What we lack.... On Offense.

[Diesel]

I think we all try to pinpoint the things that the Hawks need to be better..  On offense, it's not many things. 

The one thing we lack though is that guy who is willing to put the ball on the floor and complete Dribble Drive penetration. 

NOT PNR.  But a guy who gets the ball and will put it on the floor and head towards the rim. 

The only player that we have who does it OK is Bogi.   

Huerter and Hunter doesn't seem to want to be touched so they don't do it with strength.

You're more liable to see Huerter fall away.  Where did this guy go (specifically 17 sec):

 

Then you have Slippy hands.  I just believe that Hunter's Ball handling is not good enough for him to consistently complete dribble drive penetration. 

 

But the guy who probably has the ability to do this best is this guy:

 

Collins shows in a few of these clips that he can put the ball on the floor in traffic.   We need that guy more often. 

[NBASupes]

So much is wrong in this post.

You really said that JC is better at the dribble drive in traffic than Dre or Huerter? Come on son, really? 

Isolation players slow down ball movement and player movement systems and are usually the norm of defensive minded teams and the quick decision ones who don't stall needs a lot of touches, especially quality touches. With Trae, that's already out the question for us so it's a pointless goal considering we are dedicated to Trae Ball. 

What we need a better offensively minded 5 who plays our current style and we could use a 4 with more size and a 7'3+ wingspan. In fact, bigs with massive wingspans and good size would do wonders for us versatility wise on D.

Edited February 15, 2022 by NBASupes

[thecampster]

The Hawks are 2nd in the league in committed turnovers at 12.6.....the problem, we are 3rd from the bottom in forcing turnovers at 12.3.

 

Far too many possessions where we are having to generate offense. You asked what does Ayton give us that Clint doesn't in another thread. People keep talking about who shoots better between Bogi and Huerter or who has better handles.  Players like Ayton, Simmons defend space. Basketball isn't a game of 1v1, its a game of space.

4 more forced turnovers per game would lead to our opponents scoring 4 or more less points and us scoring 4 or more points.  We are not athletic enough on the defensive end to create easy buckets in transition. Its really that simple.

 

Every trade idea I've posed. Every change I think we've needed is to get better at denying the dribble drive and interrupting passing lanes.  Fix that, you fix these Hawks. Offense is not our problem. We are scoring plenty. We are 3rd in the league in offensive rating. 8th in EFG. 9th in pts scored. The problem ain't offense, its defense. Specifically, denying dribble penetration which is collapsing our defense and opening up wide open 3's. Every game it feels like teams set records on us from 3. 1 player on the other team goes 5 for 5 for a quarter and our announcers keep talking how unreal it is. Its not unreal. You're an NBA sniper and you get a chance to set your feet, receive a pass above the waist, you are going to knock down the 3.  You are an NBA team, make the pass harder to make. Make it skip to the corner. Make the shooter bend down to get it and have to shuffle his feet, rush the shot and you'll disrupt more than you allow.  It all starts with denying dribble penetration at the top of the key. Force your man to the corners. Don't let him get middle. It was true 30 years ago. It's true now.

It's pretty simple science. The shortest passes all begin at the free throw line. From the free throw line you have the shortest aggregate distance to all spots on the court. The passes take the least time to get to their man and thereby give the shooter the most time to approach his shot. All of the angles are best when the pass is received from the free throw line because the person receiving the pass is already in position to shoot.

Game after game, I see Bogi get crossed over and his man goes middle on him while Bogi Ole's.  I see Clint and John take the bait and follow a big who can't shoot outside the paint left or right. I see our guys body people up  well but someone comes to help vacating the middle, leaving a cutter who makes John or Clint leave their big.  Over and over, bad choices all centered on leaving the lane open. Its really simple spacing based science.  A pass from outside the lane is much more likely to be deflected than a pass from inside the lane because of the distance the ball must travel. Stop giving up the lane.

Edited February 15, 2022 by thecampster

[thecampster]

Check this video and watch every pass in this drills video. Every pass is being forced from inside the stripes. This is purposeful and this is what we need to deny. You deny this, you win basketball games. You execute this, you win basketball games. The game isn't just who can dunk, who can shoot. Its about executing all the stuff before that happens.  Watch where every pass comes from in these drills. Count the number of passes that happen in the lane, the number that happen when the player doesn't reach the lane and see the difference on the angle, time it takes for the pass to come, the smoothness of the drill. Its a timing game. Its all about shortening the length of a pass for success or on defense, making them pass outside the lane to create turnovers.

 

[Diesel]

I was headed towards a what we lack on defense thread.  But nevermind...

I don't disagree with you.  Its a gameplan now, teams sink our middle with the penetration and kick out to the wide open threes. 

Against the Celts, I saw a lot of Clint coming down and moving towards the outside shooter until their man could get in place.  It's seems that he's still quick enough to ween off the middle take a man and make it back to the middle.  The point is that our guys have to hrry back  into their defensve positions.

[macdaddy]

3 hours ago, Diesel said:

NOT PNR.  But a guy who gets the ball and will put it on the floor and head towards the rim. 

The only player that we have who does it OK is Bogi.   

Huerter and Hunter doesn't seem to want to be touched so they don't do it with strength.

Yes.   

[thecampster]

46 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I was headed towards a what we lack on defense thread.  But nevermind...

I don't disagree with you.  Its a gameplan now, teams sink our middle with the penetration and kick out to the wide open threes. 

Against the Celts, I saw a lot of Clint coming down and moving towards the outside shooter until their man could get in place.  It's seems that he's still quick enough to ween off the middle take a man and make it back to the middle.  The point is that our guys have to hrry back  into their defensve positions.

I really don't see a problem on offense, that better defense won't fix.   See below. The difference between the Hawks and Hornets right now is 8 ppg (in transition).

[Diesel]

Well Cap, 

Right now, we are the league's worst fast break team.. or somewhere close.   This is a problem because we should be faster.   I think the issue is that on a break, we break off to the 3 pt line. 

In the highlight package of JC I showed, he has always been a lob finisher.   PNR is no brainer for that.   However, his game has to move from catching a lob to dribble penetration for the dunk.   Defenses are so frozen when he has the ball because they know that the ball is going to swing. 

There's no doubt that defense got to get better but why not make our offense the best that it can be in the process?