PG (Atl): Raps take Hawk Two-Ah in Toronto (25/26 edition)

[Spates]

In other news:
The Hornets blew out the Thunder in Oklahoma.
Undermanned Nuggets beat Philly in OT.

Although we should beat the Hornets, I've thought they've played well against us.

[Psubs]

Eye test buddy, use it once in a while instead of just being a stats nerd. Watch some games and look at how good walter defence can be most of the time. Gradey being a +73 and him being 4th best on the team defintely in no way does that mean hes our 4th best player

I watch ever game and am far from a stats nerd.

But Walter is clearly an outlier to losing his minutes way more than every other player. You are not -103 by fluke.

I think they are playing both Dick and Walter as they want to trade one of them. They can claim both are rotation guys. We'll see.

I think Agbaji is being phased out. Dick has shown more hustle on the defensive end; though still gets blown by the most, but has active hands.

[Psubs]

In other news:
The Hornets blew out the Thunder in Oklahoma.
Undermanned Nuggets beat Philly in OT.

Although we should beat the Hornets, I've thought they've played well against us.

Philly should've beat the Nuggets.

I see the Hornets rising to around .500 and in the mix for the the 7th or 8th seed; the #1 or 2 seed might get upset.

[mihaic]

I watch ever game and am far from a stats nerd.

But Walter is clearly an outlier to losing his minutes way more than every other player. You are not -103 by fluke.

I think they are playing both Dick and Walter as they want to trade one of them. They can claim both are rotation guys. We'll see.

I think Agbaji is being phased out. Dick has shown more hustle on the defensive end; though still gets blown by the most, but has active hands.

Perhaps. I agree.

[mihaic]

In other news:
The Hornets blew out the Thunder in Oklahoma.
Undermanned Nuggets beat Philly in OT.

Although we should beat the Hornets, I've thought they've played well against us.

Philly should've beat the Nuggets.

I see the Hornets rising to around .500 and in the mix for the the 7th or 8th seed; the #1 or 2 seed might get upset.

Nuggets reserves are pretty good. No accident us or Philly lost in close games.

Hornets are imo much better than their record shows.

[dublo7]

Darko is losing trust in IQ.

He’s just not a point guard. 1 assist is unacceptable.

Jakob is trade elligible on Jan 7th

IQ+Jak+Dick for Trae++?

while our pick and roll offense would improve our defense would tank, and we would need a centre - again.
Hell to the no for any Trae trade.
Send Trae to Boston or NYC

[Thaddy]

If we had Trae instead of IQ it wouldn't have been much different. I don't think he's a difference maker, if we take the ball out of Ingram's hands and put it into Trae we're moving laterally. We need a 3+D guard that can nail a high volume of threes and get around screens and be pesky. Shead is almost there but we need to see more from him in terms of shooting. But he's shooting 36% from the field right now and hitting 32% of his 3s. I don't think Shead's even a NBA player, the love for him here is weird.

[PushDaRock]

Darko is losing trust in IQ.

He’s just not a point guard. 1 assist is unacceptable.

Jakob is trade elligible on Jan 7th

IQ+Jak+Dick for Trae++?

while our pick and roll offense would improve our defense would tank, and we would need a centre - again.
Hell to the no for any Trae trade.
Send Trae to Boston or NYC

lol a Brunson & Young Backcourt would certainly be an interesting choice defensively

[PushDaRock]

If we had Trae instead of IQ it wouldn't have been much different. I don't think he's a difference maker, if we take the ball out of Ingram's hands and put it into Trae we're moving laterally. We need a 3+D guard that can nail a high volume of threes and get around screens and be pesky. Shead is almost there but we need to see more from him in terms of shooting. But he's shooting 36% from the field right now and hitting 32% of his 3s. I don't think Shead's even a NBA player, the love for him here is weird.

lmao how do you have him as "almost there" while in the next sentence, he's not even an NBA player?

[mdenny]

Side note but it’s crazy how many players are still playing at a star level well into their late 30s. You never saw this 10-20 years ago… when guys were 36-37 they were pretty much player coaches. Now you have LeBron, Durant, curry still outplaying some of the new up and coming “stars”

What was that crazy observation Devlin made? From Agbaji's draft class.....only 9 of 60 players signed an extension after their rookie contracts?

It was something like that. That's insane. Also really puts into perspective spending 3 years spamming the board with negative posts about moving from 21 to 32 in the draft lol.

A few things are worth emphasizing:

The draft has steadily become more and more unpredictable. 3 of the top 4 players in the league currently were drafted outside the top 10. That was never the case in the 80s, 90s, 00s. The best team in the league has only 1 top 10 pick in their rotation.

There are more and more undrafted players attaining successful careers. FVV is no longer some crazy anomaly.

Younger players are taking far longer to develop and contribute meaningfully to winning (i've been wondering about a methodology to test this).

Non-american players have surged and constitute the highest percentage of top 50 players ever.

Many star players and role players are more relevant into their mid to late 30s than ever before.

[PushDaRock]

Although we should beat the Hornets, I've thought they've played well against us.

Philly should've beat the Nuggets.

I see the Hornets rising to around .500 and in the mix for the the 7th or 8th seed; the #1 or 2 seed might get upset.

Nuggets reserves are pretty good. No accident us or Philly lost in close games.

Hornets are imo much better than their record shows.

No, Denver's reserves aren't good at all lol

There's no way Philly should be losing to them when they're missing their entire starting lineup and 2 of their top bench scorers as well, but Denver got an outlier shooting game from a lot of random guys and pulled it out.

[canada_dry]

If we had Trae instead of IQ it wouldn't have been much different. I don't think he's a difference maker, if we take the ball out of Ingram's hands and put it into Trae we're moving laterally. We need a 3+D guard that can nail a high volume of threes and get around screens and be pesky. Shead is almost there but we need to see more from him in terms of shooting. But he's shooting 36% from the field right now and hitting 32% of his 3s. I don't think Shead's even a NBA player, the love for him here is weird.

lmao how do you have him as "almost there" while in the next sentence, he's not even an NBA player?

The duality of thaddy.

[TheGeneral99]

Listen if you told me we would be 22-15 despite RJ and Yak missing half the season, I'd be pleasantly surprised.

[Los_29]

If we had Trae instead of IQ it wouldn't have been much different. I don't think he's a difference maker, if we take the ball out of Ingram's hands and put it into Trae we're moving laterally. We need a 3+D guard that can nail a high volume of threes and get around screens and be pesky. Shead is almost there but we need to see more from him in terms of shooting. But he's shooting 36% from the field right now and hitting 32% of his 3s. I don't think Shead's even a NBA player, the love for him here is weird.

lmao how do you have him as "almost there" while in the next sentence, he's not even an NBA player?

Classic Thaddy. He's even contradicting himself in the same posts now. lol.

[mdenny]

id like to see the play again. I remember watching it thinking whoever was the close corner didn’t help the situation at all by not moving or cutting.

IQ kept his dribble alive but got kind of trapped due to that. But like I said, I haven’t been able to see a replay so I could be wrong

I just watched it again. It was Jakobe and yes, he could've done more to provide an outlet rather than standing still. He kinda flinched in the outlet direction and Risarcher read it well.

It was actually just a really good defensive play by Daniels to be honest. But Barnes reaction was definitely directed at IQ and from what i can tell....his point was "why didnt you use my screen and attack from the other side of the court". Wish i could hear what Barnes was saying but he simulates a screen and motions behind himself.

Where’d you see the clip? Can you link it?

I recordsd the game. It's at 5:30ish mark of 4th quarter.

[mihaic]

Philly should've beat the Nuggets.

I see the Hornets rising to around .500 and in the mix for the the 7th or 8th seed; the #1 or 2 seed might get upset.

Nuggets reserves are pretty good. No accident us or Philly lost in close games.

Hornets are imo much better than their record shows.

No, Denver's reserves aren't good at all lol

There's no way Philly should be losing to them when they're missing their entire starting lineup and 2 of their top bench scorers as well, but Denver got an outlier shooting game from a lot of random guys and pulled it out.

If you say so, but they are winning their minutes in +/- for the season

[Spates]

Scottie needs some foul-drawing craft

[TheRaptor!]

No. Poeltl is the best player there.

LMAOOOOOOOO

Relax man

Trae is a significantly better player than Poeltl

Let’s not be foolish

Not on the contract he has. I want no part of Trae, at this point in his career he is the worse player imo. Would not touch.

Trae if 5 years ago? Sure but he's not there anymore. Look at Hawks record with him in.
At this point in his career he should be a sixth man but he won't take that role.

lmao the guy just turned 27 in the offseason

[johanliebert]

Side note but it’s crazy how many players are still playing at a star level well into their late 30s. You never saw this 10-20 years ago… when guys were 36-37 they were pretty much player coaches. Now you have LeBron, Durant, curry still outplaying some of the new up and coming “stars”

What was that crazy observation Devlin made? From Agbaji's draft class.....only 9 of 60 players signed an extension after their rookie contracts?

It was something like that. That's insane. Also really puts into perspective spending 3 years spamming the board with negative posts about moving from 21 to 32 in the draft lol.

A few things are worth emphasizing:

The draft has steadily become more and more unpredictable. 3 of the top 4 players in the league currently were drafted outside the top 10. That was never the case in the 80s, 90s, 00s. The best team in the league has only 1 top 10 pick in their rotation.

There are more and more undrafted players attaining successful careers. FVV is no longer some crazy anomaly.

Younger players are taking far longer to develop and contribute meaningfully to winning (i've been wondering about a methodology to test this).

Non-american players have surged and constitute the highest percentage of top 50 players ever.

Many star players and role players are more relevant into their mid to late 30s than ever before.

I think it’s cause the game is played horizontally now. The gather step and giving the offence every advantage has extended careers.

[johanliebert]

One thing I noticed was Mamu and Shead looked kind of disappointed coming out of the game. I mean, rightfully so they played well. But when Darko continues throwing in Jakobe and Gradey even when they play horrible while guys that play well get pulled it’s going to be frustrating. Something to watch I think. The leash needs to tighten on the 3 stooges (Gradey/JK/Ochai)

Who cares what Mamu or Shead think. The NBA is not a democracy you know who the guys are here and it’s sure not the 2 role players you named.