Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Happy Thought In Sad Anticipation of the Lockout

I'd have been much more invested in the minicamp the Hawks held had the coming lockout not felt impending and inevitable.

Here's hoping this desire of Larry Drew's comes to pass whenever business resumes:
"We need knock-down shooters. Not the guys that are capable of making shots. We need guys that they are open, they get that ball, the opposition is saying, ‘Uh-oh.’ Those type guys."
The strong side of Atlanta's half-court will usually struggle against better defenses if the weak side of Atlanta's half-court offense consists of Marvin Williams and Josh Smith* spotting up, waiting to get the ball and take a shot the defense is all too glad for them to take.

*Even Al Horford, good though he was at knocking down mid-range-to-long two-pointers, wasn't, in and of himself, improving Atlanta's offense that much, compared to the league, by consistently knocking the least efficient shot in basketball.

Acquiring some personnel better suited to spreading the floor and Joe Johnson making a reasonable percentage of his three-point attempts probably gets the Hawks back to an above average offense even if nothing else changes for the better. Let the "knock-down shooters" be this off-season's "bulky" center.

4 comments:

mick said...

Isn't the most important thing for the hawks this off season teaching horford to move towards the basket and force the issue on those screen and rolls instead of setteling for the 15-18 foot elbow shot?

lukas said...

Mick,

It would certainly be nice for Horford to develop his ballhandling game moving toward the basket, especially for the pick and roll situation which you mentioned. Given that the players have been locked out, this literally can't be an organizational issue, can it? Furthermore, I'd contend that the biggest problem on offense remains Josh Smith's shot selection. Horford is already our best player. Why focus on things he doesn't do rather than on something that Smoove does often and poorly? Having said that, the Atlanta offense was in the middle-of-the-pack in the rankings and slightly better than average by the numbers. Perimeter defense and rebounding are the weak points on this team and, fortunately, they can be addressed intelligently from the bench.

pointguardslim said...

Horford has never been able to dribble.

Its about power and speed combination. Horford is a rigid pick and pop shooting center

pointguardslim said...

* Josh Smith is forced to spot up outside for spacing, something Horford cannot do.
* Address perimeter defense through the bench? But those defense players likely won't be able to affect the other side of the ball.

2 -way players now. Horford has never been much of a ballhandler in the halfcourt. Please.

Again Smith's shot selection is what happens when you go big, Smith becomes responsible for spacing.

I suggest this trade.

Marvin's shots become Jon Leuer's shots. Horford handle becomes Jon Leuer's handle.

Bogut brings that league leading defense and helps form the toughest center tandem in the league.
HAWKS LOCKOUT TITLE
J.Teague* Joe Johnson* J. Smith* J. Leuer * A. Bogut
Kirk Hinrich * Marv.Williams * Malcolm Thomas* K.Benson * Zaza Pachulia
inj. reserve: Pape Sy, Jason Collins