So what exactly is our identity coming into this season?

[AHF]

13 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Isn't it true that the Hawks in general have been a positive with Bogi on the floor, regardless of who he's paired with? 

Yes but the numbers with Trae over the years have been particularly strong.  (For example, the team was positive with Bogi and DM but significantly better with Bogi and Trae.)

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In that vein, it seems very plausible to me that the best benefit to the Hawks is to figure out who best works with Trae and make that pairing featured.  I personally think DD works perfectly with Trae offensively and defensively.  And ZR also works with Trae better than DH does.  So to me, the combo of Trae, DD, and ZR is what maximizes Trae's minutes the most.  

I absolutely expect Quin to do exactly that.  I personally like Trae, Bogi, and DD but we are all just guessing on this.  I fully expect we'll see minutes where Trae is paired with Bogi / Dre, Bogi / DD, Bogi / ZR, DD / ZR, DD / Dre, and ZR / Dre and be able to see how the teams performs.  (I.e., I don't expect we will ever see Trae with Dre at SG or Bogi at SF.)

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Now, I recognize that this is all theoretical as we don't have any data with Trae, DD, and ZR yet.  But my point is we should start with that to see how it works and if it lives up to the expectations on paper and then if not, we can always sub Bogi in since we already know how that works.  

I agree with this just think it makes sense to start with Bogi.  He signed to be a starter in Atlanta.  He was arguably the most impactful player on the team last year and certainly one of the best 3 players on the team.  He is the oldest player on the team, at the end of his prime, and has more tenure with the Hawks than DD and ZR.  I think Quin should start with him getting the nod and work from there.

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In the meantime, Bogi's minutes are still going to be a positive with whomever he's playing with.  It's not like Bogi's value is going to be mitigated if he isn't playing with Trae.  He'll just be enhancing the overall numbers of the bench units when he's not on the floor with Trae.  And like I said in another post, they are still going to be on the court together some, just maybe not starting the game and featured.  That's my take.   

Bogi won't play all his minutes with Trae regardless of circumstances.  I think DD and Bogi will have important roles to play as facilitators and playmakers when Trae is on the bench.  Kobe isn't going to be running the team in a Trae-like heliocentric way.  It may end up being the case that Bogi needs to be on the floor for a lot of the minutes where Trae is off just because DD isn't enough of a threat and ZR is a rookie.  But since I expect Trae to be off the floor for something like 13 minutes a game, this doesn't mean a whole lot as far as who should start since you could sequence the rotations in a way to accomplish the dual goals of Bogi starting and being on the floor when Trae comes off (as an obvious example, if Trae is going to play the first 10 minutes then Bogi is the first one to come off and returns when Trae leaves the floor) or you could keep Bogi coming off the bench if you wanted.  

It is really wide open for Quin.  Dre to me is the guy who should clearly be coming off the bench but it wouldn't surprise me to see him start the season in the starting lineup (even if I think he would eventually cede that role ala Bey last year).

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

Bogi is better than Zacc until he proves otherwise.  One preseason game doesn't do it.  I certainly expect him to be better though. 

Dre yeah.  At this point it's becoming a toss up until Dre proves he has consistent impact on this team.  I'm ready for it though. 

Dre is extremely underrated on here and yes, I am a believer he needs to move to the bench but I always liked him more as a starter than Bogi and that matters to me as to who is better. Now, I don't want either as starters but that's just because of the direction of the style of ball we can play now that we couldn't in the previous years. 

Risacher is the 3rd best player on this team. You don't have to agree. I said rookie Al was better than everyone but Iso and people disagreed and I don't care. 

[NBASupes]

39 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

Dre is OK, but if he’s so valuable why doesn’t anyone want to trade for him?  
 
We’re clearly trying to move on from Hunter.  29 other teams are showing they don’t value him.  

Been having this conversation for years.  No metric shows Hunter has impact.  No team wants him at his price.  

Numbers love Bogi.  Any other argument apart from data is qualitative and sounds like selling Hunter as magic beans.

His contract. 

His contract. 

And his contract. 

[AtLaS]

I like Trae/DD/ZR/JJ/ and whomever at C.  However I'm OK with bringing ZR off the bench initially and let him earn it and play with less pressure.

Bogi is a really bad defensive player but the numbers do show that he and Trae have been successful together.  We will see if that continues with the new players and new combinations that we have.  

I love the idea of Bogi playing with Kobe/Hunter off the bench, and Nance/OO.  That is an absolutely ridiculous bench.  That means his defense against backups isn't as big an issue and is a major scorer off the bench.  It also means DD gets to start on the opposing teams best offensive player.

Regardless, this is a great problem to have.  We are going to be rotating so much that we will be able to see what is working and what isn't.

I love that the identity is around Trae again.  He is good enough offensively to lead this team, with hindsight we clearly didn't need Murray it caused us to take the ball out of Trae's hands more, and why would you want to do that with a top 5-10 offensive player.