GT Hornets vs Hawks Sun Nov 1st 2PM EST

[catch20two]

Lamb needs way more minutes. I don't care if its in a starting role or whatever, but 18 minutes like today just isn't enough.

[Lorenzomax7]

I want to see Lamb play more with Kemba and Batum.

Zeller-Marvin-Batum-Lamb-Kemba should be our primary lineup.

I wanted to see this combination too
Lamb did play with Kemba and Batum from 8:04 to 4:44 in 4Q - first with Hawes/Zeller then Jefferson/Zeller. Both units were not able to score any points at all. And they together gave up six points. That's when we went from ahead by 5 to behind by 1

to be fair, they were facing the Hawks starters,
and this is a ridiculously small sample size

Edit
I don't think this is any indication of how good this unit could be - just one data point

Like I said... both big man combos killed the spacing... Marvin's consistent 3-pts plays worth a tons for this team.

[DY_nasty]

spacing had nothing to do with kemba and lamb staring at each other trying to figure out how to basketball

[therebirth]

So Winslow went for 10 points in 30 mins and 2-2 from three. The 19 year old we didn't pick partly because he was not ready. I bet he would have been glued to the bench here though while we lose every game.

[Eoghan]

Pjs role is to help batum defensively by taking the best wing. So far he has managed that, hopefully the shots start falling.

I am not a fan of his at all, but it would be great for the team.

I don't feel like this plays to anyone's strengths. I'd rather have Batum guard the best wing and play set-up man and let PJ focus on *gulp* scoring. It feels like the whole team is put in unnatural positions.

Kemba: Play point guard and facilitate.
Batum: Play go-to scorer even though you've never been that, ever.
Zeller: Play some hybrid of McBob and Biyombo but stay out of the paint for Al.
PJ: Play MKG (he's done a decent job of defending but c'mon, this isn't who PJ is)
Hawes: Be an NBA player (really unfair to ask that much of Spence)
Al: Don't be Al Jefferson and play selfish, fat kid basketball.
and so on.

I think Frank gets limited minutes b/c Clifford can't figure out how to misuse him yet. The only guy that seems suited to his role is Marv and sometimes Lin when the players around him aren't performing crimes against basketball humanity.

[TinmanZBoy]

guards need to attack quicker, go to the rim more often, that's way to open up the offense... AL's low post iso is the least efficient offense now, and he missed a lot gimmies...

[TinmanZBoy]

the bigs need to roll to the rim more...

[TinmanZBoy]

the bigs need to roll to the rim more...

[Braggins]

spacing had nothing to do with kemba and lamb staring at each other trying to figure out how to basketball

Eh, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't work together. They didn't really play together hardly at all in the preseason so that might have something to do with their lack of chemistry, but their skillsets still complement each other fairly well. If we would have just been focusing on building a chemistry between them as soon as MKG went down instead of trying all these goofy lineups and playing people out of position I think it could probably work. If Kemba can build a good chemistry with Batum and Lin then I don't see why it can't be built with Lamb.

I personally wouldn't start PJ, but as long as he is defending well and staying controlled it isn't something I'll complain about. It might actually still be a good thing since it is possible if we move him to the bench he might go off the rails and we'd lose him as a usable player completely. With this setup we are at least getting decent minutes from him, which is not something I would have every expected from him at this point. First thing that needs to happen with our starting unit is removing Al. If that doesn't help our offense enough then we should probably just start Lamb.

[steady]

Pjs role is to help batum defensively by taking the best wing. So far he has managed that, hopefully the shots start falling.

I am not a fan of his at all, but it would be great for the team.

I don't feel like this plays to anyone's strengths. I'd rather have Batum guard the best wing and play set-up man and let PJ focus on *gulp* scoring. It feels like the whole team is put in unnatural positions.

Kemba: Play point guard and facilitate.
Batum: Play go-to scorer even though you've never been that, ever.
Zeller: Play some hybrid of McBob and Biyombo but stay out of the paint for Al.
PJ: Play MKG (he's done a decent job of defending but c'mon, this isn't who PJ is)
Hawes: Be an NBA player (really unfair to ask that much of Spence)
Al: Don't be Al Jefferson and play selfish, fat kid basketball.
and so on.

I think Frank gets limited minutes b/c Clifford can't figure out how to misuse him yet. The only guy that seems suited to his role is Marv and sometimes Lin when the players around him aren't performing crimes against basketball humanity.

Lol
-- I just want to see Zeller play center and Kaminsky get more minutes, and things at least in this small corner of the Hornets universe to begin to move towards a natural alignment

[steady]

Clifford tried several mixed starters/bench line ups in this game. They each played for only a few minutes - a small sample size. The most interesting of these were:

Hairston with Kemba-Batum-Zeller-Jefferson to close the first half.
Lamb-Kemba-Batum with two bigs mid way through 4Q.
Batum with Lin-Lamb-Hawes-Zeller to close the 3Q
There was also Kaminsky with starters and Marvin with bench
Lin with starters to close the game

Most of the groups did not really move the needle.
Lamb-Kemba-Batum with two bigs did poorly - but they played against Hawks starters

The only group that really out performed was: Batum with Lin-Lamb-Hawes-Zeller. They scored 11 points in 3:11 minutes and extended Hornets lead from 2 to 6.
This grouo is fast and they seem to play well together. Replacing Hawes with Kaminsky woukd probably make this unit even better.

Another interesting data point is that Lin scored both of his made FGs, and Zeller scored two of his three made FGs during this stretch - Zeller had a dunk and reverse layup

[yosemiteben]

Surprising stats:

Hornets 13 blocks, Hawks 6
Hornets 14 - 37 from three (37.8%), Hawks 7 - 29 from three (24.1%)
Hornets and Hawks both with 9 ORBDs
Hornets with 27 assists on 32 FGM (!), Hawks with 22 assists on 37 FGM

Lots of positive indicators. Honestly our biggest problem is scoring in the paint - ironically the problem with the 4 out, 1 in is not the 4 out, it's that our 1 in guy can't consistently score in the paint. Al is shooting 60% (9 - 15) less than 5 feet from the basket, but is shooting just 23.1% (3 - 13) from 5 - 9 feet. Cody has finished very well around the basket (7 - 9), but nobody else has.

[steady]

Another surprising thing:

9 of Hornets' 13 blocks were by Williams, Batum, Lin, and Lamb

Marvin - 3
Batum - 2
Lin - 2
Lamb - 2

[Flip Murray]

Surprising stats:

Hornets 13 blocks, Hawks 6
Hornets 14 - 37 from three (37.8%), Hawks 7 - 29 from three (24.1%)
Hornets and Hawks both with 9 ORBDs
Hornets with 27 assists on 32 FGM (!), Hawks with 22 assists on 37 FGM

Lots of positive indicators. Honestly our biggest problem is scoring in the paint - ironically the problem with the 4 out, 1 in is not the 4 out, it's that our 1 in guy can't consistently score in the paint. Al is shooting 60% (9 - 15) less than 5 feet from the basket, but is shooting just 23.1% (3 - 13) from 5 - 9 feet. Cody has finished very well around the basket (7 - 9), but nobody else has.

The problems are definitely in the paint both offensively and defensively. At times in the first half it was a layup line for the Hawks. It's really going to come down to our wings/guards staying in front of people. 13 blocks is so surprising to me given how easy it looked like they were getting into the paint.

3 blocks for Marvin
2 blocks for Lin
2 blocks for Lamb
2 blocks for Nic

That's definitely not going to continue. We have to get the interior defense sorted out. That being said, Teague/Schrodor is one of the toughest combos to stay in front of in the league. Schrodor is incredibly quick.

[Snidely FC]

I think Frank gets limited minutes b/c Clifford can't figure out how to misuse him yet.

This is so funny and true I'm printing it out and hanging it on my fridge..