TheNorthCydeRises

As for Harden in ISO situations, he's shooting a pitiful 25.8% FG. But because he draws a shooting foul 16.9% of the time, he's actually scoring on 38.8% of his ISO plays.When you're a bad shooter, you better get to the line.And just for the record, Harden is #2 in the league in Points Per Play as the Pick and Roll ball handler.1.11 ppp52.7% FG40.6% 3FGscores on 49.7% of his PnR playsdraws a foul on 15.2% of these playsturns the ball over a lot in the PnR though . . 18.7%

LOL . . I see this is going to be one of the more interesting threads in this section of the forum this season. May as well add what Harden did to the Grizzlies last Saturday night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kox2Z62ukPg Keep in mind that the Grizzlies locked this dude up back in November. But like I said back then, as the league adjusts to him, he'll start adjusting to the league. Dude is just versatile as hell as a scorer.

I'm posting a lot more here now, than I did last year.Of course that means that I'm posting a lot less on the AJC blog.Here's a question . . . does the decrease in posts correlate with the decrease in actual fan support the Hawks are receiving at the arena?

LOL . . he does remind me of JR Rider, the center version.Too much of a hot head, and nowhere near as talented as he think he is.

I'm sorry . . . but it's not like the Hawks promoting this great "family atmosphere" is bringing the "families" out on a nightly basis. Believe it or not, the only game we've almost sold out this season, was the season opener vs the Houston Rockets. I guess people were eager to see the "new" Hawks without JJ and Marvin. And with that game being on a Friday night, it made it an easier game to go to. But for the most part, Hawks games are poorly attended, especially during the week and when we play a bad team. Hawks home game attendance this year - Houston: 18,238 ( Fri ) - Indiana: 10,684 ( Wed ) - Miami: 16,785 ( Fri ) - Orlando: 15,066 ( Mon ) - Washington: 11,338 ( Wed ) - LA Clippers: 16,024 ( Sat ) - Charlotte: 10,162 ( Wed ) - Cleveland: 13,094 ( Fri ) - Denver: 14,101 ( Wed ) - Washington: 13,067 ( Fri ) - Charlotte: 13,090 ( Thurs ) - Golden St: 15,145 ( Sat ) - Oklahoma City: 16,284 ( Wed ) - Chicago: 17,782 ( Sat ) So here's the reality folks. We're one of the poorest drawing home teams in the NBA, despite having one of the top 8 best records in the league. And it's universally said by most fans that the Hawks marketing team is very poor in promoting this team to the city. Knowing all of this, I have no problem with the Hawks turning to arguably the most popular celebrity in that city, to sell tickets and bring awareness to the team. And for all of you who were worried about T.I.'s performance last Saturday, here it is: A 5 minute, abbreviated set of his 2 most recent songs . . "Go Get It" and "Ball". 2 songs that are nowhere near "Gangsta Rap" songs, although T.I. likes to brag and talk tough in them. And in a game with no Derrick Rose there to provide the superstar that everyone comes out to see, T.I. helped the Hawks gain their 2nd most attended game of the year. T.I. got to cross promote his new album, while the Hawks probably brought in an extra 2,000 to the game and took in an extra $100,000 at the gate + concessions. Mission Accomplished by the Hawks, in my opinion. The bad thing is that the Hawks come nowhere near close to tapping into the African-American celebrity element that's in that city. A city that is not only one of the centers of hip-hop these days, but also of R&B AND Gospel music. Plus a lot of actors and actresses live in the city. Why they do such a poor job in tapping into this element of the city, I do not know. 5+ million people in the metro area. Almost 2 million African-Americans in the metro area. Plus a top 10 basketball team. And we're one of the worst drawing basketball teams in the NBA? That makes absolutely no sense to me. Yeah, the fans ( both die hard and casual ) play a significant part in this, but the Hawks marketing machine does too. LOL . . do the Hawks even have any idea how many Black women with MONEY are in that city? They'll damn near break their necks to see their favorite celeb. Even the ones without a lot of money would do it. British actor Idris Elba ( a big time favorite actor amongst Black women ) has what looks like will be a blockbuster action film coming out next year ( Pacific Rim ). Any of you guys with Black wives or girlfriends know exactly how women act, when they see Idris. Shoot, if I'm the Hawks, I'm calling that dude up and paying him about $25,000 ( or whatever his appearance fee is ), to promote that new movie + take some pictures with "Hawk fans" ( i.e. - Idris groupies ). You may not even have to pay that dude much, if they called up Warner Bros to do a big cross promotion of the movie in the arena that night, along with Idris being there. I'm just focusing on one demographic the Hawks could really target. Basically, they need to target EVERYBODY, even if you have to target specific groups on specific nights. They've done it in the past, but they don't do it enough. There is simply too many hip-hop, country, R&B, and rock talent in and around that city, for the Hawks to NOT take advantage of that. If people won't come out to see actual basketball games, see if they'll come out to see other forms of entertainment for 5 - 10 minutes. The T.I. affiliation with the Hawks is a good one, not a bad one. And they need to do it more often.

The other thing I wish, is that Drew simply commit to the big lineup of Zaza - Horford - Smith, regardless of what the matchups say. Make them match up to US . . not the other way around.Start that group, then manage the rotations the rest of the way.

No . . . you start playing the rookies, namely John Jenkins. It's time to see if his game will start translating to the NBA level.I'm sorry, but Anthony Morrow just isn't going to cut it. He's lost his deadeye shot and is now just an average 3 point shooter. So if he isn't a lights out shooter anymore, start playing the kid.We're 15 - 9, and going through the first taste of adversity all season. No way do you push the delete button right now.Having said that, this schedule isn't going to get easier as the season progresses. It's amazing that we haven't played Chicago ( until tonight ), NY Knicks, Brooklyn, Boston, and Milwaukee. You're talking at least 15 games vs those teams alone remaining, not including 2 more games vs Miami and having to go back through the West Elite teams.

No . . we do NOT have to accept it, if him taking threes ( especially in critical situations ) is to the detriment to the team. That's like accepting that Michael Turner of the Falcons can't consistently pick up a 1st down on 3rd and 2 situations . . . but you keep giving him the ball in those situations anyway.No sir. If you're not good or efficient at doing something, you do something different.

Smith is a great all-around player and one of the best defensive players in the league. He's just not a lead guy as a scorer. Get a lead guy as a scorer, and tell Josh to play that all-around role, and we could be a contender.The question now becomes . . . where do we get that lead scorer?Is there a good player on a bad team that we could trade for, that would increase our chances for being a contending team?For example . . . if Eric Gordon in New Orleans comes back from injury and proves that he can get back to the level he was before he got hurt, could the Hawks trade pieces and draft picks for him? And could we trade for him without giving up Al Horford? That would be a hell of a gamble to take, considering Gordon's recent injury history. But that's the type of guy that you may have to team up with Smith and Teague/Horford, in order for the Hawks to get to that next level.Or if the Heat feel that they can't keep their Big 3 together after the 2014 season ( which is a strong possibility ), the Hawks could possibly add Bosh or Wade to this roster ( it wouldn't be Lebron ).And of course, there is the Dwight Howard scenario.All of these are pipe dreams at the moment though, because we do not know what these teams will be thinking about come season's end. As of right now, it looks like we are stuck. But many believe we were stuck with JJ and Marvin too, before last summer.

After the Miami game last week, in which he went 4 - 5 on threes, he was actually shooting a ridiculous 46% on threes ( 12 - 26 ) through 17 gamesSince that time, we've played 6 games and he's gone 3 - 14 on threes ( 21% ).A three point attempt early in the game, with the shot clock going down, doesn't bother me. It's those threes that he takes when we actually need to score, that bothers me the most. He purposely drifts out there, because no other big on the team does that, with the exception of Anthony Tolliver ( who is shooting 3 - 22 FG on threes ). Amazing that Drew was throwing that dude out there early in the year, and just letting him fire away.I just wish that those sessions with Olajuwon would've paid off more. That he would've really tried to work on his post game and different types of face up moves from 15 feet and in, to make him a more efficient scorer.It's just not going to happen via that jumpshot. It just not.

I was just about to type this. Nique goes after Jordan relentlessly, and has done it ever since he was traded. Why? I don't know.

Horford's shot has been off all year.I didn't get to see the game tonight, so I'll watch it right now.

The guy that Drew said isn't a PG, sure did look damn good in that role last night. Teague is the better player, but Jordan has always been the better passer ( when asked/forced to play that role ). Jordan plays this role better than the "volume scorer" role.Lucky to get that win last night. A win is a win though.

LOL @ this thread. Until Jamal Crawford joined this team in 2009, the Hawks literally had only JJ, and ( insert guy who he would pass it to ), to close out games. Bibby could make a big shot . . if set up by JJ. Josh could make a play around the rim . . if set up by JJ with an alley-oop. Horford could hit a midrange jumper . . if JJ passed him the ball. The entire time Joe Johnson was in ATL, he didn't play with a legit low post scorer, nor a playmaking PG. Yet people think HE was a chemistry problem? A selfish player? It's just the opposite. JJ is a little TOO MUCH of a team player at times. It was times in ATL when he definitely should've looked to carry the team himself on offense, instead of passing to a wide open Josh Smith or Marvin Williams. Even Nets fans want JJ to be more aggressive and look for his offense more. This current group of Hawks are nice to watch. But the jury is still out on them. We got to see how they play against the East elite. That will determine how good these guys really are. As of right now, they're winning at the same pace of the 2009 - 10 Hawks.

I'll take the blame for that loss.I arrived at the arena right when the 2nd quarter started, and the game was tied I think at 26. And as I was at the concession stand trying to get some food, the game slowly slipped away. By the time I sat down, we were down 7.Even though Horford and Ivan played well . . especially Ivan . . Golden State pretty much did whatever they wanted on offense. I was kind of surprised that Drew gave up on putting Smith back in that game when he took him out early in the 3rd. Yeah, he was playing like garbage, but still . . .The crowd seemed to really like Stephen Curry, despite him not being able to hit a damn thing last night. Everytime he'd make a behind the back bounce pass to somebody, the crowd would "oooooooooooo". If he played flashy like that all the time, I think he could bring fans to the arena.The Hawks didn't start losing until I arrived, so I'll take the blame for the loss.They usually when when I show up at the arena. Not last night though. Golden State looked like the Showtime Lakers last night.

Hawks down 20 to start the 4th. Make that 22. I want to see Jenkins get a few good looks from 3.LOL. Make that down 24. Golden state is an offensive machine.

Wow. Looks like I came to the wrong game. Hawks look like garbage tonight. Only bright spots are Al and Ivan.

Oh wow . . . you can't post Youtube vids on here anymore? Plus I can't use the full editor to bold or color the font.

Might as well have my own highlight thread in honor of the semi-great Joe Johnson. The Hawks need to do right, and have a number retirement ceremony when he comes to Philips next month. Maybe it's too early to do all of this right now, but better to do it now, than to do it after he possibly does something significant in Brooklyn. Nice no look feed to Andray Blatche in the preseason. A fairly basic play for JJ. Nice how he uses his body to bump the defender, then delivers the nice pass for the score. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiiEJ4Nn7Ro

Jeff TeagueHere's who we need to keep an eye on folks, especially when these games get a little tougher.Versus the elite teams, we're going to need him to stay in attack mode. Overall, he's done a decent job of doing that, but for him to get to that next level as a scoring PG, he needs to assert himself even more. It doesn't help that this kid can't get a foul call to save his life. He virtually lived at the FT line while in college. In the pros though, he can get knocked down to the floor and the refs will just look at him like he's playing park rules basketball. No blood, no foul.13.3 ppg and 6.2 assists over the past 10 games . . but shot 39% FG. And the reason for the FG% drop is that he's taking too many jumpers, and not staying in full attack mode.Top 3 shot types back around ThanksgivingP&R Ball Handler . . . 43% of shots . . . 51.3% FG . . . 0.85 pppTransition . . . . . . . . 20.3% of shots . . 61.1% FG . . . 1.15 pppIsolation . . . . . . . . . 17.2% of shots . . . 33.3% FG . . . 0.68 pppTop 3 shot types nowP&R Ball Handler . . . 35% of shots . . . 35.9% FG . . . 0.67 pppTransition . . . . . . . . . 23.2% of shots . . . 55.4% FG . . 1.10 pppIsolation . . . . . . . . . . 16.7% of shots . . . 32.6% FG . . . 0.75 pppHow do you drop your P&R shooting percentage by over 15 percentage points in a 10 game span? Easy. Just go 3 for your last 21 FG in that situation like Teague has. Way too many late shot clock jumpers where he has to hoist up a shot at the last second. And even when he is attacking lately, the floater isn't falling.Hopefully this is just a little funk that he's in, and not a future trend for the season. He's played well overall so far.

Al HorfordAt 17 ppg - 11 rebs - and 55% FG shooting the past 10 games, Horford has been the model of consistency all season. And he's really brought it this year, especially with his scoring around the rim. For the first time ever, we're seeing him play about 40% of his minutes at PF. And while his man defense isn't exactly stellar so far this year, he's been very productive with his offense. As long as his teammates can continue to find him for easy points via cuts to the basket, his FG% is going to stay extremely high.Top 5 shot types last timePost Up . . . . . 22.6% of shots . . . 50% FG . . . 0.96 pppCut . . . . . . . . 19.4% of shots . . . 66.7% FG . . 1.29 pppSpot Up . . . . . 15.3% of shots . . . 17.6% FG . . 0.37 pppP&R Roll Man . 12.9% of shots . . . 50% FG . . . 1.06 pppTransition . . . . 9.7% of shots . . . . 90% FG . . . 1.50 pppTop 5 shot types nowCut . . . . . . . . . . . 19.9% of shots . . . 71.7% FG . . . 1.37 pppPost Up . . . . . . . 19.9% of shots . . . 42% FG . . . . . 0.81 pppP&R Roll Man . . 12.6% of shots . . . 48.6% FG . . . 0.95 pppSpot Up . . . . . . . 11.4% of shots . . . 27.3% FG . . . 0.53 pppTransition . . . . . 10.4% of shots . . . . 83.3% FG . . 1.30 pppIf anybody has benefited from the departure of Joe Johnson, it's been Al. Because these days, he's constantly moving in and out of the paint. And because of this, his teammates have been finding him for easy baskets around the rim, or wide open jumpers from about 12 - 16 feet. If that spot up jumper starts to fall, watch out for Al. He could make a run at an All-Star berth, along with Smith.Horford is Mr. Consistency, when it comes to this team. If Josh is the engine of the Hawks, Al is the actual frame of the car.

Josh SmithIn our last episode, Josh was struggling with his offensive consistently in a big way. So is he playing better these days? The answer is a resounding YES.At 19 ppg - 8 rebs - 4 asst - 2 blks - and 1.6 stls over his last 10 games, Josh is showing that type of all around game that he is capable of performing at times. Add to that the 48% FG shooting and the recent hot shooting from 3 point range at 55%, Josh has had a very good stretch of games since around Thanksgiving.Detractors will say that . . "well, we've played the Bobcats 3 times, and ORL, CLE, and WAS once in that stretch of games" . . but I say that you play whatever schedule is in front of you. If it took playing those teams to get him back on track, so be it. He's been good vs the good teams as well.Three weeks ago, these were Josh's top 5 offensive type of playsPost Up . . . 26.8% of shots . . . 38.9% FG . . . 0.66 pppSpot Up . . . 22% of shots . . . . . 22.2% FG . . . 0.50 pppCut . . . . . . . 14% of shots . . . . 45% FG . . . . 0.83 pppIsolation . . . 10.4% of shots . . . 25% FG . . . . 0.59 pppTransition . . . 7.9% of shots . . . 88.9% FG . . . 1.31 pppThese are his top 5 offensive type of plays nowPost Up . . . 25.3% of shots . . . 39.2% FG . . . 0.70 pppSpot Up . . . 22.2% of shots . . . 30.7% FG . . . 0.73 pppCut . . . . . . . 12.9% of shots . . . 59.5% FG . . . 1.10 pppIsolation . . . 11.4% of shots . . . 37.8% FG . . . 0.89 pppTransition . . 10.6% of shots . . 85.2% FG . . . 1.37 pppAlmost all of his offensive numbers are up from a FG% and point per play perspective. And the number I really like to see up are his Transition opportunities. He scored 8 points last night vs Charlotte via transition, and his steal and dunk at the very end of that Denver game sealed the win for us. When he can score easy baskets like that, it only helps to get him going for the entirety of the game.Good job Josh. Keep it up.

JTB . . . just enjoy what we're doing right now man. Don't make any sweeping claims like that just yet, especially when we haven't played any of the top teams in the East except Miami ( whom we've lost twice to ). I love the way this team is playing right now, especially on defense. But the fact is that until we see how we play against Boston, Chicago, New York, and Brooklyn, we really don't have a handle of how good this team is.Eastern Conference basketball is just different than how the West plays. With the way the West plays, we would fit in well out there, and may be a top 2 or 3 team. The East is a little ( actually a lot ) more physical and rough. We gotta see if we can go toe to toe with those teams when they decide to play that slow paced physical ball.I think Dwight Howard on this team would make us an elite defensive team. On the flip side, we'd be in danger to lose a good number of close games because of his FT shooting. It would definitely be interesting to see this squad with Dwight though. But like Walter said, how do we get him here? Barring a complete meltdown in LA, he's not leaving that franchise. The same goes for Chris Paul with the Clippers.I still say that if the franchise is dead set on keeping Josh here along with Al, we need a better skilled big body here. For that reason, I think that Al Jefferson out in Utah may be the target, and a nice fit to bring in. A frontline of Jefferson - Horford - Smith would be a very, very interesting group to throw at people. If we can't get a superstar, we need to assemble the best frontcourt in the league. And I think that trio would represent that.*************************Just for perspective, the 2009 - 10 Atlanta Hawks also started out 14 - 6, just like this current team. They would actually go on to win 5 more games in a row to go to 19 - 6. Keep in mind, this was our roster back then.PG - Mike BibbyG - Joe JohnsonF - Marvin WilliamsPF - Josh SmithC - Al Horford6th man - Jamal Crawford7th man - Zaza Pachulia8th man - Mo Evans9th man - Joe Smith10th man - Jeff TeagueThe only other Hawk team to get off to a 19 - 6 start, were the 1986 - 87 Hawks. The best start in franchise history came via the 1993 - 94 Hawks, who started out the year 24 - 7. That team would be the #1 seeded team in the East going into the playoffs. A playoffs with no Michael Jordan.Of course, we did the unthinkable, and traded away Dominique ( and a 1st round pick ) at the trade deadline for an All-Star caliber ( but non-superstar ) Danny Manning, because we were afraid that we couldn't re-sign Nique ( and may not have even wanted to re-sign him ).Unfortunately, none of those teams even made it to the EC Finals, let alone the NBA Finals.

I'm to the point where I'm tired of talking about it<br /><br />It's no reason why the dude shouldn't be playing. But I guess drew's plan is to wear Smith and Horford out so that when playoff time comes, we'll be ripe for a 1st round sweep.