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How do the Hawks get better defensively?

Moderators: dms269, Jamaaliver, HMFFL

What needs to happen to fix the defense?

Better Effort
10
24%
Better Coaching
6
14%
Better Players
26
62%
 
Total votes: 42

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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#81 » by ATL Boy » Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:08 pm

You can go with whatever defensive system you'd like, it won't work unless we get some better defensive players to play within that system. We desperately need to surround Trae and Collins (team cornerstones) with above average to good defenders at every other position. I think it's imperative that we get a defensive specialist guard to play next to Trae who can take over the assignment of the elite opposing PG when needed (think of how the Warriors do it with Klay taking over the tougher defensive assignment, next to Steph).

What I wouldn't give to have Marcus Smart on this team. Was hoping that we could throw some money at him last offseason when the market wasn't really there for him but it never happened.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#82 » by Jamaaliver » Wed Jun 5, 2019 6:53 pm

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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#83 » by Jamaaliver » Thu Jun 6, 2019 7:26 pm

C-Viv teasing out tidbits slowly...what a tease!!

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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#84 » by lethalweapon3 » Thu Jun 6, 2019 9:42 pm

C-Viv and LP bringing back bad memories of Sex Ed high school class.

We are not going to contain all the penetration. So we have to be just as good at protection as we are at prevention.


https://www.ajc.com/sports/basketball/prevention-and-protection-then-lloyd-pierce-will-get-all-his-back-pocket/T4hLtORDpxpenjkhRb9YTI/

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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#85 » by Jamaaliver » Mon Jun 10, 2019 12:34 pm

Prevention and protection - then Lloyd Pierce will get to all in his back pocket

Lloyd Pierce had a defensive philosophy developed during five seasons as an assistant coach with the 76ers.

He scrapped it when he became head coach of the Hawks. In fact, his system hasn’t been installed fully yet, even now after his first full season as a head coach.

Why?

“Anyone’s system is based on who you have and what you have to do,” Pierce said in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Pierce described his system in Philadelphia, where he served as the defensive coordinator, as “finish over length.” Hawks personnel didn’t allow for such an option. No such length to try to finish over.

So Pierce came up with a new plan and a new mantra. He has dubbed it “prevention and protection.” First, don’t allow penetration into the restricted area and, if you do, make the necessary adjustment to protect at the rim. This commitment to defense must be consistent play-by-play, possession-by-possession. That takes time – and video work. Lots of video work. It takes showing blow-bys over and over. It takes showing the failure of a weakside defender to offer protection. It takes the willingness to leave a shooter to prevent a drive to the basket knowing someone else will rotate and help your void.

Pierce singled out DeAndre Bembry, who finally played a healthy season, as a defender who could be the initial prevention defender without much help.

General manager Travis Schlenk related a story regarding the Hawks’ defensive growth through the season. At the start of the season, if the Hawks switched a pick-and-roll, a bigger opponent would often back point guard Trae Young into the post. By the end of the season, Young was getting help from a weakside wing to neutralize the threat.

“Those small things that just take time for a young basketball team and young players to figure out are going to help our defensive numbers in general,” Schlenk said.

Pierce said he uses effective field-goal percentage defense has a barometer for his defense. The Hawks ranked 27th in the league this season at 54.1 percent. Blocks and steals are nice, but he looks at the volume of shots at the rim.

The schemes will come later – with more growth and development of his young team. Add those to a solid foundation of prevention and protection principles and the Hawks will be on their way. Pierce will know when he hears his players talking on defense on a consistent basis. Teams don’t talk if they are unsure of the defense, their role or their responsibility.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#86 » by _s_t_u_r_t_ » Mon Jun 10, 2019 2:23 pm

Would have liked to read where C-Viv posed some obvious follow-up questions, but it's kinda par for the course that C-Viv is not actually all that invested in his job to do that sort of thing.

Like, on the one hand, LP talks about us not being ready for his real/best defensive philosophies, so he's had to just make do with a "prevent and protect" mantra.... then.... goes on to say that only championship teams are capable of both.

(Um. What?)

Then, he says that he's got to get this roster understanding principles before they can progress on to instituting schemes... but then segues into talking about how Embiid must hate playing the Hawks because there's so many different ways (schemes?) LP can deploy to make life difficult for him.

(Say again?)

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure LP, if asked, would have offered some rational explanations that would resolve the seeming discrepancies.

But the guy asking the questions wasn't so much invested in the conversation as he was (again) doing his job just enough to keep his job.

Speaking of "teases" (above)... It was one of the great unfortunate teases of ATL sports journalism when it was announced that C-Viv wouldn't be writing about the Hawks anymore, and that it would be all Cunningham's baby. How I wish Cunningham would have conducted that interview instead of the unconscious catatonic C-Viv.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#87 » by tbhawksfan1 » Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:30 pm

Jamaaliver wrote:
shakes0 wrote:I think it all starts with getting a rim protecting center. Someone like that can make up for a lot of defensive mistakes from other players and also allow our guys to defend guys closer on the perimeter knowing they have help behind them.




Know any good ones that are available, affordable and able to defend in space?


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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#88 » by jayu70 » Tue Jun 11, 2019 12:41 am

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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#89 » by jayu70 » Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:01 am

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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#90 » by _s_t_u_r_t_ » Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:30 pm

So, given that soliloquy and what Schlenk said before about positionless basketball, I take it we're going to naturally be predisposed in the draft for more switch-able players... who have shown themselves high caliber shoot-pass-dribble guys.

Great.

That would eliminate Bitadze and probably Hayes, right?



Aside... are f***ing and sh*t even words anymore that we should bother not saying in front of our little kids?... isn't it kinda silly that we bother labeling any words "curse" words as-if they make the people who use them "adults"...? I'm so proud of our coach for showing that tradition to be the farce that it is. It's just part of the English vocabulary now. Let's get our elementary school reading books updated accordingly please.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#91 » by Jamaaliver » Fri Jun 21, 2019 2:13 pm

Team has improved its defensive personnel greatly through the draft.

Fernando and Hunter D seem capable of contributing on the defensive end immediately.

Reddish also projects to be an above avg defender based on size/athleticism.


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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#92 » by jayu70 » Fri Jun 21, 2019 6:04 pm

We drafted 'linth' and defense!
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#93 » by jayu70 » Sat Jun 29, 2019 9:43 pm

It’s significant that the Hawks invested their top draft pick (via trade) in Hunter, who is more advanced as a defender than playmaker. Their other first-round pick, Reddish, had his jump shot go missing during one season at Duke but his defensive ability was clear. The Hawks traded up to get center Fernando, who may never be more than a rim-runner in the NBA, but is the physical defensive presence in the middle the Hawks have lacked among their young group.


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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#94 » by King Ken » Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:53 pm

Like we did
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#95 » by Jamaaliver » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:28 pm

jayu70 wrote:We drafted 'linth' and defense!


“He brings toughness,” coach Lloyd Pierce said of Bruno Fernando. “You see a guy who plays with energy, a motor and bounce...But he brings that toughness and physicality. One of the things that we lacked last year, especially on defense, was that size and length. We got length in Cam (Reddish) and someone who has great lateral movement in Cam. We got the best college defender last year in De’Andre (Hunter) and an unbelievable strength guy in Bruno. I think that was big for us to add all three of those guys in the draft.”
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#96 » by jayu70 » Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:22 pm

Jones might actually help?
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Offense though? Not so much...
We will never know the primary reasons the organization chose to move away from Spellman and to instead give Jones a test drive. Jones doesn’t have anything close the set of ball skills that Spellman possesses. The development of Alex Len last season as a shooter might suggest that the team thinks it can help Jones go down a similar development path this season, but Jones has struggled mightily at the free throw line to this point in his short career, which might temper expectations in this area.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#97 » by Jamaaliver » Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:31 pm

Every NBA Team's Most Glaring Weakness Right Now

Atlanta Hawks: Defense

Make a note of this now: The Atlanta Hawks are going to provide plenty of entertainment and #LeaguePassAlerts over the course of this season.

Offensively, Trae Young, Kevin Huerter and John Collins have the potential to give us some flashbacks of Steve Nash, Joe Johnson and Amar'e Stoudemire with the Phoenix Suns.

On defense, though, the Hawks are going to surrender loads of points. In 2018-19, Atlanta was 27th in points allowed per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass. And individually, Young was dead last in defensive real plus-minus.

The Hawks might need one of De'Andre Hunter or Cam Reddish to become their Shawn Marion.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#98 » by Jamaaliver » Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:41 pm

Atlanta Hawks roundtable: What is the team’s biggest weakness this season?

Jeff Siegel: Until further notice, Atlanta’s defense is the team’s biggest weakness. It’s not going to be easy to replace the defensive production they got from Dewayne Dedmon last season, particularly since they didn’t actually bring in a player capable of starting at the most important defensive position. Alex Len will take over for Dedmon as the team’s center going into next season and his play will help to define their defense -- if he can put it together on that end of the floor as a rim protector and rebounder, then it’s possible the team can creep out of the bottom five in defense, but I wouldn’t bet on it.


Glen Willis: I don’t really see a path for this roster to move the needle on defense, and they were the third-worst defense in the league last year. For the prognosticators that are expecting a playoff berth, this is where I struggle with that being an expected outcome. None of the veterans that were added to the team have a significant defensive track record. Hunter, Reddish and Fernando could all be very good defensive players in the future, but I don’t see them being effective enough to really improve the performance on the defensive end of the court this season.


Rashad Milligan: Going to roll with Glen on this one, defense is still a problem going into this season until the Hawks can prove otherwise. Brad has said that he expects Reddish to eventually be a stud defensively, and judging by online comments, Hunter is supposed to be a hybrid of Kawhi Leonard and Dennis Rodman on that end of the floor. If those guys can live up to half of that expectation this season, in addition to Bembry, to go along with Pierce potentially inserting his defense into the system this year, then Atlanta can take that next step in becoming a perennial postseason group.


Sam Meredith: Defense is their biggest weakness, but I actually think their defense will improve from last season. They added two good rookie defenders and, while they may make many mistakes this season, I think this is the first step to implementing Pierce’s defensive philosophy. Bembry and Huerter were the guys that really seemed to buy into Pierce’s philosophy of funneling playmakers into the lane and forcing them to get by Dedmon or Len for twos instead of threes. The Hawks just added two of the best perimeter defenders in this draft so while the numbers may not reflect a nominal statistical change in defense this season will be important for laying the foundation for future seasons under Pierce.
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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#99 » by Spud2nique » Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:54 pm

jayu70 wrote:Jones might actually help?
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Offense though? Not so much...
We will never know the primary reasons the organization chose to move away from Spellman and to instead give Jones a test drive. Jones doesn’t have anything close the set of ball skills that Spellman possesses. The development of Alex Len last season as a shooter might suggest that the team thinks it can help Jones go down a similar development path this season, but Jones has struggled mightily at the free throw line to this point in his short career, which might temper expectations in this area.


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Re: How do the Hawks get better defensively? 

Post#100 » by Spud2nique » Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:55 pm

Tighten the ole sphincter. :lol: aka the Bird special! :falloff:

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