Watching the Hornets struggle against the Hawks. Plumlee starts, Montrezl Harrell playing strong.
Let's go Duke!
Hawks just had our number this year. We couldn’t defend them at all. The Hornets finally seem to be at least headed in the right direction - they need to add some depth and possibly a big. I’m hopeful Bouknight can develop a bit in the offseason; Borrego doesn’t seem to like to play rookies who aren’t named “Ball” but he’s done a good job bringing guys along.
The Hawks are also now in their annual "oh yeah, we can actually play...how the hell did we get worked by the likes of the Trail Blazers and Pistons during the regular season?" phase.
They'd of course never admit it, but the Heat are surely rooting for the Cavaliers tomorrow night.
There is a push among Hawks fans to say that Trae has become the best PG in the NBA. Here is how he ranks among all NBA PGs in various statistical categories this year:
PTS: 2155 (1st)
PPG: 28.4 (T-1st)
AST: 737 (1st)
APG: 9.7 (3rd)
PER: 25.48 (1st)
Win Shares: 10.0 (1st)
OFF Win Shares: 9.0 (1st)
He is also the first player in basketball history to lead both college and the NBA in scoring and assists in the same season.
The Heat are rooting hard hard hard for the Cavs (who are 3-9 over their last 12 games).
-Jason "despite it being a road game, the Hawks are a 2.5 point favorite in Vegas" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Stats accumulation can be a very misleading measure of how valuable a player actually is. Russell Westbrook is the perfect example of this.
I’m more interested in efficiency, shot selection, smart assists versus simply totaling assist numbers, unselfish play, defense, and other things.
You left out career FG% (44.0), 3FG% (35.5), TO (4.1), and possibly being the worst defensive PG in the NBA. Personally, I don't like watching Trae for the same reasons I don't like watching Harden or Luka -- great talents, but constant histrionic acting, get way too many calls, and whine way too much when they don't.
I mean, on the one hand, that's very impressive. On the other hand, how many players have even played college and NBA ball in the the same season?
/snark
Young is having a phenomenal year and has clearly established himself as one of the young faces of the league. I just hope he can attain his goals and heights without having to leave Atlanta.
The argument can absolutely be made that Trae is one of the best - if not the best - offensive PGs.
But basketball is a two-way street, and whenever Trae is on defense, it's 5v4. He is so bad. In the first round of the play-offs, if the Hawks make it, he'll be targeted non-stop by Kyle Lowry and co (more likely a switch with Trae on Jimmy).
I wouldn't take Trae if I had the pick of the PG litter; his defensive liabilities are just too great.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
No quibbles here with the comments about Trae's defense...it's awful.
But he has improved vastly in your stated categories of smart assists, unselfish play, and shot selection. I'd still like for his shooting percentage to improve a bit more, but it has ticked up a solid and noticeable notch this year, and he's a much better distributor than when he came into the league. Last night was a great example of this...the Hornets doubled him through most of the first three quarters, and he passed the ball extremely well to open teammates, so that even when Trae had a poor shooting night, the Hawks had entirely put the game away by the end of the third quarter, and all 5 starters scored in double figures.
I don't know that I'd proclaim him the very best PG in the league, but he's certainly in the top tier (better than a lot of folks seem to inexplicably think), with additional room to improve.
I'm not sure how much some of you have watched Trae and the Hawks this year. I truly think he has gone from horribly, dreadfully awful on D to just mildly awful on D... and there are even some games where he gets really locked in and seems to be... dare I say it... average on D.
And his offense is absurd. It really isn't even about the scoring, it is his ability to put the defense in bad situations and then create opportunities for his teammates. If there was a "hockey assist" in pro basketball, Young's assist numbers would be really outrageous because the Hawks get a ton of buckets out of Trae getting the defense off balance and then the second pass finding a dude who is wide wide wide open.
Of, and that whole thing where he used to hunt for FTs by jumping into guys and the such, that's pretty much gone (the NBA has taken steps with officials to tamp down on it). Trae took 20% fewer FTs this year than he did last season... and managed to up his offensive win shares and ORTG this year versus last.
He's also among the 5 or so most watchable and fun players in the league.
What he does to the Knicks at the 7:00 mark is disgusting.
Last edited by JasonEvans; 04-14-2022 at 03:42 PM.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ns-sources-say
Clippers are likely done. I was really looking forward to the game tonight. 😞
It may not be humorous going forward into these playoffs though. Remember, even with updated vax, anyone can test positive and (I assume) be out for one or more games. And with the latest variant beginning to make the rounds in the U.S., what happened to the Clippers may very well not be an isolated incident.