Sports Illustrated Unimpressed by Hawks Offseason

[Jamaaliver]

Man...it's been a rough Summer.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1340848

See that last part there, that is you visibly freaking out.

That's supposed to be me freaking out? C'mon man. We've been at this for years. You've seen me have real freak outs. That my friend is nothing. Six words of frustration.

In my estimation...it has been a rough summer. But mean words from sportswriters is the least of it. First we stand pat in the deepest draft in years and take a player with a limited ceiling. Then we trade Bebe and Lou for NOTHING. Then Deng and Gasol pass on us while other top Free Agents refuse to even meet with us despite the extra cap space. Thus making the Bebe trade pointless. Meanwhile, we lose our highly-regarded, top assistant coach. And ultimately, we fill our roster spots with has-beens and fringe NBAers.

THAT is a rough summer. the collective shrug that the majority of sports writers has done since then regarding Atlanta Basketball, is just icing on the cake.

I never freaked out over these articles.
I never said we were buried over these articles.
We got buried over the poor decisions our GM made this summer. The articles simply reflect the lack of strong moves our GM has made this summer.

But when we have trouble signing Big Time stars in the immediate future, we can look to these types of negative headlines as playing a factor. We can look to the poor reputation of our fanbase, our owners and GM as well. The stigma around our Hawks franchise is incredibly strong. And it will take a myriad of things occurring at once to fix it:

A few positive headlines, a marketable star and a winning culture will all be necessary turn the tide in this city.

[SBM]

This quote makes no sense. hes the GM. He gets credit for building the team. Last year sucks, Horford was injured but still made the playoffs. This year will be the GRADING year imo.



This quote is more accurate. Youre correct, he has not been stellar in the draft , Payne is going to really show the grade on this this year. If hes a stud, all is forgiven. If hes another Mike Scott (marginal/mediocre barely rotation player) then I think its pretty accurate to say he cant draft.

I don't need you grading my posts. I try to keep it civilized around here but some of you guys get annoying with your know-it-all attitudes.

I don't see Milsap returning after this season either.
Hypthetically, who are some guys we'd look to get back in a Milsap trade before the trade deadline?

I would look to get a SF or SG out of Sap. I think a guy like Rudy Gay makes sense. Maybe a healthy Gallinari also.

I dont come on message boards to just agree with everyone. Get some thicker skin or log out

Nice post, i give it a C-

You need to actually be someone to hand out grades.

[azuresou1]

No you don't. That's literally what message boards are for - the free exchange of ideas. Everyone is free to grade your posts, just as you are free to grade others.

On topic Jamaal I think you are having a MAJOR overreaction to a mediocre summer. Yes, this has been a somewhat disappointing summer and I agree the Bebe trade ended up hurting us. Other than that though? Nothing of major significance happened... which is par for the course for the vast majority of teams.

You know who had a rough summer? Miami did. Indiana did. Houston did. Don't confuse 'disappointing' with 'bad.'

[ATLHawksfan21]

Horford would have to be for multiple picks. Pretty sure he's our cornerstone moving forward (even though he's aging).

I don't think teague is trade able because of his value. What other PG can you get for 8 million that performs like he does?

Millsap seems like trade bait, always has been. Will ferry actually do it? I don't see Millsap signing for cheap in this off season at 30 years old .

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I don't see Milsap returning after this season either.
Hypthetically, who are some guys we'd look to get back in a Milsap trade before the trade deadline?

youll never get 1:1 value, I think teams know that.

Do i think there will be teams out there willing to overpay a 30 year old workhorse like Millsap? Maybe. I could see the Lakers going after him. Rockets if they could afford him. I think he will be looking for a 3-4 year deal, and Im not sure the Hawks penny pinchers will want to do that unless hes doing it on the CHEAP. Payne is his replacement at this point. AH at C, Millsap at PF, I think we drafted his replacement possibly.

So, I would look to get a wing, someone young, someone we can develop.

I don't think the drafting of Payne signals the end of Millsap. I think Ferry/Bud simply went with the Best Player Available. Payne was the highest player on their board when their pick came up and they chose him. We aren't a top contender like i.e. the Thunder so the strategy of drafting BPA instead of a position of need can be used. Ferry and Bud are trying to stack talent and depth. Having Millsap and Payne helps achieve this.

[PandaKidd]

I think both are true.

They know this is the last year for Millsap, they were damaged BADLY when AH went down last year due to lack of depth.

I think Payne served both purposes. They can develop him since he is young, and he can fill in (if they think hes good enough)

[reazun]

No you don't. That's literally what message boards are for - the free exchange of ideas. Everyone is free to grade your posts, just as you are free to grade others.

On topic Jamaal I think you are having a MAJOR overreaction to a mediocre summer. Yes, this has been a somewhat disappointing summer and I agree the Bebe trade ended up hurting us. Other than that though? Nothing of major significance happened... which is par for the course for the vast majority of teams.

You know who had a rough summer? Miami did. Indiana did. Houston did. Don't confuse 'disappointing' with 'bad.'

I think I would have to agree that this was a bad summer imo. You admitted that the Bebe trade hurt us. Are we really in a better position than before the season ended? If not, then its a bad summer.

What have we really done to improve? i mean really improve, not hypothetically, hopefully, or maybe improve, but really improve? noting imo, and we had cap space, a deep draft, and a deep FA pool. Indiana, Miami, and Houston had horrible summers.. that doesnt mean ours was not bad. it wasnt horrible, but I still think I would categorize it as bad. But thats just my opinion, I am still excited for next year to see what Al can do healthy and i like our re-signings.

[azuresou1]

I think we are in a better position than before the season ended. Al will be healthy, we added big man depth by signing Payne who is NBA ready while still having upside, we resigned Mack and Scott to team friendly deals, and we added some wings in Thabo and Bazemore. The only thing I didn't like was us dumping Bebe.

I'd grade the offseason as a C+ which is pretty much the definition of mediocre.