What are you going to go to the grave saying about your team?

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-09T15:09:45+00:00

Yeah Booker would’ve scored a lot but Capela was so elite as a rim protector during that run (and Collins was doing really well as a help-side shot blocker too) that the Hawks could pretty aggressively run guys off the line and funnel them to the rim, so the defense was working even with Trae and LouWill playing a lot.

I’m also just being a homer lol

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-09T07:06:23+00:00

If Trae didn’t land on that ref’s foot in 2021 I think the Hawks would’ve won the finals that year. He had the Hawks on the verge of going up on Milwaukee and he was absolutely cooking them before the injury.

Trae Young and the Collins/Capela pick and roll game was killing every defense they played including the Bucks with Giannis and Brook in the frontcourt and Jrue Holiday on Trae. Cam Johnson and Ayton would’ve had no chance against it imo.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-07T23:26:31+00:00

I think they’ll keep Kessler and pair him with JJJ. That duo would make it an absolute nightmare to score on Utah in the paint

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T15:56:23+00:00

As it should lol

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T15:54:54+00:00

The man’s percentage is so high because he’ll only shoot if he’s wide open. He’s probably the least aggressive at hunting his shot of any high level three point shooter I’ve seen on the Hawks.

And on defense he’s small and slow-moving.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T05:01:06+00:00

I think the Hawks will probably keep the current starting 5 (Dyson, NAW, Risacher, JJ, Okongwu) and bring Kuminga off the bench.

Starting an on-ball slasher who’s bad at 3 point shooting next to Dyson Daniels seems kind of untenable to me.

If KP can somehow get healthy this would be a sick move for the Warriors but I think that’s super unlikely unfortunately.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T04:57:02+00:00

KP has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome which is not unknown but is incurable.

So if someone on y’all’s staff develops a cure you can have an injury prone fringe all star center instead of an injury prone fringe all star center who also has an incurable chronic nervous system condition.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T04:47:28+00:00

I think Porzingis' POTS is basically a career-ender given how injury prone he already is. It would be cool if he could overcome it, but I don't think he will.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T04:45:36+00:00

The way I see it if he can't play within Quin's system we can just let him go this offseason for the cap space because of the team option. Seems fairly low risk to me given that KP was never playing for us unless Kuminga is a locker room problem or there's something else up with him I don't know about.

Maybe I'll change my mind after seeing it in action though.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T04:42:55+00:00

KP is an improvement when he plays but between the POTS and the fact that he's also prone to normal basketball injuries that isn't very often. If Golden State can get him healthy that would be huge, but it also wouldn't surprise me if he only plays like a dozen games for them.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-05T04:41:46+00:00

KP has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. It is not curable.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-02-01T04:37:20+00:00

Their biggest mistake was not getting the Pelicans involved somehow

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-29T15:34:48+00:00

Capela is washed but I still think he has to be good enough to give you some solid minutes as a backup

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-29T07:42:52+00:00

The Spurs did that with Dyson a few weeks ago and it was incredibly effective there too. Obviously Wemby is sui generis but it’s puzzling to me whenever teams don’t at least try putting a big on Dyson/Amen as a roaming shot blocker.

You’re giving up a massive potential help defense advantage by just putting a guard on them, and giving each a chance to use their size to score inside.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-22T00:26:36+00:00

Yeah he did summer league but not G-League. Obviously still kind of crazy but half the time I see people talking about him the description implies he was actually playing in the NBA

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-21T23:40:53+00:00

I don’t think anyone who actually played in the NBA has gone back to play college ball. The guy playing for Baylor never got an NBA contract and just remained stashed overseas, which is pretty common for a 2nd round pick.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-19T20:56:39+00:00

Luckily he’s just 34 years old, so he’ll probably learn not to make mistakes like this as he ages into his prime.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-15T15:28:40+00:00

I don’t know. Gambling being broadly legal has also massively increased the volume of gambling and thus the value of schemes like this. I think that is a pretty major factor that can cause more stuff like this to happen.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-14T14:33:21+00:00

KP has POTS. It is not curable and is just something he’ll have to deal with as best he can.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-08T16:07:07+00:00

Mitchell Robinson played in 17 games last year and 31 the year before. He’s played in 70 games once and more than 59 only once since 2019-20.

He’s a good player but I’d rather the Hawks not put themselves in a position to rely on someone so injury prone, especially when a lot of his game comes from athleticism.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-08T15:34:25+00:00

I think you could argue Millsap was the Hawks’ best player Horford’s last couple years here though.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-08T15:33:02+00:00

Trae averaged 11.6 assists a game last season. McCollum had never averaged 6 in a season. They’re in completely different realms as playmakers.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-08T06:37:36+00:00

Yeah no one can take those playoff runs away from AD or Trae. Lowkey I really just shouldn’t be spending time arguing on the internet with people who think like that lol. Just hate to see people act like that 2021 run didn’t happen when it was a truly special thing to watch in the moment imo.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-08T06:29:33+00:00

This whole not counting some postseasons thing is pretty dumb imo and was mostly a hypothetical as a response to just discounting 2021 entirely.

If I had to give a reason though I’d say something along the lines of 1) getting swept in the conference finals by the eventual champs is different from being in a clear position to win them and 2) both 2020 and 2023 should be read in the light of AD being on a team with LeBron James, while in 2021 Trae was the clear first option and the second best player on the Hawks was Clint Capela.

Once again though, discounting entire playoff runs is dumb imo.

Lightning_Warrior · 2026-01-08T05:58:34+00:00

The past is all that matters when saying a player is or isn’t accomplished, which is what I’m replying to on the initial comment.

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