It just means the better they are this year, the more they will be paying for it in losses down the road, thus maintaining perfect balance in the universe.

Do you see what’s going on in the world? The Hawks bring this far above .500 is causing the universe to collapse!

I am so thankful that Castle did not end up on this Roster. Our kids will question why he wasn’t the consensus #1 pick.

Honestly might correct our own timelime and get us back on track. Things went off the rails in 2012

Blaming it all on Trae is a little unfair, so I won’t say that. It was just time for both to move on I think.

But trading him has done wonders for our defense. Since the All-Star Break the Hawks defensive rating of 106.5 ranks 1st in the NBA during that span.

A few things:

• We actually have a backup center with Landale now. KP only played ¹⁷⁄₅₃ games, and our 3rd string center (N’Faly Dante) played 15 minutes for us before getting a season ending injury in the g-league. OO is a very useful center, but we were forced to heavily over-play him (he’s currently 5th in total minutes played among all centers and was in 2nd around the deadline iirc). Our options at backup center for most games were Mo Gueye (a power forward) and Asa Newell (a rookie power forward). Landale (and Koloko to a much lesser extent) has given the team viable minutes when OO is on the bench. That’s allowed for OO to play fewer minutes, which combined with the ASB has seemed to let him play with a bit more energy recently.

• Somewhat along those lines, the team has just been rebounding a lot better recently. Since the ASB, they’re 5th in rebound%. Before that, they were 27th. Part of this is due to having a backup center (and the trickle down effects of being able to play bigger at other positions), part of it is definitely due to the easier schedule, but there are some schematic changes as well. Snyder is letting players crash the boards more often rather than run in transition (most notably with Risacher).

• CJ McCollum is actually good, apparently. With Trae and KP only playing in 27 combined games, the roster lacked individual offensive creation, especially in the half court. CJ gives the team a release valve on any given possession if they aren’t able to create anything, while being passable enough on defense that they don’t give back that value on the other end.

• Sending Zacch to the bench and adding Kuminga and Vincent has given Quin the option to have defensive bench lineups for once. The rotation effectively swapped out Kennard/Krejci for Vincent/Kuminga, and regardless of whether you think that’s an overall improvement it’s definitely one on defense. Trading in the high variance of Kennard/Krejci’s shooting for the more stable defensive nature of Vincent/Kuminga has let the team be a lot more consistent against weaker competition than it has been in the past, albeit without the upside that shooting variance can provide. It also lets Quin have 2 of Dyson/NAW/Vincent/Zacch on the court at all times, further helping that consistentcy

Kinda. Defense is better for sure. Daniels/NAW/McCollum lineup has been SUPER efficient and good on both sides of the ball. We didn’t have that with Trae. Also, Jalen and NAW have just been completely dominate. Sometimes it feels like NAW can’t miss

*Kelly Olynyk.

As is tradition

Just because y’all only have 3 players y’all want to keep doesn’t mean it should happen to the rest of us 😭😂

Fucking Jamal Murray gives me nightmares still. They always kill us 

Wtf LeBron and AD were easily the better duo. They were GOAT level as a playmaker and play finisher, respectively, and ultra versatile on defense.

You can’t judge how good a duo is just by comparing how they fared against Denver. D’lo, Lonnie Walker, and Vanderbilt were getting significant minutes in that 2023 series

Yeah I’m just not worried. I respect the strides you all have taken since last year but I’m not scared and think it’s nuggs in 5 unless Luka has one monster game, then nuggs in 6.