How do the Hawks get better defensively?

[Jamaaliver]

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[jayu70]

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[jayu70]

I guess the answer to the OP's question was 'Change the Coach.'
The Hawks defense has been much improved and considering we are not a full strength and missing our best wing defenders.
He knows

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[jayu70]

Hawks have taken a nose dive defensively. Besides being unbale to limit perimeter penetration, leaving shooters wide open etc.... Here's looking at you Clint.

2. Clint Capela hasn’t been a factor on either end
What’s clear through 12 games is how Capela is nowhere near the player he was last season for the Hawks. Capela transformed the middle of the defense for Atlanta and was one of my finalists for Defensive Player of the Year. .....Capela is one of the quickest centers in the league, and it’s his ability to run the floor that separates him from lumbering big men. The explosiveness that he prides himself on is nowhere to be found right now, and it’s particularly showing on his ability to get lift on his shots at the rim. He’s made just 59 percent of his shot attempts at the rim, ranking him in the bottom quartile of all big men.......

What’s extremely concerning right now for Atlanta is how much better the team has been defensively when Capela is off the floor. The Hawks are over 16 points better per 100 possessions defensively when Capela is sitting. Now compare that to last season where the Hawks were over 8 points per 100 possessions worse when Capela sat.

Teams have been pulling Capela away from the rim with the amount of switching the Hawks have done, and it’s exacerbated the team’s issues. McMillan said it’s not by design how often the team has switched.

“That’s a call on the floor for our guys,” McMillan said. “We prefer to stay with our matchups. That’s a thing I want our guys to understand is that when we give them a matchup, we want to try to keep that matchup. There’s sometimes on the floor when you have to switch and that’s communicating. I’m not really big on switching. I think it’s easy to give your opponent the matchup they want, so we don’t do that unless it’s an emergency. There are certain rules with certain guys that we try not to switch and give teams the opponents the matchup they want.”

There’s no way to sugarcoat how bad it is right now for Capela and how brutal his performance has been for the team’s success thus far. It’s likely going to take more time for Capela to get back to 100 percent...

https://theathletic.com/2944445/2021/11/10/hawks-defense-is-a-mess-capelas-start-john-collins-role-and-five-observations-of-atlantas-five-game-losing-streak/?source=emp_shared_article

[jayu70]

Painful. We just can't seem to get these guys playing meaningful games together.

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[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

A Question for Each NBA Team Down the Stretch

Atlanta Hawks

Can the Defense Be Salvaged to Stay in the Play-In Mix?

Arguably no team this season has been a bigger letdown than the Hawks, who made the Eastern Conference Finals last year and are now barely hanging on in ninth place in the play-in tournament.

The biggest culprit: their defense, which has been bad enough (currently 26th in the league) to offset Atlanta having the NBA's second-best offense. It doesn't help that John Collins, one of the few plus defenders on the roster, has missed the last five games with a foot injury. He should theoretically be back soon, but that alone won't be enough to fix a defense that has been atrocious all year.

The Hawks aren't going to repeat their trip to the conference finals, but if they want to even have a chance of getting out of the play-in, the defense has to be better.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953898-1-question-for-every-nba-team-down-the-stretch