FNG wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 1:38 pm
Walker Kessler out for the season with a shoulder injury. Makes our 4 games with them more likely wins.
Yup. I was just gonna post that, too.
I feel sorry for Walker. I, along with many others, have wondered how this team would have evolved had TC not traded Walker Kessler away. It's hard to imagine we would have been any better, especially these last 2 years. But can't help but wonder what our trajectory would have been... (BTW, I have no regrets about the trade)
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Nov 07, 2025 9:53 pm
NAW playing a higher usage/scoring role for Atlanta. Not going too well.
Not terrible either?
I think this is one where we'll need to see play out a bit more. Him shooting 2 - 15 fg in his first game is still going to slightly skew shooting efficiency only 9 games in.
I haven't seen him, so I don't know if he's taken good shots or not. Regardless, I prefer him as a 6th man a lot more than as a starter. Looks like he's started 6 of 9.
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Nov 07, 2025 9:53 pm
NAW playing a higher usage/scoring role for Atlanta. Not going too well.
Not terrible either?
I think this is one where we'll need to see play out a bit more. Him shooting 2 - 15 fg in his first game is still going to slightly skew shooting efficiency only 9 games in.
I haven't seen him, so I don't know if he's taken good shots or not. Regardless, I prefer him as a 6th man a lot more than as a starter. Looks like he's started 6 of 9.
I mean, you could certainly have someone worse than NAW out there as a starting guard, but to your point, it's just not his strong suit.
What's interesting is that he came into the NBA fashioning himself as a scoring/playmaking guard with fairly poor results. It was only when he was thrown into the deal for Mike Conley that he dedicated himself to defense and re-made himself into an elite, lower usage role player for the Wolves.
I suppose Trae Young's injury has forced him to take on more of the scoring burden, but he's hardly someone the defense has to game plan for. Not ideal.
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Nov 07, 2025 9:53 pm
NAW playing a higher usage/scoring role for Atlanta. Not going too well.
Not terrible either?
I think this is one where we'll need to see play out a bit more. Him shooting 2 - 15 fg in his first game is still going to slightly skew shooting efficiency only 9 games in.
I haven't seen him, so I don't know if he's taken good shots or not. Regardless, I prefer him as a 6th man a lot more than as a starter. Looks like he's started 6 of 9.
I mean, you could certainly have someone worse than NAW out there as a starting guard, but to your point, it's just not his strong suit.
What's interesting is that he came into the NBA fashioning himself as a scoring/playmaking guard with fairly poor results. It was only when he was thrown into the deal for Mike Conley that he dedicated himself to defense and re-made himself into an elite, lower usage role player for the Wolves.
I suppose Trae Young's injury has forced him to take on more of the scoring burden, but he's hardly someone the defense has to game plan for. Not ideal.
Such a likable guy, so it's great to see him starting in Atlanta. But I agree with you guys that his best role is as a 3&D guy off the bench.
We've talked a lot about how dreadful our defense is when Rudy sits, so let's critique the moves TC made in the offseason. It was clear he was not going to be able to keep both NAW and Naz, and I think his hand was forced by Naz's enormous popularity (and also our depth at his position). But how much better would we be right now if instead we had signed NAW for $15 million and used the remaining $10 million on a free agent backup center. Capela, Kornet, and Horford come to mind as backup centers who all make less than $10 million, and would be much better options backing up Rudy. And it sure would be nice to have NAW fighting through screens and hitting threes.
I think this is one where we'll need to see play out a bit more. Him shooting 2 - 15 fg in his first game is still going to slightly skew shooting efficiency only 9 games in.
I haven't seen him, so I don't know if he's taken good shots or not. Regardless, I prefer him as a 6th man a lot more than as a starter. Looks like he's started 6 of 9.
I mean, you could certainly have someone worse than NAW out there as a starting guard, but to your point, it's just not his strong suit.
What's interesting is that he came into the NBA fashioning himself as a scoring/playmaking guard with fairly poor results. It was only when he was thrown into the deal for Mike Conley that he dedicated himself to defense and re-made himself into an elite, lower usage role player for the Wolves.
I suppose Trae Young's injury has forced him to take on more of the scoring burden, but he's hardly someone the defense has to game plan for. Not ideal.
Such a likable guy, so it's great to see him starting in Atlanta. But I agree with you guys that his best role is as a 3&D guy off the bench.
We've talked a lot about how dreadful our defense is when Rudy sits, so let's critique the moves TC made in the offseason. It was clear he was not going to be able to keep both NAW and Naz, and I think his hand was forced by Naz's enormous popularity (and also our depth at his position). But how much better would we be right now if instead we had signed NAW for $15 million and used the remaining $10 million on a free agent backup center. Capela, Kornet, and Horford come to mind as backup centers who all make less than $10 million, and would be much better options backing up Rudy. And it sure would be nice to have NAW fighting through screens and hitting threes.
Hell had Naz opted in and signed the max extension which was something like 4/88 so he would have been at about 5/100 with the salary he already had, we probably could have kept NAW. Or you could have gone against your word to Mike trade him to Brooklyn and attach a 2nd to dump him, and you keep NAW, sign a vet min pg.
I think this is one where we'll need to see play out a bit more. Him shooting 2 - 15 fg in his first game is still going to slightly skew shooting efficiency only 9 games in.
I haven't seen him, so I don't know if he's taken good shots or not. Regardless, I prefer him as a 6th man a lot more than as a starter. Looks like he's started 6 of 9.
I mean, you could certainly have someone worse than NAW out there as a starting guard, but to your point, it's just not his strong suit.
What's interesting is that he came into the NBA fashioning himself as a scoring/playmaking guard with fairly poor results. It was only when he was thrown into the deal for Mike Conley that he dedicated himself to defense and re-made himself into an elite, lower usage role player for the Wolves.
I suppose Trae Young's injury has forced him to take on more of the scoring burden, but he's hardly someone the defense has to game plan for. Not ideal.
Such a likable guy, so it's great to see him starting in Atlanta. But I agree with you guys that his best role is as a 3&D guy off the bench.
We've talked a lot about how dreadful our defense is when Rudy sits, so let's critique the moves TC made in the offseason. It was clear he was not going to be able to keep both NAW and Naz, and I think his hand was forced by Naz's enormous popularity (and also our depth at his position). But how much better would we be right now if instead we had signed NAW for $15 million and used the remaining $10 million on a free agent backup center. Capela, Kornet, and Horford come to mind as backup centers who all make less than $10 million, and would be much better options backing up Rudy. And it sure would be nice to have NAW fighting through screens and hitting threes.
OMG, YES on the backup Center, some of those names we talked about over the summer. Decent backup Centers are generally in good supply relative to other positions.
I wonder if Connelly felt he needed Julius and Naz locked up as potential assets in a Durant trade and then when that deal became too costly he was sort of stuck holding the bag.
But yeah, if things don't go well this year (meaning a relatively early playoff or play in exit), I'm pointing the finger at Connelly and not Finch. Finch has to do coaching jujitsu to work around this imbalanced roster. Now that doesn't mean Connelly can't fix it next offseason, but the Naz/Julius pairing and point guard issues were things we already knew about heading into this past offseason. He'd be a year too late!
Wow! Some unexpected help from Eastern Conference teams. The Hawks, without half their team, takes down the Lakers. And the Heat, minus BAM and Herro, beat the Blazers.
Maybe the Pacers can take down the Nuggets -- they are hanging in there in the 3rd...
Nikola Jokic to start November:
31.3 PPG
11.3 RPG
13.3 APG
70/47/87%
4-0 W/L
No Murray or Gordon tonight against Indy, coach left him in during a blow out win..Likely because they lose leads quickly when he sits, they didn’t have 2nd and 3rd best player to keep in instead to make it a slow bleed and the biggest reason was he sat the 4th the night before with 28 minutes logged.
Jokic may not let on but I really believe comments from the media (Shaq,Perk) erks him a bit. He’s playing with an edge this year, defense has been great, he’s making a lot of flashy entertaining passes. He’s not barking at the refs near as much. As if to say, screw your whistle,screw the voter fatigue. I’m gonna keep having best season yet numbers and make it look easy. And he is.
60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 9:40 pm
Wow! Some unexpected help from Eastern Conference teams. The Hawks, without half their team, takes down the Lakers. And the Heat, minus BAM and Herro, beat the Blazers.
Maybe the Pacers can take down the Nuggets -- they are hanging in there in the 3rd...
It feels like the West is a little less competitive than normal with at least five teams mired in mediocrity for now.
