Let’s start with the core problems:
- CJ is a worse Trae Young.
** For all the reasons Trae had to go, chief among them was that he could not play off-ball on offense. Let’s set aside Quin hate for a second (not saying he doesnt deserve it) and at least admit that the style he wants to play is fast ball movement, getting into the paint to create open looks for 3. When we win, in the interviews he gives credit “getting the ball in everyone’s hands builds everyone’s confidence that results in better shooting”. This idea is one you need to either choose to believe in or not Put simply, he believes that ***team touches increase shooting efficiency. *IF** this is a valid facet of successful Quin team-ball, then CJ is sucking the life out of the team on his possessions these last 2 games. Regardless of his efficiency or volume stats as an individual, if Quin’s theory about team touches is valid, then CJ is hurting us, just like Trae ball did.
The upside with CJ (and Kispert) as I saw it when we got them was that they can play, and play well, off-ball. Everyone in this “system” needs to be able to play off-ball. CJ being a dead-end is the antithesis of this. It can work sometimes if he gets hot, or if the team happens to get hot with limited touches, but it doesn’t maximize our capacity to play our best ball on a nightly basis.
A behind the scenes problem that fans don’t typically appreciate: CJ was the President of the NBA Players Association, and accordingly has a TON of political power behind the scenes. I hate to break it to everyone, but the sport we love has powers-that-be who distort things away from being a strictly competency and performance based system. CJ is going to be a guy that Quin probably doesn’t have the power or wherewithal to bench or even do more than gently request he play within his scheme.
2. Jalen isn’t impacting the game as an all-around freak of nature athlete even when his shot isn’t falling.
Because of this, Jalen’s bad games are atrocious, and even worse he can never lead the team thru radical accountability. I have said here before, NAW is seemingly incapable of truly hurting the team more than he helps because even if his shot isnt falling, hes still playing aggressive D, and getting looks for his teammates. For what it’s worth he is also clearly helping by being a leader the younger guys very much need. Moving on from Trae was a tough decision that indicates the team might be beginning to value actual results over “star-power”. Jalen’s stats don’t mean shit if he’s not going to be a leader thru play and passion on both sides of the ball. Great players have bad games, great players have slumps, but truly great players still find a way to help the team every time they step on the court.
In Summary:
If CJ doesn’t play mainly off ball, and if JJ won’t participate in helping NAW create the new standard for effort and toughness on BOTH sides of the floor, then we will suck. Every team wants to establish a “culture” but the reason no one does is because when it comes down to it, stars and other politically powerful players (such as CJ) are not actually held accountable in any meaningful way. It all comes down to this. Our only hope is NAW honestly. He has to do what Quin doesnt have the balls to do. He has to demand the new standard. Without that, things arent gonna change.
32 comments
NAW definitely feels like the backbone of our “culture” rn
Hawks fans complaining about a ball handler not playing off ball after years of defending **** ***** lmao
Also it’s been like 5 games. More of which he’s been good than bad – you want more Keaton minutes??
jalen has a couple bad games after a crazy run and this is how yall act. cj just joined a team on the road in the west. he hasn’t even got back to atl yet for training. give the new guys time.
Yeah look it’s been 3 games I’m gonna wait. If the trends are continuing to be bad after more time then we can open up this discussion
6man – CJ. He has no previous tenure with the team that Quinn has to respect like Trae did. Dyson, NAW, ZR, JJ, OO. Play the guys who are gonna be here long term. Let CJ and KP help when they can off the bench.
We arent gonna win if Jalen’s only taking 9 shots and OO puts up 15 3’s.
Also pause on the CJ hate. The man joined us during a west coast road trip. He isnt a bum.
I said it the other day that I didnt see the trade doing a whole lot for anybody outside of salary reasons. CJ’s numbers as a Wizard damn near mirrored Trae’s. There was just no world where those stats got better by leaving a team that gives you the keys to the offense. CJ really just is a poor mans Trae
Bruh CJ has played 2 games with us…
As a wizards fan, I don’t think you have to worry that much about CJ. He was pretty much awful in the beginning of this season with us his efficiency was awful but as this season progressed, he got really good and his efficiency skyrocketed. Just allow him to get acclimated with this team and he’ll be fine however, if you’re expecting any defense from him, you’re out of luck.
I don’t think cj was meant to be an upgrade. Just a cheaper means to end up with the same record.
JJ just started playing like a star, but could use some veteran leadership. He needs to be a vocal leader as well as a better defender. He needs someone in the locker room who will hold him accountable.
In theory that could be KP but I doubt anyone listens to him while in street clothes
Everyone who is saying CJ’s only played two games totally missed the point OP was making
Im offended we got CJ for trae young. Insanely terrible return. He hasn’t been good in half a decade.
People are such prisoners of the moment. CJ is a career 39% three point shooter. He’s shooting 39% this season. Yes he’s only shooting 16% since he came to the Hawks, but trust Onsi. This man will eventually help us. Don’t get your panties in a wad.
Nope, nether is true.
It’s up to the coach to play a guy or not. NAW should be our leadoff with Dyson. CJ shouldn’t get more than 15 mins but Snyder plays him almost 30 mins. Meanwhile, you see Mo riding the bench.
Then you see knee jerk reactions where he brings up Dyson and Mo to try to save him.
CJ should get WAYY less minutes. Mo should be the first off the bench, every game but Snyder won’t do that. Instead he keeps playing guys who have offense and no defense.
In the game against lakers, Cj has way more fga than Luka. 😂
I don’t think anybody thought that cj was a perfect fit in anything other than matching salary. We didn’t make the trade thinking he was an upgrade lol. In the few months he’s with us, im gonna watch him hoist up a bunch a bullshit and I’m gonna *like it.*
Don’t worry about any of that nonsense.
We were 17-13 without Trae and math is facts. You can’t argue facts. It’s like the laws of physics. Not winning 17 out of every 30 games would mean the universe has been destroyed.
We’ll win 17 games for every 13 we lose moving forward, so that’s a 4-3 series win every round all the way to a championship.
Ideally Risacher continues his form and closes over CJ when he’s back from injury.
But for the folks maulding need to understand the hawks are undermanned and have been since December. There is not much Onsi can actually do atm without sacrificing assets when the future is significantly better than the present
We have talent – the reasons you listed are why I think we need a leader of men. Someone who can get through to these guys.
This sub is so insufferable with brain-dead takes day after day.
Ya’ll are the most reactive, easily triggered fan base ever. Negative after every win. Burn it down after two loses.
I swear 90% of these posts are made by people who have never actually played basketball in their life.
The point y’all are missing is that no team is making anything happen with one star. Giannis is undeniably a top 3 player in the league today, yet his team isn’t going anywhere. If fact, they get boo’d.
We needed Trae – AND – JJ – AND – a **actual** center – AND – a 6th man.
It wasn’t Trae’s fault, it’s not JJ’s fault, it’s not CJ’s fault, it’s not Quinn’s fault.
Even IF all things are flowing right with the current team…it’s still MID AF!
The organization doesn’t want to pay to compete, and hate it or love it – that’s how the league is operated.
The Hawks aren’t doing shit with this team!
NAW is our best player, which is in itself problematic for a non tanking team. And yeah JJ’s passivity is killing me, he can’t just be another guy out there not having an impact.
Good lord people. We just had a 4-game western road trip against the Nuggets, Warriors, Lakers, and Trailblazers. All four teams are above the play-in line and we played all four games without two starters (KP and Zacch). How much better than 2-2 did you really expect?
Not a word from me…
CJ was putting up numbers on a bad team and got yall fooled. Hes not a point guard he’s a shooting guard so of course hes better off ball. But we dont have a point guard so we will have to play multiple players at point guard. Jalen Johnson is fine but thats not enough. We are a below average team. We traded away our best offensive weapon because our defense was bad. Now our good offense is now a mediocre offense and our defense is slightly better. All of that equals a below average or average at best team. We are going nowhere
The fact we traded for this guy lmao
Bruhh its only been 3 games and tbh no one was saying anything in the gs game. He had a mix of on ball and off the ball movement.
When you see ur teammates struggling hes been taking more shots since hes been either at his avg shooting percentage or just a bit lower but hes excelled at making space.
Hes still good at playing off the ball.
Jalen in both the Lakers game and portland game struggled idk why but he regressed and we can’t have the new star of the team have bad lapses where hes not finishing or settling for shots.
I wouldn’t be concerned about CJ. They haven’t had a practice yet since he’s arrived. He hasn’t been given the .5 spiel. Saw the same with Lavert when he came here and I think everyone forgot how NAW started with the hawks. I wouldn’t put a lot of stock into the politics of him being NBAPA president. By all accounts he’s been loved at every stop by players and coaches. It’s been 3 games of CJ, he might get better and if he doesn’t… you don’t have to re sign him. Once the hawks traded Trae and faced the reality that KP was going to play less than 40 games the internal expectations went away. They’ve pivoted towards the future and Onsi even eluded to it. They aren’t making moves to just try to put a band aid on things currently. Everything is supposedly future facing.
CJ was got as an expiring. Like he might even be cut after the trade deadline.
It took Trae young being traded to realize Quinn is the true problem and has done the worse job out of all the coaches that coached Trae
Let me start with the REAL core problems:
1. Dukie attitude problems.
Jalen Johnson is a spoiled brat Duooukie and if you pay a spoiled brat Doouukie less than he thinks he’s worth then he will reduce his effort by that percentage. Jalen thinks he’s a max player. We didn’t pay him like that. He’s giving full effort on offense to make the league look at him and then in his mind we aren’t paying him to play defense.
Quin Snyder is an oldass Dukie. He thinks wins should just be handed to him and the reason he doesn’t coach the way youz guys want him to is that he doesn’t think coaching matters. You’re just supposed to get the wins handed to you. Who cares about rotations and crap?
Luke Kennard went to Duke. He is short and white. That’s why he’s in the NBA. You can get everything else totally wrong, but there’s a roster spot for you if you went to Duke. Probably don’t expect good things from him.
If we jettison the Puke infestation we will thrive.
2. Corey Kispert is GORGEOUS!
That man should be flirting with opposing players wives and girlfriends. He’s not spending enough time near the opposing team’s bench asking if any of their hot lady friends have sisters since each of those dudes will need a fallback plan once Corey sets his sights on their girl. Corey needs to stop wasting time practicing and get to doing what and who he does best.
3. CJ McCollum needs to use his mafia ties that OP has already explained to pay off the other players to let us win!
In summariation:
A good tin foil hat must be made with love and not forced into hat shape. If you do it wrong it won’t stop the voices and it won’t block the alien radio signals.
You guys are literally looking for someone to scapegoat. As terrible as I think cj is, he was definitely the best player last night and was the only one trying to do something.
This egalitarian playstyle does not work and we see this every time we are in the clutch. Someone has to control the offense and get a good look for us, it just sucks that it’s cj.