Tuesday, December 07, 2010

ESPN.com: Under the Radar Storylines

The TrueHoop Network combined forces to provide the national audience with under-reported items about their respective teams. My contribution:
What upbeat story deserves more attention?

Before the season it seemed a question of when rather than if Jeff Teague would replace Mike Bibby as the team's starting point guard. Instead, Bibby, who is not exactly synonymous with movement, has thrived in Larry Drew's motion offense, consistently finding unguarded space on the perimeter, knocking down 53.9 percent of his 3-point attempts, and setting solid back screens to free his teammates.

What downbeat story deserves more attention?

The Hawks are (again) a mediocre defensive team because they are (again) a below-average defensive rebounding team. They've finished 24th or worse in defensive rebound rate for five straight seasons, yet the organization has not addressed this persistent weakness. Since drafting Al Horford third overall in 2007, the Hawks have used five straight picks on guards and filled out the rotation with poor (Josh Powell) or comically poor (Jason Collins) defensive rebounders.
Cheers to Mike Bibby for being even more deserving of attention at the time of publication than at the time of writing.

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