The Atlanta HAWKS thread- Defund Tony Ressler

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Gaknight, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. Pharm

    Pharm Right Handed
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    Cap space
     
  2. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    KD and Kyrie
     
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  3. SuperCam

    SuperCam Well-Known Member
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    How many years are left on Crabbes contract?
     
  4. Boom TittyMilk

    Boom TittyMilk User Formerly known as Big R
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    Looks like this is his last year.

    Smart move for us
     
  5. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Uno

    Next summer Crabbe, Baze, and Plumlee clearing an additional $50 mil
     
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  6. Fran Tarkenton

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    its a great deal and now im more excited to see how we maneuver our draft picks
     
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  7. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Travis Schlenk
    2017-John Collins
    2018- 3 1st rd picks giving us Trae Young, Huerter, and hopefully a healthier and more motivated Spellman ready to make a jump
    2019- 3 first rd picks in the Top 17 currently
    2020- 2 first rd picks
    2021- 2 first rd picks
     
  8. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    I’m forgetting what years the Cavs and Thunders 1st become ours but something like what I just posted
     
  9. Boom TittyMilk

    Boom TittyMilk User Formerly known as Big R
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    Cavs is next year top 10 protected
     
  10. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    So not 3 picks next year
     
  11. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    I wish I liked someone more at 5. Really don't care for Culver, think he's the safe pick with lower upside. Hope I'm wrong there. I'm still team Reddish because of his upside.
     
  12. BudKilmer

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    Culver is a bench guy at best. Hunter at 5 maybe?

    I want Barrett so bad but see no path to 3
     
  13. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    I’m team Reddish
     
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  14. Fran Tarkenton

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    really want RJ but would be excited about Reddish. Feel confident we have the assets to ensure one.
     
  15. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Schlenk hasn’t led us wrong yet, so I’ll end up being happy with whatever.
     
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  16. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    I've read that Hunter is a bench guy too. I just don't see the value in moving to unless it's to ensure Reddish or to grab RJ.
     
  17. BudKilmer

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    I think Hunter can defend really good point guards and switch 1-3. I think with Trae at 1, thats a value
     
  18. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    Agree. My ideal draft is somehow getting Reddish and hunter. Think those guys can play together with Tray and Collins. Think Hunter can even guard the 4.
     
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  19. BudKilmer

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    Reddish and Hunter and I’d buy season tickets for the next 5 years
     
  20. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    I like Coby White a lot. There's talk that he can play the 2. Think there's a lot more upside there than with Culver.
     
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  21. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Not sure him and Trae could play together.
     
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  22. Fran Tarkenton

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    Thats my ? on him, or primary one. Would rate him much higher if I knew he could play 4 in certain matchups.
     
  23. SuperCam

    SuperCam Well-Known Member
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    I wish the Hawks could trade for Beal. Some team is going to get him at 25 years old, playing at an All NBA level going into his prime locked up for less than the super max. That seems like a steal to me. I don't love any of the draft options either though
     
  24. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    The GOAT rose from the dead and spoke

     
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  25. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    He definitely can, played the 4 primarily for UVA this year. He’s not super tall but he’s got long arms and has plenty of room to put on weight, and the frame for it. He can handle most 4s in the league the way the NBA is headed.

    As a UVA fan I still see him as a bit of a floor play but I think he’s a useful asset for the team given that his biggest negative is making his own offense and biggest positive is defense, so he makes a great complement to Trae
     
  26. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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  27. Fran Tarkenton

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    part of Lloyd Q&A with Hawks Athletic writer, good stuff


    What have you seen this offseason from Trae, Kevin (Huerter) and Omari (Spellman) so far, and what are your reasonable expectations for them next season?


    When we walk out of this interview right now, you’re going to see them, Jaylen Adams, De’Andre Bembry, John Collins, Alex Len and Alex Poythress on the court, and what they’re doing doesn’t matter to me because the training staff is following their plan, and I trust what they’re doing. Players who trust our training staff and our coaches show up. All I can ask is for them to show up. We’re good. They’re getting better when they’re here. Our approach this offseason is different. Last year, we’re drafting some, I inherit some — there’s not really a full out plan at that point. I am trying to put schedules together and map out plans. I didn’t have a staff until June. At this stage, we’re so ahead of where we were last year. We have the same guys, but we already know our plan. We’ll be better, and we’ll progress just because we’re putting in the work. We’ll the results dictate that? No. Would we like to see the results dictate that? Yes. But the mindset shouldn’t change. We have to come in here and say, “How do we get better? How do we progress?” I love coming in every day now because I know that’s what they are doing.

    With John specifically, he averaged nearly 20 and 10 this season, expanded his shot profile and became a better defender toward the end of the season. What’s the next step of his evolution?


    The challenge for John is balance. He shot 3s last year and ended up around 36 percent. The challenge is how many is too many? How many is not enough? How many 3s can we get John and still keep that dynamic roller and athletic presence at the rim? It’s tough because guys fall in love with one side and take away the other. We don’t want to take away from who John Collins is, but we want to grow John Collins. We have to find ways to get him more involved. If they are going to take away the roll, then we have to punish them elsewhere. If they are going to switch the pick-and-roll, then that’s when we are going to post John Collins. The flip side, I always tell our players that they tell on themselves. John told on himself late in the year. You recognized that he was a better defender late in the year than what he was at the start of it. Now he told on himself. Now we need the end of the year defender at the beginning and for the remainder of next season. We don’t need him to show up late. We don’t need him to show up at the middle. We need him to show up at the start because he already showed us he’s capable of being a good defender.

    Speaking of defense, you were known for your defense when you were with Philadelphia. Atlanta was one of the worst defending teams in the league. Justin (Anderson) mentioned you didn’t implement your defensive system this season. What is the process of implementing your defense?


    It’s about finding out who’s on your roster. Everything on your game plan is based and predicated on who you have. I won’t mention any names, but if you get me some free agents, we’re going to run some different shit based on who they are. I have to first look at who’s going to be on our roster. What’s the roster they call Golden State? The Death Lineup? The Hamptons 5? That lineup has five guys who can switch. They have length. There’s a reason they go to that lineup, and it’s because they can switch and do whatever it is they want to do with that group. If you put (Andrew) Bogut in, you’re no longer the Hamptons 5. You now have coverage and concepts and schemes. Every case is like that with defense. You give me Trae and Alex Len, and we’re not switching. It’s unfair for Alex to switch on to an elite point guard, and it’s unfair for Trae to switch on to the best offensive rebounder in the league. We’ve got to figure out the best coverage we can with those two guys. You give me Taurean and Kevin, and we can switch. De’Andre and Baze switch. When we draft who we draft, I’ll think to myself, “What can he and John do in pick-and-roll?” That’s what will tell us what our defense can do. Then we’ll have to get better at it with our language, communication and effort. We’re still in the same boat. We have six picks with three young guys.

    When I came into Atlanta last year, we would push on the side and send everything to the left in the middle pick-and-roll. We don’t do that anymore. That’s what I did somewhere else. It didn’t work for these guys because it was too confusing. We were shitty at the beginning of the season. We got somewhat better as the year progressed on all facets, but at least we got on the same page, so we were competitive. We weren’t great. We weren’t elite. We weren’t even good defensively, but we were competitive. We have to do that all over again. I have to figure out what we have and what’s the simplest and what it’ll take away the thinking and how we integrate that quicker than we did last year. It’s hard, and the challenge always comes back to, well, when you’re Golden State, your core has been there. San Antonio showed that for years. The core was there for years. It didn’t matter who they plugged in because they were going to learn the San Antonio system. It’s simple when the system is in place and the core is in place. You either get in, and you learn it, or you’re not going to make it. We’re a ball movement team, so you need to fucking learn how to move it. We’re not a hold team. You’re not making it if you can’t do that here. So, what I’m saying is we do have a core, but they are still learning the communication aspects of defense and the effort aspects of defense. I have a core who is still learning and then a new group who will have to be taught. In a lot of ways, it’s fucking frightening to think that we can be worse in that area next year just because the guys who weren’t very good at it last year will be better, but they are now going to be working with a younger and newer group.

    You and other people in the organization have mentioned how you guys can’t skip steps. The steps haven’t been explicitly defined by anyone. What are they, and what is the next step?

    The steps — I’ll always go to the individual. Each guy is on a different step. Trae started this past season as a starter. Kevin didn’t. Trae’s first step was game experience. We couldn’t bypass that. There were games where I wanted to take him out, but the value of game experience was more important. We’re going to make him our starter and live with the growing pains. Jeremy Lin helped with the decision to start Trae because he was hurt at the start of the season, so there really wasn’t a competition. The plan was, “I have two new guys, and I have no idea who’s going to start.” Jeremy just wasn’t healthy, and Trae was, and he was pretty good. It wasn’t a competition. I wasn’t given the opportunity for it to be a competition. My plan was, “We have a veteran on our roster who I know is going to be ready to play in an NBA game in the event that this rookie just isn’t ready.” Kevin’s situation was that. I don’t think the plan was to start Kevin knowing that he wasn’t ready at the beginning of the year and not knowing when he would be ready. But we had Baze and Taurean and even De’Andre that had NBA experience. Kevin just showed he was ready and was able to do more. When the opportunity came, we weren’t playing well, and it was an opportunity to shake things up and get him game experience because he earned it. So skipping steps is still individually based, but just in general, the easiest analogy I have to break this down is it’s hard to play in late June.

    There are two teams playing right now. Not everyone is built for this moment. Not everyone is built to go into Toronto down 3-1 and win that game. The reason why that team can is they have played in June for a bunch of years, and they’re not going to be rattled. They don’t panic when there’s an illegal screen called with under two minutes left that could have cost them the game. They don’t panic when there’s a backcourt violation that could have cost them the game. They came down on the other end and fucking defended. You have to learn how to win in May to play in June. You have to learn how to win 82 games to play in May. May is a big month. You have to learn how to win a game in the NBA. We’ll still be learning how to win a game this year. What does that mean? It means giving John 42 minutes would be unfair to him. He averaged almost 20-10, well, giving him 40 minutes per game isn’t going to make him get 30 points per game. What it does is it might expose him, and you might put him in a bad spot thinking he has to carry a team. Now he’s not practicing much because he’s playing too many minutes. You’re going down this negative slope trying to do much. It’s great that he averaged 19 and 9. How do we do it again? And then how do we do it better? That’s the efficiency part that we talked about. When he overcomes that and can do it in his sleep, then it’s, “OK, well we need to play him 36 minutes and bump him up from 30 minutes.” That’s the next step.

    I’m probably skipping steps here myself, but what do you feel like this team needs to improve upon or add to make it back to the playoffs?

    I don’t know about the playoffs. I say that because I don’t know the six guys we’re going to get. It’s the same situation as last year. It’s hard to ask someone who has never played in the NBA to place an expectation of the playoffs and then ask three guys who have never been there to carry you. I think you can ask that guy in L.A. (LeBron James) to carry anybody because he’s been there and done that. It’s hard to ask Trae or John to do something they’ve never done and do it at that type of level with guys who have no clue what they’re doing. For what we need to improve upon, we need to find consistency every night of how we play. We’re pretty good offensively. We have some unique characters at their positions. Trae is a wizard at point guard. John is as dynamic of a big in the pick-and-pop and pick-and-roll as we’ll have in the league. Those two guys together are an unbelievable tandem in the pick-and-roll. Kevin is coming into his own because his skill set is extremely high. We can put him on the floor, and he can create for his own self, and he can pass. We need to add to that. We need to add to that core of young guys. We need to add skill players to complement what they do. Alex Len shooting 36 percent as a five-man helps. Finding De’Andre better shooting numbers helps. If you have Trae and John in pick-and-roll, who’s another guy who can create offensive rebounding opportunities. When we sub, do we have a guy can do what John does? He probably won’t be able to do it at the level he does it, but can he play in the pick-and-roll and can we still be effective?

    The ultimate answer is how competitive are we going to be next season? I just had a conversation with Trae about leadership and what his maturity level is going to be like next year. He’s ready for it. He wants it. It’s different when you have to do it, though. You’re the leader on the floor, but now you have to be the leader in the locker room, the leader in the film room, the leader in the practice sessions. Maturity, competitiveness is how we get better, and that’s going to help us more than anything. I don’t know if it’s a position thing. We want more talent, and we want high-character guys and highly competitive guys and want guys who have a skill set that complements what we do.
     
  28. BudKilmer

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    So who do you like for Thursday?

    Deandre Hunter has been my wish for a while. 6’7, good 3 point stroke, can initiate the offense at times but most importantly can switch 1-4. The farther we go, the more Traes deficiencies on defense become magnified. Hunter reminds me of Klay in that he could easily defend the best back court player each night.

    Culver intrigues me for his offensive upside.

    I see all the Reddish mocks and while I think we could develop him, his 40% fg percentage on 2 point shots worries me too.

    We absolutely have to find a 3 in this draft, so that’s where I lean. If we kept all our first round picks, I could see us taking 2 threes and BPA and be fine.

    I don’t think we are done dealing. No way we add 6 rookies to this team.
     
  29. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    I’ll trust Schlenk at the end of the day until he leads us wrong. The French league guy intrigues me.
     
  30. Gaknight

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    If we keep all 3 and he’s there at 17 I’d love to take a stab at Bol Bol. Dude is a top 3 talent in the draft just hasn’t so many question marks.
     
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  31. SuperCam

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    Hard to imagine he makes it out of the lottery picks in this draft. Someone will take a chance
     
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  32. BudKilmer

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    Agree. With who he’s hit on and the obvious plan in place I’m good with whatever.

    Im in with the French league dude or Goga.
     
  33. Gaknight

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    I mean with his injuries size it would be a huge risk for a lot of teams. We just happen to be the team with enough picks to take the risk. I see him 20s in some drafts.
     
  34. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    Reddish is my guy just because he has the most upside and I've read a lot of people say that we are the ideal fit for him to reach his potential. Our development team is apparently great.

    I love a hunter as well and think he's a high floor low ceiling guy. Ideally you get him and Reddish. That's a great combination of swing for the fences and getting a solid guy you know can play.

    Culver is just meh for me. I think he has less upside than Reddish and isn't as useful as Hunter right now. I think there's a good chance we move up for him though so I can get on board with that.
     
  35. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

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    If we keep 17 I like PJ Washington. Gives me some all Horford Vibes.
     
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  36. dahldennsull

    dahldennsull Living in the best state
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    yeah i've seen some down there, and I still don't believe he goes past 15. his upside is too great
     
  37. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    Should we look into Julius Randle? Seems like he'd be a pretty good fit to add to the core.
     
  38. Shiggityshwo

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    Coby's a scorer first with pg skills, coexisted with Cole Anthony on the U.S. team playing the 2 just fine.

    Would have likely slid to the 2 this year had he stayed at UNC.
     
  39. Gaknight

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    I meant defensively
     
  40. ThatcherSkye

    ThatcherSkye Well-Known Member
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    If we stand pat, which we probably won't, I like:

    8 - Cam Reddish
    10 - Brandon Clarke
    17 - Bol Bol (Have him do physical therapy for a year if need be; just take time to sure up his physical weaknesses. If that successfully gives him a physical foundation for longevity, he is the steal of the draft)

    There's a current mock that has us with Reddish, Jaxson Hayes and Clarke, I'd be really happy with that too. We just have to lock up the 3 (preferably a 3-and-D player) and a defensive big in this draft.
     
    #2590 ThatcherSkye, Jun 17, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2019
  41. BudKilmer

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    Need a 3 and D wing. I’d love Middleton or a Danny Green type player.
     
  42. allothersnsused

    allothersnsused Wow that’s crazy
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    No denying Bol Bol's talent but the list of guys that size with that injury history is ugly. Joel Embiid might be the only one to turn that into real production, and who knows how long he'll last.
     
  43. Pile Driving Miss Daisy

    Pile Driving Miss Daisy It angries up the blood
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    Is it a Sudanese thing to give you kid the same first and last name? I cringe every time I read the dude's name.
     
  44. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    I know he makes a fuck ton of money, hit Wiggins seems like a good fit to go with what we have. I'm still show me on actually signing a big free agent over the next couple of years. Trading for him seems like a pretty solid way of adding to the core.
     
  45. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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  46. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Yeah we aren’t taking Kevin Love and his ridiculous contract
     
  47. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    I think he'd be amazing in the system.
     
  48. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    Not on a 4 yr 120 mil deal that starts this year. Tells you how good Cleveland thinks the deal is if they are trying to get rid of him before his extension even starts
     
  49. It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens

    It'sAlwaysSunnyInAthens Well-Known Member
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    I'm just pretty skeptical of attracting a max free agent or two down the line. We've never been able to in the past.
     
  50. Gaknight

    Gaknight Well-Known Member
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    We never had a player like Trae Young. Let the boys keep growing together and build through the draft for now. Next season we clear tons of space and can either use it on our guys down the line as they develop or hope to attract a max player when as we climb into playoff and then title contention.