Mid -Season Player Grades

[Vietbrah]

Now that we're at the mid way point of the season, what grades would you give each player based on their play and give a description.

[killbuckner]

Joe- A-. Offense has fallen off lately but is being asked to do a ton on defense to cover for Bibby.
Bibby. A+. Seriously- he has done better than anyone could have possibly hoped for. He declined 3 seasons in a row and now has turned it around completely
Marvin B+. Added a 3 point shot but really hasn't made a dramatic step up in his overall game. Looming FA is going to be interesting.
Josh B. Taking too many dumb shots but that had to be expected after he signed the big contract. Injuries have affected him
Horford B. Still not particularly a huge threat on offense but rebounds and plays good defense.
Flip. A-. I mean obviously this grade is on a sliding scale but he has been far more useful then I ever would have predicted.
Zaza. C. Another mediocre season.
Acie- B. Pretty much what you would expect.
Evans- C. Just hasn't been much of an asset on offense or defense.
Solmon- B. eh- he has been OK.

[JoshB914]

Bibby- A Has done more than we could have ever asked for. His leadership and ability has completely transformed this team.

Joe- B He's been awful for about a month after a great start. But I'm sure he'll pick it up when he gets his legs back.

Marvin- B He's never going to be a star. But he looks comfortable and confident on the floor, using his athleticism to his advantage on both sides of the ball.

Josh- B- His blocks are wayyy down and that is where he is most valuable. Like Joe, he should be fine once he's back to full speed.

Horford- B: We know what we're going to get from him.

Mo- C+: Not having his best season on offense, but he shoots the trey well and gives us some toughness off the bench that we have missed over past seasons.

Flip- A: Ronald learned how to shoot three-pointers at some point. He's a guy who has come off the bench many a time and completely turned a game in our favor. This has been by far his best season thus far if you ask me.

Zaza- B: He's been a nice backup center. Gives us extra possessions with offensive boards and is shooting the ball quite well as he isn't trying to do too much on offense.

Acie- D: No improvement whatsoever. I still don't think he has what it takes.

Solo- C-: Started off the year well, has been garbage ever since. Is he trying to foul out of every game he plays in?

Overall: B+: Hard to complain about where we are right now. The goal was to flirt with 50-wins and get home court in the first round and we are doing that. That being said, we need to find ourselves soon and start playing better basketball on a consistent basis. We have a murderous stretch coming up after the All Star Break that could really hurt our chances of a no. 4 seed if we keep taking games off.

[tontoz]

Hard for me to grade JJ and Smith because they are moving in different directions. Smith is getting better while JJ's game has fallen off a cliff.

Bibby has certainly played better up to this point than i could have imagined. Murray is also having what could be considered a career year.

As for everyone else nothing really stands out.

[conleyorbust]

Joe- B-, has obviously had a lot asked of him but he's the guy who makes the big bucks; would be A if it weren't for terrible January
Bibby. A. Done better than we'd hoped. Was never a good defender so no point in harping on that; good shooter/floor leader
Marvin B. New 3pt shot has been nice but still has the propensity to vanish on both ends.
Josh B. Big strides on offense, shooting a career high and % trending upward even though some though it would go down with the new contract. Defense has suffered though, injury?
Horford B. hasn't evolved as a post player at all, doesn't hit the glass as hard as last season. Improved somehwhat as a team defender though and his jump shot has been money
Flip. A. the dude was a minimum pickup. having what amounts to a career season and has even turned himself into a passable defender and 3pt threat.
Zaza. B. Started out slow but has come on stronger on D than ever before
Acie- C. Hasn't been able to take advantage of a few opportunities, although he blew up against the Cle
Evans- C. Step down from his previous season, passable and versatile bench player.
Solmon- B. has turned himself into a rotation player.

[LL Cool Scott]

Not much to add to all that...

Only hard one to grade is Horford. His defense has been exceptional, but his offense hasn't improved at all. He doesn't appear to have developed a go-to move yet. His midrange jumper has marginally improved, but it's nothing special. And he still picks up silly fouls (not surprising, given that he's guarding guys bigger than him almost nightly). I really thought he was going to explode this year, but it hasn't happened on offense.

Zaza, of course, earns a double AA.

[Skyhawk1]

Some of you must not be watching the Hawks to give Zaza a B. That's insane. Here's my take on our players.

JJ. B- . Lack of consistency.
Bibby. A- . Having a great season.
Marvin. C- . Marvin lacks the drive to be a great player. He's always going to be satisfied with being the 3rd, 4th option. His game got better though, but for a contract year, I'm not impressed at all.
Smith. D . The King of inconsistency. I can't wait till we trade him away.
Flip. B- . He's the scoring we needed when JJ goes to the bench, but he turns it over a lot, anyway, you get what you pay for.
Mo. C+ . He can score some, but he's a very poor defender.
Zaza. F . Horrible. He's not coming back next season.
Law. F . Another one who needs to go.
Solo. D . He wouldn't play a minute in 95% of NBA teams. Unfortunately we're in that 5%.

[conleyorbust]

Some of you must not be watching the Hawks to give Zaza a B. That's insane. Here's my take on our players.

JJ. B- . Lack of consistency.
Bibby. A- . Having a great season.
Marvin. C- . Marvin lacks the drive to be a great player. He's always going to be satisfied with being the 3rd, 4th option. His game got better though, but for a contract year, I'm not impressed at all.
Smith. D . The King of inconsistency. I can't wait till we trade him away.
Flip. B- . He's the scoring we needed when JJ goes to the bench, but he turns it over a lot, anyway, you get what you pay for.
Mo. C+ . He can score some, but he's a very poor defender.
Zaza. F . Horrible. He's not coming back next season.
Law. F . Another one who needs to go.
Solo. D . He wouldn't play a minute in 95% of NBA teams. Unfortunately we're in that 5%.

Ha, inconsistency is one thing I never expect from you my man. Solid as a rock.

You forget Big Al Horford.

[tontoz]

Some of you must not be watching the Hawks to give Zaza a B. That's insane. Here's my take on our players.

JJ. B- . Lack of consistency.
Bibby. A- . Having a great season.
Marvin. C- . Marvin lacks the drive to be a great player. He's always going to be satisfied with being the 3rd, 4th option. His game got better though, but for a contract year, I'm not impressed at all.
Smith. D . The King of inconsistency. I can't wait till we trade him away.
Flip. B- . He's the scoring we needed when JJ goes to the bench, but he turns it over a lot, anyway, you get what you pay for.
Mo. C+ . He can score some, but he's a very poor defender.
Zaza. F . Horrible. He's not coming back next season.
Law. F . Another one who needs to go.
Solo. D . He wouldn't play a minute in 95% of NBA teams. Unfortunately we're in that 5%.

Simth is shooting 49% and you give him a D? You really need to go to the store and buy a clue.

[Skyhawk1]

Ha, inconsistency is one thing I never expect from you my man. Solid as a rock.

You forget Big Al Horford.

Lol... I got to agree with you on that Conley, at least i stick to what I believe to be true... Anyway, I can't believe I forgot my guy Horford. I expected a bit more from him, but I can't be that hard on him. Dude's got to play bigger/stronger guys every night, he's worn out, just look how often he's been injured so far this season. I just hope we can get a Big man coach who really understands what it is to play in the paint, not our coaches that want him to post up players who got 20-50lbs and 1-7in over him. Still, he gets a B+.

[D21]

Not much to add to all that...

Only hard one to grade is Horford...

I was thinking the same, and I remember something that surprise me some days ago, once Horford got injured.
Nobody except you would tell that Zaza makes this team better than Horford but on the 82games page, I was surprised to see that Horford, while playing on a winning team with positive Diff (+1.5 at this moment but it was better before Horford's injury) has a On Court/Off Court Net of -6.4

That's a thing I didn't see while watching the games, at least not at this point. It would mean that Horford is not on the floor while the team is at his best. Certainly better than what we had before, but not enough.
And King Zaza has a +5.5 Net.

All the other numbers seem to match what we see, e.g. Murray with +2.7 and Evans (a big deception IMO) with -3.8.

Looks like Zaza can be more horrible than Horford, but has a better impact on the team.
Now, Horford can improve for years to come, while Zaza will stay at the same level.

Your thoughts ?

[JoshB914]

Zaza obviously isn't better than Al. But he has had a good season as the backup center.

[LL Cool Scott]

And King Zaza has a +5.5 Net.
Your thoughts ?

My thoughts?...

I retract my earlier ranking of The Zaza as a Double AA. Zaza Pachulia can't possibly be graded by earthly measures.

[Hood President]

JJ(B-) SkyHawk1 i disagree with you. JJ is th real king of inconsistantsy. how the hell are you gonna go a hole month sucking ass? he is suppose to be our so called all star and go to guy and he is sucking hard. i know wade, kobe or Roy for that matter wouldn't go a hole month playing horrible.He is shooting 42%. thats allen iverson numbers but iverson scored alot more whil shooting the same perecentage as joe is right now. Hopefully february will be different.
Bibby(B) Solid shooting. needs to be more consistant.
Marvin(B) Marvin seems to disapear during games. he will never be a all star but i can live with that. he got to be agressive and into games more.
Smith(B)Our best player lately. Earlier in the seaon he was jacking up threes like rashard lewis, turning it over like stephen jackson and defense like eddy curry. he is really starting to play like he did last year. the block shots will come. we just need bibby and JJ to get on track.
Horford(B-) hasnt really improved that much imo but still gets the job done.
Flip(A) all we need flip to do is score for us and he is doing so
Mo(C) good defense but a liability on offense and makes dumb fouls.
ZaZa(B-) our most physical player and a player we need. i actaully like ZaZa...just not starting.

Don't feel like grading everyone else.

[johnny878]

you guys are kidna down on marvin. He disapears alot because the hawks have 3 of the biggest chuckers in the nba in joe, bibby, and flip. Smith isnt much better either.

Everytime one of the chuckers have gone out hurt, Williams has stepped up big time. He just doesnt get involved enough in the offense when the hawks have a bunch of guys taking jacking up a bunch of **** shots constantly.

Cant really fault the guy for being unselfish on a team full of guys who think a fadeaway over the back 3 is a high percentage shot.

[lethalweapon3]

Speedy: W (for "Who?")

Solo: F ("Yeah, I skipped out on Summer League. But I've worked so hard by myself this summer to get better, y'all just wait and see!" We're still waiting. We're NOT seeing.)

Mario: F (Hasn't been Super, and that includes preseason. Having not progressed, I'd rather have Luigi on the bench.)

Othello: D- (Remove "and that includes preseason" from the prior statement... and replace "Luigi" with "Cassio.")

RandMo: D- (The Hawks sorely needed a presence in the paint to spell Horford. They got a guy just happy to collect a NBA check and still get home cooking from his mama. Only reason it isn't lower is, for quite a bit more money, this was almost Kwame Brown's spot.)

Acie: D (He's at a point where he needs to be spec-tacular when he gets his crumbs of minutes. We're still waiting. Woody's arms are folded whenever he's in the game, and fans' arms are folded when he's not.)

Gardner: D (For, "Why Aren't You in the D-League?")

Woody: C+ (The good news is... Woody's game-planning capacity is in PEAK form! The bad news is... Woody's game-planning capacity is in PEAK form!)

Mo: C (Come into the game, hit a three, make a steal, disappear. Repeat.)

Joe: B- (Sing it with me... "Fighting for buckets wherever he's doubled, Iso Joe is there! ISO JOE! A real Atlanta Hero... Iso Joe is there..." Highlight of his season so far remains C-Webb's impersonation.)

Josh: B (As Donna Summer would sing it, when he's bad, he's So So Bad. But when The Good Josh's aggressive nature kicks in he's kept the Hawks in games where they'd totally flame out in years past. Plus, I detect some kind of a post move rounding out in his game. Make your free throws, bruh.)

Hofo: B (The Human Screen Setter would do so well in a disciplined offense. And he will, hopefully someday with the Hawks. He needs help, but he does a nice job confounding bigger players in the paint. Now that he's healthier, this grade could go dramatically either way by season's end.)

Flip: B+ (Score Or Bust. That's been his motto all season long, and for the most part it's working, at least for him.)

Marvin: B+ (Minutes up, shooting %ages up, threes/game up, rebounding up... scoring down??? He's slowly learning that he can become THE MAN on offense, with or without JJ. He's trying a little harder of the defensive end, too.)

Bibby: A- (A defensive vacuum on one end, forced by subpar coaching to run a selfish, undisciplined and inconsistent offense on the other, with limited help on the depth chart. None of that matters when you can keep announcers saying, "Mike Bibby for 3eeeeeeeee!" in the clutch.)

Zaza: A (Given his limited capacities, he has never "played within himself" so often in a season. The minutes we were sure he'd lose to RandMo and Solo were never lost. And stepping up on the hardwood is awfully hard to do when your home nation was nearly blasted off the Rand McNally map just months ago.)

~lw3

[ATL DirtyBird]

you guys are kidna down on marvin. He disapears alot because the hawks have 3 of the biggest chuckers in the nba in joe, bibby, and flip. Smith isnt much better either.

Everytime one of the chuckers have gone out hurt, Williams has stepped up big time. He just doesnt get involved enough in the offense when the hawks have a bunch of guys taking jacking up a bunch of **** shots constantly.

Cant really fault the guy for being unselfish on a team full of guys who think a fadeaway over the back 3 is a high percentage shot.

THATS A GREAT POINT MY FRIEND!