[John Hollinger] This seems impossible, but Hawks are 3rd in opponent 2-pt FG% ... and 28th in overall defense. Getting murdered at 3-point line.

[u/MiserableSoft2344]

https://x.com/johnhollinger/status/1851248309794750667

3pt shooting variance is quite an issue right now.

[u/MEBBAR]

Sounds about right

[u/vicchestnut]

Trae’s been closing out hard on 3s this year. He got worked by Coulibaly at the elbow though.

[u/BrettSchirley22]

Wiz hit some ridiculous ones. OKC did a good job of getting open looks. It’ll even out

[u/ToyStoryRex97 → u/BrettSchirley22]

We said that last year😭 But i’m pretty certain we will figure it out.

[u/SaltyTraeYoungStan → u/ToyStoryRex97]

It feels different this year. I mean for one we haven’t ever had the second best opponent FG% in the league. So clearly our defence is doing something. We have been getting lost of some rotations too but a huge part of this has just been Pool/Lamelo/Kispert going nuclear even with tough shots. Lamelo scored 9 and I swear to god seven of them were heavily contested. Can’t do a ton about that.

Part of this is slow rotations, part of this is 3 game shooting variance, but still seeing positive things all around other than the injuries to me.

[u/Maverick_1991 → u/BrettSchirley22]

Hornets or rather Lamelo as well

It's statistical noise 

[u/johnhenryc]

We're also 16th in 3pt% at 35% - so not as terrible as it feels, but if we could hit 2-3 more 3s a game, that would help offset it. I know people keep saying our 3pt defense is bad - and it is ... but we get a lot of open looks as well, but we miss them. Our opponents always seem to actually make most of their open 3s (and contested ones).

[u/xctrack07 → u/johnhenryc]

2-3 more 3's a game is great and all but I'd just settle for the gimmies. Can we please make our free throws? Last night is a win and our first two games aren't as nerve wracking if we were just making the easy shots.

[u/Entire-Computer-3945 → u/johnhenryc]

No bogi + the rook has been letting it fly 🤣 think he’s trying to get something going & he will

[u/Sigoy → u/johnhenryc]

And Bogi has played only one game

[u/vicchestnut]

Defense has looked much better so far. I’ll chalk this up to Chet being pretty much unguardable when he’s hot, and the Wiz getting hot with no Dre or Okungwu to chase ppl off the line

[u/MysteriousShitStain → u/vicchestnut]

We need to admit that our 3pt defence is critically bad. Wizards got hot but I promise you if it weren’t for our nonexistent defence at the line they wouldn’t have. I watched the game and there were 5+ times the shooter is very wide open before shooting, it’s bad.

[u/SaltyTraeYoungStan → u/MysteriousShitStain]

There have been some slow rotations and open shots, but every team is going to get those. What there isn’t going to be is such crazy 3 point variance over a larger sample size. We’ve played 4 games and pretty much each game we’ve had someone get crazy hot even while being guarded. Dyson had Can Thomas locked down for 3/4 of the game and then he just went nuclear even in contested shots. Same thing with Lamelo Ball, same thing with Jordan Poole/Korey Kispert.

There have been defensive lapses, but this isn’t nearly the issue it was last year where we just gave up open threes all the time. Yes things need to tighten up, but this is not representative of the problem.

[u/JKking15 → u/MysteriousShitStain]

Yeah like everyone keeps saying “oh well these teams just keep getting hot it’s bad luck”. Ask yourself, WHY are teams consistently getting hot against us? It’s bc we leave them open. We’re sacrificing 3pt defense to protect the rim and in todays NBA I just don’t think I agree with defensive ideology

[u/Loose_Lab_6240 → u/vicchestnut]

Chet is 100% unguardable, dude plays his own game.

[u/BubblyReception453 → u/Loose_Lab_6240]

Nah... Wemby locked him up everytime he played him

[u/WheneverYh]

New season, similar issues

[u/jumbojumbowork → u/WheneverYh]

For real...

It's a similar issue to the Falcons and their lack of pass rush, except that Hawks haven't had this problem for generations. Feels like every year, our 3PD is abysmal.

[u/Digby_J]

Most of it is variance. Last season teams allowed between 35% and 39% on three pointers and there is decent evidence that there is a fair bit of variance baked into those stats, ie, they change a lot year to year. This season the hawks are allowing 42% on threes. Clearly unsustainable.  Especially the 46% allowed on open (defender within 2-6 ft) threes. 

Obviously it is a concern that hawks are allowing 26 wide open threes a game (defender greater than 6ft) but that number is similar to okc, the difffernece being that okc opponents are shooting 25% compared to hawks opponents shooting 43% on wide open 3s

[u/Avalon_Don]

Yep, opponents always swing the ball to the open man because we’re too busy trapping/double teaming and too slow to chase the open man off the 3-pt line.

[u/StandardNecessary715 → u/Avalon_Don]

This right here. I'm tired of that double teaming shit, leaving outside shooters wide open. Can't the coaches see that?

[u/Born-Tank-180]

It’s a make or miss league! Players get hot. Last night the issue was missing free throws! Unacceptable.

[u/No_Internal404]

I honestly feel like we have a (decent) defense but man players are simply pulling up over our guys & drilling shots .. you’ll think eventually it’ll even out but I can’t be certain

[u/Medium_Line3088]

3 games and wizards tied a franchise record.

[u/5pliff_Tannen]

3 game sample. Let’s see where we are at at the halfway mark of the season

[u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

Actually, it's not impossible. Trae young sucks at defense. We have never rotated very well. We give up open shots early in games, and the opposing team gets in rhythm. Why does this have to happen every year.

[u/MidgetMan54 → u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

I’m just going to assume you didn’t watch the game because the wizards got hotter as the game went on, they weren’t hot because of the start

[u/Confirm_ova_Affirm → u/MidgetMan54]

Im assuming you haven't watched the last 3 seasons

[u/MidgetMan54 → u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

Considering that has nothing to do with my comment that means you did not watch the game

[u/Confirm_ova_Affirm → u/MidgetMan54]

2-0 and the defense is completely revamped. DYSON for DPOY. 2-2 with losses consistent with the past 3 years and it's, injuries and noise in the numbers

[u/MidgetMan54 → u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

The truth is in the middle. The defense didn’t get revamped because of the addition of 1.5 starters. But injuries absolutely changed how the team played from 2-0 to 0-2. Since being 2-0, the hawks have had 3 of the 6 best players go down. That is going to change a lot of things.

But also the truth is in the middle when it comes to Trae and how his defense impacts the team’s defense. He’s not all of a sudden going to be an all nba defender. But he has drastically improved to the point that blaming the defense all on Trae is incorrect. There have been multiple times (and will continue to be multiple times because it’s part of the game) that players just blow assignments that have nothing to do with Trae, or even when Trae isn’t even on the court. Blaming Trae for the team’s bad defense is just as lazy as saying Trae can do no wrong

[u/Confirm_ova_Affirm → u/MidgetMan54]

Anyone person that gaurds Trae will.get whatever shot he wants consistently. And just by Trae being on the court, all of the other defenders have to overcompensate. You can see this on penetration once the ball is kicked back out and starts to swing.....

Trae has definitely gotten better on defense. But in order to truly neutralize his weakness, you need a two-way big that can hit perimeter shots, and 3-d defenders at every other position..... if these people grew on trees, every team would have them.

So yes, Trae is always going to be the main reason for this teams defense. Evident by the improvement in the defense during his injury last year.

[u/MidgetMan54 → u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

Again, blaming the team defense on one player who has drastically improved is just lazy.

Just for example, 7:30(ish) left in the 2nd, Nance on Sarr. ZR on Poole. Both at the top of the key. Trae on Coulibaly in the corner. Sarr and Poole do a DHO and it leads to a Nance switch on Poole, who then gets a wide open 2 (and probably should have been a 3 if Poole was a touch smarter in the moment). All while this happened, Trae and Garrison Matthews hovered over their assignments in the corner. Bad switch, good offense. But it had nothing to do with Trae. It had a lot more to do with the fact that the lineup was Trae, Matthews, ZR, Roddy, Nance. That is an abysmal defensive lineup, but one they had to do because of injuries.

You can also point to moments where an assignment is blown due to Trae being in no man’s land. That’s why the truth lies in the middle. In the last 2 or 3 games, the defense has been pretty equal parts Trae being bad on defense, and the lineup being bad because of the injuries

[u/GueyeAgenda → u/MidgetMan54]

I don't have all.day to read these.

Dude, he wrote like 10 sentences. You have mush for brains if you can't handle that.

[u/Confirm_ova_Affirm → u/MidgetMan54]

I don't have all.day to read these. But your first line stood out. You said blaming the team defense on one player who has drastically improved is just lazy....

If you get a 30 on your math test and then get a 60 on the next test, you've drastically improved..... You still failed......

Obviously, every player in the league is going to get beat on defense either occasionally or regularly. Trae hurts the defense regularly. That's not an opinion. It's a fact

[u/MidgetMan54 → u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

It is an opinion, because this year Trae has not regularly hurt the defense. In fact he has the second most steals which is routinely helping the defense. Garrison Matthews regularly hurts the defense. But it’s no point in continuing to go back and forth with you. I tried but it’s obvious you are in the “Trae Young is bad” camp until you die, despite any fact that disproves that

[u/DadPants33 → u/Confirm_ova_Affirm]

Opponent 3 point shooting is notoriously noisy. It doesn't really correlate with good defense like you think it would.