I am very curious about Hawks this year. Seeing trae play off ball was fun and I think that unlocks Dejounte.
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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Another 41-41 season incoming. Im not sure what the gameplan is because we never developed Hunter (or maybe we have and this is as good as it gets), we played Griffin a good bit early on and then barely let him on the court, and took an entire season to realize that Jalen Johnson needs minutes.
This season we are the same, minus John Collins. We drafted another little dude who is never going to touch the ball with Trae and Murray on the court.
I have no idea what we are doing.
Think the Hawks are kinda resetting themselves financially, really building around Trae and DeJounte, and wanting to see what their young guys around them have/don't before taking the next step.
I think they'll be better than people expect in the regular season.
There's certainly talent on the roster, and Quin Snyder is a very good coach. Snyder's system isn't easy to learn (even a vet like Mike Conley had trouble adjusting), but it's very good once the players learn / get used to it, and hopefully they'll have used the offseason to do that.
That said, while I expect them to be solid in the regular season, Snyder has had issues w/ adjustments in the playoffs, and that'll be the real test. Maybe that star backcourt can carry, or maybe Snyder has grown as a coach? IDK but it'll be interesting to follow.
That trade was my 9/11
It was the whole state of Georgia's 12/25 inversely.
I feel like I'm the only person who actually liked John Collins and thought he was a good player. If teams are just giving him away I'd like to see him on the Nuggets playing the AG role and backup 5.
JC wishes he was the defender that AG is though
He's not the defender AG is but he's a better offensive player in a lot of ways and right up there with the best lob threats in the league. I'd like to see him play 25-30 minutes a game and split the backup 4 and backup 5 duties with Gordon. He's the exact type of player who would thrive playing next to Jokic because his biggest issue is self-creation.
Gonna be a very interesting season indeed in Atlanta. How much of an impact does moving Collins out in favor of Bey/Johnson make to the Hawks offense? Can Bey keep up his performance from last season with Atlanta post-trade? What kind of leaps will Johnson/Griffin/Okongwu make?
It looks like based on preseason, Trae will be the backup PG. Last season it was DeJounte. DeJounte would exit games earlier in the first/third quarters and return with the bench. The Hawks struggled in those minutes. Trae now seems to be sticking throughout the first quarter with the bench and the Hawks should be improved in those minutes this season.
Can Trae get his shooting back to his norm? That's gonna be a big one. If so, he could be looking at a career best season. Hawks ended up like 7th on offense last season and with a boost in their 3 point rate that number could rise.
Hawks are a solid team, I think Trae+DeJounte and their chemsitry will be better with a year of integration. They're solid, but I think their ceiling is low. I don't really buy them as a noise maker. How much of a leap Hunter can make and how much of a leap their young players make to me will determine their outcome this season. They can be a top 6 team or they can be a team in the 8-10 range. I think they will be good enough offensively and have good enough coaching not to fall out of the play-in.
Jalen Johnson is the piece that unlocks this team. If Temu Kawhi becomes Great Value Kawhi, we’re a dangerous team for BOS/MIL