Tomorrow Starts Today -- A new era starts in Hawks Basketball

[Jamaaliver]

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From Nov. 19-23, I was in Atlanta covering the Hawks. This was the perfect time to see the Hawks as they were not spending the week on long flights or back- to-backs. Instead, they spent the entire week at home and had a rest day in between each game.

The biggest takeaway is the culture. Every organization preaches culture.

While, the Hawks may be losing, they are building a culture that will stick with their young players 10 years from now. If everything goes as planned, Young, Huerter and all of the young players that they make the focal point of their organization will remember this season as a teaching moment, and how to handle adversity when they are ultimately successful.

[Jamaaliver]

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[macd-gm]

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Not sure i see the "news" here. We are the worst team in the league and were one of the worst last year. We are a team with historically bad attendance and we have had 20 point deficits in most of our games. Plus our (very) famous rookie is now the favorite negative target of the national media.

[Spud2nique]

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Not sure i see the "news" here. We are the worst team in the league and were one of the worst last year. We are a team with historically bad attendance and we have had 20 point deficits in most of our games. Plus our (very) famous rookie is now the favorite negative target of the national media.

Trae will turn it around this is growing pains.

[Jamaaliver]

Not sure i see the "news" here. We are the worst team in the league and were one of the worst last year. We are a team with historically bad attendance and we have had 20 point deficits in most of our games. Plus our (very) famous rookie is now the favorite negative target of the national media.

It's all a part of the full narrative, mac. We don't ignore the hard/unpleasant parts of the story.




Hell, you can't measure how far you've gone on your journey unless you know exactly where you started.

[kg01]

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Not sure i see the "news" here. We are the worst team in the league and were one of the worst last year. We are a team with historically bad attendance and we have had 20 point deficits in most of our games. Plus our (very) famous rookie is now the favorite negative target of the national media.

Agreed. This is low-hanging fruit that any random "journalist" can whip up any year he wants for this franchise.

Contrast this to that Amico Hoops piece which provided the 'real' by actually did some work and provided some insight along with it.

[pssshhhrrr87]

I feel the team needed the reboot and I believe Collins and Trae are the future. Everything and everyone else is as clear as mud.

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks in a better place without Budenholzer (and vice versa)

Three​ months after​ Mike​ Budenholzer’s​ front-office tenure​ was labeled​ “a recipe for​ disaster” by​ his​ team’s​ owner and his exit​ was​ punctuated​​ with another shot, “Bud was not the right coach for us,” the former Hawks’ executive and head coach returned to Atlanta on Sunday.

Trumpets, there were not. There generally was little fan reaction when the coach who guided a 60-win season was introduced.

“It was time for a change,” Budenholzer said. “That’s never easy, but I think everybody feels good where they are.”

“I’m happy for him,” Schlenk said. “There’s no bad blood between us.”

The Hawks are better today without Budenholzer than they would’ve been with him. That’s not suggesting Lloyd Pierce is a better coach. It’s just that he’s far more committed to a job that Budenholzer clearly wanted no part of, and Pierce has proven to be a great teacher (see: the development of John Collins, Trae Young and Kevin Huerter).

When asked if it was strange seeing Budenholzer on the opposing bench, Prince said, “It definitely was. But we’re definitely happy with who we have moving forward.”

The Athletic

[Jamaaliver]

As the Hawks look to rebuild with a new coach and front office, they view Young as the ideal lead guard to build around in the post-Warriors era.

And as the season has progressed, the Hawks have begun to develop the one thing every rebuilding team wants: an identity. Informed heavily by general manager Travis Schlenk’s old job in the Golden State Warriors front office, this Atlanta team shoots a lot of threes (34.4 per game, tied for fifth-most in the NBA), moves the ball (it's in the top 10 in assists with 25.6 per game) and plays at the fastest pace in the league.

Young’s potential as a future star was on full display in the Hawks’ Saturday night 120-111 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He finished with 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting and racked up eight assists. He showed off his diverse offensive game, hitting floaters, getting to the foul line and knocking down three three-pointers.

The numbers are there (his 7.3 assists per game are tied for seventh-most in the NBA), and so is the style. Young’s highlight reel is full of fancy no-looks and between-the-legs dimes. In second-year big man John Collins, he’s found an ideal alley-oop partner.

“I want him to average 16 or 17 points and 12 assists,” Hawks backup F Vince Carter said. “That’s my challenge to him, is to get double-digit assists. He has the ability. I wouldn’t challenge him if he didn’t have that in him.”

Young can become as good as he wants to become. The shooting hasn’t come around yet, but the instincts are there. And so is the production that, everything else aside, is tough to ignore.

Bleacher Report

[Jamaaliver]

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Still only 24th. But seeing a 13% increase in franchise values is certainly impressive.

NBA team values 2019: Forbes ranks every NBA franchise's worth

Like they do every year, Forbes has released their valuations for every NBA team and for the second time in the history of the league, every franchise is worth at least $1 billion.

As you can see from the following list, which features information on the current value of each team as well as their change in value over the course of the past year and their revenue and operating income, every franchise but one happened to see an increase in value over the course of the past 12 months.

With the league making more money than ever before thanks to interest in the NBA spiking worldwide, fans should only expect for the values of their favorite team to continue to increase as time moves on.


24) Atlanta Hawks

Current value: $1.3B

One-year value change: 13%

Revenue: $215M

Operating income: $42M

24/7 Sports

[Jamaaliver]

Travis Schlenk didn’t go looking for Trae Young. But when Schlenk walked into the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon, just trying to pass the time between games he was scheduled to watch at the Phil Knight Invitational in late November 2017, he couldn’t keep his eyes off him. Young already had 30 points for Oklahoma, yet what stood out to Schlenk wasn’t the scoring, it was the playmaking. “This is a guy we’re going to have to see again,” Schlenk, the Hawks GM, says he thought to himself. About a month later, Schlenk was in the stands at Wichita State to watch Young go for 29 points and 10 assists, and again, he was impressed by Young’s vision and ability to pass with both hands. Schlenk, the former assistant GM of the Golden State Warriors, took over in Atlanta in 2017 hoping to establish a new culture built around ball movement, 3-pointers, and a healthy dose of fun. In Young, he saw all three.

The Ringer

If you weren’t aware of the Hawks’ record, you might not know this is a team with the fifth-worst record in the league.

The difference between this year and last year is the togetherness of this team. There is no selfishness in the Hawks’ locker room. Bazemore relinquished his starting role without a fuss to Kevin Huerter early in the season. Carter has told Pierce at certain times not to play him so many minutes in order to get more minutes for some of the younger players.

There wasn’t that sense of brotherhood last year, Bazemore said. There would be practices, he said, where all you would hear is the sound of squeaky sneakers and bouncing basketballs.

And a lot of the credit for the management and motivation behind the players has to go to Pierce and the staff. Carter said the way Pierce organizes practices, you would think Atlanta is one of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Athletic

[jayu70]

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[Jamaaliver]

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It’s a small sample size, given that he only arrived in town just three summers ago, yet is there any question the Hawks’ leadership under Travis Schlenk is sound? Schlenk, plucked from the Warriors’ front office to run the Hawks, has yet to make a costly mistake or set the club back.

Here’s how Schlenk has done in his three Hawks drafts: Collins, Young, Huerter and now Hunter and Reddish after swinging another Draft-day deal to get an additional pick. The jury’s still out, but it could be that Schlenk managed to get a star (Young), an All-Star (Collins) and three useful rotational players with those five picks. And maybe Hunter or Reddish might be better than expected.

The philosophy is simple and sound: Take as many swings at the Draft plate as possible and hope to hit a home run. It’s the best way to get a franchise player in today’s NBA.

In a best-case scenario, then, the young core, still on rookie deals, will flourish and the Hawks will use their cap space next summer on veterans who can push the club into playoff contention. Or they can use that ample space to swing a trade for an A-list star who qualifies as a disgruntled asset -- much the way Anthony Davis, Paul George and Russell Westbrook changed teams this summer for one reason or another.

As if his drafts weren’t solid enough, Schlenk demonstrated an ability to spend wisely when he signed Parker to a two-year, $13 million free agent deal. That's a decent buy and low risk for a former No. 2 overall pick who might deserve a longer stay if he produces.

Essentially, the Hawks used this offseason to position themselves for the next step forward. With a revamped team, a dazzling point guard who could sell tickets in an updated arena, the Hawks are giving the basketball fans of Atlanta fewer reasons to root for the visitors (something the city did quite regularly in years past).

Can Atlanta actually become a basketball destination in a football town? You can argue that the Hawks were never the main attraction ... even during the Dominique Wilkins days. Suddenly, anything’s possible for a franchise that’s looking up.

[Jamaaliver]

John Collins didn’t finish the sentence, but I knew what he was going to say without him actually saying it. I asked him what the vibe was around this team when he talked to other players around the league and if he felt like the Hawks had some respect now.

Collins said in his first and second seasons, he would talk to various players and the reactions would normally be, “Yeah, you’re cool and this guy is all right, but y’all are kinda …”

“Trash” is likely what Collins was going to say. The conversations this summer have been much different. He feels awareness that he hadn’t felt in his first two seasons.

...the optimism surrounding this franchise — ranging from Hawks fans to those who just watch the NBA — is clearly there and might be the highest it has been in several years. The Hawks have a clear plan in place and a stockpile of young and promising players. It’s now just a matter of how long it’s going to take this group to grow together and become a contender in the Eastern Conference.
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Finally, a reporter asked Collins for his thoughts on those in Atlanta who don’t watch or pay attention to the Hawks until football season is over.

“They’re missing, in my opinion, the best show in Atlanta,” he said. "...I feel like we’ve made enough buzz. Tony (Ressler) is putting is heart and soul into making the Hawks the future franchise of this city. I feel like he’s shown it with this building right here (Emory Sports Medicine Complex) and the arena and what he’s doing down there. I feel like it’s our job to get it done on the court to bring those fans out, and I feel like we have. I feel like when we start winning, the fans will be right where they need to be. It’s a process. It takes time. I know we have to prove it to them first.”

The Athletic

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks owner Tony Ressler on the state of the franchise and the next steps

Tony Ressler said this offseason was as peaceful as it could have been because he has learned from his past mistakes. The Hawks have a plan in place, and they followed it. He feels like the organization is moving in the right direction, and despite the fact the team won only 29 games this past season, this offseason was by far the least stressful for him because he sees the vision unfolding now.

In the four years that Ressler has owned the Hawks, each move made has been to build into a championship-contending organization one day. The first step of that plan was to develop first-class resources for the players. That doesn’t necessarily turn an organization into one competing for championships every year, but it shows devotion from the ownership group to get better at every level on and off the court.

The Hawks feel they have the makings of a long-term core now with Young as the centerpiece, John Collins, Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter, Reddish and Bruno Fernando. It’s too early to say whether this core will be in place for the next decade, but the six of the players are 22 or younger, and Ressler has been encouraged with what he has seen from them.

Ressler wouldn’t say what his timeline is for when he expects more on-court success, other than to say that, yes, he has a plan but doesn’t want to give a precise timeline because he believes it makes an organization run poorly when you’re chasing a certain date.

The Athletic

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks have more than doubled in value under Ressler



The Hawks have more than doubled in value since the group led by Tony Ressler bought the team five years ago. That’s based on Forbes’ annual estimate of NBA franchise valuations, released Tuesday.

The Hawks are now worth $1.52 billion, according to the study -- up 17% from $1.3 billion a year ago and up 108% from the Ressler’s group’s $730 million purchase price in 2015. The increase has been driven in part by the renovation of State Farm Arena and rising league-wide revenue.

Still, the Hawks rank only 23rd among the 30 NBA teams in valuation, according to Forbes. League-wide, teams increased 14% in value in the past year to an average of $2.12 billion.

AJC.com

[Jamaaliver]

Jesse looks like a crazy person

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