Homestretch... literally

[sturt]

Only one away game remaining of the 8 on the schedule. Since Valentine's Day, this team is 12-2 at home. 40 wins unlikely, of course, but remains possible.

And I don't care about any of that. And I won't care if we win a playoff series. Would all be nice, but nice in the same way that it would be nice to win preseason games... really doesn't matter to the big picture.

In fact, that's the best way I can express it... 2020-21 is and has been a preseason in the lead-up to 2021-22.

Win every game we can? Sure. But like preseason, more importantly, get healthy, assess who you want to keep for the long haul, and continue to develop team chemistry.

[RedDawg#8]

I like the aesthetics of us winning 40 games, which would be nice and means we finished with a full head of steam heading in to the postseason.

But in reality, getting back healthy bodies and forging some kind of consistency and chemistry is the most important thing.

Bogi and Huerter have been huge to our second half surge and their secondary playmaking is valuable as you can see right now. Dre may actually be the best all around player on the team and his return will unlock our roster a lot.

Dunn and Lou have been big let downs these last few games, their performance will be key for us come playoff time. We need them to do what they do best when called upon. They may not be able to function next to each other when it all said and done though. If we can get our other wings back it may not matter in the end as they can platoon at backup PG.

The fact that we don't even truly know who our starters will be when we are full strength is a little scary. We need these games to figure out roles 

[thecampster]

3 hours ago, RedDawg#8 said:

I like the aesthetics of us winning 40 games, which would be nice and means we finished with a full head of steam heading in to the postseason.

But in reality, getting back healthy bodies and forging some kind of consistency and chemistry is the most important thing.

Bogi and Huerter have been huge to our second half surge and their secondary playmaking is valuable as you can see right now. Dre may actually be the best all around player on the team and his return will unlock our roster a lot.

Dunn and Lou have been big let downs these last few games, their performance will be key for us come playoff time. We need them to do what they do best when called upon. They may not be able to function next to each other when it all said and done though. If we can get our other wings back it may not matter in the end as they can platoon at backup PG.

The fact that we don't even truly know who our starters will be when we are full strength is a little scary. We need these games to figure out roles 

I'm not sour on Dunn yet.  15 month layoff. I was expecting 10+ games for him to get his mind/body/reaction times right.  Plus he's learning a new system, teammates, everything. Nothing you see from Dunn right now can be taken too seriously.

[RedDawg#8]

55 minutes ago, thecampster said:

I'm not sour on Dunn yet.  15 month layoff. I was expecting 10+ games for him to get his mind/body/reaction times right.  Plus he's learning a new system, teammates, everything. Nothing you see from Dunn right now can be taken too seriously.

Except his aggression on defense and willingness to mix it up on the court, that is as good as advertised.

[sturt]

Conventional wisdom, I believe, is that players need 25 games to optimally integrate with their new team. It's a process. Some may be quicker, some slower.

[JayBirdHawk]

4 hours ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Dunn and Lou have been big let downs these last few games, 

Lou definitely yes. He's a scorer - I want points. He struggles as a primary creator and it affects his 'microwave' game. Yes, he can create secondarily but he's best as 'get your points Lou.'

Dunn, No. He is back after 16 months of no basketball and on a minutes restriction, I'm not sure what your expectations were. I had no expectations so I'm not dissapointed. Right now he's just 'running up and down' getting back into the swing of things and getting his wind back.

3 games in, Dunn's value right now is his toughness and in your face style....he's in playoff form there, Love it. 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 techs in 3 games. He can get to the rim but struggles coverting but will hit his freethwows when he goes to the line.

I'm expecting both him and Lou to be better playing off Huerter and/or Bogi.

 

[thecampster]

I guess its time to be really  honest about something.....this team was built with wings...the top 3 are out. It should really be obvious to everyone watching right now how important Kevin and an on track Bogdanovic have been.  What follows are the top 20 - 5 man units employed by the Hawks by minutes. Trae Young is in 16 of those groups. Capela - 14 of those groups. Huerter 14.  Trae does Trae things and they are really obvious. Capela does Capela things and they are really obvious but Huerter does a smidge of everything and in doing so gets lost in the wash of how valuable he's been.

1	Young-Huerter-Reddish-Collins-Capela	190.2	1.19	1.24	-24	6	5	54.5
2	Young-Huerter-Snell-Collins-Capela	179.7	1.21	1.10	+36	8	6	57.1
3	Young-Huerter-Bogdanovic-Hill-Capela	95.6	1.33	1.14	+48	7	3	70.0
4	Young-Hunter-Reddish-Collins-Capela	95.0	1.17	1.02	+31	7	2	77.7
5	Young-Huerter-Hunter-Collins-Capela	92.3	1.10	0.94	+32	7	2	77.7
6	Young-Huerter-Snell-Gallinari-Collins	90.0	1.32	1.15	+41	9	5	64.2
7	Goodwin-Huerter-Bogdanovic-Hill-Capela	69.8	1.21	1.04	+20	5	2	71.4
8	Young-Huerter-Hill-Collins-Capela	50.2	1.40	1.23	+11	5	3	62.5
9	Young-Huerter-Bogdanovic-Collins-Capela	48.0	1.25	1.07	+19	3	3	50.0
10	Young-Bogdanovic-Snell-Collins-Capela	45.1	1.24	1.45	-15	1	4	20.0
11	Young-Huerter-Hunter-Reddish-Collins	44.6	1.17	1.35	-18	3	6	33.3
12	Young-Huerter-Snell-Gallinari-Capela	36.6	1.20	0.91	+27	5	2	71.4
13	Young-Bogdanovic-Snell-Hill-Capela	31.5	1.19	1.17	-1	2	2	50.0
14	Rondo-Bogdanovic-Hill-Gallinari-Okongwu	29.4	1.15	1.14	+4	2	2	50.0
15	Young-Huerter-Reddish-Gallinari-Collins	29.4	1.01	1.32	-12	5	4	55.5
16	Young-Bogdanovic-Snell-Gallinari-Capela	29.1	1.09	0.82	+13	5	2	71.4
17	Goodwin-Mays-Okongwu-Fernando-Knight	28.7	1.11	0.98	+7	5	3	62.5
18	Young-Huerter-Hunter-Reddish-Capela	26.0	1.06	1.29	-14	2	6	25.0
19	Young-Huerter-Hill-Gallinari-Capela	22.7	1.55	1.34	+18	6	4	60.0
20	L.Williams-Huerter-Snell-Gallinari-Okongwu	21.4	1.28	1.26	-3	2	2	50.0

 

His most productive position has been the SF where he posts a 20.8 PER/48min and his opponent posts a 16.2. Despite that being his natural position now, he's played the 1-4 when asked this year and held his own most nights.  In order for this team to flourish, I believe you need a healthy Kevin backing up the 2/3 getting the majority of his minutes at the 3. You need a healthy Hunter, BB back and you have keep playing the defense they played 3 weeks ago.

[JayBirdHawk]