Travis Schlenk trying to build Hawks in Warrior’s image (aka 2018 offseason thread)

[Spud2nique]

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Does Viv follow basketball? Those guys at 30 won’t be there...smh lol

[dms269]

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Can I beat a beat writer for some of these places? Hawks have a bad contract and want to move it...wow.

[ATL Boy]

Dwayne Dedmon has exercised his player option to remain with the Hawks this year. I didn't see that coming at all.

[HMFFL]

Dwayne Dedmon has exercised his player option to remain with the Hawks this year. I didn't see that coming at all.

Why not?

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[HMFFL]

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Can I beat a beat writer for some of these places? Hawks have a bad contract and want to move it...wow.

It's probably little movement and talks there.


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[HMFFL]

Bazemore will be a mentor here.

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[ATL Boy]

Dwayne Dedmon has exercised his player option to remain with the Hawks this year. I didn't see that coming at all.

Why not?

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He had a good enough year to where I figured he could get at least an MLE offer out of someone on the open market.

[jayu70]

Dwayne Dedmon has exercised his player option to remain with the Hawks this year. I didn't see that coming at all.

Why not?

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He had a good enough year to where I figured he could get at least an MLE offer out of someone on the open market.

With so many teams close to or in the Luxury tax, might be difficult. MLE is $8.6, his option is $7.2.
I also think teams are trying to save capspace for next offseason FAs instead so multiyear offer might be hard.

I wonder if the Hawks can sign him to an extention since he was on a 2 year deal?

[Jamaaliver]

Reposting this suddenly very relevant story:

Hawks could build Warriors-lite by selecting Trae Young, Kevin Huerter

The Atlanta Hawks have three picks in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft. They can reshape the identity of the team with good selections.

Jeremy Woo reported that the Hawks covet sharpshooter Trae Young [from this year's draft.] His marketability, name-recognition overall potential would bring a sense of relief to the franchise. And it’s no secret that Young has received comparisons to Curry after one of the most impressive shooting seasons in the history of collegiate basketball.

Young, however, is not the only player who is getting juxtaposed to one of the reigning champions. Kevin Huerter, who opted to stay in the draft after just one season at Maryland, is often mentioned in the same breath as Golden State 3-and-D star Klay Thompson. Huerter averaged 14.8 points with 2.3 three-pointers per game and looked very sharp in the combine scrimmages. He had the second-best effective field goal percentage in his conference last season.

...many around the league believe that Huerter has received a “promise” by one of the teams with a pick in the first round.

Young will work out with the Hawks on Tuesday and they’ll reportedly be one of four teams he will meet with before the draft. Huerter, as mentioned by Vecenie, had a draft work out with the franchise last month.

Lloyd Pierce, now the head coach for Atlanta, was an assistant for Golden State during the 2010-11 season. He worked directly with Curry when the two-time MVP was in his second year in the league. If he sees a bit of Curry in Young, that would surely excite him to no end.

Hoopshype

[Jamaaliver]

Splash brothers, indeed.

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[Jamaaliver]

Hawks’ Travis Schlenk just went way out on a limb with Doncic trade

One day, the basketball world will look at an old picture of Luka Doncic wearing an Atlanta Hawks’ hat from the night of the 2018 NBA draft and think one of two things: 1) “Dumbest trade Travis Schlenk ever made”; or 2) “That man was a visionary.”


The Hawks drafted Doncic, the Slovenian who won the MVP of the EuroLeague at the age of 19, Thursday night with the third overall pick. It was the logical pick -- a player who many considered the premier talent in the draft. Doncic walked across a stage in Brooklyn and then put on a Hawks’ hat.


“To us, they were the best two playmakers in the draft, being able to make other people better with their passing ability and what they can do in pick-and-rolls,” Schlenk said. “They were both extremely intriguing. In all our honesty, our group was really split between the two. It certainly wasn’t clear cut.”


It wasn’t a secret Schlenk admired Young’s game. The point guard was a tremendous shooter and an offensive force at Oklahoma, where he averaged 27.4 points and 8.7 assists. His quickness compensates for his lack of size (6-foot-1).


“We would’ve been extremely happy with Luka. We’re extremely happy with Trae,” Schlenk said.

AJC.com

[Jamaaliver]

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Passing up a chance to select Luka Doncic with the third pick may come back to bite them, but Atlanta's team-building philosophy has that organization on the right track.

Last May, the Atlanta Hawks tapped Travis Schlenk—a man who spent the previous five seasons offering insight as assistant general manager for the ludicrously successful Golden State Warriors—to completely renovate their roster. On Thursday night, Schlenk made the biggest decision of his career in a move that revealed two things: 1) a transparent desire to set his current team on a parallel path with the one he used to work for—as impossible as that may be—and 2) to do so by patiently following the same rule book the Philadelphia 76ers read by executing their infamous process.

The Hawks either think Young will be better than Doncic—last night Schlenk admitted the decision was split among members of his front office—or strongly believe that having as many bites at the apple is paramount for an organization that entered the night with one (maybe two) long-term pieces already in place.

It’s highly unlikely Doncic would be Atlanta’s Markelle Fultz, but similar risk for Young is dramatically reduced in the face of that 2019 pick.


for a moment forget about Young as Curry. Imagine if the Portland Trail Blazers drafted Damian Lillard into a slow churn, where they could carefully surround him with several top-10 picks, the benefit of low expectations, and sustained cap flexibility. That’s what’s happening in Atlanta, where Schlenk’s Hawks are taking their time to construct what may very well become the NBA’s next juggernaut.

[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

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The pick swap between the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks -- sending Luka Doncic to Dallas -- will be one we'll talk about for a long time.

On Thursday, there wasn't a single deal consummated (or even reported) that involved a player already under contract. No salary dumps. No proven commodities for promise and potential. No bad contract and a good pick for a slightly better contract and a slightly worse pick. The Hawks and Mavs reportedly discussed adding Kent Bazemore and Wesley Matthews to the deal involving the third and fifth picks, but Dallas apparently didn't like the extra year on Bazemore's deal.

[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

Hawks are doing their best to follow the Warriors model

When Travis Schlenk left Golden State for Atlanta it was obvious he’d try to emulate the Warriors. His first draft was a clear effort to do just that

The Golden State Warriors are currently the gold standard in the NBA. It only makes sense that other teams would want to copy their blueprint for success. Travis Schlenk is absolutely doing that early in his tenure in charge of the Atlanta Hawks.

He believes Trae Young has a chance to be his franchise’s version of Steph Curry. Their second first round pick was spent to acquire Maryland sharpshooter Kevin Huerter. Many NBA scouts compare him to, you guessed it, Klay Thompson.

Attempting to copy Golden State is a wonderful idea in theory, but executing it in practice is almost impossible. With all due respect to Young and Huerter, neither of them project to turn out to be that sort of player. Young, in particular, has significant bust potential. If Schlenk drafted Young and Huerter with hopes that they’d become his version of Curry and Thompson, he’s probably going to be disappointed.

The only good news for Hawks fans is that this is just the beginning of their rebuild. Schlenk and the front office can afford some swings and misses along the way. If they want to become the Eastern Conference’s version of Golden State, they’ll still need to be searching for stars in next year’s draft.

The Stepback

[DirtybirdGA]

Schlenk will be on 680 the fan in a few minutes.

[kg01]

Schlenk will be on 680 the fan in a few minutes.

You just volunteered yourself to write a synopsis so the rest of us don't have to deal with listening to them clowns. Thanks.

[dms269]

Schlenk will be on 680 the fan in a few minutes.

You just volunteered yourself to write a synopsis so the rest of us don't have to deal with listening to them clowns. Thanks.

680>92.9

I really enjoy Chuck and Chernoff

The rest are just meh