TheNorthCydeRises

If Jackson is out, then that's all the more better for us. I'll have to watch that as the game approaches tomorrow. Then again, with JJ out, they may make him play.

JeJe . . . is that you?

Well . . . this is what some of you wanted anyway. If he was hurt, that Woody and the Hawks would sit him out. Let's see how this team responds ( especially in the Charlotte game ). Charlotte is going to tread the game like a playoff game, so they'll definitely be ready against us. The entire team is going to have to step up and rise to the occasion for that game. Crawford will probably have to have another great game, but we need multiple people to step up, or we might get blown out.

People may despise the ISO offense that we run at times, but that's a major reason for our offensive efficiency. The ISO, on most possessions, may not get us the best shot possible . . . but it does guarantee on most possessions that we're going to at least get a shot up. Taking a shot and missing is better than turning the ball over, because with a missed shot, you do at least have an opportunity to rebound the basketball and get another shot up. It's a low-risk offense that we run here, that is enhanced tremendously by our ability to get out on the break and score in transition. We're the #4 team in fast break points ( because of the ability of our frontcourt people to get out and fill the lane ) . . . and #5 in the league in points in the paint ( because of the transition buckets, post-ups, and JJ's floater in the lane ). In the halfcourt, our offense is definitely dependent on guys making shots when being guarded one on one. It may not be the prettiest offense in the world, but it is efficient overall. And depending on how we and Denver play down the stretch, we could end up at #2 in the league in offense. OFFENSIVE FOUR FACTORS: - .505 eFG% ( 11th in league ) . . . #9 amongst all playoff teams - .113 TOV% ( 1st ) . . . #1 amongst all playoff teams - .279 Off Reb% ( 6th ) . . . #3 amongst all playoff teams - .214 FT per FGa% ( 23rd ) . . . . last amongst all playoff teams The FT per FTa% is the only troubling number come playoff time, especially when the game slows down in that 4th quarter. If we're not getting to the line, our main ISO guys ( JJ, Crawford, Smoove ) MUST make shots down the stretch . . or we must play lights-out defense and score in transition. And of course, it's the defense that is most troubling, when it comes to the Hawks. The defense fuels the transition offense, which enables us to also get points in the paint. Defensively, we're ranked 13th in the league . . . up from 14th. But when you look at the 4 factors on defense, you see why we're ranked 13th. DEFENSIVE FOUR FACTORS: - .497 eFG% ( 15th in the league ) . . . #13 amongst all playoff teams - .133 TOV% ( 18th in the league ) . . . #10 amongst all playoff teams - .726 Def Reb% ( 24th in the league ) . . . #14 amongst all playoff teams - .209 FT per FTA% ( 7th in the league ) . . . #5 amongst all playoff teams Definitely don't have to tell any Hawks fan what one of our major problems on defense is. We have to make a commitment to secure defensive rebounds to prevent 2nd chance points. If we can do that, that'll give us a great chance to advance in the playoffs. If we don't defensive rebound, this team is dead in the water come that 2nd round . . and might force us to play 6 or 7 games to advance in the first round. Smoove and Horford ( and hopefully a guy like Marvin ), need to dominate the boards on any given occasion.

Come on man. Post that trade on a Portland blog or message board, and see how they would react to that. It would start with the letters ":LOL" or "LMAO" This is what people talk about when they say "be realistic". That's like the Knicks telling us that they would trade Chris Duhon, Jared Jeffries, and a #1 . . . for Smoove. No way in hell we'd do that. And that team you listed is NOT better than our current team. Not even close. Smoove would get abused at the 3 and Aldridge would get abused at the 5. No shooters other than Crawford. Teague would have to play Rajon Rondo-like, in order for that squad to even be a .500 ballclub. Horford would have to turn into Karl Malone. Crawford would be under the gun every night defensively. That team MIGHT win 40 games.

"The knock on Crawford is his low shooting percentage. He is a career 40% shooter, and shot only 37% in his breakout year last season. The Knicks believe that Crawford’s poor shot selection is responsible for his low percentage and that Stephon Marbury’s presence will give him more chances to take spot-up jumpers instead of always trying to score off the dribble." And that last statement part of that bolded statement is EXACTLY what Woody tries to do with Jamal, when he plays alongside JJ. With the bench players, he lets "Jamal be Jamal", by going freelance against lesser defenders. He has the green light to go one-on-one as he's done in the past. When he's on the floor with JJ, he gets a chance to take a little more spot up jumpers via passes from JJ, Smoove, or Bibby. He doesn't ask him to be the facilitator in the offense when he plays with our best lineup ( Bibby - Crawford - JJ - Smoove - Horford ). In that lineup, he's DEFINITELY the spot-up shooter/slasher. When Diesel and some of the others were acting like JJ never passed to Crawford, I went back and saw that JJ ( after the all-star break ) passed just as much to Crawford for assisted shots, than he did everybody else, with the exception of Josh Smith. The fact that he doesn't have to take every shot off the dribble, has helped his shooting percentage this year.

Popular fan opinion? Come on man,. http://www.ringsurf.com/online/1740-jamal_crawford.html "The knock on Crawford is his low shooting percentage. He is a career 40% shooter, and shot only 37% in his breakout year last season. The Knicks believe that Crawford’s poor shot selection is responsible for his low percentage and that Stephon Marbury’s presence will give him more chances to take spot-up jumpers instead of always trying to score off the dribble." That's the Knicks organization saying that. Not fans. Not sports writers. The Knicks organization. This is probably the best article written on Crawford, illustrating the good and the bad about his game. Guess what the "bad" is? http://www.cosellout.com/2008/02/24/jamal-crawfords-got-bette-davis-eyes/ Man . . . this isn't some type of "urban legend" the fans made up. You don't need Hubie Brown on TV to point out that most people believed that Jamal, up until this year, had the worst shot selection in the NBA. ( Personally, I'd give that title to Gilbert Arenas . . but he made up for it by going to the line a ton ).

And just remember. My responses to you aren't based on if Crawford can ball or not . . or if he's playing better because he's on a good team. My replies are based on what you said initially in this thread From you: actually hes not Who do you hear saying Crawford has never played this well before ? not even the media pundits say things like that they basically say hes doing the same things hes done throughout his career he just now gets to do them for a winning team. .We went over this in the summer he has always shown the ability to be efficient when the teams he was on was stable and this is the only team hes been on his career thats been this stable for this long. Hes not all nba but its amazing how many people think hes somehow doing something he hasnt been doing the past few years . Hes the same player different environment thats all. This is easily his best year as a pro. His past was that of a guy who could ball, but would take horrible shots. He's done far less of that here, even though he still does do it sometimes. The improved shot selection, combined with playing with an All-Star guard like JJ that commands the full attention of the opponent, has enabled Crawford to get better looks at the basket. And more important, enabled him to play one on one, instead of against a double team. Don't get it twisted. I am more than happy that my concerns about Crawford didn't come true. Woody had sense enough to reduce Crawford's offensive responsibilities to have him concentrate on simply scoring the basketball.

I knew when I saw your name reply to this thread, that you still wouldn't believe anybody. So all I'm going to do, is go to Google, and type in "Jamal Crawford shot selection", and see what I come up with. I'll just let you read the links, and see what they tell you about him over the years. Hoopshype profile description: http://hoopshype.com/players/jamal_crawford.htm An epic 17 page thread with Knick fans in a heated debate over Crawford. Guess what the discussion is about. You see the good and the bad. http://www.knicksonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4368 Article praising him for being the Player of the Week while with the Knicks. The last paragraph says what Isaiah and the Knicks think about his shot selection http://www.ringsurf.com/online/1740-jamal_crawford.html One of our other fan blog sites Peachtreehoops.com . . .talking about this very issue http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2009/10/1/1063438/jamal-crawford-where-memory-is Dime magazine article on Jamal Crawford back in September, saying that he could be 6th man of the year ( which was spot on) . . . .the replies to the article are split, mainly due to his reputation as a gunner that takes questionable shots http://dimemag.com/2009/09/jamal-crawford-will-be-sixth-man-of-the-year/ csncalifornia.com article about Marco Belinelli, and how he and Jamal Crawford could possibly co-exist in Golden St .. despite Crawford's bad shot selection. http://www.csncalifornia.com/03/13/09/Next-up-for-Belinelli-at-point-Better-sh/landing_blogs.html?blockID=44470&feedID=2484&qv=1 short article talking about the ATL - GS trade for Crawford, and how Crawford has possibly "the worst shot selection in the entire NBA". http://www.examiner.com/x-1192-NBA-Examiner~y2009m6d24-Warriors-to-trade-Jamal-Crawford-to-Hawks So I guess all of these writers and fans are making things up about the dude? Crawford has had his best year while with the Hawks. He gets a pass with most Hawk fans, because of that. And because most of the heat falls on JJ's shoulders ( despite him having his best season in 3 years ). So if you don't want to believe his reputation wasn't that of a guy who had horrible shot selection ( but could ball ), then I don't know what to tell you.

Who is Sund going to find that will shoot 45% FG, average 18 ppg, and play defense . . and set others up for their offense? You guys act like JJ is a dime a dozen player. Even Crawford isn't a dime a dozen player. Some of you confuse JJ not being Kobe, as JJ being replaceable. Do some of you realize how long it took us to find a legit SF to replace Dominique? . . . or Dikembe Mutumbo? . . . or Steve Smith? And we still haven't found a PG on the level of Mookie Blaylock. All-Star players are NOT easy to replace folks. Just ask the New York Knicks.

Jordan and Miller.

He went for the win because he knew that they would foul him if he went to the basket . . . thus . . . putting pressure on him to make 2 FTs to tie the game. So even though he was 0 - 8 from three at the time . . he decided to take the 3 instead of go hard toward the rim. At least the dude has somewhat of a weakness, and is not totally invincible. Skip Bayless on First Take will tear right into him though tomorrow mornin for missing critical FTs down the stretch of that game.

Crank . . just about everybody in the national media considered Jamal Crawford to have the WORST SHOT SELECTION IN THE LEAGUE. That was universally known, before he came to Atlanta. That's also the reason why none in the national media thought we could even remotely challenge what was then the Big 3 in the Eastern Conference, when we acquired Crawford. With us, he doesn't have to play a JJ role, in which he's trying to create every single shot for himself, plus create shots for everybody else, and be the go-to guy on a nightly basis. Not counting the 2001 - 02 season in which he only played in 23 games ( and had statistically his best offensive season shooting wise ) . . he's shooting a career high FG% at 44.8%. His next highest FG% for a season is 41.6% His career average is 40.9% FG. That's pretty significant. Same goes for his 3 point %. He's currently shooting 38.1% from 3 . . . 3 percentage points higher than his career average of 35.1% Per 36 minutes, he's scoring 20.7 points a game . . . a career high. His total shot % of 57% is a career high . . . and almost 5 points higher than his career average. His PER of 18.2 is a career high . . . almost a full 3 points higher than his career average of 15.4 He's not the same player. He's much more efficient here, than he ever has been anywhere else. The fact that all he really has to concentrate on, is being the instant offense scorer, has helped his game tremendously. Actually, Crawford is probably comparable to Jason Terry. When JT was with us, he had to be the scorer plus be the point guard. It's not a coincidence that as soon as JT went to a better team ( Dallas ) . . and had his role reduced as a player ( instant offense scorer off the bench ) . . . he became a much more efficient ballplayer. People will never do it, but Woody deserves a little credit for the success of Crawford. He basically tells Crawford to not worry about being a playmaker on this squad ( like he had to do on past teams ). All Woody tells him to do is score . . and improve his defense. And he's done both things this year. He quickly defined Crawford's role on this team from the beginning, and it has helped the dude have his best season ever.

Well . . with the Bogut injury, it definitely matters if we get the 3rd seed or not. While Milwaukee may not go down without a fight, it looks like more than ever that Miami will get that #5 seed. If Boston loses tonight, we have a 2 game lead on them. The Heat are the team to avoid in the 1st round. Therefore, you DO NOT shut down JJ, until we secure that #3 seed. Once we secure the #3 spot, then yeah, you can shut him down. Smoove and Horford too, for that matter. Or you could simply treat the last few games like you would preseason games. Woody actually has done this the past 2 years. He's significantly reduced the minutes of the starters in those final few games of the season. He'll do the same this year, so that isn't a concern. But the Bogut injury changes everything. The #3 spot is where you want to be, and NOT #4 and facing D-Wade in Round 1.

This is comparable to asking who's better . . . Chauncey Billups or J.R. Smith? If you like flash, J.R. would be the guy people would pick. He literally explodes for huge scoring games, looking like a top 10 player sometimes. And he's one of the best dunkers in the league. But aybody with any sense will know that Chauncey is the better overall player. The same goes for the JJ vs Crawford argument. The fact is though, Chauncey will need J.R. to play at a high level, to help Denver make some noise in the playoffs . . . as will JJ need Crawford to play at a high level for the Hawks to make noise in the playoffs. As for the Smoove vs Marvin comment, that's a statement only a dude looking for attention would make. It's not even worth taking serious, because he doesn't even truly believe that statement himself.

You people need to stop acting like Delonte shut JJ down, when he was seeing a double team for the vast majority of the game.

If he plays well, he's definitely the X-factor.

He played a pretty good game. Shot the ball well . . . played good defense on Lebron, until he got hot from outside. Just an all-around good game from him. He's the X-factor come playoff time. If he can play decent basketball in the postseason, we'll see how everything will go for the Hawks as we make this playoff journey.

LOL . .. here we go. When JJ goes 6 - 17 and Crawford goes 6 - 18, you could put Magic Johnson on the floor, and we're not winning ( or at least in a major battle ). But whenever Woody doesn't play Teague,and we lose, that's always the excuse. Put the blame on our top 2 scorers for this loss. They're the ones that needed to play better.

LOL . . they have to either post on here, or on the AJC blogs. And Dwight Howard and that sit-down 3 point shot from the bench was amazing. Dude can't hit a free throw to save his life sometimes, but can hit a shot like that?

Don't know if anyone has seen this yet. They had this up on the homepage of NBA.com last night. This is a feature on 2 Hawk fans who paint their faces and functions as "superfans" of the Hawks. This is a real cool 4 minute feature on their perspective of being a Hawks fan. And they taped this feature at the Orlando game . . . in which we won. You even see a different angle of the JJ and Smoove buzzer beater dunk. A real nice piece on us and the fans. http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2010/04/01/20100401_real_nba_role2.nba/?ls=iref:nbahpt1

LOL . . . honestly, that would be the best case scenario for us. We beat Orlando and Boston beat Cleveland. Then you talk about a HELL of an Eastern Conference Finals vs two teams who really don't care much about each other. Both fan bases would be at a fever pitch for an ECF matchup like that. If Stern couldn't get Lebron and Kobe to the Finals, I would bet that he may like to see that matchup in the ECF.

Who is the "new guy center"? People always say we need a center, but can never give a name that other teams would feesibly give up. And here you go with that Smoove at the 3 stuff. LOL . .come on man, give that dream up. Josh Smith is a PF. He HAS to play PF for the Hawks, or come off the bench and be the 6th man ( which very few people would be cool with ). Josh Smith does not have the lateral quickness to guard the good SFs in this league, and he doesn't have the jumpshot nor the handles to excel at that spot. Shoot . . . we'd be better off playing Josh Smith at CENTER than we would at SF. At least at Center, he'd be around the rim most nights and could take opposing centers off the dribble and score.

Lethal, I said 2 months ago that while people were going around trashing JJ for his so-called "selfish play", that not only was he having his best season in 3 years, he also has a good shot to be at least 3rd team ALL-NBA. The only thing that may prevent this, is the fact that people really underrate Joe Johnson. He's not a highlight flashy type of guy and he hasn't had many stratospheric scoring games. He's just solid and steady night in and night out. That's why tonight's game, from a personal standpoint for him, may be very important for him to gain the attention of the sportswriters who vote for the All-NBA teams. If he can give a repeat performance against the Cavs, like he did against the Lakers, he may lock up at least a 3rd team selection. His case is helped by the fact that both Tony Parker and Chris Paul won't make the squad ( after making it last year ). Chauncey Billups probably won't make it either. I think the last 2 guard spots on the 3rd team will come down to JJ, Deron, and Rajon Rondo ( who is pretty much the leader of the Celtics now ). One of those guys will be left out. If that guy is JJ, it will be a shame, and I hope it fuels him in the postseason. Because he's such a quiet player, he's an easy player for these sportswriters to overlook. If he has a real good game tonight, which leads to a Hawks victory, this should put him back on the radar in the eyes of the national media.

Just keep the Cavs game in perspective though. If we win, it'll be a good win for us and may give us a little confidence against Cleveland if we happen to meet in the playoffs. But if we lose, it's NOT the end of the world either, and the team shouldn't be trashed if we lose to the Cavs . . . who have won 72 of their last 78 home games. If we do win though, it'll be interesting to see both the crowd at the Detroit game tomorrow night, and how the Hawks come out against that team.