thecampster

I want my point guard to get rebounds that come to him. I don't want him hunting rebounds. Especially when playing point guard, the player needs to be in position for an outlet to start the transition set. If Luka is down among the giants, it looks good on paper but most of those boards are boards your bigs would have gotten. However, your primary ball handler is now 90 feet from the basket with the opposing team getting into position. Luka is the top rebounder on the Mavericks. 2nd was Porzingis who is no longer on the team. 3rd is Max Kleber at 5.9 per game. Luka's rebounding stats are either A) necessary because Dallas is not a good rebounding squad without him or B) just rebounds he's taking from his teammates. If you are back hunting rebounds, it means you aren't starting transition. This could easily explain Dallas' lack of pace and lack of pressure on the opposing team to play defense. I don't see his rebounding stats as a positive. They could be but I don't see it that way. There is a reason they score 5.9 points per game less than the Hawks.

Can you justify the Luka has shown better? Luka 28.4, 9.1, 8.7, 45.7, 35.3 - 65 games played. Trae 28.4, 3.7, 9.7, 46, 38.2 - 76 games played. Trae only loses to him in rebounds. Now you can make an argument of defense but most of those metrics are team based. (82games.com) One easy metric is that while Trae is on the floor, the opposing PG averages a 20.5 PER. Now Luka, depending on lineups, plays PG or SG and the average based on when he's playing is 16.8 PER. The problem with most of these metrics is team defense/strategy/injuries/pace/etc plays a large role in determining those. I wouldn't make the argument Luka was equal to or better than Trae this year. His efficiencies and offensive impact are too great. Luka benefits from playing with a far superior defensive team and playing at a slower pace...they score 5.9 less points per game than the Hawks but hold opponents to 7.7 less. I contend Luka is a bigger defensive liability than Trae but Dallas is capable of hiding it better.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/philadelphia-76ers-doc-rivers-confirms-matisse-thybulle-ineligible-playoffs-toronto-raptors-canada-coronavirus-vaccine-030223249.html No Thybulle for away games in Toronto.

One more thought. The Hawks record as of Jan 17 was 17-25. They went 26-14 the rest of the way. Its pretty obvious that injuries COVID played a major role as did a lack of continuity. We could surprise some folks in the post season but Collins not being in shape isn't going to help. The playoffs is more of a bruising half court game and we could use another big...we could use 2.

Let me post 2 graphics that should tell the tale: Graphic 1: Man games lost through Jan 17th. Graphic 2: Man games lost through April 8 There are 2 takeaways here: 1) some teams are just better than everyone else (Phoenix lost over 300 man games (7th most) and has a sizeable lost win share bubble (3rd biggest) but has the best record in the league. 2) This is not an accurate representation as the Hawks lost games mostly came by Jan 17th in an extremely short window. With over 175 man games lost by Jan 17 but only about 65 more the next 3 months. Also, Gallo's inspired play has greatly lessened the win share numbers lost by John, gained by Gallo. That said, what Miami, Denver, Phoenix did this year was very impressive.

I think lost in that thread about Huerter is how bad he started off the season and to still have a better TS% than Bogi. Kevin really finished strong from an efficiency stand point.

He's deciding what to do after the catch. You have to move without the ball and cut. Until he's driving to the basket off cuts and not starting flat footed, you're 100% right here.

I feel I've been fair in my criticism of Dre....the rebounding thing is because he's typically guarding the other team's primary scorer and this keeps him from getting into rebounding position more times than not. I feel he could do a better job but compare him to Luka who is never, ever asked to guard the other team's number one option and can cheat on rebounds. Luka is just too slow to guard a stop sign. A good "stats" comparison for rebounds with Dre would be Marcus Smart (I know different positions) but on defense they have very similar tasks. Smart averages 3.8 rpg. Next game just watch Hunter on defense, compare him with say Bogi. Unless switched, Bogi is never guarding the primary scorer and is constantly sagging to the lane...same with Trae....sometimes with Huerter. If Hunter has a valid criticism, its he lacks that dog commitment. Rebounding is positioning and want to. You have to want a rebound to get a contested rebound. Dre gives up far too early (IMHO).

You and I talked about it two years ago and he's starting to get his opportunity now. Toppin looks very good.

He also set the record last night for 3 pointers made in 1 season by a Hawk.

So when crafting metrics, people tend to focus on FG%. What they fail to remember is that shot attempts when fouls occur are not counted as attempts if the shot is missed and the foul came before or during the shot. Hunter is forcing a lot of drives to the basket the last 20 games and missing most of the attempts (uncounted in stats). Now typically, that's applauded as most players who force fouls are also shooting free throws at a high clip. Hunter is hitting 76% which is very average. So on foul shot attempts driving to the basket, that means his drive is worth right at 1.52 point each. This sounds great but there are a lot of other aspects to this. The biggest of which is slowing the flow of the game, which for a push it team like the Hawks can be detrimental. Also, many of those forced shots from Hunter are very early in the shot clock. See below. When a team moves the ball and forces the other team to chase, it tends to affect the opposing team on the offensive team as it wears them out. The iso, drive to the basket ball that Hunter is currently forcing (the team is actually pushing this so its not all Hunter), gives opposing teams a chance to rest and set up their offense for the next trip down the court. I'm not going to crap on Hunter though as most of what he's doing is team sponsored and he's not 100% healthy and playing himself into shape. My biggest issue with Hunter in this aspect is that when you go 1v1 to draw a foul, you need to finish the play. You finish the play and shoot 80% its a 2.8 point play and not a 1.5 point play. That's really the rub here with Hunter right now. He's turning the ball over too much when trying to drive and when he does draw the foul, he's not finishing the play. This needs to improve.

Here, let me help Nate out.

To be fair, if they called the game for Trae like they call it for Lebron/Giannis/Doughboy.....he'd shoot 30 foul shots a game. The problem for Trae is he's drawing contact like other stars but he handles the ball so often it draws complacency from the refs. Most other 'stars' only handle the ball in ISO situations. It may seem unfair, but it is what it is. The above is correct though, this is on Nate. Nate needs a standing up for his guys press conference. He needs to just go Diesel at a Marvin convention crazy and just ring up the fines. He needs to talk about: 1. How Trae gets mugged. 2. The unholy amount of holding that happens when our shooters are running off screens. (This one drives me crazier than any). Watch Bogi and Kevin try to run curls around screens (especially Kevin) and you'll see fists full of jersey a few times per night. Kevin is way too strong and smooth for opposing 2's to track when trying to get open and they just grab and pull. Next few games, don't watch the game, watch the shooters coming off screens. Its criminal. 3. The amount of shoves and hip checks our players take when fighting through screens. 4. The amount of over the back that Clint, Collins, Hunter, OO deal with when rebounding. Nate sits at the mic. Reporter: So how did you feel about the game tonight coach? Nate: I'll answer that in a minute. I'm fed up and had enough. That game was harder than it needed to be and I applaud our guys for fighting through what is a night in, night out unfair whistle. Reporter: What play are talking about? Nate: All of them, most of them. Its every night. Look, with as much as Trae handles the ball he's getting bumped, tugged at every play and he drew what, 9 fouls tonight and you've got other coaches out there crying he's foul hunting. That man is getting hit nearly every time down the court and it needs to stop. Our guys getting held going around screens, hip checks. Look, I know we aren't the biggest team and that plays a part but call it fair. That's all I'm saying (slams down his water bottle spraying the front row). Look I'm mad. I'm not saying its intentional or there's some conspiracy but call the game fair. If other team's stars get their hair messed up, its a flagrant. But our guys need to get hip checked into the scorer's table to get a foul called. No don't ask...yes I'm mad about it, yes I know this is a fine....here's another....The officiating needs to be looked at. Just go full Pop on them.

Don't have a 15 point swing in the second and the 4th wouldn't have been the same!!!

The game was lost in the second quarter when Nate had no quick answer to Toronto's offensive rebounding.

Anyone else getting a crappy, jumpy broadcast on comcast

Toronto is so long. It's really disruptive.

Yah, so I try not to respond to people who harsh my mellow. Its pretty easy to see in the trends throughout the season. Read the room.

Just checking back in to say I really appreciate the high level conversation in this topic today. Well done HS.

Looking back at the disastrous start to the season and tracking it. The Hawks started the year 12-10 by Dec 2. During this stretch of games, there were at least 3 games directly affected by the league trying to stop Trae and foul hunting. There were at least 3 the Hawks should have won (check the game longs). They were 17-25 by Jan 16. (5-15 record). This was the infamous Hawks had to play with up to 10 players out with COVID protocols while other teams were canceling games. Since then the Hawks have been 24-12, despite injuries and some pretty brutal back to backs. Removing the 3 losses and this stretch of 20 games from the schedule, the Hawks record the rest of the year was 36-19, a .654 winning percentage. Include the 3 foul hunting losses as wins and we're 39-19, a .672 winning percentage. .654 winning percentage is 53 wins in an 82 game season, .672 is 55 games. 55 games would be the 1 seed in the East this year. Something to mush your brains on today.

Standings in the East mean nothing this year. You can't trust record 1 bit.

It could just be you!!!

Quick, everyone talk bad about someone else so they can have a career night tomorrow.