What the Hawks need...

[Diesel]

One of the things we lacked last year was somebody to go to the line. For all the good that JJ does, he goes to the line far too infrequently. I don't know if going to the line is a result of being a bigger name or if it is style of play, but hopefully, Speedy would be more drive and dish than Lue. Hopefully, Marvin would learn to have controlled drives to the basket and not those stumbling, fumbling, bumbling drives that he had last year. Hopefully, Smoove will not get too comfortable with the outside shot and will learn to work inside. And Hopefully, Shelden's offense will not be non-existence but he will be a guaranteed 2 in the post.

[vdunkndunk]

I really believe Marvin is going to go to the line a ton when he's in his prime, but I think we'll start to see that this season.

[Diesel]

I just hope he is much improved at dribbling and driving than he was last year.

Unlike most here, I haven't written off smoove. I still believe that Smoove is probably the second option on the team. I just hope that somehow either by Smoove or Marvin or by JJ's newfound star power that we can find more foul shots. It's ridiculous that teams go to the line 2 to 3 times more than us.

[HawksFan87]

I agree we need to get to the line and also we need to make them that was our problem last year when we did get to the line we could'nt make them,.

I also think it's a great thing that Smoove has developed that inside shot now all we need him to do is develop a dominate post move which I dont think will be that hard and plus it was only 1 scrimmage so I mean I'm excited but I still want to see more from everyone, especially Shelden.

[swolehawk2]

Well when your PF shoots as many jumpshots as Al did...and when your 5 can only draw fouls after offensive rebounds..throw in the fact that we shot a ton of jumpshots and JJ usually shoots the floater instead of getting all the way to the rim ...it was not suprising to me.

Our bigs were rarely in position defensively causing a lot of fouls.

I think we will be better a getting to the line this year.

Speedy does get into the lane an awful lot. If Marv and Smoove are aggresive throughout the year we should be better.

[Diesel]

Actually, it clearly falls into JJ's court...

Last year, JJ attempted 1755 shots and only 330 free throw attempts...

Thats 5.32 shots per free throw.

Let's compare that to some other first option scorers:

Wade = 3703/1877= 1.92 shots per free throw.

Pierce = 1776/812 = 2.19 shots per free throw.

Allen = 2153/359 = 6.0 shots per free throw.

Gordon = 2921/538 = 5.43 shots per free throw.

JRich = 1915/410 = 4.67 shots per free throw.

Carter = 1885/601 = 3.14 shots per free throw.

TMac =1245/340 = 3.66 shots per free throw.

I didn't use the obvious names like Kobe, Lebron, or Iverson because it's already known that these SGs will be living at the line.

So, I used the others and it's interesting where JJ falls in this category. You have guys who primarily shoot three pointers like Ray Allen and Ben Gordon. You have guys who like to take it inside off the dribble like Wade and Carter... Well, JJ is closer to the Ray Allen type Sg than he is to the Dwyane Wade type SG.

For that reason and that reason only, I think that you see less of JJ at the line. He doesn't take people off the dribble... unless he's shooting a midrange floater. It's very hard for him to draw fouls with his style.