Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon)

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Grade the Atlanta offseason

A
0
No votes
A-
1
3%
B+
3
9%
B
8
24%
B-
4
12%
C+
5
15%
C
5
15%
C-
5
15%
D
3
9%
F
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 34

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Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#1 » by HartfordWhalers » Tue Jul 26, 2016 12:09 pm

Atlanta Offseason in Review
HartfordWhalers wrote:Hartfordwhalers Review

Key Losses:
Horford
Teague

Teague was pretty obviously on his way out, but Horford was more of a surprise. That Joe Johnson/Josh Smith/Horford core is now finally done, replaced with Bazemore/Milsap/Howard as the top three salaries.

Losses:
Kirk Hinrich
Lamar Patterson

Draft:
#12 Taurean Prince
#21 DeAndre' Bembry
#44 Isaia Cordinier (stashed overseas)
#54 traded

Atlanta found itself in the area of the draft where all the top end talent was gone, and what was left was solid unspectacular guys or flawed toolsy prospects. They probably would have made some people very happy taking Skal and Dejounte Murray types and going for a home run with at least one pick. But they might just get two solid singles and Cordinier is a nice stash, which wasn't a bad draft at all.

Trades:
Teague for #12
#54 for 2.4m

That haul for #54 was nice. And I didn't have Teague by himself able to get over the bridge into that top 8 tier. Despite liking Prince/Bembry draft perfectly fine, I just don't like the trade. It just feels like not significant enough of an asset to return when the draft plays out, even if 12 in a vacuum is fine.

Free Agency:
Dwight 3/70.5
Bazemore 4/70
Humphries 4m
Malcolm Delaney 2/5m
Jarrett Jack 1.6m
Mostly ung min deals to Matt Costello ung 2 year

Signed what was probably the second best center on the market, kept a swingman who looked great in their system in a year where the average swingman got record amounts. Jack is a nice flier if he comes back at the cost.

Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Dennis Schröder, Jarrett Jack, Malcolm Delaney
SG: Kent Bazemore, Kyle Korver, Tim Hardaway Jr.
SF: Thabo Sefolosha, Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry
PF: Paul Millsap, Kris Humphries, Mike Scott, Mike Muscala
C: Dwight Howard, Tiago Splitter, Walter Tavares, Matt Costello

Needs:A breakout from Schroeder. A long term plan with Milsap. A fountain of youth for Korver. Dwight to keep his stuff together. Jack and/or Delaney need to fill the backup pg spot. Bazemore needs to sustain his production and live up to his contract versus being a product of the Atlanta system. Pronce or Bembry need to look like they can fit in right now. Lots of open questions everywhere, and I haven't touched on does Schroeder/Milsap/Dwight work together.

Additional Thoughts: Could a Milsap/Dwight front court be a matchup nightmare for Cleveland? Especially with a bunch of defenders that Atlanta has, and Schroeder's speed versus Irving as an interesting side plot. I don't see an Atlanta team set up for serious success beyond what they have been achieving, but this team could be a matchup nightmare.

Did you know: Dwight is only 6 months older than Horford

Projected Win/Loss: 42-40

Off-Season Grade: C+ I wish they had kept Horford. Even over Bazemore after signing Dwight, even including fit which would have been a disaster. Given what Orlando paid for Ibaka, I wish they had traded Milsap then and kept Bazemore with the money that freed up (Toronto comes to mind as an ideal trade partner). This offseason feels like a small step back to take maybe that exact step forward later. Within the short term it maintains a team as a 4-8 seed area perhaps, but it also doesn't shape the future enough. Maybe there was no great way to, and there is significant value in staying a playoff team. And getting Bazemore/Dwight isn't bad at all. But I look at Atlanta and see a player and asset base that looks to have a little less value than it did before, and a little less flexibility going forward.


bondom34 wrote:bondom34 Review

Key Losses:
Horford
Teague

Losses:
Kirk Hinrich
Lamar Patterson

Draft:
#12 Taurean Prince
#21 DeAndre' Bembry
#44 Isaia Cordinier (stashed overseas)
#54 traded

Trades:
Teague for #12
#54 for 2.4m

Free Agency:
Dwight 3/70.5
Bazemore 4/70
Humphries 4m
Malcolm Delaney 2/5m
Jarrett Jack 1.6m
Mostly ung min deals to Matt Costello ung 2 year

Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Dennis Schröder, Jarrett Jack, Malcolm Delaney
SG: Kent Bazemore, Kyle Korver, Tim Hardaway Jr.
SF: Thabo Sefolosha, Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry
PF: Paul Millsap, Kris Humphries, Mike Scott, Mike Muscala
C: Dwight Howard, Tiago Splitter, Walter Tavares, Matt Costello

Needs:
Though Korver can play some, a backup for Thabo with a little more experience would be nice to me. As well, Jack is a big question since he was out much of last season, but really they've overall got a solid fairly deep team.
Additional Thoughts:
Well, they finally pulled the plug on Teague, and honestly I wasn't thrilled with the return. I can be proven wrong if Prince is good, which will be the real test here. Bud took a risk he knew what he wanted in the draft and now we get to see how it pans out, but the good part is Schroeder is a great fall back and they've still got a ton of depth. The Dwight addition to me is a good one as well and I think he sees a rejuvenation of sorts back home. All in all a pretty solid offseason.
Projected Win/Loss:
46-36
Off-Season Grade:
B


dbrandon wrote:dbrandon Review

Key Losses:
Horford
Teague

Horford surprised me a little, though when Atlanta wouldn't give him the 5th year I figured it'd be more of an option. Teague wasn't very surprising--either he or Schröder was headed out, and Schroder is younger and (I suppose) has more potential. Maybe he winds up better than Teague, maybe not. But you know what you have with Teague, and Schröder still has some growing to do.

I'll also add Kenny Atkinson to this list. He's had remarkable involvement with the growth of a lot of young players over the years, and I think they'll miss him.

Losses:
Kirk Hinrich
Lamar Patterson

Not really worth mentioning. I love Hinrich, but at this point in his career he's not giving you a lot. Patterson is eminently replaceable.

Draft:
#12 Taurean Prince
#21 DeAndre' Bembry
#44 Isaia Cordinier (stashed overseas)
#54 traded

Prince and Bembry don't really move the needle much for me, but they could turn out. I like Cordinier a lot as a stash. #54 generally doesn't get you much, so I'm OK with selling it.

Trades:
Teague for #12
#54 for 2.4m

I don't like Teague straight up for 12, though perhaps it's fine in a vacuum. They got good value out of the #54, though. 2nds went for a bit more than usual in this draft, while 1sts were cheaper. Main reason I think they could have wrung a little more value out of Teague.

Free Agency:
Dwight 3/70.5
Bazemore 4/70
Humphries 4m
Malcolm Delaney 2/5m
Jarrett Jack 1.6m
Mostly ung min deals to Matt Costello ung 2 year

I like the Dwight signing, though the fit is going to be interesting. This is a team that relies on older players to be key contributors, and they lost a little bit of playmaking with Horford. They're going to look dramatically different next year.

Bazemore's contract is about market value. Dwight might be a little high, but in this market I think you pay it. Humphries and Jack as value signings are solid, though a player at Jack's stage of his career coming back from injury is an iffy proposition. He's a solid player when healthy, though.

Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Dennis Schröder, Jarrett Jack, Malcolm Delaney
SG: Kent Bazemore, Kyle Korver, Tim Hardaway Jr.
SF: Thabo Sefolosha, Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry
PF: Paul Millsap, Kris Humphries, Mike Scott, Mike Muscala
C: Dwight Howard, Tiago Splitter, Walter Tavares, Matt Costello

Needs:Schröder has to be the real deal. Period. If he's not, you're in bad trouble right out of the gate. Across the board, this team relies on players on the back 9 of their careers to be as good as they've been, which scares me. The Spurs have done that, but the Spurs also had Duncan and Ginobili, who stayed better than they had any right to be for a long time.

They need Sefolosha, Korver and Jack to be the best versions of themselves. That bench scares me a little if I'm Atlanta--can you trust the rookies to be instant contributors? They can definitely stand to upgrade at SF, and I'm expecting them to have to make a move for a better backup PG if Jack struggles coming back from injury.

Dwight HAS to buy in to being a pick and roll center and not a back to the basket guy. Can he? If he does, that team suddenly becomes remarkably dangerous, at least if you're only going 8 deep in playoff rotations.

Additional Thoughts: This feels very "same story, different year". They could be really really good, if that tiki-taka ball movement stays as seamless as it's been, if Howard buys in and stays healthy, if the rest of their roster buys in and stays healthy, if no one falls off due to age, if Schröder and Bazemore continue to develop. If, if, if. This could be a great roster. But there are a ton of questions, and if I project them 50/50 good and bad it comes out to another mid-playoffs exit. If everything breaks right, this is a team that could push the best of the East, but I just don't know.

This is the team that's most likely to make me look stupid, one way or another. High variance.

Projected Win/Loss: 47

Off-Season Grade: C They have a good team. Is it better than last year? I don't think so. It could be, but there are too many questions for me to grade it above an average. Did they make any big mistakes? Don't think so, though letting Horford go could be that in time (but I'd grade him and Howard as a push, personally). Smack dab middle of the road.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#2 » by brackdan70 » Tue Jul 26, 2016 12:22 pm

i give a C+. I thought Prince was a good pick, I think a guy that can help a little right away. Lost Horford is tough, signing Dwight could be good...or bad... did they overpay Bazemore?...time will tell.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#3 » by tiderulz » Tue Jul 26, 2016 12:30 pm

Atlanta was right to let Horford go, no way is he worth the max contract he wanted from Atlanta. I foresee Boston regretting that deal in 1.5 years. If Dwight can stay healthy, he and Millsap will provide some of the best post defense in the east. Atlanta's defense will be better and they wont lose points on offense, even though the method will be slightly different with Dwight doing damage in the post versus Horford's points from the outside. If Dwight takes himself back to his early Orlando days, play hard defense, "garbage" points and not demand the ball like he did at the end of Orlando's playoff runs, he should be fine.

If Atlanta thought they were moving on from Teague, they should have moved him last year where they could have gotten more. That is the problem with the coach also being the GM. A separate GM might have made that move, Bud didnt want to disrupt his team, yet anyone knew that team wasnt going to compete for the title last year. Jack will provide great mentoring to Schroder.

Korver HAS to go to the bench. Atlanta needs a quality starting SF to slide in, move Bazemore to SG and that is a good starting lineup. If Prince can settle down, he can provide what they need at that spot. Thabo as the starter there with limited minutes should help Prince's NBA adjustment.

I gave them a B-, due to the fact they should have traded Teague last year. Should have traded Horford too.

i think that they could very well be a better team than last year, but they still need more talent infusion.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#4 » by loserX » Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:06 pm

Best move: recovering from losing Horford by signing Dwight. It's a gamble, especially with Coach Bud having to adjust the offence, but this team kept getting killed by big frontcourts (read: Cleveland) and that's not going to happen any more. Keeping Dwight's deal to 3 years is good icing. (Honourable mention: given what some backup PGs made on the market this year, getting Jack on a vet min deal is a coup.)

Worst move: after all that business with Jeff Teague, the total return they got for him was Taurean Prince? The guy has some ability and maybe Bud is the right guy to get it out, but that has to be disappointing. Perhaps the worse move was overplaying Atlanta's hand at last year's deadline...hard to keep him around after openly shopping him like that, so they lost leverage. Still, Utah basically ended up punting on the draft, so the Hawks should have found a way to at least get some 2nd rounders thrown in or something.

The team will be fascinating to watch, and that counts for something. That bench still doesn't look very reliable, though.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#5 » by jayu70 » Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:01 pm

The Hawks couldn't bring back the same team that got swept twice by the Cavs
3 years of Dwight vs 5 years of Horford on a max deal - edge to Dwight (rebounding problem fixed)
Dennis vs Teague - edge Dennis
They fixed the wing problem - got younger, bigger and more athletic.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#6 » by Hawk Eye » Tue Jul 26, 2016 7:06 pm

Rats. Sorry i missed this one HW. I thought I'd be able to squeeze some time in for this one at the very least, but i have just been really busy as of late. I guess i could still post my own in this thread and you can add it to the OP if you'd like?
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#7 » by HartfordWhalers » Tue Jul 26, 2016 7:11 pm

Hawk Eye wrote:Rats. Sorry i missed this one HW. I thought I'd be able to squeeze some time in for this one at the very least, but i have just been really busy as of late. I guess i could still post my own in this thread and you can add it to the OP if you'd like?


Will do.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#8 » by Hawk Eye » Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:47 am

Key Losses:
Horford
Teague

Losses:
Kirk Hinrich
Lamar Patterson

*I'm not sure whether I would put Kenny Atkinson under "Key losses" or just "Losses" but he will be missed for sure.

Draft:
#12 Taurean Prince
#21 DeAndre' Bembry
#44 Isaia Cordinier (stashed overseas)
#54 traded

Trades:
Teague for #12
#54 for 2.4m

Free Agency:
Dwight 3/70.5
Bazemore 4/70
Humphries 4m
Malcolm Delaney 2/5m
Jarrett Jack 1.6m
Mostly ung min deals to Matt Costello ung 2 year

I thought the Dwight Howard contract was one of the best signings in all of FA. There were quite a few people on this board that were saying they wouldn't be suprised to see a team hand Dwight a legitimate 3-4 year max deal. So to get him for 3Y/70.5M is a deal i'd take everyday of the week.

Bazemore seemed a little high (even with the slight discount) but that was just the going rate in a very competitive market for wings this summer.

Everything else was on good value but not really players that will make significant differences. Still, no Solomon Hill or Evan Turner like contracts is always a plus.

Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Dennis Schröder, Jarrett Jack, Malcolm Delaney
SG: Kent Bazemore, Kyle Korver, Tim Hardaway Jr.
SF: Thabo Sefolosha, Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry
PF: Paul Millsap, Kris Humphries, Mike Scott, Mike Muscala
C: Dwight Howard, Tiago Splitter, Walter Tavares, Matt Costello

* I think Baze starts as our undersized SF again this year with Korver slotted as the 2 guard. Just a hunch.

Needs:
Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Swapping Teague/Horford for Schröder/Howard is a major downgrade shooting-wise. I suspect Bud is going to run some variance of a 4 out 1 in offense with Dwight and I just don't see the shooting on the roster to do so. Dennis needs to make the leap this year. Prince and/or Bembry needs to pan out. Our roster overall isn't exactly young so good fortune in the health department would be nice.

Additional Thoughts:


There's really two different ways I could approach this. I could come in from a pessimistic view and an optimistic view. I'll try to do a little of both..

Pessimist Version- I think taking a step back was needed for this team. No one out there was going to turn us into contenders outside of Durant and now it just seems like they have prolonged the mediocrity train. I understand new management and staff being unwilling to go in that direction though.

Optimistic Version- They rebounded extremely well with signing Dwight Howard. It's not every day your franchise player leaves and you get a player that's at least on par if not better in return (e.g. LaMarcus Aldridge). A change was definitely needed. After b2b years of depressing sweeps, Bud would have been crucified by the fanbase for returning the same team.

Projected Win/Loss:
43-39
Off-Season Grade:
N/A

I know it's a cop-out but the Hawks are just such a question mark to me right now that I dont know what to make of it.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#9 » by Geaux_Hawks » Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:27 pm

tiderulz wrote:Atlanta was right to let Horford go, no way is he worth the max contract he wanted from Atlanta. I foresee Boston regretting that deal in 1.5 years. If Dwight can stay healthy, he and Millsap will provide some of the best post defense in the east. Atlanta's defense will be better and they wont lose points on offense, even though the method will be slightly different with Dwight doing damage in the post versus Horford's points from the outside. If Dwight takes himself back to his early Orlando days, play hard defense, "garbage" points and not demand the ball like he did at the end of Orlando's playoff runs, he should be fine.

If Atlanta thought they were moving on from Teague, they should have moved him last year where they could have gotten more. That is the problem with the coach also being the GM. A separate GM might have made that move, Bud didnt want to disrupt his team, yet anyone knew that team wasnt going to compete for the title last year. Jack will provide great mentoring to Schroder.

Korver HAS to go to the bench. Atlanta needs a quality starting SF to slide in, move Bazemore to SG and that is a good starting lineup. If Prince can settle down, he can provide what they need at that spot. Thabo as the starter there with limited minutes should help Prince's NBA adjustment.

I gave them a B-, due to the fact they should have traded Teague last year. Should have traded Horford too.

i think that they could very well be a better team than last year, but they still need more talent infusion.



I think this perfectly sums up our off-season, and what to look forward to.

We should have been sellers at the deadline last year, and gave Dennis the reigns before we got swept. He would have then gained a good bit of experience, and we would know what to look forward to from him.

For what Horford was asking for, we made the right move in letting him go and re-signing Baze, while signing Dwight. Let's just be real and recognize Horford as being a jump shooter with great intangibles, but was never an anchor on defense, nor possessed the ability to create for himself. He was constantly outplayed and rebounded down low. Dwight upgrades interior defense, and gives us a strong rebounding presence. We lacked both with Horford.

Right now, I think we still need a wing who can create for himself and others. With Tavares emerging, I think we could afford to move Splitter for Tyreke Evans. Would upgrade our starting lineup, and keeps Korver on the bench. The rooks seems like some good gets in the draft. Hopefully Prince steps up and makes an impact in the lineup. He already seems like he will come in already at Carrolls level of play, which is more than what we could hope for. Bembry may negate the need for a creator on the wing(although I prefer Reke).

Overall, I think this off-season was a success. We improved our weakness, kept most of the team intact, and loaded up the Lebron stopper storage. B+ from me.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#10 » by Smitty731 » Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:04 pm

I'm just confused with there being such a departure on the offensive end from what has worked for a couple of years now. They made a big deal out of having shooters at all 5 spots and now they have two decidedly non-shooters at C and PG. I'm also not sold Schroder is a starting PG.

I do think the defense and rebounding will be better. And it isn't like the Southeast Division has any offensive power houses. I think Atlanta will fall off, but be in the 6-10 range in the Eastern Conference.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#11 » by Slava » Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:23 pm

I think they'll be forced to start Korver sooner than later due to lack of spacing on offense.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#12 » by DusterBuster » Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:54 pm

loserX wrote:Best move: recovering from losing Horford by signing Dwight. It's a gamble, especially with Coach Bud having to adjust the offence, but this team kept getting killed by big frontcourts (read: Cleveland) and that's not going to happen any more. Keeping Dwight's deal to 3 years is good icing. (Honourable mention: given what some backup PGs made on the market this year, getting Jack on a vet min deal is a coup.)


They signed Dwight before they lost Horford. They were still in negotiations with Horford after getting Dwight, that's why there was rumors of them shopping Milsap for like a day or two.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#13 » by jazzfan1971 » Thu Jul 28, 2016 5:50 am

I'd be trying to sell high on Millsap were I the Atlanta GM.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#14 » by Mich3006 » Thu Jul 28, 2016 8:28 am

First, I think the Hawks will stay in the top 5 of the East, but their offseason was average at best though.

Horford´s departure is bad and I can´t understand why they didn´t trade Millsap in this years draft for picks or talent on the PG, wing and/or PF. Howard/Millsap combo will be fine but Horford would be a better fit next to D12.

As German, I know Schröder for a few years and I doubt he´s the answer on the PG. For me, Jeff Teague was a better fit and there´s a reason he was an allstar two years ago. I won´t be surprised if the Hawks doing business near td for this position.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#15 » by lars_rosenberg » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:27 am

Typicl treadmill offseason.
On paper it's still a good team, in practice they seem to have no plans for the future.
Probably Atlanta can't afford to tank, but they will be stuck in mediocrity for a while.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#16 » by tiderulz » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:24 am

Smitty731 wrote:I'm just confused with there being such a departure on the offensive end from what has worked for a couple of years now. They made a big deal out of having shooters at all 5 spots and now they have two decidedly non-shooters at C and PG. I'm also not sold Schroder is a starting PG.

I do think the defense and rebounding will be better. And it isn't like the Southeast Division has any offensive power houses. I think Atlanta will fall off, but be in the 6-10 range in the Eastern Conference.


why confused? it didnt work for them to truly compete. So they are changing it up somewhat. Should they continue to get worse while paying high salaries to the same players? A good coach adapts to his players. Bud saw what Pops did with a team centered around Robinson and Duncan, then Parker driving them and now Aldridge and Kawhi.

And Schroder is definitely starting PG material imo.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#17 » by Geaux_Hawks » Thu Jul 28, 2016 3:43 pm

Smitty731 wrote:I'm just confused with there being such a departure on the offensive end from what has worked for a couple of years now. They made a big deal out of having shooters at all 5 spots and now they have two decidedly non-shooters at C and PG. I'm also not sold Schroder is a starting PG.

I do think the defense and rebounding will be better. And it isn't like the Southeast Division has any offensive power houses. I think Atlanta will fall off, but be in the 6-10 range in the Eastern Conference.


I'm under the impression that Coach Buds used his players strengths to his advantage, rather than him really wanting 5 guys that can all shoot 3's. I'm sure everyone would love all 5 guys having a rangy jumper. Ball movement seems like something Buds values more than anything, and spacing helps with ball movement.

Buds has mentioned for the sake of Howard's fit on offense, he will be going back to something he's already familiar with doing, and that's having a big man to put pressure on the rim. Horford was never that kind of big.

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2016/7/25/12265956/dwight-howard-fit-budenholzer-offense-atlanta-hawks

With that said, there are videos showing Howard is working on his jump shot, and gaining confidence in shooting from mid range. Will he be Horford from mid-range? Definitely not, but I think with him knocking some down here and there, it will add some respect to his offensive game, and allow the Hawks to space and pace just a little to have a very versatile offense.

The real hiccup would be DS just not being consistent enough to run the offense.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#18 » by Smitty731 » Thu Jul 28, 2016 6:57 pm

Geaux_Hawks wrote:
Smitty731 wrote:I'm just confused with there being such a departure on the offensive end from what has worked for a couple of years now. They made a big deal out of having shooters at all 5 spots and now they have two decidedly non-shooters at C and PG. I'm also not sold Schroder is a starting PG.

I do think the defense and rebounding will be better. And it isn't like the Southeast Division has any offensive power houses. I think Atlanta will fall off, but be in the 6-10 range in the Eastern Conference.


I'm under the impression that Coach Buds used his players strengths to his advantage, rather than him really wanting 5 guys that can all shoot 3's. I'm sure everyone would love all 5 guys having a rangy jumper. Ball movement seems like something Buds values more than anything, and spacing helps with ball movement.

Buds has mentioned for the sake of Howard's fit on offense, he will be going back to something he's already familiar with doing, and that's having a big man to put pressure on the rim. Horford was never that kind of big.

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2016/7/25/12265956/dwight-howard-fit-budenholzer-offense-atlanta-hawks

With that said, there are videos showing Howard is working on his jump shot, and gaining confidence in shooting from mid range. Will he be Horford from mid-range? Definitely not, but I think with him knocking some down here and there, it will add some respect to his offensive game, and allow the Hawks to space and pace just a little to have a very versatile offense.

The real hiccup would be DS just not being consistent enough to run the offense.


Videos of Howard knocking down mid-range jumpers have been run since his Orlando days. Once the games start that shot never comes out. And a guy his age isn't all of a sudden adding range.
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#19 » by RexRyan » Fri Jul 29, 2016 11:01 pm

In short, they swapped Teague and Horford for Dwight and Prince. That's a bad swap in my opinion. D
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Re: Atlanta early offseason in review (HW/Bondom/Dbrandon) 

Post#20 » by gom » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:21 pm

I voted B+. I like Howard's contract more than a max for Horford. Atlanta remains a solid team. If Howard is able to play without being hampered by injuries, he may have enough to make their post season memorable.

I also like Taurean Prince and viewed Teague as unnecessary with Schroeder available.

Overall, I really like the Hawks this year. They are going to be very entertaining.
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