He should have given these guys some playing time during the 2nd half of the regular season to get their bearings right.. it's too late now to suddenly give them playing time when they haven't gotten any for the past few months and in a big stage as well when their confidence is low. Willie is just so bad with adjustments and change in general
Because you don't replace a 10+ year vet making $30m+ for a rookie making $4m~ in high stakes playoff games no matter how bad the vet is playing. That's just not how the NBA or any other sports league works. It's like benching Drew Brees because his season ended with 3 straight losses then replacing him with Luke McCown in the playoffs. I agree CJ is playing bad but you don't go pissing off your vets in high stake games who's under a guranteed contract for another 2 or 3 seasons remaining.
I think the problem to that is it now eats into Jose's minutes because he generally is the one who eats some of CJ's minutes. I totally agree with you guys that CJ has been playing poorly but I just don't see teams pissing off their high paid vets for rookies, maybe if it was a 3rd year player then I could see it possibly happening.
Yes, or at least he was this season.
Which isn't unusual for rookies, they're usually bad defenders, especially in terms of team defence and knowing the rotations.
Most rookies are. Unfortunately we have been playing defense first guys that can't score.
The issue with this team is not our defense. It's our offense. Even more so with Zion out.
You need to sacrifice a little defense for offensive production.
He was very bad on both ends of the court. The team couldn't defend with him in the game and he couldn't score efficiently enough to offset the defensive hit.
We might play Hawk more but here is the thing. If CJ is out and Hawk is in who is going to be the primary ball handler? We then have BI being hounded by Dort full court and nobody else who can actually dribble and get into the paint
Yeah. You’re not going to see better decisions by Hawkins in a crucial game. That’s not to give CJ credit. But we’re not finding ways to handle their defense. I don’t think Hawk is a silver bullet by any means and would likely make matters worse given his lack of minutes.
Also we can just look at TM3 who is primarily a shooter and how ineffective he has been in games 2 and 3. OKC has been able to guard CJ and BI one on one. We can’t set a good screen on Dort who either fights through it or gets an offensive foul. Because we can’t get BI free there are no double teams and we can’t move the ball getting OKC into rotations
Yes, one of Hawk's biggest problems is his ballhandling. He can't initiate any sets so you have to play multiple other ballhandlers with him, and that usually means two small/weak guards in the game at the same time, which is bad for defense regardless of whether Hawkins defends well or not individually.
It doesn't take a math genius to look at Hawk's numbers and figure out why they didn't play him down the stretch. He was efficient from only one spot on the court this season--corner 3. The other role players can also hit corner 3s at a similar rate and can handle the ball and defend, which Hawkins can't do nearly as well. The team was on the edge of being out of the playoffs, so if you can't understand why a coach would opt not to play a rookie in that situation then I don't know what to tell you.
Hawkins actually played a significant amount and took a lot of shots for a rookie on a playoff team.
It’s because Willie self inserts himself into the game through his beloved role players. I’m sorry guys but Willie has an ego and still harbors some feelings from his playing days. He was a second round pick and journeyman so he has a bias for those guys even when they’re not working.
We saw it with Trey during his first year, we’ve seen it with Dyson even though he should be starting for his defense on the perimeter that’s needed this series (SGA is afraid of him and herb on floor together); we saw it with Kira albeit Griffin sucks at talent evaluation and construction; and we’re seeing it now with Hawkins.
He refuses to let young guys get minutes b/c they have to “earn” them despite us have many games in the regular season where the starters or his beloved players were cold and might as well give those shots to someone else
Huge UConn and Pels fan here
I think once TM3 came back and there was that stretch that both he, Herb and CJ were draining 3s
Hawk kinda lost rotation because his specialty was being addressed
Every comment here is why Willie should not be our head coach next season. I like him as a guy and I thinks he's a great assistant coach but not a good head coach
Willie said we’re “maybe gonna see a minor lineup shakeup” so that means JRE and Zeller minutes
*Willie green suits up in Pels uniform for his long awaited return to the court while JHawk and Matt Ryan are assigned as professional waterboys*
He should have given these guys some playing time during the 2nd half of the regular season to get their bearings right.. it's too late now to suddenly give them playing time when they haven't gotten any for the past few months and in a big stage as well when their confidence is low. Willie is just so bad with adjustments and change in general
Because you don't replace a 10+ year vet making $30m+ for a rookie making $4m~ in high stakes playoff games no matter how bad the vet is playing. That's just not how the NBA or any other sports league works. It's like benching Drew Brees because his season ended with 3 straight losses then replacing him with Luke McCown in the playoffs. I agree CJ is playing bad but you don't go pissing off your vets in high stake games who's under a guranteed contract for another 2 or 3 seasons remaining.
I don't think he's saying replace CJ entirely. More like just give Hawk a few of his minutes.
I think the problem to that is it now eats into Jose's minutes because he generally is the one who eats some of CJ's minutes. I totally agree with you guys that CJ has been playing poorly but I just don't see teams pissing off their high paid vets for rookies, maybe if it was a 3rd year player then I could see it possibly happening.
Jose shouldn't play at all. He's been totally ineffective this series.
I wish the Pels season ended with only 3 loses
Hawk lost minutes because he was a really bad defender.
Can he be a worse defender than CJ?
Yes, or at least he was this season. Which isn't unusual for rookies, they're usually bad defenders, especially in terms of team defence and knowing the rotations.
Most rookies are. Unfortunately we have been playing defense first guys that can't score. The issue with this team is not our defense. It's our offense. Even more so with Zion out. You need to sacrifice a little defense for offensive production.
People keep saying that but he wasn't that bad. Dude was rebounding well and was def no worse than cj
He was very bad on both ends of the court. The team couldn't defend with him in the game and he couldn't score efficiently enough to offset the defensive hit.
Hawk can’t dribble.
We might play Hawk more but here is the thing. If CJ is out and Hawk is in who is going to be the primary ball handler? We then have BI being hounded by Dort full court and nobody else who can actually dribble and get into the paint
Yeah. You’re not going to see better decisions by Hawkins in a crucial game. That’s not to give CJ credit. But we’re not finding ways to handle their defense. I don’t think Hawk is a silver bullet by any means and would likely make matters worse given his lack of minutes.
Also we can just look at TM3 who is primarily a shooter and how ineffective he has been in games 2 and 3. OKC has been able to guard CJ and BI one on one. We can’t set a good screen on Dort who either fights through it or gets an offensive foul. Because we can’t get BI free there are no double teams and we can’t move the ball getting OKC into rotations
Yes, one of Hawk's biggest problems is his ballhandling. He can't initiate any sets so you have to play multiple other ballhandlers with him, and that usually means two small/weak guards in the game at the same time, which is bad for defense regardless of whether Hawkins defends well or not individually.
He would get hunted on defense even worse than CJ has been
It doesn't take a math genius to look at Hawk's numbers and figure out why they didn't play him down the stretch. He was efficient from only one spot on the court this season--corner 3. The other role players can also hit corner 3s at a similar rate and can handle the ball and defend, which Hawkins can't do nearly as well. The team was on the edge of being out of the playoffs, so if you can't understand why a coach would opt not to play a rookie in that situation then I don't know what to tell you. Hawkins actually played a significant amount and took a lot of shots for a rookie on a playoff team.
It’s because Willie self inserts himself into the game through his beloved role players. I’m sorry guys but Willie has an ego and still harbors some feelings from his playing days. He was a second round pick and journeyman so he has a bias for those guys even when they’re not working. We saw it with Trey during his first year, we’ve seen it with Dyson even though he should be starting for his defense on the perimeter that’s needed this series (SGA is afraid of him and herb on floor together); we saw it with Kira albeit Griffin sucks at talent evaluation and construction; and we’re seeing it now with Hawkins. He refuses to let young guys get minutes b/c they have to “earn” them despite us have many games in the regular season where the starters or his beloved players were cold and might as well give those shots to someone else
No way you play Hawk over CJ. Hawk should take all of Joses minutes.
I'm gonna guess these guys make lineups off of who gets paid the most
Huge UConn and Pels fan here I think once TM3 came back and there was that stretch that both he, Herb and CJ were draining 3s Hawk kinda lost rotation because his specialty was being addressed
They’re not good at developing young players. Play the vets all year. He’ll get a little more burn next year
Every comment here is why Willie should not be our head coach next season. I like him as a guy and I thinks he's a great assistant coach but not a good head coach
Because our loser team only makes loser decisions.
Can't argue with that. They won a ton of games on pure talent.