Hawks Continue to Disappoint in every aspect

[Jamaaliver]

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Atlanta Hawks Grades Halfway Through the Season



Grading the Atlanta Hawks' offense, defense, coaching, and front office through 41 games.

The Atlanta Hawks are 19-22 and ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference. That is just two games better than where they were at this point last year and a far cry from where they envisioned themselves entering the season. There is plenty of credit and blame to go around. Below are the midterm grades for Atlanta.

OFFENSE

Grade: D

Last year's team had plenty of shortcomings, but they were at least fun to watch. Everyone knew Atlanta's second-best offense would take a dip after trading Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari. Still, nobody expected this level of clunkiness on the offensive end of the floor.

Atlanta ranks 22nd in offensive rating and scrapes the bottom of the league in every outside shooting metric. To make matters worse, they are second in midrange shot attempts and bottom-five in free throw attempts. Trae Young and John Collins both went through the worst shooting slumps of their career but have since snapped out of it. The emergence of rookie AJ Griffin and Bogdan Bogdanovic's return has helped with floor spacing. Unless Atlanta brings in more help at the trade deadline, they will be mediocre at best on offense this season.

DEFENSE

Grade: B-

One of the few bright spots of the season so far has been the modest improvement of Atlanta's defense. Their defensive rating improved from 26th (113.7) to 15th (113). That is not bad, considering Clint Capela has missed the last ten games. Credit goes to assistant coach and "defensive coordinator" Mike Longabardi. Also, the addition of Dejounte Murray cannot be overstated. The combo guard's length, athleticism, and basketball I.Q. have bolstered Atlanta's permeable perimeter defense. However, Atlanta's points allowed on fast breaks and second-chance opportunities have taken a step back compared to last year. But that should not take away from the increased effort and individual development we have seen so far.

COACHING

Grade: D

On December 30, Hawks head coach Nate McMillan addressed a report that he had considered resigning during the season. Couple that revelation with his "misunderstanding" with Young during a morning shootaround, which resulted in the All-NBA guard playing hooky during a game - and that will tell you how the new campaign has gone for the veteran coach. McMillan admits that managing the personalities of new stars has been a struggle for him. However, he has played Griffin a lot more than other rookies in the past.

Plus, Jalen Johnson is getting more burn in his second season.

While legitimate complaints, critiques about substitution patterns, timeouts, and schemes are often debatable. Most fans (and media) could not hold a clipboard with McMillan in the film room, let alone during an NBA game. McMillan knows more hoops than us, but everyone can read and interpret stats. Almost all of which state Atlanta is underachieving, and their sum is not greater than the individual parts.

FRONT OFFICE

Grade: F

Atlanta's front office hit a home run with their blockbuster trade for Murray. But before even circling the bases, they embarked on a cost-cutting spree that gutted the bench. The front office's austerity measures were a precursor to the turmoil ahead.

Travis Schlenk, team president and architect of the rebuild, stepped aside in December. The same week, three high-level executives were let go. General manager Landry Fields and director of basketball and business operations Nick Ressler have been left in charge following the power vacuum. Atlanta is in the midst of its most perilous stretch since the start of the rebuild. The team's draft capital is depleted, and they have two All-Stars who they must keep happy or face a nightmare scenario. The February 9 trade deadline could potentially dictate the future of the franchise.

SI.com

[DirtybirdGA]

Dog poop. Bring on March Madness.

[jayu70]

I give them a Big Fat F! - I'm just not having fun watching the team play and they don't look like they are having fun playing either.

Things that stand out from that article:

Atlanta's front office hit a home run with their blockbuster trade for Murray. But before even circling the bases, they embarked on a cost-cutting spree that gutted the bench.

While legitimate complaints, critiques about substitution patterns, timeouts, and schemes are often debatable. Most fans (and media) could not hold a clipboard with McMillan in the film room, let alone during an NBA game. McMillan knows more hoops than us, but everyone can read and interpret stats. Almost all of which state Atlanta is underachieving, and their sum is not greater than the individual parts.

Except Nate, since he doesn't care what analytics say.

[Jamaaliver]

NBA midseason grades

Atlanta Hawks: C-



This is surely not the season the Hawks hoped to have. They’re under .500. The vibes aren’t great. The (erstwhile) team president stepped aside. The head coach has considered resigning. The big offseason trade for an All-Star hasn’t propelled them up the standings. They’re actually in the exact same place. The Hawks might just be the NBA’s reigning ennui champions. But they’re still in the playoff race despite everything that’s gone wrong, and a top-six seed is definitely possible. Can they fix the problems quickly enough to seize it?

The Athletic

[Jamaaliver]

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[HMFFL]

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Wow!


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[Jamaaliver]

[Jamaaliver]

More mediocrity...I kind of wish we'd been sellers at the trade deadline.

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[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

They seem to be falling short of their goals...big time.

[Jamaaliver]

Man, these guys undeniably needed this break right now.

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[jayu70]

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?s=20

[HMFFL]

They seem to be falling short of their goals...big time.

A bunch of underachievers

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[Jamaaliver]

Trea and DM are fine, its Collins thats the problem. Collins has not been able to live up on his end as being the #3 of the Hawks' big 3. With Collin's contract, he needs to be producing at least on the same level as Sabonis

Numbers indicate Hawks would benefit from Collins getting more touches in the offense:

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[Jamaaliver]

Personally, I hope we get to play Miami in the play-In game and Milwaukee in the 1st round.
I honestly believe we'll crush them the next time we play.

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[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

Let's see if we can manage to stay above .500 for the next 2 weeks...

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[Jamaaliver]

Stuff of legend!!!

IIRC, that's across three different coaches as well.

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[tbhawksfan1]

It's a shamne because this terrible play has greatly reduced the talent perception of the players on the team. Changes are needed and we will be getting bad deals due to this stink.

JC = bad contract. Negative value
Hunter = neutral contract at best
CC= negative contract

I expect to see the team either hold on to most of the players because of the poor returns or salary cut and take a talent hit

Looks like we're going to have to fall down before any chance of getting up

The front court is a BIG problem

[Jamaaliver]

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