TheNorthCydeRises

It's not about "liking" an offense. It's about seeing which offense produces the desired results. Some of you are acting like because we move the ball more, that the offense is much better. The numbers across the board says that there really isn't a significant difference in production or efficiency between either team. Off Rating: 104.9 ( 2012 ) . . . 104.2 ( 2013 ) Pace: 90.2 ( 2012 ) . . . 91.5 ( 2013 ) PPG: 96.6 ( 2012 ) . . . 96.5 ( 2013 ) FG%: 45.4 ( 2012 ) . . . 45.9 ( 2013 ) 3FG%: 37.0 ( 2012 ) . . . 38.1 ( 2013 ) 3FGA: 20.2 ( 2012 ) . . . 23.2 ( 2013 ) FT%: 74.1 ( 2012 ) . . . 70.1 ( 2013 ) FTA: 21 ( 2012 ) . . . 19.3 ( 2013 ) eFG%: 50.0 ( 2012 ) . . . 51.4 ( 2013 ) TO/gm: 14 ( 2012 ) . . . 15.1 ( 2013 ) OReb%: 23.9% ( 2012 ) . . . 23.1 ( 2013 ) % of games scored less than 80 points: 12.1% ( 2012 ) . . . 6.2% ( 2013 ) % of games scored 80 - 89 points: 21.2% ( 2012 ) . . . 22.9% ( 2013 ) % of games scored 90 - 99 points: 19.7% ( 2012 ) . . . 20.8% ( 2013 ) % of games scored 100 or more points: 47% ( 2012 ) . . . 50% ( 2013 ) So the "better style of play" sees more ball movement that's leading to more 3s being taken, but less free throws being taken. We shoot a little better, but turn it over a little more. Neither offense is better, when it comes to results on the court. As far as injuries, we had a lot of injuries last year too. Only Smith and Teague played all 66 games last year. JJ missed time. Zaza missed time. Marvin missed time. T-Mac suffered from ( DSD ) "Deshawn Stevenson Disease". And from a shooting standpoint, Willie Green was the poor man's Kyle Korver . . and he missed time. Looking better and playing better are 2 different things. It's not like were running and gunning like the Houston Rockets. This year's offense isn't even better than the really ISO heavy offense of JJ and Jamal in 2010, mainly because they got to the FT line a lot more, and didn't turn the ball over as much. Plus our bigs actually crashed the offensive boards.

LOL . . it was actually 40 million, but point taken. FACT: At 40 million dollars and over 5600 points as a Hawk, Marvin got paid about $7,100 for every point he scored in a Hawks uniform

Then that's on the coach ( which we all know ). At no time has JJ talked bad about Teague or not supported him. Heck, he was one of his MAIN supporters. And he had no problem deferring to Teague at times. We couldn't have had Kyle on the team if we kept JJ. But let's say that by some way we got him here. Didn't JJ WILLINGLY pass the ball to Mike Bibby all the time for open jumpers? If that's the case, wouldn't JJ do the same thing if he had Kyle? Contrary to popular belief, JJ was NOT a selfish ballplayer. In fact, he was a little TOO unselfish at critical times. Heck, most of the 3s that Jerry Stackhouse has made this season as a Net, has come via JJ passing him the ball. JJ would do the same thing if he had a shooter the caliber of Korver on the team. ISO JOE is also one of the most misunderstood things ever. ISO only went into effect when the Hawks couldn't score quickly or off of the initial play. So when JJ got the ball with 10 seconds or less on the clock, it was up to him to either create a shot for himself, or a shot for others. ISO JOE led to a lot of contested long 2 point misses . . but also led to a lot of shots ( floaters ) by JJ in the paint. But some people act like JJ got the ball with 15 seconds, and just held the ball for 14, then made his move. Every team goes ISO. And JJ was one of the better ISO players in the league. So what would people had rather seen last year? JJ going ISO to try to get into the lane to shoot a floater? Or JJ moving the ball to pass the ball to a wide open Marvin Williams or Josh Smith for a 20 foot jumper? Offensive basketball is about getting the best shot ( preferably the highest percentage shot ), at any given moment. To me, it wouldn't matter if it came via great ball movement, or isolation basketball. Just get the best shot to put the ball in the hole.

Dol . . I know it was a long time ago ( 12 months ), but do you remember how this team was playing BEFORE Horford went down last year? We were running far more at that time, than we're running now. The defense that team played was OUTSTANDING, compared to what we see now. And the Hawks split with Chicago and Miami during a 4 out of 5 game stretch in which we played them. The fact was that the lineup of Teague - JJ - Marvin - Smith - Horford was consistent on both ends of the court in those first 10 games last year. And the bench was stellar most games. When Horford went down, we didn't fall off of a cliff, but we did lose some of our firepower as an offense. Hawks were 7 - 3 before Horford got hurt in that Indiana game ( .700 winning percentage ) Hawks were 33 - 23 from the Indiana loss to the end of the season ( .589 winning percentage ) So while the Hawks didn't roll over and die when Horford got hurt, the difference probably was about 3 or 6 more wins with Horford, than without Horford. 46 wins would've put us in a tie with Miami for the SE Division and #2 seed. As for the topic, we can talk about "style of play" all we want. The issue is if the "style of play" has us playing winning basketball? As of right now, this team is winning at even less of a clip than the team without Horford last year ( .563 winning percentage ). We're shooting more jumpshots this year, than ever before. It ain't just Josh Smith . . it's EVERYBODY taking jumpers. As of right now, last year's offense is virtually the same as this year's offense, when it comes to PPG and Offensive rating. The major difference in this team, is that we can't stop anybody at times. All I know is that if the Hawks wanted to, they could've constructed this team. PG - Teague G - Harris F - Johnson PF - Smith C - Horford 6th - Lou ( G ) 7th - Zaza ( C ) 8th - Ivan ( F ) 9th - Jenkins ( G ) 10th - Scott ( F ) We could've constructed that here. And I'm taking that team, over this year's team. Moving JJ for contract reasons was justified. But we're not a better team on the court without him. That's just a fact.

Randy Wittman is killing my fantasy team by not giving Jordan minutes. He wants him to be an "instant offense" type of scorer, when he knows good and well that Jordan is like an old car, and needs warming up sometimes. 7 straight games for Jordan under double figure points. 31% FG and 3FG shooting. 5 TOTAL assists in that stretch. Only 15 minutes per game with him not even getting over 6 minutes in the last 2 games. If he doesn't get traded quickly, I may have to drop him from my fantasy team. He's been a solid backup guard for me all year, up until this recent stretch of games. John Wall coming back actually reduced the need to play him as much.

It's a joke that these Hawks are more intimidating than our own Hawks http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV28ZEJOZfQ

I agree with this. At one time in his career, Marvin was a very consistent role player who could get you at least 12 ppg on a nightly basis. Marvin didn't get that 2nd contract because he was a complete scrub. The dude was consistent and it looked like he could expand his shooting range out to the 3 point line. That's why he got the 5 year deal. That, and the fact that Marvin was sort of an "insurance policy" if JJ didn't re-sign at the end of 2010. But I agree with Marvin being a "conduit". He deferred to Flip. He deferred to Jamal. Heck, he even deferred to Willie Green and T-Mac. Being a "team player" is one thing. But at some point, you have to prove your worth to the squad, and not just be a mannequin out on the floor. Marvin was actually somewhat efficient last year, and Drew handled him horribly by giving some of his minutes to guys like Vlad Radmanovic. But it wasn't like Marvin was balling enough to make sure that Drew couldn't afford to reduce his minutes or start bringing him off the bench. And the same thing is happening out in Utah with him. Instead of proving his worth, he's just blending in with the wallpaper. Physically, he could play in the league another 5 years. But like with a lot of guys, he isn't going to reach his "potential". He is what he is . . . a conduit.

This team as constructed right now would be a better team with JJ on it, than Kyle. It would be better because we'd have a proven guy who could get his own shot at any time and could knock down 3s. Of course JJ can't knock down open 3s at a higher rate than Korver, but he can do so much more offensively than Korver, that JJ would still be the better fit. All of that crying about the Hawks needing a SF would be eliminated if JJ were still on the team. And that's even before we talk about the defensive side of the ball. Kyle isn't nearly as bad defensively than I thought he'd be, but he's still weaker defensively than JJ. And that was no more evident than in the Indiana game in which George destroyed Korver. On the flip side, JJ did a good job on George when the Nets played them about a month ago. Kyle has been outstanding the past 10 games - 38.8 minutes - 15.3 ppg ( on 9.5 shots ) - 5.0 rebs - 2.9 asst - 1.2 stls 55% FG 54% 3FG For a guy who is essentially a spot up shooter, you can't ask for anything better than that. And despite those great numbers, we're still just 5 - 5 over those last 10 games. And one of the reasons for this is because good teams can lock in and significantly limit the amount of touches and good looks that Korver gets. And without the ability to put that ball on the floor and score, Korver can literally be taken out of a game if a team focuses its defense to prevent him from getting wide open looks . . . like Indiana did. What Diesel said was correct. The comparison should be between Marvin and Kyle . . not Kyle and JJ. Put a knockdown 3 point shooter on some of the past Hawk playoff teams, and we may have a shot to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. If Korver had to be the lead guy, or even the #2 guy, his efficiency would be significantly less. In his role right now thought, he's doing great. But as far as "fit", just remember that JJ can play AND DEFEND both the 2 and the 3. And if he were here right now, we wouldn't be a worse team. We'd be a better one. But we still wouldn't be a championship level team.

Jody, this is silly. There's no way that Korver could be a #1 option or even a #2 option in an offense, like JJ was. JJ had to score, distribute, and guard the best wing on the team at times . . . heck, even guard PGs at times. The disrespect of Joe Johnson and what he did do while he was here, is just mind boggling. JJ was NOT a superstar and he couldn't get us to the next level. But that dude flat out won A LOT of games for us. People forget that Teague's rise to fame came when he literally destroyed Kyle Korver in the 2011 playoffs, and rendered him useless for that series because he couldn't guard neither JJ, nor Teague. Kyle is good for what he is . . . a long range specialist who is a spot up shooter. But hyping up Kyle for more than he really is, would be like hyping up Ivan over Al Horford.

This is an easy poll, so have at it.

It's not that it isn't worth it, because Ferry wants to do it. It isn't worth it because Dwight does not want to come here. Until I see or hear a statement from him saying that he wants to play in ATL, I'm not believing for one second that we can get him. This dude is playing everybody for fools, because he likes to see his name in the spotlight. That's why he hasn't committed yet. I believe he actually likes all of this attention, even if he denies that he doesn't want it. 30 extra million in a contract . . . plus the opportunity to be the next iconic center for the Los Angeles Lakers . . . and he's going to turn THAT DOWN to play with Josh Smith in Atlanta? Wake me up when the Dwightmare is over.

That jersey, with the newer Hawk head logo, would look real good in that color scheme. I always liked how the black and red fades into each other. Having said that, it was strange as hell seeing #10 last night. You see that jersey and number, and you immediately think Mookie Blaylock. But then it hits you that he's a lumbering 7 footer, and you say . . "oh . . that's just Petro". Although Petro did "ball" last night.

How about Dwight asking for a trade to Atlanta, so that the Hawks can pay him the most money in a new contract? That's a TRUE STEP. If he wanted to play for the Hawks so bad, that's exactly what he'd do. As much as I think he would help this franchise, even I am starting to dislike the idea of him being here. If we have to basically go through an 83-Ring circus just to get him . . . forget it. If he doesn't want to commit to the most storied franchise in NBA history, then how in the hell is he going to commit to us . . . AND take 30 million LESS? That's why it's a pipe dream to get Dwight, and why Ferry should simply move on. Heck, we still need to make a decision on Jeff Teague, and if we're prepared to match significant offers from him.

And Ferry isn't going to go over the Tax just to build a team either. Cuban will not only go over, but well over. Some of you around here act like Danny Ferry is the savior or something. All he's done is trade JJ for scraps, and Marvin for an oft injured PG. What does Dallas have? LOL . . what do WE have? It's not like either team has a championship contender. But one franchise is much more highly regarded to free agents than the other. Guess which one it is?

Mark Cuban is the owner, and will damn near do anything for Dwight? The alternative is to be owned by the "artists formerly known as the ASG". Having said that, it would take a disaster for him to leave LA. I definitely don't want to go through the Dwightmare, as Nets fans coined what they went through last year.

Pipe dream. The Lakers aren't going to trade hm, and he's never said one time that he wants to play in ATL. And the only leverage we can have to get him long term, is if we trade for him. If that's not going to happen, he's not coming to ATL. Yet, people are holding out some slimmer of hope that he'll come here . . . simply because he has ties to ATL. A home he doesn't even want to come back to. I'm just not for holding the franchise hostage for a guy who can't make decisive decisions, and isn't even a better center than Alonzo Mourning in his prime.

And John Jenkins and Mike Scott, if need be. Smith is just the main name in any deal. Heck, the Hawks might even trade Ivan in a deal that moves Smith. But if they need the extra players to make a deal work, the Hawks could easily part with 6 or 7 guys currently on this roster. It's not the trades itself that make some of those deals ridiculous. It's some of the teams they have trading for Josh, that make it ridiculous. No way does Josh re-sign in Sacramento, if they trade for him. He might not even re-sign with Indiana or Phoenix. Indy wouldn't max him out, and Phoenix looks to be stuck in limbo for a while. I'd love the Smith for Granger trade. That's the type of lateral talent that you should get back in a trade for Smith.

36 GAMES LEFT IN SEASON Games vs teams under .500: ( 17 ) - 9 home / 8 away - New Orleans ( 1 ) - home - Dallas ( 2 ) - home / away - Orlando ( 2 ) - away / home - Sacramento ( 1 ) - home - Detroit ( 1 ) - away - Toronto ( 2 ) - home / away - Phoenix ( 2 ) - away / home - LA Lakers ( 2 ) - home / away - Philadelphia ( 3 ) - 2 home / away - Cleveland ( 1 ) - home Games vs teams .500 or better: ( 19 ) - 8 home / 11 away - Indiana ( 2 ) - 2 away - Memphis ( 1 ) - home - Miami ( 2 ) - home / away - Milwaukee ( 4 ) - 2 home / 2 away - Portland ( 1 ) - home - Utah ( 1 ) - away - Denver ( 1 ) - away - Brooklyn ( 2 ) - home / away - Boston ( 2 ) - 2 away - NY Knicks ( 2 ) - home / away - San Antonio ( 1 ) - away Teams in GREEN could possibly be at or over. 500 when we play them Teams in RED could possibly be under .500 when we play them A lot of factors will come into play when determining where we finish in the East. Of course, everyone knows that we've been playing sub .500 basketball since New Year's Eve ( 7 - 11 ). If that overall trend continues, we'll only win 14 more games to close out the year and finish with a 40 - 42 record. That looks like an 8th seed in the East, with us being in grave danger of missing the playoffs altogether, if Philly or possibly Toronto gets hot. Not good. We could look at it a couple of different ways though. As of right now, the Hawks have a 16 - 8 record at home ( .667 winning percentage ) and a 10 - 12 record on the road ( .455 winning percentage ). If those 2 trends continue, the Hawks will win about 11 of their remaining 17 home games and 8 of the 19 road games. That's 19 more wins, trending us at 45 - 37, possibly at 47 wins, depending on the status of Boston and LA in March. That puts us in the convo for a 5th or 6th seed, in my opinion. Hawks have been pretty good vs non .500 teams, winning 15 of those 21 games so far ( .714 winning percentage ). With possibly 17 more games vs those types of teams, the Hawks project to win 12 of them if that trend continues. On the other side, the Hawks are a respectable 11 - 14 ( .440 winning percentage ) vs .500 or above teams. If that trend continues, the Hawks will win 8 of the remaining 19 games vs these types of teams. This also puts us at 20 more wins and a 46 - 36 record. ( NOTE: Only Miami ( 14 - 12 ) and the NY Knicks ( 11 - 10 ) currently have a winning record vs these types of teams ) But this may be the most disturbing part of the schedule. 11 of the remaining 19 games on the road are vs those .500 or better teams. Our last road win vs a team of this caliber came December 9th @ Memphis. As a matter of fact, the ONLY road wins vs current .500 or better teams have come vs OKC and Portland early in November, and Memphis. That would put us 3 - 8 on the road vs the current .500 and over teams, including 5 straight losses. The consolation is that sub .500 teams aren't coming into Philips and marching out with a victory. In fact, the ONLY bad team that has come into Philips and beat the Hawks, were the Cleveland Cavaliers back on November 30th. The issue with the remaining sub .500 teams, is that we're going to start playing what I call "high quality bad teams". Teams like Philly, Dallas, LA Lakers, and maybe even now Toronto with Rudy Gay, are threats to us when we play them. So at the end of the day, do you believe that the Hawks will trend toward the 46 win mark . . . or the 40 win mark? Could we trend even higher . . or lower?

Iguodala hands down. If we're serious about contending, we need a guy who can limit the production of the people who can kill us - Lebron - Wade - Melo - Pierce - Joe Johnson - George - Rose ( when he comes back ) - Deng - JR Smith . . . are all guys who aren't going anywhere in the near future, and will be a threat to us come playoff time. Give me the lockdown defender who can limit the production of all of these guys. Iggy is a playmaker, a slasher, and an elite defender. A Teague - Iggy backcourt would be absolutely outstanding from an athletic standpoint. And Iggy would create a ton of looks for a deadeye shooter like Korver, seeing that Iggy already does the same thing for Gallo. Age is not a factor. You take the guy who is the best player NOW. Gallo's game isn't going to progress into an all-star caliber player, so give me the guy who is a very good facilitator and an all-NBA defender. Lineup #1 PG: Teague G: Iggy F: Korver PF: Horford C: Zaza or Lineup #2 PG: Teague G: Harris F: Gallo PF: Horford C: Zaza

First it was Paul Pierce. Now Chris Bosh becomes a victim of the JJ Crossover. LOL @ the Nets bench. The first person to jump up when he does that move, is Keith Bogans. He's felt the wrath of a JJ tricky dribble before himself. This would be the only thing the Nets could cheer about, because the Heat would roll to an easy victory as the game wore on. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoSmbDVWCg0 The Phantom slo-mo version of the play reveals the "secret" of that move . . . the quick elbow push to throw Bosh even more off balance. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZwsWHg6zVY

Z-Bo scores a lot of those points by grabbing offensive rebounds. Smith is one of the worst offensive rebounding PFs in the league, partially because he doesn't box out, but also because he's nowhere around the rim when the shot goes up in the first place. And the reason for that, is because he's 20 feet from the basket waiting for the ball on a lot of occasions. Z-Bo plays his role as an offensive rebound demon who can score on you in the post, and with the occasional 15 foot jumper. Zach has to go up against the same PFs in the league that Josh does. Check that, Z-Bo goes up against Western Conference PFs, who are far more talented than those in the East. ( Griffin, Duncan, Lee, Aldridge, Love, Ibaka, Millsap, Gasol, Faried ). It's Z-Bo's job to battle all of those guys on both ends, plus dominate the offensive and defensive boards . . plus score the basketball . . AND take crunch time shots for the Griz. So yeah, I'd say that Zach is called upon to do just as much, if not more than Josh Smith. The problem with Smith is that he tries to do TOO MUCH. No one tells Josh to bring the ball up and play PG. No one tells Josh to take 3 pointers, especially at critical times. No one tells Josh to go for blocks, when he should be playing his man straight up. Nope . . Josh does that all on his own. That's why people constantly go at that dude. I mean . . . Imagine Zach trying to push the ball up the court, when you have Mike Conley with his hands out, waiting on him to pass him the ball. Imagine Zach shooting a 3 with 15 seconds on the shot clock, when he can barely make a three. No. Zach plays WITHIN himself, which is all people who constantly criticize Josh Smith ask him to do. A PF that has a 94 Offensive rating should not be the #1 option. Meanwhile, the PF/C who has a 110 Offensive rating, was sometimes the #4 option on the team, behind Josh, Lou Williams, and even Teague. And you know this isn't just about Josh's 3 point shooting. It's about his long range jumpshooting as a whole . . which is horrendous. Yet, you want to somewhat give that a pass, because he's the #1 option? He shouldn't be taking those shots to begin with. On a team that desperately needs scoring around the rim, almost 40% of his shots come from 16 feet and out. All of those gunners on this team, and he's STILL shooting a plethora of shots from out there. Why? He's not even shooting 30% on those shots, yet, he keeps shooting them, and people like you downplay that because he's the "#1 option". As much as people hated ISO JOE around here, JJ was NEVER that inefficient on his jumpers. People never groaned when JJ had a wide open 3, like they do with Josh. If he averages 6 long jumpers a game, and only makes 30% of those shots this year, that means he's missing on average 4 jumpers a game. But even with that, Smith usually runs hot and cold. So on a hot game, he can make 3 - 6 FG on those long jumpers. On a cold game, he can go 1 - 6, and absolutely kill his team. Then come the unforced turnovers in which he's simply trying to do too much. Of the 3 turnovers a game that he averages, probably about 50% of them shouldn't even happen, if he just play within himself. Then you add the fact that he is struggling with his hook shot, and his post game. Matter of fact, here is what he shoots in different offensive types Spot Up: 30.3% FG . . . which are wide open shots Post Up: 38.9% FG . . . in the post vs PFs and some SFs Isolation: 34.1% FG . . . facing up his man and trying to score All of those are well below average FG% for that type of play. But that represents 55% of Josh's offensive play types. What does he do well? Cut: 63.8% FG Transition: 75.3% FG Both play types see him GOING TOWARD THE RIM. Not trying to create his own shot or shooting wide open jumpers. But even his effectiveness in transition plays are diminished, because he turns it over on almost 21% of his transition opportunities. Why? Because he tries to do too much by bringing the ball up the court, instead of giving it to Teague and filling the wing, so that Teague can throw it back to him for a dunk. ****************** So what might happen if the Hawks swapped Gortat for Smith? - Teague gets to run the team more, especially in transition - Horford becomes the #1 option, or at least gets more touches - The guards will take some of the outside shots that Josh normally shot - You get a guy in Gortat who becomes the Hawks best post player ( 52.3% FG on Post Ups ) - You get a guy in Gortat who will only take 9% of his shots from 16+ feet ( compared to almost 40% for Smith ) - You get a guy in Gortat who is just as good of a post defender as Josh ( and can block shots too ) Offensively, it's a big upgrade. Defensively, it may be a downgrade, but nowhere near what will happen on the other side.

Haha . . .and the post I just wrote proves even more what you just said. I can damn near watch anybody play ball. I'd coach the Magic City team. OK Passion, you and Lexus are going to run pick and roll. If it's not there, I want you to look for Ms. Bootyful in the corner for the 3.

A REAL stripper basketball league would be kind of entertaining though If they can have the Lingere Football League, surely they can have ADBL ( Atlanta Dancers Basketball League ) I'd watch a 20 minute game ( 10 min/half with a running clock ) involving Pin-Ups vs Magic City . . or Cheetah vs Follies . . . in a 4 on 4 halfcourt game. Have the women dress in booty shorts and tight halter tops with their club name/logo on it. Outfits wouldn't be anymore revealing than what the A-Town Dancers wear. The "family friendly" atmosphere at Philips wouldn't go for it though. I can see it now . . an 8 year old girl talking about . . . "Mama, I want to play ball for Magic City when I grow up". Mama would be like . ."no the hell you're not!!"

Kind of unfair to make them play full court on a regulation NBA court. Should've had them playing halfcourt . . . first team to 10 wins. A three pointer counts as 2 points. Game may have been a little cleaner, and a little rougher, because girls play hella rough. NO take back out to the 3 point line if you get a defensive rebound, you can go straight up and score . . which forces the shooting team to never relax. I seen one of these types of game at halftime of the Tennessee - Xavier game over the New Year's holiday. It was a game between the Knoxville Fire Department against the Knoxville Police Department. Maybe 2 of those guys could ball on a full court level. The rest were no more than weekend ballers who probably never play full court when they do play. (( And the actual game involving Tennessee vs Xavier was one of the worst shooting college games I've ever seen in my life. They made about as many shots in the 1st half as those girls did . . lol )) Most people play the halfcourt 4 on 4 type of game when they go to a gym. That's what they should've had these girls do. It would've made for a better game.

OK . . I found it. This is from January 28th, 2011 http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/01/28/atlanta-hawks-larry-drew-uncut-josh-smiths-jumpers-jeff-teagues-minutes/ This is the quote that you may be remembering: “[Ravin] patched the hole in Smith’s psyche with texts containing affirmations such as ‘You don’t need their approval, so stop looking in their direction.’” Of course, most of that article is about Teague, but this was Larry's entire quote concerning Smith and his jumpers CUNNINGHAM: Not sure who “they” are, but it just so happens L.D. was talking about this very thing on Tuesday (before Smoove’s misfires in the fourth quarter at Milwaukee). I asked him if he’s concerned that with both Josh and Al moving their games away from the basket the Hawks might become too reliant on jump shots: DREW: I am not concerned about that. I know that is–whether people want to admit it or not–that is a strong point of our game is bigs that can pop out. The gray area is when they should do it, particularly Josh Smith. We have discussed it and during the course of a game we acknowledge it. Sometimes he will look at me on bench [and ask], ‘Was that a good shot or a bad shot?’ I am honest with him: ‘No, it was not a good shot. We’ve got 16 seconds on the shot clock or it’s not within our offense or we’ve gone three or four trips down the floor and we haven’t had a good one and you take another jump shot. Sometimes we bump heads about it; sometimes we dap one another: ‘Coach, you are right, that is a bad shot.’ He is learning, and that is part of the growing pains as a coach you have to live with. Someone read a stat about his percentage on stand-still shooting, he ranks high in the league. CUNNINGHAM: [NOTE: I'm not exactly sure what L.D. meant by that but, according to Synergy Sports Technology, Smoove ranks 158th with .95 points per possession on spot-ups while shooting 40.5 percent (75 of 185)]. . . . . . (( HAHA @ MC for blowing that last quote by Drew completely up )) DREW: It’s something he has worked on. I can see his stroke has changed. It looks different than the past. I’ve always said if a guy works on his game, works on taking a shot, if he has the ability to make it and shows he can make it, you have got to let him shoot it. With him, his whole thing is when he shoots it. There are times I don’t want that shot, and he knows that. It’s something as a coach I have to keep working on him with it. He wants to know if it’s a good shot. Sometimes we will butt heads and sometimes we won’t. I’ve got big men who can pop and make shots. There has to be some give and take, which they understand. We don’t want to be a predominantly jump-shooting team. We want to have the ability to post up, and we do post up a lot and go at matchups a lot. That is something that has been really good for us thus far this season. We do have a matchup advantage. I have to let him know: ‘When I put you against a smaller guy and go into the post, you can’t shoot a fadeaway. You have to put him in the basket with the ball.’ Its’ kind of a battle but it’s something we haven’t done in the past. We have basically gone through Joe. He gets double-teamed, it comes out and everybody shoots off that. We don’t do that anymore. Joe gets his isolations but we we also go at matchups where we have an advantage.’ ***************