Atlanta Hawks 2k19 "Trusting The Process Again"

[georgiafan]

Player Profile - Alex Len

Alex played 18 minutes a night last year and with the additions of Zion and Bol he will not be a regular member of the rotation. He Is expected to get about 5 minutes on opening night and after a few games adjustments will be made to the rotations.

Alex is still only 25 and it looks like he will never live up to being drafted 5th overall. His biggest strength is rebounding and he can hold his own on defense. He just doesn't offer much on shooting or the offense end so the only way he can score is dunks. If there is a player that's most likely to be traded at the deadline it would likely be him as this is the final year of a affordable contract. I'm sure the Hawks wouldn't mind brining him back next year if its near the minimum as he has great size and rebounding.

[georgiafan]

Opening Night 2019 / 2020

It seemed like the offseason lasted forever and the time had finally came to start the regular season. It was a interesting matchup against the Wizards as Atlanta has a big advantage since Washington's front court is the worse in the NBA. The flip side is the Wall and Beal backcourt should score 50 + against Young and Huerter.

The 1st quarter ended with Atlanta up 2 points. Bol grabs a offensive rebound with 7:34 to go in the 2nd quarter and finds Prince wide open he nails the 3 and that gives Atlanta a 10 point lead. When halftime came the lead was still a comfortable 8 points and lead by the two key rookies. Zion was doing whatever he wanted 16 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assist while Bol Bol already had a double double. Trae was also in foul trouble with 4.

At the start of the 3rd quarter Wall picked up his 4th foul and just a few minutes later Trae picked up his 5th. A John Wall steal lead to a dunk and the 3rd quarter was a disaster and with 4 minutes in the quarter Washington now had a 12 point lead. Zion would also leave the game with a minor injury and luckily would return in the 4th quarter. Washington would go on to extend the lead in the 4th and a great 1st half was wasted.

John Wall just abused Trae Young in this game in every imaginable way it was tough to watch. John finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds, 17 assist and 3 steals while Trae had 6 points, 6 assist on 2 of 15 shooting. Beal also played well with 26 and 10. The positive news Zion had a fantastic NBA debut with 27, 9 and 9 on 11 of 18 shooting. Bol also played great with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Spellman made his case for more playing time with 13 points, 7 rebounds and a 3 pointer. The headline of the game will be Wall dominating Trae on both sides of the ball

Zions 1st points as Porter falls to the ground


Zion leaves with thigh injury

[spiderxx7]

What. a. debut. for Zion. But Wall felt unstoppable.

[georgiafan]

Quote: Originally Posted by spiderxx7

What. a. debut. for Zion. But Wall felt unstoppable.

Yea Zion was hard to stop my plan so to either use him at the 3 or 4 depending on who is guarding him. If it’s a smaller 3 he post up and if it’s a bigger slower 4 I move him outside. Yea Young’s defense showed in this one I think I’m gonna have to start doubling scoring PG it just didn’t work with the wiz as they have beal

[georgiafan]

Training Focus

Trae Young - shot close (current rating 76)
Kevin Huerter - shot contest (current rating 71)
Tauren Prince - shot contest (current rating 69)
John Collins - shot close (current rating 80)
Bol Bol - shot contest (current rating 87)
Zion Williamson - shot contest (current rating 65)
Kevin Huerter - 3's (current rating 75)
Omari Spellman - shot close (current rating 71)
Carson Edwards - pass accuracy (current rating 65)

Jeremy Len - block (current rating 71)
Ryan Anderson - 3's (current rating 86)
Chandler Parsons - 3's (current rating 86)
Michael Carter Williams - shot contest (current rating 72)
Soloman Hill - steal (current rating 54 )
Tom Walton - shot contest (current rating 87)

[georgiafan]

Next 6 Games

Heat 116 - Hawks 96
Another diaster performance for Trae Young as Dragic goes off for 27-4-8-3 while Trae shoots 4 of 17 while scoring 12 with 11 assist. Collins gets 22 and 13 while Zion does nothing in his 2nd career game. It was a tough matchup for him going up against Olynyk and James Johnson.

Raptors 93 - Hawks 81
Collins has his 2nd straight good game with 18 and 13. Another G scores more then they should as Delon Wright has 21.

Knicks 108 - Hawks 97
Trae gets back on track with 32 points and 9 assist while Jimmy Butler has 29-6-7

Jazz 125 - Hawks 122
A close game where the Hawks coulda shoulda won as Trae shoots 7 from 11 from 3 and finished with 26 points and 7 assist. Another set of G's score a lot Rubio has 20 and Mitchaell has 42

Pacers 112 - Hawks 93
Pacers win this one easy as Bogdonovic has 26 points and 7 rebounds. Trae scored 31 on 11 of 24 shooting and Collins has 18 and 6.

Suns 101 - Hawks 100
A tough start to the year as without Bol Bol another game that could have been a win. TJ Warren scores 21 and Booker has a off game only scoring 19 points in 43 minutes. It was the same 2 headliners for the Hawks Trae shoots 12 of 28 for 35 points while Collins has 18 and 17.

[georgiafan]

Hawks Early Season Trends

John Collins is averaging 15 and 10 with 1.8 steals

Bol Bol is averaging 13 and 11 along with 2.6 blocks. His blocks is tied for 5th in the NBA

Prince is having another disaster start to the season and at this rate he may be forced to take 1 year deal if his play doesn't improve. His scoring is down 3.7 and is shooting under 30%.

Huerter is shooting 42% from 3

Trae is scoring 22 a game and has improved his shooting %

Zion is off to a slow start and his 12 points a game is 8th for rookies

[georgiafan]

Hawks Will Not Tank

Despite the 1-8 start the Hawks will not tank like they did last year which saw 3 proven vets traded early in the season. Atlanta has a 9 man rotation full of young players so they don't much wiggle room when it comes to making major changes. They don't have any veteran players that could sell off and get value pieces back like last year. When asked for a quote coach Lloyd Pierce said "we are a young team our goal is to win games and make the playoffs. We are going to stick with our 9 man rotation unless a injury happens and just see how things unfold".

Atlanta is once again loaded with draft picks also having a Cavs pick which is top 10 protected and a Pelicans pick which is lottery protected. They aren't expected to be as many teams looking to shed salary and offer 1st round picks like they have been the previous few years with most teams having their bad contracts off the books. Its always nice to land a top 5 draft pick with high potential, but you already have a lot of young guys on the team that needs minutes. It sounds like the goal this year will be to get valuable playing time for the young guys and improve team chemistry.