Did anyone see the scrimmage

Bucked19 · Post #1 » by **Bucked19** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 5:22 am

Atlanta Hawks: Camp Report Day 8 (Public Scrimmage)
11:09 pm December 16, 2011, by Michael Cunningham

The Hawks had a public scrimmage. They let me in, too. I don’t want to make too much of a camp scrimmage but I was so happy to see competitive professional basketball again I have to make some observations even if they end up meaning nothing.
Nice crowd at Philips–the Hawks put it at 2,500. The fans were into it. “That felt great to see that,” Josh Smith said. “The fans are really anticipating this season and looks like they are really excited to see something special we are putting together.”
The fans saw a scrimmage that was cleaner than any I’ve seen at camp. That doesn’t mean it was very good. “Overall, it was OK,” Larry Drew said. “But we still have a ways to go.”
Joe Johnson (13 points, three rebounds, seven assists, very very unofficially) looked like he could go out and play 40 good minutes right now. He scored effortlessly, made his 3-pointers, defended with vigor and generally showed the young guards in camp what an All-Star talent in top form looks like. “I didn’t know when the lockout would end, and I just wanted to come in in great game shape,” he said. “If you come in in good shape, everything else takes care of itself.”
Joe said he’s down to about 236 pounds after weighing as much as 247 last season. “I feel a little faster, more durable,” he said. “I am going to try to keep it down.”

Sounds pretty good and I didn't realize how heavy Joe was last season

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/12/16/a ... scrimmage/

Superiorblogman · Post #2 » by **Superiorblogman** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 5:47 am

Yes, I saw it

BAMABIRD · Post #3 » by **BAMABIRD** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:05 am

Just found out it was streamed live on Hawks.com. Wish I would have known, now I have to settle for 2.5 min clip of highlights from nba.com.

Post #4 » by **HMFFL** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:36 pm

I attended.

There was a large crowd this year. The line to get inside stretched past the Braves Clubhouse store. That includes all the people jammed up near the entrance. The Hawks expected less people and only had it so you could sit in 101-107 sections. They eventually opened a couple more sections.

The scrimmage was like a bad dream. It consisted of sloppy play and turnovers. Josh Smith looked good, he started things out with two early jumpers just inside the 3-point line in front of the basket, and a few people in my section said things like "here we go again". All that matters is that he made them and they scorched the net.

Jerry Stackhouse is done (period). A veteran presence in the locker room is about all to expect from him. He embarrassed himself several times. The one that sticks out to me the most was when he missed a layup. He missed it like a young child in a recreation league misses one (very ugly).

Ruhiel · Post #5 » by **Ruhiel** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:42 pm

Al Horford (seven points, four rebounds, three steals) tried to work on his post game but he ended up mostly going to the spinning fadeaway Js. Those are the moves Brandon Bass and Joakim Noah anticipated and disrupted. I didn’t see him try to drive much, either.
- Michael Cunningham

*Jason Collins did not play

#recurringthemes #plateau #peaking

basic21 · Post #6 » by **basic21** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:50 pm

did Marvin or Teague look decent? either one of them going to get 20ppg this year?

Ruhiel · Post #7 » by **Ruhiel** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:05 pm

Marvin still runs away from perimeter shots. He runs upright now but his best move is still post up miss rebound and get fouled on put back.

Ruhiel · Post #8 » by **Ruhiel** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:12 pm

Also like to say Brook Lopez is garbage,

MaceCase · Post #9 » by **MaceCase** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:59 pm

basic21 wrote:did Marvin or Teague look decent? either one of them going to get 20ppg this year?

20ppg? No. Not unless they get plenty of free throws. Marvin looked good, him and Joe seem to be attempting to rebound better so far. He had a great cut and flush off a Smoove pass, ran another "picture perfect" cut of a screen for an elbow jumper, had a decent drive down the middle in traffic for a push shot and was going strong in the post even when his initial hook wasn't there. Wasn't off balance for the most part which allowed him to follow his misses.

Teague demonstrated a change of gear. He wasn't just full speed all the time, he'd lull defenders to a false sense of security, making them think he was slowing down and then take off again in a split second. The passing wasn't there, a bit of tunnel vision and his floater looked like it needed recalibrating a few times (air balled one badly from about 5 feet) but he was aggressively driving the whole time that Radmo intentionally fouled him once after a rebound to prevent a fast break. Odd move to see in a scrimmage but Radmo was bringing it on defense all night and even took Smoove off the dribble from the perimeter for a layup once.

Post #10 » by **ATL Boy** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:07 pm

MaceCase wrote:
basic21 wrote:did Marvin or Teague look decent? either one of them going to get 20ppg this year?

20ppg? No. Not unless they get plenty of free throws. Marvin looked good, him and Joe seem to be attempting to rebound better so far. He had a great cut and flush off a Smoove pass, ran another "picture perfect" cut of a screen for an elbow jumper, had a decent drive down the middle in traffic for a push shot and was going strong in the post even when his initial hook wasn't there. Wasn't off balance for the most part which allowed him to follow his misses.

Teague demonstrated a change of gear. He wasn't just full speed all the time, he'd lull defenders to a false sense of security, making them think he was slowing down and then take off again in a split second. The passing wasn't there, a bit of tunnel vision and his floater looked like it needed recalibrating a few times (air balled one badly from about 5 feet) but he was aggressively driving the whole time that Radmo intentionally fouled him once after a rebound to prevent a fast break. Odd move to see in a scrimmage but Radmo was bringing it on defense all night and even took Smoove off the dribble from the perimeter for a layup once.

Wow great news, sounds like the players are improving. I can't wait for the season to begin I got December 27 (our opener vs the Nets) circled on my calender.

Post #11 » by **HMFFL** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:37 am

I liked what I saw from Marvin.

Joe Johnson should be improved now that the elbow injury is behind him.

MaceCase · Post #12 » by **MaceCase** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:13 am

Joe was absolutely caking it with his jumper and looked quicker to his spots with his dribble.

basic21 · Post #13 » by **basic21** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:27 pm

MaceCase wrote:
basic21 wrote:did Marvin or Teague look decent? either one of them going to get 20ppg this year?

20ppg? No. Not unless they get plenty of free throws. Marvin looked good, him and Joe seem to be attempting to rebound better so far. He had a great cut and flush off a Smoove pass, ran another "picture perfect" cut of a screen for an elbow jumper, had a decent drive down the middle in traffic for a push shot and was going strong in the post even when his initial hook wasn't there. Wasn't off balance for the most part which allowed him to follow his misses.

Teague demonstrated a change of gear. He wasn't just full speed all the time, he'd lull defenders to a false sense of security, making them think he was slowing down and then take off again in a split second. The passing wasn't there, a bit of tunnel vision and his floater looked like it needed recalibrating a few times (air balled one badly from about 5 feet) but he was aggressively driving the whole time that Radmo intentionally fouled him once after a rebound to prevent a fast break. Odd move to see in a scrimmage but Radmo was bringing it on defense all night and even took Smoove off the dribble from the perimeter for a layup once.

i hope Marvin's athleticism comes back and pick up were he left off before he got injured in 2008, and get over 6 free throw attempts a game. more importantly i hope his back is well enough to play elite defense on Rose, some where in the middle of what Paul George and Lebron did.

evildallas · Post #14 » by **evildallas** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 2:58 pm

Thanks for the recaps. Figured as much about Stackhouse. Kind of how he looked everywhere he tried last year and in barnstorming games during the lockout. Of all the feedback there were two things that were worrisome but should improve, Teague's tunnel vision and Marvin's outside confidence. At least I hope so with repetition and opportunity.

The one thing that was disappointing is the lack of growth in Al's post game. At his length he needs to get creative to score because of long defenders. The Hawks really should have reached out to Kevin McHale to help him while he was working in Atlanta as a commentator (he had more post moves than about any big to ever play the game). Now that he's back to coaching (I think), he's not available. I always hear about people working with Hakeem Olajuwon, but I rarely see it translate to results on the court. I suspect that while Olajuwon was a great low post scorer that his advantage was largely on his speed and fluidity, which really can't be taught. Not sure of other big men coaches. My favorite, Clifford Ray, is a defensive specialist and teacher of positioning for offense. Those things are extremely important, but Al could use some trickery as well. Now if Al is playing PF more then it'll help by maybe creating some better matchups, but if Collins is at C then a team like Chicago will still put the big defender like Noah on Al instead.

All in all a lot of positives.

MaceCase · Post #15 » by **MaceCase** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 3:37 pm

MC's quote was a little misleading because the spinning fadeaways happened in the post against Zaza. He's not going to back guys down for a hook or dunk on a regular basis but he got decent position and his fadeaway was a lot quicker and smoother than his janky off balance ones before plus he swished most of them. The first jumper he took was even off the dribble too demonstrating that he's working to diversify his jumper and be more than a spot up shooter. Where he was wildest on was when he tried to lead the break, he had a bad turnover once and on other times looked like he was trying to dribble a football.

Marvin wasn't really running away from perimeter shots either, he just wasn't taking any contested threes and most definitely not trying to take anybody off the dribble from the perimeter. Seems either he, LD or both have it in mind to only put him in a position to succeed.