best option. This will increase the playing time of Scott, and give him more of a chance to affect the game with his offense. Of course, this may adversely affect us defensively, but we may not have much of a choice in this. Muscala is poor defensively, like Scott, while Millsap is our best defensive player. Best case scenario would be for Millsap to play more like Draymond Green at the 5 spot, while being physical enough on defense to keep people off the boards and stay out of foul trouble. This may enable Scott to dramatically increase his minutes. Minutes breakdown PF: Millsap ( 24 ) - Scott ( 24 ) C: Horford ( 36 ) - Millsap ( 12 ) This would mean that Scott is playing 10 - 12 minute stretches in the middle of each half, while the Hawks keep a combination of Horford, Millsap, and Scott on the floor at all times. Scott at SF Some of you guys have been calling for Scott to start at SF. This may work for short stretches, but I don't know about extended minutes at the 3 for him. Offensively, he could definitely do it. He's shown to be a good enough deep range shooter overall to stretch the defense. And you can put him in the post, where he definitely has enough skill to score in that area. Defensively, it could be a nightmare, with Scott not being aware or quick enough to rotate out to 3 point shooters. And unless he's getting help, guarding a slashing ball handling SF will be a problem as well. You do have to wonder though, if a frontcourt of Horford - Millsap - Scott ... along with a Thabo and Teague/Dennis lineup at times, could be very effective. From a rebounding perspective, that may be the best group we could put out on the floor.

Here's the thing though. It's not like Moose is a better option off the bench. And Bud isn't going to give Edy a shot at getting Splitter's minutes at backup center. Matter of fact, I already got a topic ready for this exact discussion.

And the bad thing is all of the good vibes the Hawks built up last year, are being torn down with all of these home losses. If the Hawks can't win home games, why should the fans even come out? Chicago game is almost a must win. None of these games coming up will be a walk in the park. Not even the Laker game. Somehow, the Hawks need to right this ship, and at least win 5 of their next 7 games, to go 5 - 5 during these stretch of games. To do that, they're going to have to take out one of Golden State, Toronto, or the LA Clippers ... on the road. Otherwise, that 2 - 8 worst case scenario prediction is looking more ominous.

The thing that stands out the most this season, is the guy who is one of the most suited to play "Bud Ball" on offense, can't find enough minutes to get on the floor, because he's playing behind 2 All-Stars ... and is not a SF. And that's Mike Scott. He's our 2nd best 3 point shooter and one of the few guys on this squad that has multi dimensions to his offensive game, both inside and out. But in order to get him more time, he or Millsap will have to play out of position.

We don't shoot well enough to play "Bud Ball". So to illustrate this, let's look at the 3 point shooting from this year, compared to last year. And we have to look at it from a perspective of who are making the most 3s in a game, and what they shoot from that range. 2016 Korver: 1.9 makes ... ( .387 ) Baze: 1.5 makes ... ( .377 ) Teague: 1.3 makes ... ( .401 ) Dennis: 1.1 makes ... ( .343 ) Horford : 1.0 makes ... ( .335 ) Compare that to 2015 Korver: 2.9 makes ... ( .492 ) Carroll: 1.7 makes ... ( .395 ) Millsap: 1.1 makes ... ( .356 ) Teague: 1.0 makes ... ( .343 ) Scott: 1.0 makes ... ( .344 )

It would only go right in line with their yo-yo trends. Those 2008 - 2011 Joe Johnson teams used to win big home games all the time, then lose mind boggling games to bad teams.

Hawks 108 - Warriors 102 Remember how the Falcons stopped the juggernaut Panthers? The same happens tonight. Horford, Millsap, and Teague all come up big. Solid all-around effort by the bench. Surprise appearance by Edy.

As a U of Tennessee guy, I wouldn't mind signing Jarnell Stokes, if we go the scrub big man route. At least he can rebound and score around the basket.

Bud thinks that offense is the problem. With Joe Johnson reportedly wanting to re-sign with Brooklyn at season's end, the only guy that may be available that could immediately impact the offense ... is perennially of the worst defensive wings in the NBA ... possibly in history Kevin Martin

Ok, so it just wasn't me. I thought I'd accidently clicked on something and this started popping up. On mobile, it isn't that intrusive, except for the ad at the bottom. One time, the ad covered 1/2 of my screen. It's all good though.

So Nique is 0 - 1 in the "jinx" category. Just keep in mind that "jinxes" don't lose games for the Hawks, poor execution and player effort does. Nique's analysis throughout the game was spot on. He sees what we all saw last night, while also pointing out that the Hawks could basically get anything they wanted on offense. But when you're missing wide open 3s, can't make layups in traffic, and give up 27 second chance points off 17 offensive rebounds, you're in danger of blowing a game.

This is an issue, no matter what type of team we play. Even when we play jumpshooting teams, they crash the boards and do the same thing. Bud says that defense isnt the issue, but defensive rebounding is the last part of defense. The Hawks are ranked 4th overall defensively and 18th offensively. But we lose games because we cant close out on both ends of the floor.

But was the 35 games of greatness just a fluke, like what everyone was saying last season? 38 - 44 60 - 22 ... ( 27 - 20 if you take out the great 35 game stretch ) 31 - 25 Without that 35 game stretch, the Hawks are 96 - 89 the past 3 years. Injuries have played a big part in that record, but you are what your record says you are.

( holding up sign ) **************** ** 8 For Edy! ** ****************

No one said that Nique was an amazing announcer. But he's nowhere near the worse. His game analysis is right on point the vast majority of the time. Like most color commentators, he has his catch phrases and normal talking points. But a bad announcer to me is a guy whose analysis is off base, or is just so much of a homer that it becomes sickening. But nope. People are too busy making fun of how Nique mispronounces names, or how he calls a game early ( correctly 95% of the time ) as reasons why he's a bad announcer. It could be much worse. Jon Barry could be our color guy.

That's why they don't stress me out. People are expecting the excellence that they saw last December and January, when the Hawks were playing at an all time great level. From Nov 28th - Jan 31st, they went 33 - 2. ... ( .943 winning peecentage ) Take away that stretch, the Hawks were 27 - 20 ... ( .575 winning percentage ) That's a 47 win pace, compared to a 77 win pace. Right now we're at a 45 win pace. The Hawks need more talent, without giving up the talent they already have. Losing Splitter hurts, because he was a guy that did things that translated into wins. Hawks either need multiple guys playing at the highest level they can play, or they need to get one of these bought out players.

Well let's keep track of the "jinx thing". Let's see how accurate or inaccurate Nique is.

"Nimber" 7 in the NBA, according to awfulannouncing.com. And one of these hating Hawks fans obviously wrote the critical commentary. http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/the-nba-local-tv-announcer-rankings.html/5 It's hard to "lighten up" when all people do is bash the guy.

It's disrespectful. As bad as Tommy Heinson is, Celtic fans defend him to the death and love his homerism. Even the extra horrible Stacy King and Austin Carr get more love from their fan bases, than Nique gets from Hawks fans. It's one thing to talk about how he mispronounces names. But to act like the guy doesn't know what he is talking about and is generally clueless with his analysis, is flat out disrespectful. The one thing Bob and Nique has as a broadcast team, is chemistry. When you listen to them, and compare them to the rest of the league, they're easily in the top 12 of TV announce teams.