What will Hawks offense look like under Lloyd, Lin and Young Trae?

[Jamaaliver]

Actual step in the right direction:

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[macd-gm]

Actual step in the right direction:

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It's almost as if talent makes a difference in the teams performance.

[hawkmanreturns]

Actual step in the right direction:

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I have regained some confidence in Pierce after he made the much needed adjustment to get Collins the ball. The offensive structure and the defense has actually improved. But it couldn't get any worse so...

[Jamaaliver]

I have regained some confidence in Pierce after he made the much needed adjustment to get Collins the ball. The offensive structure and the defense has actually improved. But it couldn't get any worse so...

He's also clearly greenl;it Collins to be more aggressive on the offensive boards.

A welcome change from the Budenholzer era:

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[Jamaaliver]

Has Lloyd finally stumbled upon a combination that works?

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[Jamaaliver]

Encouraging sign for the offense.

Damning stat regarding the 'D'.

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[Jamaaliver]

This season, the Hawks rank second -- behind only the Houston Rockets -- in corner 3 attempts.

Atlanta is shooting more 3-pointers but making just 32.5 percent, tied for the second-worst percentage in the league; the Bulls and Hawks are mired in a battle for the bottom of the Eastern Conference despite their emphasis on game-ifying markings.

A great offense, of course, requires both a smart scheme and high-level players to execute it.

In the meantime, Pierce's faith has hardly been shaken. Even as Young has shot just 24.1 percent from 3-point range and 37.8 percent overall, Pierce has urged Young to continue shooting. The first-year coach believes he has the groundwork for his offense of the future with Young and Collins, and he trusts that the shots will fall eventually.

For all the colored court markings and diagrams, there's one other key to the Hawks' next generation: a green light.

"The messaging now is don't stop," Pierce says. "Shoot it more."

ESPN

[Jamaaliver]

Pierce has reiterated all season the type of high-volume shooting he wants. Despite the fact that the Hawks collapsed on defense Sunday, Pierce said he saw his desired offensive success.

“We’re getting the shots we want, rims and 3’s. (I) would love to get more free throws, that’s just the mentality offensively. Some of our players are learning how to initiate contact and get to the foul line,” Pierce said. “We’re sharing the basketball. I think we had a season-high of 38 assists the other night. So that’s not the issue. The momentum is great because the number of shots went down. The way we been playing offensively is the way we want to play.”

The Hawks (6-23) shot .553 from the field, .483 from the 3-point line and 19 of 25 from the free-throw line in the loss.

AJC

[Jamaaliver]

Not quite sure what to make of this in regards to our bottom-5 offense.

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[Jamaaliver]

DURING the Hawks match up against the Brookyln Nets this week, the Hawks' Vince Carter ran a dribble-handoff with DeAndre' Bembry, who turned the corner and made a layup off the glass over the long arms of Brooklyn's Rodions Kurucs. A few minutes later, Atlanta ran the exact same action, except it was Bazemore handing it off to Carter, who drove at Harris and scored off the glass.

"That's when we're at our best, when the ball is moving both sides," Bembry told CBS Sports. "The next person goes, attacks. It might not be open, swing it to the next side. The same guy can do the same exact move and make the same exact play. I think that's just who we are."

Once a superstar, Carter now sees the game from the perspective of a playmaker. Bembry was drafted largely because of his feel for the game and passing ability.

...the Hawks rank fourth in 3s attempted and third in drives. Like Atkinson's Nets before this season, they can create the kind of shots they want, but are having a hard time knocking them down. Despite avoiding the midrange like the plague, they rank 28th in offensive rating.

Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said his goal is to make the defense move. Since he does not have a singular star, he needs the system to generate shots and wants all his wings to feel empowered to create. "Coach doesn't restrict us on anything," Bembry said, speaking from experience: Every time backup point guard Jeremy Lin has been hurt, Bembry has slid into the de facto point guard role. Bazemore, who first scrapped for minutes as an undrafted defensive specialist, has done the same thing in years past.

"I like DeAndre' a lot because he's kind of in the same situation I was," Bazemore told CBS Sports. "A 3-and-D guy, played point guard a little bit in college, and now he's in the position to show that."

CBS Sports

[Jamaaliver]

another SOLID OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE.

(Offense seems to be thriving without Prince as a ball stopper/turnover machine.)

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[macd-gm]

Also, pounding the ball inside a lot. It's looking better but there again we still lost by double digits despite a fantastic offensive showing. I like that Pierce has settled on a rotation more or less. I'm hoping Spellman can start taking some good minutes. The dude is money when left open for 3s. I could see him getting small ball time at the 5 next to Collins.

[Jamaaliver]

27. Atlanta Hawks (29)

Though it's probably not cool to harp on troubling stats with Atlanta's best stretch of the year so recently completed, it warrants mentioning that the Hawks have the least efficient half-court offense in the NBA and that Trae Young is technically the second-worst pull-up shooter in the league.

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Those two stats are likely related, and they suggest this freshly halted three-game winning streak won't happen again.

Bleacher Report

[macd-gm]

I'm not sure we can accurately predict trends for the team based on stats for a team starting 2 rookies and a sophmore.

[Jamaaliver]

I definitely fall into the former camp.

Find the open space within your shooting range and load up from there. Whether it's 15 feet or 25 feet.

Modern shot profile be damned when we're a bottom 5 offense 3 years in a row...

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Spoiler:

The Spurs are taking their shots however they can get them. While they do have a handful of deadly three-point shooters, Popovich's team is taking their shots from whichever area of the floor presents itself as the best option.

The Spurs rank dead last in the league in three-pointers taken per game, but tops the list in three-point percentage at nearly 40 percent. San Antonio also leads the league in mid-range shots taken per game, which is basically one of the seven deadly sins in today’s basketball.

Real GM

[Atlanta Hawk Fan]

I definitely fall into the former camp.

Find the open space within your shooting range and load up from there. Whether it's 15 feet or 25 feet.

Modern shot profile be damned when we're a bottom 5 offense 3 years in a row...

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Spoiler:

The Spurs are taking their shots however they can get them. While they do have a handful of deadly three-point shooters, Popovich's team is taking their shots from whichever area of the floor presents itself as the best option.

The Spurs rank dead last in the league in three-pointers taken per game, but tops the list in three-point percentage at nearly 40 percent. San Antonio also leads the league in mid-range shots taken per game, which is basically one of the seven deadly sins in today’s basketball.

Real GM

It isn't one or the other. You want to take open shots because they tend to go in at a higher %. When open shots aren't there, you want to take the "area of the floor" because that leads to the highest %.

A wide open long 2 (the "worst" area of the floor) can be good look in a lot of situations -- still need awareness for when it isn't a good look (i.e., not when you are Josh Smith, not when you have a better shooter wide open in the corner 3 spot, etc.). A contested long 2 is the worst shot in the game for almost every player and we've seen teams and periods in NBA history that loved to go for contest long 2's and paid a huge price in team scoring efficiency. Likewise, you don't pass on a wide open 2 for a highly contested corner 3. You've got to have that balance as an extreme adopting of either approach is unlikely to yield good results.

[Jamaaliver]

It isn't one or the other...You've got to have that balance as an extreme adopting of either approach is unlikely to yield good results.

I agree with most of this.

My issue with the modern shot profile is that it paints too a wide a brush on where shots should occur.

Contested jumpers by mediocre jump shooters are the worst shot in the league IMO. Whether that occurs at 18 feet or 25 feet out.

Bud was a guy who seemed to focus on shots at the rim and shots from 3. The issue, we didn't have many strong finishers or great shooters on our squad.

Lloyd seems to be subscribing to that same philosophy. Though he has a team flush with 3-pt shooters and strong inside...player.

I'm okay with 12-18 foot jump shots that are open and put up by consistent shooters. I'd rather a guy put up a mid-range shot he can hit consistently than a 3-pt shot that he's likely to miss.

[EazyRoc]

What’s also missed is that although it isn’t the most efficient shot in the game, you have to have players who can hit those pull up jumpers and can operate effectively in the 7-15 ft range. Help defenders and rim protectors will “stay home” or cheat off their guy just enough to help & close a passing lane to the guy they’re defending.

[Atlanta Hawk Fan]

What’s also missed is that although it isn’t the most efficient shot in the game, you have to have players who can hit those pull up jumpers and can operate effectively in the 7-15 ft range. Help defenders and rim protectors will “stay home” or cheat off their guy just enough to help & close a passing lane to the guy they’re defending.

That is the key. In the past, lots of guys who couldn't operate efficiently took those shots anyway. I think today's offense (league-wide) is a big improvement over that. Whether it has gone too far to the side of spectrum of focusing on shot location to the point of passing on good midrange shots is a legit question. Depends on the team, but I don't disagree that there are teams that have skewed too far to this end.

[leo7]

I think this is what happened in the Wizards game with Trae. He really is missing a mid-range game. It's either dribble around forever and make a difficult pass, or a contested layup.