PG (@Atl): Raps take Hawk Two-ah in Atlanta

[ConSarnit]

Boucher, Mitchell and Brown are all looking for new contracts. You can't just sit those guys. What's our other option? Sit Barnes?

We can't tank when we have too many good rotation pieces. They've also been playing together for several games now and the chemistry has developed

Yes you can ignore them on the bench - they are not in the long term plans of this team.

As usual, you can’t see the forest for the trees.

We are incentivized to play guys like Brown and Mitchell because a) Brown has been injured and teams need to know he’s healthy and can still play and b) Mitchell was was shooting something like 38/27/82 a couple of weeks ago and if we don’t let him get his numbers up no one is going to want to to trade for him.

You are the exact type of poster who will rag on the front office for not trading these guys for value yet you don’t want us to do the things that actually display their value for said trades.

[DelAbbot]

.

[Vampirate]

Scottie has been a dominant force these last 2 games. Hawks got no answers.

The Hawks are the perpetual .500 team, they have no direction.

We're close to being the Hawks but might dodge it with luck.

[DelAbbot]

Boucher, Mitchell and Brown are all looking for new contracts. You can't just sit those guys. What's our other option? Sit Barnes?

We can't tank when we have too many good rotation pieces. They've also been playing together for several games now and the chemistry has developed

Yes you can ignore them on the bench - they are not in the long term plans of this team.

As usual, you can’t see the forest for the trees.

We are incentivized to play guys like Brown and Mitchell because a) Brown has been injured and teams need to know he’s healthy and can still play and b) Mitchell was was shooting something like 38/27/82 a couple of weeks ago and if we don’t let him get his numbers up no one is going to want to to trade for him.

You are the exact type of poster who will rag on the front office for not trading these guys for value yet you don’t want us to do the things that actually display their value for said trades.

You assume too much. I might join in the FO bashing, but I know these guys are worth nothing more than SRPs, if not just buyouts.

[DelAbbot]

Scottie has been a dominant force these last 2 games. Hawks got no answers.

The Hawks are the perpetual .500 team, they have no direction.

We're close to being the Hawks but might dodge it with luck.

We were on a great trajectory of making our own luck on Jan 12. Then it imploded.

[ItsDanger]

Only 0.5 games behind Brooklyn for 6th worst record. These next several weeks will determine the future of this front office.

[aminiaturebuddha]

We only get our current best player Scottie because we drafted high at #4. So why we are getting allergic to draft higher this year when there is an aboslute need for it?

But we only got Scottie at #4 because we moved up in the lottery from 7. And that's probably about where we'll end up again this year.

As always, the key is getting lucky in the lottery, which of course we can't do anything about. I really think the top 3 in the draft are different levels, which would require us to win in the lottery.

Picking anywhere between 5-8 and I'm still pretty sure we'll get someone good, just not one of the absolute top guys. That's why I'm not stressing about a few wins here and there.

[AbC?]

How can you not be excited about the future of this team? You got RJ and Scottie emerging as a future 1/2 tandem. Dick and Walter locking up the 2 spot for a decade+. Boucher and Poeltl as core pieces to complement our young guys.

Let them grow together, build some chemistry and get some experience in the play-in tournament.

[GCougar]

We've been walking on these teams with all the injuries.

Barrett with a rare very good road game, offense and defense.

[mihaic]

How can you not be excited about the future of this team? You got RJ and Scottie emerging as a future 1/2 tandem. Dick and Walter locking up the 2 spot for a decade+. Boucher and Poeltl as core pieces to complement our young guys.

Let them grow together, build some chemistry and get some experience in the play-in tournament.

Lol you fooled me at the beginning starting with Scottie and RJ.

[mtcan]

How can you not be excited about the future of this team? You got RJ and Scottie emerging as a future 1/2 tandem. Dick and Walter locking up the 2 spot for a decade+. Boucher and Poeltl as core pieces to complement our young guys.

Let them grow together, build some chemistry and get some experience in the play-in tournament.

He can put up a triple double in a team win and some people will still consider RJ a 6 man. Go figure. The man has some flaws...but who doesn't?

Everyone in the top 10 of the draft class has something that certain people around here will pick apart in a second. So the #3 pick from 5 years ago who's putting up career highs in scoring, rebounding and assists but that's not enough for some reason.

It doesn't matter who ends up a Raptor with the 2025 first round pick...he'll be **** on by the hate-watchers around here in no time.

[hype_2004]

This team when close to healthy is a playoff team, glad we lost all those games early because it's an insurmountable task at this point to make the play in but you just never know with 40 plus games left.

[Tripod]

We have beaten 2 teams on the road all season and certain people are losing their minds.

[ItsDanger]

We have beaten 2 teams on the road all season and certain people are losing their minds.

Nobody is "losing their minds". The pattern displayed has resulted in many teams floundering over past decades in various sports leagues. You need top end talent to be a legitimate playoff contender. It's especially paramount in NBA.

[DelAbbot]

How can you not be excited about the future of this team? You got RJ and Scottie emerging as a future 1/2 tandem. Dick and Walter locking up the 2 spot for a decade+. Boucher and Poeltl as core pieces to complement our young guys.

Let them grow together, build some chemistry and get some experience in the play-in tournament.

The And1s this post is attracting lol

[Clay Davis]

I feel like the inability for Trae to dominate games like this shows why he's not a superstar... I'd love to see him have a stretch where he goes absolutely crazy and averages like 35/4/12 over a 12 game winning streak while his team suffers from injuries to its key players. He'd augment the rizz of short kings everywhere.

[Tor_Raps]

Gradey -16 in a 23 point win... Yikes.

I've been saying it even during his hot streak that Dick will struggle once everyone came back healthy. His weaknesses are G League level and any decent team can't thrive playing like that.

I still love the kid and hope he can figure out he has to be tougher mentally to offset his physical limitations. The tank needs him playing a lot of minutes for this season lol.

[shmoosicle]

Dick has definitely shown improvement over last year but he still appears to struggle most nights. If the team is serious about winning in the short term then Ochai should be replacing most of his minutes when healthy.

Regardless, really like the energy the team has been showing the last little while. Even if the strength of schedule has eased up, they're really making things difficult for their opponents.

[ItsDanger]

Dick got in foul trouble. IQ is out. You saw a better defense tonight and its not surprising. You can have 1 below average defender but not 2-3. I put IQ more in the average category but he really isn't a great initial ball handler defender. But you can't have all 3 out there as starters.

[Tripod]

We have beaten 2 teams on the road all season and certain people are losing their minds.

Nobody is "losing their minds". The pattern displayed has resulted in many teams floundering over past decades in various sports leagues. You need top end talent to be a legitimate playoff contender. It's especially paramount in NBA.

Yeah...you are right.

"We should be giving 30+ mins to Walter, Mogbo, and Chomche"