Two things about this year's Hawks I am worried about

[Blunt91]

There are several aspects about this team this year that worries me.   The first one is the Point guard position.  Dennis hasn't really shown that he can be steady hand at point guard.  Too many times last year he had unforced turnovers.  He isn't the best shooter as well.   Even when Dennis does make the open 3, it takes him too long to get it off, almost as bad as Thabo's shot release.  secondly I am  not sold on Malcolm Delaney as the primary backup to Schröder.   He seems like a good shooter but he doesn't have the best "handles" and from what I have read from people who watched him in college he doesn't have good court vision.   Jarrett Jack is a more than capable backup when healthy.   I hope that he can return to the form he was a few years  back or else Bud maybe forced to make some early season trade to find a steady hand at the point.

 

The second problem I am somewhat worried about is that if Moose is traded Bud may try to make Humphries into a stretch 4/5.   He is most beneficial to the team as a rebounder.  Now that Horford is gone and Muscala could possibly be traded or release you know Bud will be looking to get some 3 point shooting from the 5 spot and it definitely isn't coming from Dwight, Splitter or Tavares.

 

 

[macdaddy]

46 minutes ago, Blunt91 said:

There are several aspects about this team this year that worries me.   The first one is the Point guard position.  Dennis hasn't really shown that he can be steady hand at point guard.  Too many times last year he had unforced turnovers.  He isn't the best shooter as well.   Even when Dennis does make the open 3, it takes him too long to get it off, almost as bad as Thabo's shot release.  secondly I am  not sold on Malcolm Delaney as the primary backup to Schröder.   He seems like a good shooter but he doesn't have the best "handles" and from what I have read from people who watched him in college he doesn't have good court vision.   Jarrett Jack is a more than capable backup when healthy.   I hope that he can return to the form he was a few years  back or else Bud maybe forced to make some early season trade to find a steady hand at the point.

 

The second problem I am somewhat worried about is that if Moose is traded Bud may try to make Humphries into a stretch 4/5.   He is most beneficial to the team as a rebounder.  Now that Horford is gone and Muscala could possibly be traded or release you know Bud will be looking to get some 3 point shooting from the 5 spot and it definitely isn't coming from Dwight, Splitter or Tavares.

 

 

Excited to see a new thread by someone else!  Thanks for posting.   

I'm pretty confident in Dennis.   I am a huge Teague fan but i think Dennis is ready to go.   Backup point my be a weakness but Jack is pretty tough and i expect him to be healthy.    I know nothing about Delaney.   Still i think being less deep at the point and deeper at the wing and frontcourt is a good strategy.   

The second part is all about Mike Scott.  If he plays this year then we still have a stretch 4.   When we won 60 games we didn't have a stretch 5 so maybe Bud wants to go back to that.   

[JTB]

Depends on how you look at things. If you think Dennis should come out blazing good as a starter then that's just being unrealistic. Dennis was chosen over Teague due to the High potential he's shown off the bench the last few years...which was very good for him. Though Dennis is NOT YET a better point guard than Teague ....What Dennis has proven is that he's a better defender than Teague and a more naturally aggressive player than Teague which shows he's fearless and is very important in buds offense in my opinion as well as being important in order to take a big step in your career.

teagues biggest issue about his game is himself and bud has tried to get the "playoff Teague" to show up consistently but Teague just isn't a naturally aggressive player. Teagues aggressiveness is forced unlike Dennis and that's an issue no matter how anyone looks at it. Most on the squawk who's watched Teagues whole career here in Atlanta knows Teague shys away from being aggressive and its hurt the Hawks plenty. When he was aggressive  he was head of the snake on this team by far...

Its IMPORTANT to keep in mind that any new starter is going to go through some growing pains especially in the NBA. Baze was a first time starter last season and though he wasn't perfect he sure as hell put 110% of his effort on doing the best he could this past year and it showed.

There was a time Teague was doubted over mike bibby but most saw that Teagues potential was better though he wasn't a better shooter than bibby at the time. We are going through the same process with Dennis except bud pulled the trigger a lot earlier than woody did some years back. We can't expect Dennis to get better and not play starter minutes. Dennis need to learn on the court as a full time starter just like every other NBA player with high potential. Don't worry about the shot, as long as Dennis works on it, it will come just like it has for Baze and DMC...buds staff knows how to improve the mechanics of these players especially in the shooting area.

 

 

Backup Point:

as far as back up point goes , from jacks tweets I think he will be fully ready to go by start of the season. He's already ahead of schedule so I'm not worried until we get more info on where jack is with his rehab.

Edited August 2, 2016 by JTB

[BigDog90]

4 hours ago, Blunt91 said:

There are several aspects about this team this year that worries me.   The first one is the Point guard position.  Dennis hasn't really shown that he can be steady hand at point guard.  Too many times last year he had unforced turnovers.  He isn't the best shooter as well.   Even when Dennis does make the open 3, it takes him too long to get it off, almost as bad as Thabo's shot release.  secondly I am  not sold on Malcolm Delaney as the primary backup to Schröder.   He seems like a good shooter but he doesn't have the best "handles" and from what I have read from people who watched him in college he doesn't have good court vision.   Jarrett Jack is a more than capable backup when healthy.   I hope that he can return to the form he was a few years  back or else Bud maybe forced to make some early season trade to find a steady hand at the point.

 

The second problem I am somewhat worried about is that if Moose is traded Bud may try to make Humphries into a stretch 4/5.   He is most beneficial to the team as a rebounder.  Now that Horford is gone and Muscala could possibly be traded or release you know Bud will be looking to get some 3 point shooting from the 5 spot and it definitely isn't coming from Dwight, Splitter or Tavares.

 

 

I don't worry about the PG situation. Either Dennis will step up and be the man at PG or worst case collectively Dennis, Jack and Delaney will carry the Hawks. 

Moose barely plays. Unfortunately ATL still has Scott but Hump is technically a stretch big, when he was in WAS, they experimented it with him but one thing I like about Hump is he got toughness, he's willing to bang unlike some stretch bigs ATL has had in recent years.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Small Forward is my biggest worry

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[thecampster]

5 hours ago, Blunt91 said:

There are several aspects about this team this year that worries me.   The first one is the Point guard position.  Dennis hasn't really shown that he can be steady hand at point guard.  Too many times last year he had unforced turnovers.  He isn't the best shooter as well.   Even when Dennis does make the open 3, it takes him too long to get it off, almost as bad as Thabo's shot release.  secondly I am  not sold on Malcolm Delaney as the primary backup to Schröder.   He seems like a good shooter but he doesn't have the best "handles" and from what I have read from people who watched him in college he doesn't have good court vision.   Jarrett Jack is a more than capable backup when healthy.   I hope that he can return to the form he was a few years  back or else Bud maybe forced to make some early season trade to find a steady hand at the point.

 

The second problem I am somewhat worried about is that if Moose is traded Bud may try to make Humphries into a stretch 4/5.   He is most beneficial to the team as a rebounder.  Now that Horford is gone and Muscala could possibly be traded or release you know Bud will be looking to get some 3 point shooting from the 5 spot and it definitely isn't coming from Dwight, Splitter or Tavares.

 

 

82games.com.  Dennis posts a 16.2 PER at PG, his opponents a 13.6.  Dennis spent most of his time with the second unit. This is just one stat showing he was dominant against 2nd tier points.  While on the floor, Dennis was a combined +223 last year. That makes his per36/per game +4. Dennis posted the second highest +/- simple rating last year...behind only Paul. Dennis 3.2, Horford 2.9, Teague 0.7. Dennis was a part of 7 of the top 11 - 5 man units. Teague - 4.  Dennis already outperformed Teague statistically and typically with lesser talent on the floor.  His On Court/Off Court statistics are just as encouraging.

Offense

On court - 107 points per possession, Off Court  - 105.8  +1.2

Defense

On court - 100.1 points per possession, Off court - 104.1  -4.0

The stats bear out the offense was better with Dennis on the court as was the defense.

Teague was -1.7 on offense and +4.7....worse in both categies with Teague on the floor.

1 year worth of stats which show team performance...much better under Dennis per 100 possessions, especially on Defense.

[RedDawg#8]

Yeah, I think our staff did a little bit of homework before handing over the keys to Dennis. He is going to be fine. Confidence is the main ingredient to success in any aspect of life, and Dennis has plenty of it. His arrow is still pointing way up and he has the potential to be the best Hawks draft pick since Horford despite not even being a lottery pick. You can almost guarantee a leap in production due to his promotion to the starting line-up and I have no doubt he matches Teague numbers.

 The barometer is going to be team success. If we are worse than last season people will undoubtedly question Dennis' role.

 

[Macknsweetjones]

Delaney ball handling seems fine to me, based off what I've seen thats a highlight of his game 

[macdaddy]

Just dawned on me that Teague and Horford were the only pre-Bud Hawks.   

[Diesel]

18 hours ago, Blunt91 said:

There are several aspects about this team this year that worries me.   The first one is the Point guard position.  Dennis hasn't really shown that he can be steady hand at point guard.  Too many times last year he had unforced turnovers.  He isn't the best shooter as well.   Even when Dennis does make the open 3, it takes him too long to get it off, almost as bad as Thabo's shot release.  secondly I am  not sold on Malcolm Delaney as the primary backup to Schröder.   He seems like a good shooter but he doesn't have the best "handles" and from what I have read from people who watched him in college he doesn't have good court vision.   Jarrett Jack is a more than capable backup when healthy.   I hope that he can return to the form he was a few years  back or else Bud maybe forced to make some early season trade to find a steady hand at the point.

 

The second problem I am somewhat worried about is that if Moose is traded Bud may try to make Humphries into a stretch 4/5.   He is most beneficial to the team as a rebounder.  Now that Horford is gone and Muscala could possibly be traded or release you know Bud will be looking to get some 3 point shooting from the 5 spot and it definitely isn't coming from Dwight, Splitter or Tavares.

 

 

I'm not as worried about the Humphries issue.  I think Humphries is a fair shooter.   I am concerned about Dennis.  I think Dennis has this one tryout.. He's trying out for the future.  It could be abbreviated.  IF Dennis doesn't step up.. I know that we have talked about this kinda tongue and Cheek.. however, I can really see us going after CP3 and Reuping Sap depending on how Sap and Howard Look. 

The program at LAC will fail.   They don't have the right pieces to make it work.  However if Sap turns in another Allstar appearance and we look good in the playoffs, I can see us trying to get ONE SHOT with the window opened..  On that short list is also Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook and  Rondo.. and Even Teague.  Let's just say Steph hates playing with Klay, KD, and Green.   Let's just say.  Imagine if he brought his talents to Atlanta to play with Baze, Howard, and Sap?  Baze is one of his best friends.  Bud runs an offense very similar to what they have in GS.   Atlanta is close to his Charlotte roots.  Just some pipedreaming.

But the point is that with this one year, it's a tryout. 

 

 

 

 

[macdaddy]

Dennis' tryout was last year and he succeeded.     Teague averaged 13 minutes a game the season before we made him a fulltime starter.     That's what Dennis played his rookie year when he was in the doghouse.     Dennis averged 20 minutes a game last year and his per36 was 20/8.      Why are we acting like we've never seen Dennis play before?   

[AHF]

30 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Dennis' tryout was last year and he succeeded.     Teague averaged 13 minutes a game the season before we made him a fulltime starter.     That's what Dennis played his rookie year when he was in the doghouse.     Dennis averged 20 minutes a game last year and his per36 was 20/8.      Why are we acting like we've never seen Dennis play before?   

I agree.  Dennis would have to fail spectacularly for us to drop him after this season.  He's had 3 good years of development, capped with last season's role as the #1 pg versus Cleveland.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

Just dawned on me that Teague and Horford were the only pre-Bud Hawks.   

Really...just dawned now?

[macdaddy]

18 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Really...just dawned now?

I'm a little...ummm.....ehhh.....mmmm. ....non-quick?

[hawkman]

I'm still worried about Dennis to be completely honest. I'm obviously not alone because we signed both Delaney and Jack as insurance. It's going to take more than one or two Playoff games  for me to feel comfortable with the idea of him as the starter at PG.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I'm a little...ummm.....ehhh.....mmmm. ....non-quick?

Lol...no I'm just surprised cuz it's coming from you. Specially after that gem of a post yesterday with Thabo n Pero lol. Naw, I can see about forgetting Teague n Hor were not Bud's originals. 

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I'm a little...ummm.....ehhh.....mmmm. ....non-quick?

Hey, don't let these Hawsquawk elitists get to you.  I venture to say most of us don't know right off-hand that those two were the only pre-Budz Hawks left.  We just don't think of the roster that way.

Shame on you @Spud2Nique.  Trying to fan-shame a good dude like macd.  Shame!  Shame!  Shame! ...

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, hawkman said:

I'm still worried about Dennis to be completely honest. I'm obviously not alone because we signed both Delaney and Jack as insurance. It's going to take more than one or two Playoff games  for me to feel comfortable with the idea of him as the starter at PG.

We signed Delaney and Jack because we needed back-up PGs - the way I see it, Bud's confidence in Dennis is indicated by the fact that he signed a guy who played in Europe followed up by a 33 year old vet coming off an ACL injury.

[macdaddy]

21 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

We signed Delaney and Jack because we needed back-up PGs - the way I see it, Bud's confidence in Dennis is indicated by the fact that he signed a guy who played in Europe followed up by a 33 year old vet coming off an ACL injury.

And jettisoned Mack last year.

[Thomas]

Everyone has some amount of reservation for the first few games but by the time the playoffs are here I'm pretty sure Dennis will have established himself as our long term point. Articles talk about him being confident to a fault but I'll take that over falling asleep at the wheel anyday. His outstanding defense is going to more than make up for offensive mistakes and by a lot. My biggest concern there would be controlling his number of fouls because he is now a thirty plus minutes a game pg every game. If Jack is the biggest name we have acquired as a backup then Bud and staff are very confident in him as JayBird stated. Defense is Bud's first calling card for his young players to get time on the floor. Even Scott and THJ have improved on D which not many of us thought possible a while back.