Just give Joe max?

[killbuckner]

I think that Joe has more ability to draw a double and pass to the open man than anyone else on the Hawks roster by a huge margin. I haven't ever said that I want Joe taking all the shots in the last minutes- I want him drawing doubles and passing to guys who can attack a moving defense but who can't do it against a settled defense. I don't want the defense to be in position to double Horford or Josh- I don't want them to have the ball when the defense is settled.

Josh and Horford put up good numbers BECAUSE of how they are used, not in spite of how they are used. They don't have to face double teams because they get the ball after the defense is already moving. They get the ball in transition and when they are moving to the basket because someone else has already drawn their man away to give them space.

It all just comes down to the fact that I think the Hawks offense would be a ton worse if they tried to count on Horford and Smith more when the defense is settled as opposed to how they use them now. Those are just not skills those guys have.

And I agree that the Hawks would have a better shot at the champsionship if they had more of a post threat on the team. But thats a roster construction problem, not a coaching problem. I don't think the Hawks are a championship contender no matter who the coach is.

[azuresou1]

I think that Joe has more ability to draw a double and pass to the open man than anyone else on the Hawks roster by a huge margin. I haven't ever said that I want Joe taking all the shots in the last minutes- I want him drawing doubles and passing to guys who can attack a moving defense but who can't do it against a settled defense. I don't want the defense to be in position to double Horford or Josh- I don't want them to have the ball when the defense is settled.

Josh and Horford put up good numbers BECAUSE of how they are used, not in spite of how they are used. They don't have to face double teams because they get the ball after the defense is already moving. They get the ball in transition and when they are moving to the basket because someone else has already drawn their man away to give them space.

It all just comes down to the fact that I think the Hawks offense would be a ton worse if they tried to count on Horford and Smith more when the defense is settled as opposed to how they use them now. Those are just not skills those guys have.

And I agree that the Hawks would have a better shot at the champsionship if they had more of a post threat on the team. But thats a roster construction problem, not a coaching problem. I don't think the Hawks are a championship contender no matter who the coach is.

Contenders? No. But every 2nd round playoff team has a shot.

Josh and Al are not premier post threats. They are still good enough to take it to mediocre or undersized frontcourts. They were a combined 19/28 against the Knicks, and had put them into foul trouble. Joe was 12/30. Why did we go away from what works in favor of iso-Joe? That isn't a roster problem, that IS a coaching problem.

[killbuckner]

We didn't go away from what was working. The Hawks were never just throwing the ball down to Horford in the post and letting him do damage against a set defense. Thats not Horford's game. The offense was still being initiated through the guards and getting Horford the ball when he was in position to succeed. You and I simply have a fundamental difference of how much load we think Horford can carry against a set defense when the defense is concentrating on him. I simply don't think that Horford has that kind of offensive game and I don't want the ball in his hands in those situations. I want him to get the ball when the defense is already unsettled and its more like he is in transition.

[JoshB914]

Do we iso Smoove and let him use his face-up game even though he has been abysmal from the FT line and has been an erratic player in the halfcourt throughout his career? Do we give Al the ball with his back to the basket even though he has little to no post game?

I couldn't agree more that the ball shouldn't always be in Joe's hands down the stretch. But I think force-feeding any player other than JJ not named Crawford would be a massive mistake.

[azuresou1]

ESPN agrees with me: http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page ... daily-dime

I suppose you both agree with playing Teague all of 3 minutes in a blowout game.

[killbuckner]

Thats not ESPN agreeing with you- Brett LaGree agrees with you. He's just a random blogger who's a self described hawks "skeptic".

But that said I don't at all agree with Teague only playing 3 minutes. Hell yes he should have played more.

[raleigh]

Ha ha. Bret is perhaps the best "random blogger" on the Internet.

[parson]

ESPN agrees with me: http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page ... daily-dime

I can't imagine anyone NOT agreeing with you - apart from Woodson and Joe's agent.

I especially took note of

The inefficient, lead-blowing version of the offense featured a willfully slow, exclusively half-court attack predicated on Joe Johnson, in isolation, trying to break down as many defenders as the opposition chose to throw at him before he took a contested shot or found, late in the shot clock, a teammate who was then forced to take a (hurried) jump shot of his own.

Son-of-a-gun's been reading my posts. Either that or the point is painfully obvious.

[azuresou1]

Would it be too much to ask for some basic pure slashing right at the basket? Like, not carving a wide loop around your man on your path to the basket, but actually just going in a straight line? We have enough athleticism to either finish, draw fouls, or both, and it baffles me why this team can't utilize a basic back screen to get a relatively open lane to the hoop.

Bibby: Bibby actually does okay at slashing right at the basket, but he doesn't do it often enough.
Joe: Just moves laterally after getting a screen, bounces inside, does a half-pullback dribble, tosses up a semi-hook floater
Marvin: Tosses up a semi-hook
Josh: Ineffective post-up-move or terribly ugly crossover, does a pullback dribble, tosses up a hook shot.
Al: Doesn't slash,don't really blame him.
Jamal: Would be an All-Star if he slashed to the basket more, but hey, that's the story of his career.
Teague: The best slasher on the team, who gets a whopping 3 minutes of garbage time in a blowout game.

We rarely draw bad fouls - most of the fouls we receive are good fouls and make the And 1 significantly harder.

[killbuckner]

Marvin is the one that kills me with that. He has gotten to be enough of an outside threat that he can drag his man outside- he should be more of a threat attacking the hoop than he is. The issue is that he simply doesn't have the quickness advantage over many SF's. I wish he would dedicate himself to the boards so he could be a competent stretch PF and he could be DEADLY in that role but he isn't progressing in that area.

for Josh and Horford its tough because their men won't follow them outside because the other team wants them shooting from there. Bibby doesn't have the finishing ability anymore. Joe I think would be able to do it more if The Hawks had someone else on the roster who could create more offense for teammates, but overall the biggest problem I have with Joe's game is that he doesn't force the contact and get to the line. Jamal is who he is at this point.

[raleigh]

Marvin's lack of growth has kept this team from being elite IMHO. (And I'm one of his biggest fans on this board).

I'd like to see the Hawks consider a trade for a cheaper version of Marvin like Ryan Gomes. Use that extra money on other areas.