Post Mortem 23/24 - Atlanta Hawks (Eliminated in the Play in)

[Clav]

They need to extend Jalen Johnson and retain Fernando somehow. Both improved this season a lot.

Saddiq Bey seems like a player that they wouldn't mind letting go. He was injured too with the ACL, so there's some savings.... Plus Garrison Matthews can be let go. The biggest questions are with ATL's backcourt and Capela/Hunter's future on the team. Are they good enough to stick around after roster turnover ? Surely they will not run it back with the same iteration of this team.

Feels like trades are imminent because some of the players are still valuable for other teams.

[hauntedcomputer]

Wemby's the one guy who might be able to mask those limitations though.

I'm NOT a Trae supporter but that pairing does intrigue me. You have to at least look at it.

Wemby dedicated to covering two guys really limits his defense. He'd be helping Trae every possession instead of protecting the rim. Trae's a good passer but pretty much a league-average chucker. You can do a lot better for a lot less money. That pairing would stagnate Wemby for three years. Any decent passer should be able to feed Wemby with ease. Look how much better they were with an average guard like Tre Jones.

I'm not a fan of spending 40 mil for a guy with one of the most glaring weaknesses in the game, no matter what he brings. Dame/Giannis was touted as a perfect tandem on paper but in reality it stinks.

[AussieCeltic]

Had some fun going through the Murray trade thread. I got into it with some Hawks fans saying it wouldn’t work.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2208022&hilit=Spurs+trade+murray

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[ChuckChilly]

Trading Trae does not make *business sense which a lot people here is completely overlooking.

Trae is the face of the franchise and subsequently sells seats and sometimes that matters more than building a sustainable winning roster.

This is the aspect that most people don't understand. Im not a fan of Trae but Atlanta needs him or star caliber player to a certain degree just to get people's interest. Our fanbase might be the most inconsistent in the league, and honestly if we can just be a 4 -6 seeded playoff team for like 5 years I would be satisfied with that, just with hopes that we could eventually create a loyal fanbase and some kind of culture. Also I'm getting old, and waiting another decade for super star player seems like torture.

[Rainwater]

Trading Trae does not make *business sense which a lot people here is completely overlooking.

Trae is the face of the franchise and subsequently sells seats and sometimes that matters more than building a sustainable winning roster.

Also, unironically Murray at this point might actually have more trade value than Trae so through that lens you move Murray to the highest bidder and continue to make smart calculated moves. Their roster is young enough to continue to build around Trae and co. and hope moving Murray is an addition by subtraction kind of move. What they can’t do is panic and make short sighted moves.

This is with the assumption Trae hasn’t privately asked out already which complicates and changes things completely.

Just example:

Murray
Capella

For

McCollum
Lance
X2-x3 FRP’s

(NOP will be heavily active for a starting PG this off season and don’t believe Atlanta wants to rebuild but rather retool).

If the losses keep mounting anyone is tradable regardless how much tickets they sell. Selling tickets matters, but every team has to rebuild at some point and I feel like the Hawks have reached that point.

[Rainwater]

Trading Trae does not make *business sense which a lot people here is completely overlooking.

Trae is the face of the franchise and subsequently sells seats and sometimes that matters more than building a sustainable winning roster.

This is the aspect that most people don't understand. Im not a fan of Trae but Atlanta needs him or star caliber player to a certain degree just to get people's interest. Our fanbase might be the most inconsistent in the league, and honestly if we can just be a 4 -6 seeded playoff team for like 5 years I would be satisfied with that, just with hopes that we could eventually create a loyal fanbase and some kind of culture. Also I'm getting old, and waiting another decade for super star player seems like torture.

If this logic was true no team would rebuild.

[ChuckChilly]

Trading Trae does not make *business sense which a lot people here is completely overlooking.

Trae is the face of the franchise and subsequently sells seats and sometimes that matters more than building a sustainable winning roster.

This is the aspect that most people don't understand. Im not a fan of Trae but Atlanta needs him or star caliber player to a certain degree just to get people's interest. Our fanbase might be the most inconsistent in the league, and honestly if we can just be a 4 -6 seeded playoff team for like 5 years I would be satisfied with that, just with hopes that we could eventually create a loyal fanbase and some kind of culture. Also I'm getting old, and waiting another decade for super star player seems like torture.

If this logic was true no team would rebuild.

My sentiments are only for the Atlanta Hawks though. I've been watching them for at least 30 years now, from the Dominique Wilkins trade for Danny Manning, to having Rasheed Wallace for a single game, to drafting Marvin Williams over Chris Paul and beyond. So my perspective is very wide.

[ConSarnit]

Trading Trae does not make *business sense which a lot people here is completely overlooking.

Trae is the face of the franchise and subsequently sells seats and sometimes that matters more than building a sustainable winning roster.

This is the aspect that most people don't understand. Im not a fan of Trae but Atlanta needs him or star caliber player to a certain degree just to get people's interest. Our fanbase might be the most inconsistent in the league, and honestly if we can just be a 4 -6 seeded playoff team for like 5 years I would be satisfied with that, just with hopes that we could eventually create a loyal fanbase and some kind of culture. Also I'm getting old, and waiting another decade for super star player seems like torture.

This seems like a pretty lofty goal. Finish by year:

2021: 5th
2022: 9th
2023: 8th
2024: 10th

And these 8th and 10th finishes were after cashing in your chips for a "star" in Murray. You owe unprotected picks to SAS in 2025 and 2027 (and a swap in 2026). Jalen Johnson looks promising but I don't think there is any guarantee this team is anything better than a play-in team the next couple of years at the pace they are going. Do 42 win teams help build fanbases? I'm skeptical. I get needing Trae to sell tickets but it's a tough situation right now.

[KamikazeK]

Hawks are a prime blowup candidate. They should ship out everyone for all the picks they can get and rebuild. There's no future there with this roster

[slick_watts]

they haven't had a defense better than 21st since trae was drafted, and most years in the bottom five. i don't think there are more than a handful of players you can pair him with that will result in a defense effective enough for the team to contend with. the ECF year was fluke-y, obviously- and the hawks belief in that run despite their mediocre regular season has predictably come back to bite them in the rear.

if i were them i would explore the market for trae young and go from there.

[tsherkin]

The model they are currently using isn't working. Bad defense coupled to mostly-okay offense isn't flying. Making Trae a volume scorer, not working, particularly come the playoffs. 5 coaches in, they aren't able to make it work out well enough as they are currently built, and Trae isn't "That Guy (TM)" as the face of a franchise. That much is evident. He has a given degree of utility, but using him as the helio guy is not the way. He isn't worth that level of offensive responsibility. He needs better scorers ahead of him, and obviously a lot more defensive support.

Don't know what they can do from here, but whatever it is, they can't really afford to stand pat if playoff success is the plan moving forward.

[westbricc]

Everybody other than Jalen Johnson can go.

[Chuck Everett]

Hawks are a prime blowup candidate. They should ship out everyone for all the picks they can get and rebuild. There's no future there with this roster

Hard to do when the Spurs own your picks. I agree though. That's what they should do. Replace the picks you lost with other teams' picks that want your players not named Jalen, Kobe and Onyeka.

[Optimus_Steel]

The Hawks were really lucky that year they made the conference final. Teams were just returning from the Covid bubble and it was still affecting teams. They had just fired their coach too during the season so they weren’t exactly setting the world on fire.

[Devilanche]

If you can sell high on both Trae/Murray , you blow it up.

If you can’t , then just move either.

Either way , move capela along as well for better fits around the rebuilt team.
With the lotto the way it is now, even if they rebuild or burn it down totally they should be able not to be the 4 worst team cause near season end those team with their own pick will auto tank into better position while the hawks won’t have any incentive to send out a weaker team.

[Doctor MJ]

Big thing is that at least one of Trae or Murray needs to go for fit reasons.

If I'm keeping one I definitely would rather keep Trae who fans like, but if I can get the right offer for Trae, of course I'm taking it.

I did say "Fire front office". Anyone involved in trading a ton to get Murray on a team that has Trae isn't thinking right about basketball.

[Mephariel]

The Hawks have a ton of quality players, it's baffling to me why they perform the way they do. I think you trade Murray & build around Trae, those two don't seem to fit.

Can you really build around Trae at this point?

[Chuck Everett]

The Hawks should not extend Jalen Johnson unless it's a team friendly deal. I like him a lot and he had a breakout year, but one of the problems the Hawks have suffered from is not letting guys get to RFA. Guys who haven't proved to be franchise level should not be receiving immediate extensions. Make Jalen earn it by going 20/8 in 73 games and helping the Hawks move up and out of the play-in.

If he doesn't or isn't capable of doing that, you can still sign him next offseason, but with most teams not having capspace now, your options will be better. And if he plays well enough to earn a max, you're happy to give it to him.

Hawks have been burned many times by these early extensions.

[Chuck Everett]

Big thing is that at least one of Trae or Murray needs to go for fit reasons.

If I'm keeping one I definitely would rather keep Trae who fans like, but if I can get the right offer for Trae, of course I'm taking it.

I did say "Fire front office". Anyone involved in trading a ton to get Murray on a team that has Trae isn't thinking right about basketball.

Ownership pushed for that trade which is why the last GM (Schlenk) left. Hard to fire them sadly.

[LaLover11]

The Hawks have a ton of quality players, it's baffling to me why they perform the way they do. I think you trade Murray & build around Trae, those two don't seem to fit.

Can you really build around Trae at this point?

If Lakers trade yes

Trae Young, Prince, LeBron, AD, Capela

Hawks get: DLo, Reaves,Gabe, Rui
Lakers get Young and Capela

Sign Klay for a 2yr MLE
McGee for Minimum