Tomorrow night (Monday) Hawks play game #2, pre-season.

[Gray Mule]

76ers coming to town!  Another opportunity to observe some of these new Hawks and some of the old, veteran Hawks.  Can we have another impressive game?  Winning in pre-season is nice but watching our new, this season's edition, of our beloved Hawks is the most exciting part.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[kg01]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Whaaaa?  JoeLLLL Limpbiid is hurt again?

No, kg,it's knee mAnAgEmEnT....

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Spud2nique]

[JayBirdHawk]

.....there are three players I am very interested in watching for Atlanta tonight.

Can DeAndre Hunter bounce back?

Hunter did not have the best start to the pre-season. In order to hold onto his starting spot, at least early in the year, he will need to have a strong performance against Philly. He'll likely have to matchup with George - can he convert on his open looks? George is not the defender he once was, but he's solid enough to give Hunter a challenge. Hunter also needs to be more confident and effective on catch-and-shoot looks. It will also be interesting to see if the four assists he recorded against the Pacers are a sign of playmaking development or a one-off.

If George doesn't play, any of Kelly Oubre, Caleb Martin, KJ Martin, Ricky Council IV or Guerschon Yabusele are matchups that Hunter should be capable to hold his own against if he's going to be a starter on this team. I think some of Hunter's misses in the preseason opener against Indiana could be attributed to rust or an off night, but he won't have that qualifier against Philly.

How real is Dyson Daniels' offense?

Daniels hit 5-8 of his attempts from the field and one of his three attempts from deep. That three saved the offensive possesion - the ball came to him off a miss, he showed no hesitation and he drained the shot. Hitting his threes has been an issue for Daniels thus far - he's a career 31.2% shooter from three-point range. If he can hit on 34% of his attempts from deep, it will be enough to keep him on the floor as a viable shooter. Philadelphia does not have the best perimeter defense, but it would be good to see Daniels be confident in his shot and make one-two of his attempts from deep.

On defense, I expect Daniels to get a heavy dose of either Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr or Jared McCain. Maxey is arguably the fastest player in basketball, but Daniels is a superb athlete with plenty of length to disrupt Maxey. Now, Maxey had a great performance against a tough Timberwolves perimeter defense in Philly's preseason opener, but it will be interesting to see how much Daniels can slow him down. If McCain ends up playing the majority of minutes, I think this is a matchup Daniels has an advantage in. His combination of active hands, length and strength should make it difficult for McCain to get a clean look from deep or drive through Daniels. I also expect him to handle Oubre rather easily - Oubre is athletic and plays with a ton of energy, but Daniels is well-equipped to handle that.

Does the Zacch Attack continue for another night?

Zaccharie Risacher was widely expected to play a fairly limited role as a rookie as he adjusted to the NBA. However, he looked pretty comfortable against the Pacers, dropping 18 points and dishing out 2 assists to go along with 3 boards on 7-9 shooting from the field and 3-4 from deep.

He's not going to make 75% of his threes every night, but I'm interested in seeing if he can continue to stretch the floor while showing growth as a finisher inside the paint. There were flashes of advanced finishing - he had a nice layup over Tyrese Haliburton in the 1st quarter. He also has a good sense of positioning, as evidenced by his dunk that came as a result of finding a good spot in the post. His best play of the night was a between-the-legs assist to Capela in transition for a layup.

Overall, there were a lot of nice flashes from the French wing and it will be important from an evaluation standpoint to see if he can carry those over into another strong performance against the 76ers. High-level passing is one of the hardest things for a young wing to show, so it would be encouraging for him to continue trying different passes to see what he is comfortable with. I expect he will have plenty of catch-and-shoot opportunities with one of Trae Young, Kobe Bufkin or Jalen Johnson on the floor at all times for Atlanta. If he has another good game, I think it will be increasingly harder to keep Risacher out of the Hawks' starting lineup. I'd be especially focused in on the matchups he gets against George, Yabusele and K.J Martin. All three are big bodies who could give Risacher some trouble.

 

 

 

[AHF]

17 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

.....there are three players I am very interested in watching for Atlanta tonight.

Can DeAndre Hunter bounce back?

Hunter did not have the best start to the pre-season. In order to hold onto his starting spot, at least early in the year, he will need to have a strong performance against Philly. He'll likely have to matchup with George - can he convert on his open looks? George is not the defender he once was, but he's solid enough to give Hunter a challenge. Hunter also needs to be more confident and effective on catch-and-shoot looks. It will also be interesting to see if the four assists he recorded against the Pacers are a sign of playmaking development or a one-off.

If George doesn't play, any of Kelly Oubre, Caleb Martin, KJ Martin, Ricky Council IV or Guerschon Yabusele are matchups that Hunter should be capable to hold his own against if he's going to be a starter on this team. I think some of Hunter's misses in the preseason opener against Indiana could be attributed to rust or an off night, but he won't have that qualifier against Philly.

How real is Dyson Daniels' offense?

Daniels hit 5-8 of his attempts from the field and one of his three attempts from deep. That three saved the offensive possesion - the ball came to him off a miss, he showed no hesitation and he drained the shot. Hitting his threes has been an issue for Daniels thus far - he's a career 31.2% shooter from three-point range. If he can hit on 34% of his attempts from deep, it will be enough to keep him on the floor as a viable shooter. Philadelphia does not have the best perimeter defense, but it would be good to see Daniels be confident in his shot and make one-two of his attempts from deep.

On defense, I expect Daniels to get a heavy dose of either Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr or Jared McCain. Maxey is arguably the fastest player in basketball, but Daniels is a superb athlete with plenty of length to disrupt Maxey. Now, Maxey had a great performance against a tough Timberwolves perimeter defense in Philly's preseason opener, but it will be interesting to see how much Daniels can slow him down. If McCain ends up playing the majority of minutes, I think this is a matchup Daniels has an advantage in. His combination of active hands, length and strength should make it difficult for McCain to get a clean look from deep or drive through Daniels. I also expect him to handle Oubre rather easily - Oubre is athletic and plays with a ton of energy, but Daniels is well-equipped to handle that.

Does the Zacch Attack continue for another night?

Zaccharie Risacher was widely expected to play a fairly limited role as a rookie as he adjusted to the NBA. However, he looked pretty comfortable against the Pacers, dropping 18 points and dishing out 2 assists to go along with 3 boards on 7-9 shooting from the field and 3-4 from deep.

He's not going to make 75% of his threes every night, but I'm interested in seeing if he can continue to stretch the floor while showing growth as a finisher inside the paint. There were flashes of advanced finishing - he had a nice layup over Tyrese Haliburton in the 1st quarter. He also has a good sense of positioning, as evidenced by his dunk that came as a result of finding a good spot in the post. His best play of the night was a between-the-legs assist to Capela in transition for a layup.

Overall, there were a lot of nice flashes from the French wing and it will be important from an evaluation standpoint to see if he can carry those over into another strong performance against the 76ers. High-level passing is one of the hardest things for a young wing to show, so it would be encouraging for him to continue trying different passes to see what he is comfortable with. I expect he will have plenty of catch-and-shoot opportunities with one of Trae Young, Kobe Bufkin or Jalen Johnson on the floor at all times for Atlanta. If he has another good game, I think it will be increasingly harder to keep Risacher out of the Hawks' starting lineup. I'd be especially focused in on the matchups he gets against George, Yabusele and K.J Martin. All three are big bodies who could give Risacher some trouble.

 

 

 

I disagree with so much of this article.

Quote

Can DeAndre Hunter bounce back?

Can he?  Duh.  Of course he can.  He has been one of the most consistent players in Hawks history.  Pencil him in for the same production as the last few years with hopefully a few areas of modest improvement.

Quote

In order to hold onto his starting spot, at least early in the year, he will need to have a strong performance against Philly.

I will be very disappointed in Quin if he is making decisions on the rotation based on a couple of preseason games.  Hunter's spot should not depend on his performance in pre-season game #2.  That would be silly.  And I'm saying this coming from the perspective that I don't want to see him starting.

Quote

How real is Dyson Daniels' offense?

...Hitting his threes has been an issue for Daniels thus far - he's a career 31.2% shooter from three-point range. If he can hit on 34% of his attempts from deep, it will be enough to keep him on the floor as a viable shooter. 

While we all hope to see Daniels improve his 3pt%, it doesn't matter whether he shoots 31% or 34%.  He will be on the floor either way.  I would also say he needs to get higher than 34% to be an asset anywhere other than in the corner.  (His 31% was comprised of 39.2% shooting on corner 3's and  everywhere else.)

Quote

Does the Zacch Attack continue for another night?

.... There were flashes of advanced finishing - he had a nice layup over Tyrese Haliburton in the 1st quarter. 

Is 6'9'' Zacc scoring over Haliburton considered advanced finishing?  Given Tyrese's bottom of the barrel defense, I would consider that clearing a low bar for him.  

Quote

His best play of the night was a between-the-legs assist to Capela in transition for a layup.

No it wasn't.  He has lots of better plays than either one of these two that were called out here.  The between the legs pass was nothing but a little bit of sizzle on an otherwise pretty basic pass and the pass wasn't on target.  It made for a fine highlight since CC gathered it in anyway and made the bucket but I don't value that play very high compared to the rest of the night which was pretty exciting and promising stuff for the rook.  The best thing about the between the legs play was just that he felt confident enough to go for it.

[theheroatl]

Who really is gonna play tonight?

I think Trae sits. 

[JayBirdHawk]

40 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

Who really is gonna play tonight?

I think Trae sits. 

I think Trae plays since it's at home and they've had a really long unexpected break.

The next 2 on the road...maybe.

[Wretch]

Oh how time flies...  Why I remember their last preseason game many moons ago...when I was a still in my 40's, Zaccharie Risacher had an amazing game and the Hawks came back in the final seconds to win it with a 3.

I reckon that musta been 40 years ago today...
 

[JayBirdHawk]

Hawks starting lineup tonight:

Trae Young

Dyson Daniels

De'Andre Hunter

Jalen Johnson

Clint Capela

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Hawks starting lineup tonight:

Trae Young

Dyson Daniels

De'Andre Hunter

Jalen Johnson

Clint Capela

Is it bad that I’m really getting tired of Hunter’s style of play? He’s so damn predictable it’s ridiculous. Go Hawks!

[thecampster]

I know Hunter love is unpopular around here these days but Hunter, Dyson, Johnson as a staring 2-3-4 is pretty defensively.

[hawkman]

These guys are smothering the 76ers.

[JayBirdHawk]

I'm seeing defense.

[hawkman]

This defense is legit. The 76ers look rattled.

[MaceCase]

Active hands and lingth 

[NBASupes]

I might have underrated boosting Daniels defense from a 74 to a 90. Maybe he deserves a 93-94.

[Final_quest]

Stout defense leading to transition.