Billy Knights blueprint and team chemistry

[HMFFL]

We continue to go with Billy Knight's blueprint (The Pistons structure) and it's not working. What I believe will occur is that the only way the frontcourt situation is going to be resolved is next year when Josh Smith request to be traded or after the season when he decides to walk.

The chemistry issues continue as well. It seems like most of the players are going to the press to talk, McGrady has always done this, but now Marvin Williams decides to openly request for a trade. The chemistry problems have been ongoing, just like Knight's blueprint, and nothing has changed.

Sund and the ASG added veteran players but it's not working.

[Ruhiel]

How is this "The Pistons structure"? because we have no superstars? This isn't even the Nuggets structure.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfTSHowZLds[/youtube]

[fullcourt]

you make it sound like it is by choice, but it is hard trading away starters.

- you can get good value from Horford or Josh

- Joe is untradeable because of the contract

- Marvin is untradeable because talent

the only movement that Sund has been able to do is the bench and draft

- Flip, Crawford, and TMac were great additions

- Teague has turned out to be the best player that was available to the Hawks

- Jordan Crawford was just an okay pick, because Whiteside hasn't done anything yet

- The Hinrich trade was bad

- Resigning Joe was also bad

Sund made two mistakes so far, everything else was a win.

[Jamaaliver]

I still maintain that a more forward thinking GM could have put together a package for CP3 or Deron Williams if we hadn't traded for Kirk Hinrich. Just think:


Josh Smith
Jordan Crawford
Jeff Teague
The rights to Cenk Aykol
and that 2011 1st round pick

to Utah for Deron Williams.

Deron and JJ would make the best backcourt in the league.

And Horford and Marvin would definitely benefit from having a legitimate PG running the pick and roll.

But somehow we ended up with an expiring contract of Kirk Hinrich which we STILL haven't used...

[Jamaaliver]

And re-signing Marvin (for so much), Joe (for so much) and Bibby helped us maintain mediocrity in the name of forgoing future cap flexibility.

In hindsight, this was clearly a mistake. But I blame Atlanbta Spirit for that. Obviously they assumed the team would be sold bu now and it'd be someone else's problem.

[Superiorblogman]

Billy Knight's blueprint is working just fine in Minnesota. A bunch of tweeners, Kevin Love, some C's no-one cared about, and the correct PG.

[Ruhiel]

Billy Knight's blueprint is working just fine in Minnesota. A bunch of tweeners, Kevin Love, some C's no-one cared about, and the correct PG.

How does Billy Knight's blueprint get us:

- a correct PG
- Kevin Love

[evildallas]

The intention was a Pistons structure combined with Knight's all 6-7 to 6-9 folly. Knight wanted to field a team that could switch everything because each position was filled by a similar person in the athletic 6'7 - 6'9 range. Basically a team in his image. It's an insane idea born from too much self-aggrandizing (Billy Knight was a 6-6 G-F himself)

Problem #1 was the belief that PG wasn't that important at a time when the rules were changing to give PGs an advantage in the NBA. His first mistake in this area was Boris Diaw. Drafted to be a 6'9 PG, he was wasted here because the team tried to make him something he was not. Mistake #2 was drafting Royal Ivey over Chris Duhon the next year. Ivey was taller, which appealed to Knight but he wasn't a PG meaning another failed conversion project. The following year Knight assumed he could sign his PG in free agency and drafted Marvin Williams instead because he looked the part. He then signed Joe. A year later he knows that Joe isn't his PG and he tries again with Speedy Claxton and drafting Salim Stoudamire. The problem there was Speedy had bad knees before he signed and Salim was a 6'0 tall SG not a PG. After that you had Acie Law who seemed like best guard available but wasn't a true PG either. The trade for Mike Bibby got the best PG in during the ASG era, but he had very little left in the tank.

Problem #2 was his belief that the C just need be athletic and not necessarily tall. The all-Billy Knight lineup doesn't call for a true C. A little taller and a little tougher sure, but not so big that switching becomes a problem. His first attempt at this was Sheldon Williams, but his horrible hands made that a waste of a lottery pick. The next year we were lucky to land Al Horford. Al was exactly what Billy Knight was looking for and by that I mean a PF who could play C.

Problem #3 was the timing of the Joe Johnson signing. The signing did 2 things that backfired on the Hawks. It gave them a few more wins ahead of schedule and thus hurt the accumulation of talent in the draft. Furthermore it gave Joe Johnson free reign as the team's star. What came out of that was iso-Joe, a bunch of players well versed and standing around and waiting on offense and inflation of Joe's value on the market coming off a system that showcased him. In the Pistons title system Joe would have been a cog like Chauncey or Rip, but in the Atlanta variant he was a star type. You can't have it both ways.

The platform was never truly fixed it was only tweaked. It would take an even longer post to explore the details of that.

[evildallas]

Billy Knight's blueprint is working just fine in Minnesota. A bunch of tweeners, Kevin Love, some C's no-one cared about, and the correct PG.

You've augmented Billy Knight's blueprint with a PG and actual Centers (even those). In his blueprint PG was an afterthought and he valued athleticism over length at C. I think those changes are enough that Minnesota isn't running his plan but rather a better plan.

[Jamaaliver]

The intention was a Pistons structure combined with Knight's all 6-7 to 6-9 folly. Knight wanted to field a team that could switch everything because each position was filled by a similar person in the athletic 6'7 - 6'9 range. Basically a team in his image. It's an insane idea born from too much self-aggrandizing (Billy Knight was a 6-6 G-F himself)

Problem #1 was the belief that PG wasn't that important at a time when the rules were changing to give PGs an advantage in the NBA.

That was a spot on analysis of the BK era's way of thinking. Perfecto!

I do recall hearing that BK even signed JJ with the intention of having him play PG even though he had no extensive experience playing the position since High School.

At this point, I'd have even been okay if we'd drafted Ray Felton over Marvin Williams.

It's some consolation that none of the top PGs from that draft are with their original teams.

But man...it still hurts everytime I see a CP3 or Deron Williams highlight.

[HMFFL]

you make it sound like it is by choice, but it is hard trading away starters.

- you can get good value from Horford or Josh

- Joe is untradeable because of the contract

- Marvin is untradeable because talent

the only movement that Sund has been able to do is the bench and draft

- Flip, Crawford, and TMac were great additions

- Teague has turned out to be the best player that was available to the Hawks

- Jordan Crawford was just an okay pick, because Whiteside hasn't done anything yet

- The Hinrich trade was bad

- Resigning Joe was also bad

Sund made two mistakes so far, everything else was a win.

What Sund has done by the way of the draft and his limited abaility is in free agency is beside the point. The overall team is basically the same structure like it was when Billy Knight was here and nothing has changed.

We can get a nice return for Al Horford, but maybe not Josh Smith, unless in managements eyes it's a top 5 pick. They overvalue him and failed at acquiring a top 5 pick for Josh after last season.

Very little has changed since Billy Knight was fired. New players have signed and left (veterans and young players), but very little has changed, and we continue to have chemistry issues. It's a result of the players that continue to be here and that Billy Knight brought in.

[Superiorblogman]

Well my point was that the tweener's and forwards are not the problem. Knight was okay on that. That was the thing he caught most slack about but not the actual problem. The actual problem like some have posted is we did not get the correct PG or any NBA sized Centers out of this. So, yes the Minny plan is improved,but for the person saying how does Knight's plan get you Love it is simple, we got Al Horford. Love is overblown, shoots a low percentage for a PF, and has never seen the playoffs. We got our all-star PF in Al.