What will Hawks offense look like under Lloyd, Lin and Young Trae?

[Jamaaliver]

Man, you guys are drinking the Alex Len kool-aid super hard...after 4 pre-season games.

I like the signing and think his best days are ahead of him. But I'm hesitant to take him into long term consideration so soon.

He's been in the league and while maybe slightly disappointing it's not like he's a bust. It's no sooner than considering Trae or Collins long term pieces.

It's...a little different.

But fair point.

I do wonder...if he shows long term potential, how likely are we to invest a large contract on a 27 year old? How likely are other teams to make an aggressive offer in 2021 for a Center in his prime? Who would we rather spend big money on: extending Collins on a big ocntract or even pursuing a much larger Free Agent signing?


TL;DR: I'd feel more comfortable counting Len as a long term piece if we had contractual control of him for longer than a couple of seasons...the way we do with Collins, Huerter and Young Trae.


NOTE: The Alex Len signing is reminiscent of GSW's acquisition of Andrew Bogut...which, if I recall, came much later in their rebuild.

[ChokeFasncists]

Why do people keep trying to include our 30-year-old, journeyman, backup PG in this team's core?

It's Young Trae and J Collins...everybody else is playing for a job. (Or for the opportunity to be traded.)

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The Hawks are his seventh team in nine seasons.

“I’m very familiar with new starts,” Lin said. “I’ve played on many teams. It doesn’t really feel like I’ve ever had some type of strong consistency through my career, so it’s not that weird for me I guess.”

~lol~ Easy to say this after yesterday's game.

[jayu70]

Why do people keep trying to include our 30-year-old, journeyman, backup PG in this team's core?

It's Young Trae and J Collins...everybody else is playing for a job. (Or for the opportunity to be traded.)

Code: Select all

The Hawks are his seventh team in nine seasons.

“I’m very familiar with new starts,” Lin said. “I’ve played on many teams. It doesn’t really feel like I’ve ever had some type of strong consistency through my career, so it’s not that weird for me I guess.”

~lol~ Easy to say this after yesterday's game.

Except, he's said it previously.

[Jamaaliver]

Alex Len To Play A Vital Role in Hawks Offensive Scheme



Anyone who watched Alex Len play two games for the Ukrainian men's national team this summer quickly learned what he does best on a basketball court.

Time after time, the 25-year-old center got Ukraine's offense rolling downhill by setting picks for his ballhandling teammates and making beelines for the rim.

Len said those things are what head coach Lloyd Pierce expects him to reproduce for the offense of the Hawks.

"When we met, he invited me to talk to him one-on-one, and he basically laid down what he expects of me," Len said. "He was like, 'Keep setting great screens and rolling hard to the basket and rebounding and defending pick and rolls.' "

Pierce then added a wrinkle to the usual expectations.

"If you keep putting in the work on shooting threes," he said, "I'll let you shoot them." The Hawks are not new to the business of having a big man develop and add the three-point ball to his toolkit.

Like any team, the Hawks work a bunch on their three-point shooting.

At the end of each practice, some of the big men (usually Len, Miles Plumlee, Alex Poythress and Thomas Robinson) gather on one basket close to work on individual skills. Those skills usually include some threes, oftentimes from the corners.

Pierce was careful to emphasize that the Hawks don't just want three-point shots...using a phrase that Pierce said assistant coach Melvin Hunt helped coin: "Like the three, love the rim."

NBA.com

[Jamaaliver]

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Much focus has been – and will be – on Young’s shooting when the NBA regular season begins Wednesday, [but] most of Young’s work will be running the Hawks fast-paced offense.

“He knows everything we want to do,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said of Young’s grasp of the offense. “ I don’t know if he knows the nuances of how to do it. He knows the reads. Now, it’s just figuring out who he is running it for and deliver it the best way he can.”

Young averaged 15.0 points, 5.4 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 2.2 turnovers in 24.6 minutes in the preseason. He shot .394 (26 of 66) from the field, including .370 (10 of 27) from 3-point range.

Young has had several highlight worthy assists during the preseason. That’s what the Hawks will count on most.

But, come on, those extraordinary 3-pointers are fun too.

[Jamaaliver]

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Split cuts are a staple of the Triangle offense, which has seen a resurgence among teams with multiple high-end three-point shooters in recent years. Most famously, the Golden State Warriors use split cuts extensively, running two of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant together before breaking in different directions, making it almost impossible for the defense to keep up.

In Chest Split Down, the Hawks bring these ideas together in order to create an open shot in the corner for Taurean Prince or Trae Young.

There are plenty of other actions the Hawks can run out of their Chest series, a lot of which I expect to see throughout the season. As Prince develops as a ball handler and passer, there will be more options for Atlanta to get him the ball and run a bit of the offense through him, utilizing Young’s gravity off the ball to open avenues to the rim for Prince and the rest of the Hawks.

https://streamable.com/lywul

[Jamaaliver]

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[jayu70]

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“He knows everything we want to do,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said of Young’s grasp of the offense. “ I don’t know if he knows the nuances of how to do it. Does Alex (Len) like it high on the roll or does he want the bounce pass? Does (Kent Bazemore) like it on the shakeup or does he need to spoon feed it? Just those simple little reads of knowing his personnel, his players, he is playing with. When to deliver the pass. Does Alex need to get set when he pops out to the 3(-point line) or can he be on the move? Just being able to stay poised and let the play develop. He knows what we are running. He does it very well. He knows the reads. Now, it’s just figuring out who he is running it for and deliver it the best way he can.”

[ChokeFasncists]

Why do people keep trying to include our 30-year-old, journeyman, backup PG in this team's core?

It's Young Trae and J Collins...everybody else is playing for a job. (Or for the opportunity to be traded.)

Code: Select all

The Hawks are his seventh team in nine seasons.

“I’m very familiar with new starts,” Lin said. “I’ve played on many teams. It doesn’t really feel like I’ve ever had some type of strong consistency through my career, so it’s not that weird for me I guess.”

~lol~ Easy to say this after yesterday's game.

Except, he's said it previously.

Not sure what the context was previously, but this time it's surely not quite right.

First of all, I was not "trying to include Lin in this team's core", it's merely a pun. The context was Prince and Baze making shots and someone driving into the lane. With Baze it's assumed that it's about right now, cuz who knows when he's gonna get traded? Before that game, who knows how Trey was gonna turn out? He was shooting 36%FG. If he didn't get better and Lin gets healthier, who knows what would happen with the PG rotation? If Lin starts, he'd certainly be influential on the offense.

[bws94]

I really don't like Lin referred to as a "backup PG." He's a PG that has both started and played pretty much as a 6th man. The Hawks are a young team and certainly have a fun and dynamic rookie PG in Trae, and Lin is here to help mentor him. But Lin's a competitive player in his own rite and always turns out to be an important part of a team's offense. Even if Lin is here only a half-season, in addition to the young guys, he'll bring some electricity to the stadium and the fans will like his effort, competitiveness and skill. I'm fine with saying Lin is not part of the core, and he is a journeyman, but he's certainly more than a backup even if he ends up playing as one on the Hawks for the time he's here.

[bws94]

I think Trae should be Trae. Nash didn't put up a lot of floaters a la Trae and was known for his footwork more than speed. Curry is a phenomenal player and though Trae has some traces of Curry, it's kinda soon to be comparing him to Steph. I think he'll carve out his own style and such and of course he'll model some of his game from existing and former players.

[ChokeFasncists]

Sigh......sheet happens......was signed to be the face of the Nets, too bad got injured, twice.

[Jamaaliver]

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[Robo_Claw]

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Might be a dumb question but what is TPA and what is it used for?

[Jamaaliver]

Might be a dumb question but what is TPA and what is it used for?

Not a dumb question at all. I think it's just a cumulative running total of Box +/- for the entire season to measure which player(s) have been the most effective/efficient on either end of the court. Or something close to it.

It's useful...but not definitive.

[graymule]

Defense looked so bad in the first game that Lloyd had plenty of film to grade...

[Jamaaliver]

Offensive issues in Game One loss should be easy for Atlanta Hawks to correct

Nothing that can’t be fixed.

In the team’s opening night loss to the Knicks on Wednesday, one of the primary reasons the Atlanta Hawks dug such a deep hole was the presence of 24 turnovers. Those giveaways led to 29 points on subsequent New York possessions but, upon further review, it would seem that many of the mistakes that lead to those turnovers should be easy to correct, even before Friday’s night’s contest in Memphis.

While the loss to the Knicks on Wednesday night had many ugly moments, the silver lining is that a good number of the mistakes should be quite easy to correct in short order.

If that happens in the near future, it should position the Hawks for more success on both ends of the court.

Peachtree Hoops

[Jamaaliver]

Copious amounts of 3-pters.

We finally got it going offensively for a game (admittedly against a terrible defensive team).

And jumped in Off rating rankings from bottom 5 to middle of the league. May it be the first of many scoring outbreaks.

[Roy Tarpley]

Was there a change in the NBA rules that I'm not aware of? Why is every team scoring 130+ points these days? It can't just be teams focusing on increasing pace.

[macd-gm]

I don't know why there is so much scoring. Maybe the constant whistles for touch fouls has defenses playing scared?