Post#3 » by lethalweapon3 » Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:35 pm
Ryan Cameron was saving the best for last.
The Hawks’ hype-man announcer cycled through all the usual names at the player intros for the Atlanta Hawks’ Tip-Off 2011 fan event – Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachuuuuuliaaaaa, J-Smoove, J-J-J-J-Joe Johnson. Some familiar faces in new places – Tracy McGrady, Jerry Stackhouse. The odd ones, too – Vladimir Radmanovic, Magnum Rolle, Ivan Johnson, Donald Sloan.
Fans clapped politely, but Cameron knew, they were saving their energies. Due to the Lockout, fans had waited seven months to celebrate their newest savior.
“Hawks fans, here he is,” Cameron piped up, as fans stood up on their feet without any need for prompting, “your breakout star from the 2011 Playoffs… JEFF TEAGUE!” Josh Smith’s three-point block to end the Hawks’ first-round hex, back in April of that year, had Atlanta’s playoff crowd in a frenzy, and Joe certainly had his moments of tricky-dribble, big-shot grandeur. But the Pop level inside Philips Arena, even at half-capacity, hadn’t been this loud for anyone in years, not since a young Zaza and Al were running the bloviating Celtics out of town on a rail. Certainly, not at the outset of a new season.
“Jeff Teague will do.” That was the lukewarm sentiment for the 21-year-old rookie a decade ago, whenever Mike Woodson needed to spell a well-worn Mike Bibby during one-sided affairs. Also, from fans who really wanted a Jrue Holiday or a Ty Lawson to fall to the Hawks in 2009’s Draft, or for the team to boldly trade up for international teen dream Ricky Rubio, or Brandon Jennings, that Curry kid, or a real sure-shot, like Tyreke Evans. Teague’s no Jonny Flynn, many draftniks thought. But he’ll do.
Mike Bibby got traded away so Kirk Hinrich could guide Larry Drew’s Hawks into the postseason. It worked, in the first round upset of the Magic. But then, Hinrich got hurt, so… I suppose, we’ll just make-do with Jeff Teague.
No one, least of all the top-seeded Bulls, was ready for the stretches where Teague was going bucket-for-bucket with the league’s MVP, Derrick Rose. Jeff never led the Hawks in scoring, but it was his fearlessness on the court that grabbed all the attention during the six-game series. His valiance earned him the praise of critics and fans alike, as well as a permanent starting spot on a playoff-caliber roster that seemed unfathomable months before. We don’t tank enough to get our hands on the D-Roses of the world, so pulling for Jeff will have to do.
It would be several years, and several seasons of first-round exits, before Teague would draw audible adulation at the scale he received on that wintry 2011 day. At the height of the very, merry month of January 2015, he stripped an emerging MVP candidate point guard, Russell Westbrook, at mid-court and raced to the cup to seal the win during a rare nationally televised game at Philips Arena.
His latest Hawks coach, Mike Budenholzer, and the staff had Teague’s bug eyes lighting up like Ember Moon’s, and the guard’s stewardship during Atlanta’s legendary, month-long undefeated campaign made his credentials, and those of three teammates, impossible for All-Star-voting coaches to ignore. Alas, it would not be much longer before Hawks fans would say, “Jeff Teague will have to do, until Dennis Schröder is ready to take over.”
Teague never could elevate his performance, or his team, to coast above the landmines laid by LeBron over the years. But he was good enough to get his teams into postseasons. For teams like the Indiana Pacers, who were doing all they could to cling to superstar Paul George, and for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who needed a veteran presence on a palatable deal to caddy for their young upstarts, Playoff Teague would do, just fine. “He’s no Rubio,” Wolves fans would mutter upon his arrival in the Twin Cities. “But he’ll do.”
In the nine NBA seasons, and eight years of postseason appearances, that began with him Wally Pipp’ing Captain Kirk in the 2009 Playoffs, Jeff has started in all but six games. The only player on the Timberwolves that was born before that franchise’s first-ever NBA game, Teague graces his old court tonight, facing his old fans and his old team (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports North in MSP), with the clear knowledge that this is his final season as a full-time starter in the league.
New Wolves exec Gersson Rosas understands that, to his fanbase, Jeff Teague in the starting lineup for 2020-21 won’t do, not any longer. Teague will be a free agent, anyhow, as the flat three-year, $19 million annual deal he signed with his hometown Pacers in 2017 is set to expire this summer. But going forward, Teague will enter 2020’s free agent market as a 32-year-old whose best value is as a handsomely-paid reserve and emergency valve.
Teams that would consider wheeling and dealing with Rosas, beginning in mid-December as the trade market expands, wouldn’t plan on acquiring Teague, as a starter, to eke them into the postseason. Particularly, given the downturn in Jeff’s production and reliability over the past season plus. Injuries beleaguered Teague into missing half of last season with Minnesota (36-46, 11th in the West), while his 52.8 TS% and .085 WS/48, 12.1 PPG and 1.0 SPG were the lowest values since his second year biding his time on Atlanta’s bench.
Still, whenever Ryan Saunders could have turned to Rose, Jeff’s fateful teammate last season, as a starter at the 1-spot, Minnesota’s head coach decided that Teague, when healthy, would do just fine. And Teague remains a steady source for assists, as exhibited by his 7.7 APG this season (t-8th in NBA). His 35.4 assists per 100 possessions currently ranks 5th among PGs, a shade behind Rubio’s 35.7.
He still has his moments of prominence, like the season-high 21-point, 11-assist effort last Monday to help Minnesota top their division rivals in Utah. A trio of his dimes for three-point buckets, two to Wolves All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns (career-highs of 26.4 PPG, 12.4 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 59.0 2FG%, 44.9 3FG%), plus six points of his own in the closing seven minutes, helped the Wolves pull away in the clutch.
But the “Teague-over” flashes are fewer and farther apart, the victory in SLC being the sole win for Minnesota (8-8, 8th in NBA West) in their past five games. Ignoring his middle name of Demarco, frustrated T-Wolf fans have taken to initializing their starting ballhandler as “JFT”, and the F doesn’t stand for “Flash.”
They’d love for Jeff to go to town(s) feeding Karl-Anthony even more, especially inside (9.8 paint points per-48 for Towns, less than Trae Young’s 10.0 and Damian Jones’ 10.2; 20.0 Roll-Man possession percentage, lowest among bigs with at least 4 such possessions per game). In fairness to them both, it’s tough to get Minnesota’s offense flowing (105.7 O-Rating, 24th in NBA, one spot ahead of Atlanta’s 105.4) when they’ve got Andrew wiggin’ out.
There have been few high-usage, low-efficiency, low-production players more notorious than Andrew Wiggins, but the good news is that last season’s play (career-lows of 49.3 TS% and 12.4 PER), so far, looks like the nadir. Wiggins’ current 28.6 usage% is insanely high, but he is pouring in a career-high 25.2 PPG (14th in NBA), taking jumpers closer to the basket (19% of shots being 2FGAs beyond 10 feet, down from 30% last year and 39% in 2016-17), while threatening to exceed a 2-to-1 assist-turnover ratio.
Saunders has encouraged Wiggins to take better shots and make wiser decisions with the basketball in his hands. But the trade-off has been Teague (2-for-9 FGs and 6 assists in the Jazz-Wolves rematch at Target Center just two days later, an 8-point loss) resorting to reticence, and the 6-foot-11 Towns (9.1 3FGAs/game, 8.4 2FGAs/game) parking at the 3-point arc.
Injuries have sapped Minnesota’s depth lately, although they will be glad to have Robert Covington (missed Saturday’s 100-98 home loss to Phoenix due to bereavement) back in the starting lineup. Forward Jake Layman has been out with a toe injury, and guard Shabazz Napier (hammy) is doubtful to return to action tonight, while Josh Okogie (knee) and Treveon Graham (forearm) are listed as questionable.
You’d be forgiven if you saw the shooting splits of 36.7/28.1/34.5 (yes, the latter is free throws) and concluded that Cam Reddish’s offense was already a lost cause. Those are the present numbers for a highly hyped lottery pick from last year’s Draft. Only those belong not to Reddish, but to Jarrett Culver, the shooting guard taken four picks earlier by Phoenix to send to Minnesota in a Draft-night trade deal. Hawks fans already know it would be premature for anyone to look at Cameron Johnson’s early sweet-shooting exploits with the Suns and brand the Culver deal as some huge, franchise-defining draft mistake. Not that anyone would resort to such things.
In a rematch of sorts from the National Championship game, Culver will get to see, from the Hawks’ De’Andre Hunter (last 3 games: 23.7 PPG, 55.6 3FG%), that it won’t take much to turn a corner. He can also look to Reddish himself. Much maligned for being lost on the offensive end of the floor, Reddish has scored in double digits in his past three games (14.0 PPG, a less-scary 39.5 FG%), and went 3-for-3 on triples against the Bucks. Probable to play after a sprained wrist caused him to miss a couple games, Cam, like Culver, stays on the floor because of his defensive utility.
Rosas bid adieu to the likes of Rose and Dario Saric, then acquired Napier and Culver to join a returning Covington and Josh Okogie, in hopes of strengthening the defense around Towns and Wiggins (career-high 1.2 BPG). The results are increasingly promising as the Wolves held the Jazz and Suns below 105 points and 41 percent shooting (a season-low 34.4 FG% for Phoenix, who won anyway) in each of the past three games. With Covington back in the fold, it may just be a matter of somebody properly commandeering the offense. Jeffrey?
The New Breed of floor leaders that teams prefer running the show are either zippy and splashy, a la Trae (4-for-11 3FGs in his triple-double vs. MIL, after a 7-for-33 run the prior 5 games), strong and aggressive, crafty and creative, or, in many cases, hardly a traditionally trained guard at all. Jeff doesn’t fall neatly into any of those boxes. But what he can be, either next year or by this winter’s Trade Deadline, is an upgrade over the league’s current class of backup veteran ballhandlers.
Teague’s current salary is a bit too steep for a backup PG, but that would also be the case for Atlanta’s current stopgap, Evan Turner, an opponent Teague delightfully toyed with in the 2015 Playoff series with the Pacers, who presently gets paid under a million dollars less while doing nearly a million things less.
Young has been, and will continue to be, fantastic on many occasions in Atlanta. But for the Hawks (4-12) to eventually get out from under the NBA’s doormat, in the years to come, they’ll need a veteran backup for Trae who is not a defensive sieve, and/or for whom risk aversion is a positive asset. If Jeff Teague saves his next contract for his last one, you know what? He just might do.
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
"Dunking is better than sex." - Shawn Kemp, 1996
