Da art of Storytellin: The 2015-16 Official Thread of Your Atlanta Hawks #SET

[PimpHandStrong]

I hope we make some good moves in the next few months because the time is coming for me to choose to renew my season tickets or not

 

[#1 pick]

They going in on Peachtree hoops . Looks like the #TradeHorford bandwagon is slowly gaining momentum.

Horford ain't close to the problem but this is what happened to Joe to a degree, when you start taking max money, fans want elite, not very good but elite and this is a team game. Sometimes we forget that. With that said, Al is way more important for us than Joe ever was but this is what happens.

I am fine with him and Sap. They did good jobs but I am livid with our guards except Jeff. All of them are kinda worthless on more than one occasion. Dennis flashes stardom but he flashes inconsistent a lot as well. With that said, the Hawks have a mediocre starting five with Bazemore, they don't get enough offense from Thabo and there is no one else who's ready to start off the bench who can play SF. They have to get a wing. A SF or tweener with size who can defend, score and rebound. They have to get that.

 

[AVXL]

Horford ain't close to the problem but this is what happened to Joe to a degree, when you start taking max money, fans want elite, not very good but elite and this is a team game. Sometimes we forget that. With that said, Al is way more important for us than Joe ever was but this is what happens.

I am fine with him and Sap. They did good jobs but I am livid with our guards except Jeff. All of them are kinda worthless on more than one occasion. Dennis flashes stardom but he flashes inconsistent a lot as well. With that said, the Hawks have a mediocre starting five with Bazemore, they don't get enough offense from Thabo and there is no one else who's ready to start off the bench who can play SF. They have to get a wing. A SF or tweener with size who can defend, score and rebound. They have to get that.

I agree with you for the most part but my biggest problem with us is that this team as currently constructed is not going to compete for titles (conference or league) were a viable division contender & that's it. I don't care if we win 10 straight, this isn't a team built to win at a high level. I'd trade everybody we could even if it means we have to rebuild

 

[#1 pick]

I agree with you for the most part but my biggest problem with us is that this team as currently constructed is not going to compete for titles (conference or league) were a viable division contender & that's it. I don't care if we win 10 straight, this isn't a team built to win at a high level. I'd trade everybody we could even if it means we have to rebuild

I finally had time to write an article on this team. Just like my eyes said, the issue is Bazemore starting and no wings. I knew that already but team stats really back it up.

 

[Motife43]

I finally had time to write an article on this team. Just like my eyes said, the issue is Bazemore starting and no wings. I knew that already but team stats really back it up.

Link?

 

[#1 pick]

Link?

The Bazemore Conundrum ​

Kent Bazemore is a very unique player. On the surface, he is one of the best players on Atlanta (4th to 5th best), giving you decent rebounding for a SF, very good if he was a SG, scores at a solid clip, runs more than anyone other Hawk at a very good speed, second to only Kyle Korver who's always been world class in that category since he's been a member of the Hawks and he has solid defensive tools. On surface, he seems like a good player for us and he actually replaces Carroll's value surface wise quite well but he's is where the film, stats and impact doesn't equal the surface level as we dig into Kent Bazemore.


NBA.com, shouts out, your stat tracking is top notch.


Bazemore is our best player at rebounding chances. Higher on a consistent basis than Millsap and double that of Horford which is why I keep telling you, Horford isn't around the boards. Saying, well he's not rebounding is bullshyt. Anyway, I am going off track, back to Bazemore. While he is getting the most rebounding chances on the team, he is primarily only getting uncontested rebounds at 86%. While DMC has 74% at had a contested rebounder % of slightly over 20%. This makes for a massive difference. This means that Carroll battling for rebounds even if his rebounding percentage which is just solid for a SF is respectable. Bazemore on the other hand is getting obvious rebounds. Which leads to the Horford question. Why is Horford only getting so many rebounding opportunities this year compared to last? From the numbers, he has the same close range % then he did last year but the drop is in around FT line range and past it. When you look into it more, you start to notice something. It's Carroll. Carroll was a much better offensive rebounder than Bazemore especially in the paint and superior from 19+ ft. This means teams have to account for Carroll's rebounding activity on the perimeter while they don't for Bazemore. This small difference can make a massive difference for coaches gameplan.



Once you start to go into the numbers you quickly realize, this team is not much different than last years. Their better at 2pt fg%, a step worse at 3pt%, rebounding has gotten worse and over fg% is similar. Defensively, it's not much different either. In fact, the bench is even more productive so what is wrong with your 2015-16 Atlanta Hawks:

The Bazemore Effect.

Yes, the Bazemore effect. In 2014-15 via 82games.com, Kent Bazemore was our worst lineup fit on the roster. Twice as bad as Elton Brand and only better than a player we traded in the middle of the season in Adreian Payne. Our lineups, no matter who was in it was had worse efficiency with Kent Bazemore than anyone else on the roster. Only player close was Austin Daye who simply had too small of a sample size and was a scrub. This is the opposite of a Kyle Korver who was efficient with any roster pairing he was placed with which continues the stamp that Korver is our most important piece.

As for 2015-16, like in 2014-15, Bazemore has been a part of some of our best lineups +/- but only for a smart period of time. There is no lineup where's he played 60 minutes or more with a higher than 50% chance of winning and it reminds the same this year. This may seem small but while playing over a thousand minutes, we had a 56% chance of winning with Carroll. This may seem small but this number is quite massive. The elites give their teams a 60-65% chance of winning. The HOF elite's give their team a 70-75% chance of winning which is unreal, those are your Curry's and Lebron's. To give your team the same chance of winning as an elite as DMC does in the starting lineup makes this team have a higher margin of error but since I mention that. Why?

If Carroll is giving us nearly the same thing Bazemore is on surface, how is Carroll the problem. On stats, Korver is the problem, look Supes. I am looking, on surface, Kyle has dropped on from his AS level performance but when I dig deeper. He's having the best two man lineup of any member of the team by a mile and there is only 4 players Bazemore is having success with and that's Dennis, Al, Kyle and Tiago and the sample size is too small for Tiago with Baze while Korver is damn near successful with any pairing on our roster. This is an issue and I sure Bud see. It's a problem when you struggle with 2/4 the starters on the court. While Carroll had a great success with all of the starters and bench players as well. With a very small sample size, Bazemore only had success with Mack and Millsap last year. Big shout out to Dennis, his improvement is all this season. He was ass last year.

Let's get into the tape. The biggest issue is between Carroll and Bazemore is size and overall BBIQ, especially defensive. Carroll and Bazemore are both hustle players. They are both longer NBA players and they are both really good NBA runners. They tend to run more than most guards and wings in the NBA. Both have good defensive tools. They have developed into solid shooters. While Carroll is better at scoring off of the move, Bazemore is much better at creating his own offense. Where they differ is size and BBIQ.

Where size plays a role is on defense. Bazemore has a 6'11 wingspan which is longer than Carroll's and it does show in terms of effecting the three point range, giving up 33% at a 36% freq from v. wings who are usually taller is really good while Carroll gave up 35% at a 37.8 freq. Carroll is one of the best 3pt line defenders in the NBA while Bazemore was good at 3pt line defense. Where they completely differ is defending wings outside of that. While Bazemore has better defensive numbers on surface, we used Carroll as a combo forward. We used him in different pairings which really helped our offense just as much as our different. He didn't need help defensively anywhere near as much as Bazemore which really helped Horford. The biggest difference is BBIQ. Carroll's BBIQ was huge for us. One of the most smart defenders in the NBA. Who always was in the right position. While he isn't the iso defender that Bazemore is, he is a much better team defender and plays within the offensive to a supreme degree. These are things that do not show up on the stat sheet for tracking but it does in the film room.

With that said, this team doesn't need much. Dennis improvement has been very good but he's still not ready to be a championship PG unless he takes a mid-season leap which we have seen before from very talented players. Jeff in the last 10 games has been back and he was dealing with an injury which caused issues to his production. Horford hasn't been much different than last year. Better in some areas and worse in others. He's doing a lot more help on defense this season which shows in the numbers and he is out of position a lot more due to it than last year. Millsap seemed to take an volume leap but his efficiency has dropped. Korver seem to drop in every category but not substantially which is a good thing. Bazemore and Dennis has taken a huge leap. They are miles better this year than last. The bench is better across the board especially with each other but far less efficient with the starters than last year. This team doesn't need a major chance but they do need a wing. Bazemore conundrum is he's not ready to be a starter on a winning team. He is a starter for a 50% winning team which we are but Bazemore is the reason why. Our numbers are underachieving but overachieving as well. We should have a much better record but the numbers but our lineup fits say we would be a 42 win team. Atlanta is having the Cleveland Cavs issue last year before Mozgov with a bad fit issue.

 

[Motife43]

Great stuff. I'll save my comments for the discussion tonight. Where was this posted? You think anybody from that site might want to join us?

 

[Steezy]

Looks like we just traded teague

 

[Sly Cookin]

Looks like we just traded teague

Link?

 

[Southeast Jerome]

Looks like we just traded teague

Nothing official yet, breh.

 

[I Got Werk]

How convenient

After a decade of never doing anything of notice but always making the playoffs in the east, never ever fielding a legit game-changing player, not being a top nba market, an infinite history of shytty management.....

This team suddenly becomes the best team in its conference, wins 60 and plays cute unselfish team ball that teams with superstars/greater talent can't beat anymore, just when the franchise is about to be SOLD what a coincidence

Back to our usual ways I suppose

It was nice thinking this wasn't a pushover team for a minute but lettuce be real

And we about to pay Paul and Al 20mill+ each when wing players have dominated the league since I started watching

Sorry brehs had to get that out

 

[I Got Werk]

Good

Blow this shyt up

 

[Steezy]

 

[NY's #1 Draft Pick]

So I heard Teague erased all his hawks shyt off IG


Welcome to the #KnicksTape touch me Teague me

 

[I Got Werk]

For Olynik
edit: rumor