Atlanta Hawks 2015 Off-Season Thread

[PandaKidd]

ACL and Achilles usually have the "Lost Year" syndrome. It takes almost a year after surgery to truly get back in a groove and back to "normal". Having ACL Surgery last September, I can only vouch how true that is. I rehabbed with some of the best DRs. in Atlanta, and was playing Full Court basketball at 6.5 months post surgery (and I had meniscus damage). Im at 9 months now, and maybe in the last week or two have I gotten to the point where I can play back to back games without my knee swelling. Not only that, the complete lack of lateral quickness and movement just takes a LONG time to come back. I feel great, but , my mind cant govern my knee accurately. I cant WILL myself to make a hard left cut, no matter how much I try and think about it, it just wont do it (because its not strong enough).

Im likely still another 6-8 months away from being "100%"

Im 34, im NOT an elite athlete with round the clock trainers, but, I would also be hesitant with a guy like Matthews because a short term deal likely means decreased production anyway in the first year due to rehab from the injury.

Long story short, Id rather get someone like Danny Green.

[tbhawksfan1]

How about this one:

Draft: Find a way to trade up to about #10. Use secons, future prot first, S Mack

#10 Stanley Johnson 6'7" 242 lbs Great D and solid potential. Just turned 19. Should be a future 2 way starter with an immediate impact on D.

Free Agents: I let both Sap and Carroll walk. Too expensive for thier age and potential. System guys that will get paid. Thanks for your work and congrats on the payday. All other FA renonced/traded.

Sign:
R Lopez 4@36
T Harris 4@40
K Koufos 3@13
W Matthews 3@24

Lopez: Finally the Atlanta Hawks have a full grown, starting center. Good boards, decent shot, good team guy. Not too expensive for a starting C.
Harris: A big signing. He gives us an upgrade at the position for less than Carroll will get. And he's young.
Koufos: Another legit C. Great back up at a reasonable price.
Matthews: Hawks take a gamble. Give him the third year and a resonable salary. He might take a half season or so to get going, but he should at least get back to solid starter status; maybe much better.

Bring over Tavares

Lopez / Koufos / Tavares
Horf / Moose / Scott
Harris / Johnson / Thabo
Matthews / Korver / Baze
JT / Schro / Mack

FA salaries are approx and Mack might be replaced with a min contract, maybe Scott traded. But that's about it. Solid team If KK and Matthews are somewhat ready to go early it should be another solid top 2- 4 seed with a lot of room to grow. Despite a temporary set back due to the shake up, it's a better over-all team with up side

[Jamaaliver]

How about this one:

Draft: Find a way to trade up to about #10. Use secons, future prot first, S Mack

#10 Stanley Johnson 6'7" 242 lbs Great D and solid potential. Just turned 19. Should be a future 2 way starter with an immediate impact on D.

Free Agents: I let both Sap and Carroll walk. Too expensive for thier age and potential. System guys that will get paid. Thanks for your work and congrats on the payday. All other FA renonced/traded.

Sign:
R Lopez 4@36
T Harris 4@40
K Koufos 3@13
W Matthews 3@24

If we could pull this off, it would be a wonderful off-season. Most of those moves are for long-term benefit/future benefit. But we'd still be able to contend while Wes heals and Stanley matures.

Might be the best off-season proposition I have seen.

[PandaKidd]

Id consider that a major upgrade and retooling.

[td00]

Be content if Bud is willing to upgrade one starting position, whichever that position might be.

[Hawk Eye]

I'm not on board with making any major changes to our roster. I know we had about as bad a exit in the ECF as one could have imagined but let's not forgot that we were in game 3 the entire way up until about the last minute. If we win games 3 & 5 @ home than I bet a lot of people on this board would be advocating to keep the roster the same and give it another go next season. Bottom line is this team won 60, FREAKING 60 games last season and had the best regular season in Atlanta Hawks history. We don't need to make any major changes to that imo. Any Capologists on our board? Is it possible to resign Millsap AND sign Robin Lopez this off-season? I seriously think R. Lopez should be one of our biggest pursuits.

Millsap/Horford/Lopez would be a fantastic 3 big rotation

[tbhawksfan1]

How much is Sap going to cost to keep? Speculation is that he's going to get about 16 a year. Lopez and Harris combined can be had for about 20. Same can be said about Carroll? Do you sign him for 10-12 he's going to get or do you go after something cheaper and better? That's how the 60 win team was built.

My proposal likely would improve the O and D while keeping the cap in good shape for Horf. We would be bigger, stronger and more dynamic on the wing.

Letting two ageing FAs due big raises walk is not a radical idea, especially when you can get better for the same price

[td00]

I'm for bringing back both DMC and Sap, but can you upgrade the 2nd unit enough to justify that?

Injuries impacted us this year, much like CLE, but you have to have guys that step up. Denis and Scott did not do much of that this postseason, so are they going to get another chance this year?

I'd sure like us to forget the cap for a year, and try and make this the best roster possible that gives us solid depth at each position.
One draft pick to train, one of our overseas guys to take on a fill-in role, and new talent at SG and the first big off the bench.

[tbhawksfan1]

No way to pay Sap big bucks when he'll be nearly 35 by the end of the 4 year deal.

[hawkschop1]

Draft day trade Mike Scott and #15 to Phoenix for #13

Now we got 3 million extra to work with so lets offer Lamarcus Aldridge as much as humanly possible and sign Al-Farqou Aminu to as cheap as possible add some solid vet minimums hopefully a MLE player call it a day. thoughts?

[MaceCase]

Tobias Harris is a RFA and repeatedly mentioned that he wants the max. You're not getting him for 4/40, he won't sign that and Orlando surely would match if he did.

[Hawk Eye]

Another thing I'd like to point out is that Tobias Harris is not better than DeMarre Carroll (for the moment anyways) especially defensively. Harris is also a RFA so teams are going to have to over pay him as well to get him.

[Yungsta404]

I'm not on board with making any major changes to our roster. I know we had about as bad a exit in the ECF as one could have imagined but let's not forgot that we were in game 3 the entire way up until about the last minute. If we win games 3 & 5 @ home than I bet a lot of people on this board would be advocating to keep the roster the same and give it another go next season. Bottom line is this team won 60, FREAKING 60 games last season and had the best regular season in Atlanta Hawks history. We don't need to make any major changes to that imo. Any Capologists on our board? Is it possible to resign Millsap AND sign Robin Lopez this off-season? I seriously think R. Lopez should be one of our biggest pursuits.

Millsap/Horford/Lopez would be a fantastic 3 big rotation

I think we overachieved and are worst than what our 60 win record indicates. Outside of those 2 months of elite play we have been pretty mediocre.

I thought we would return to our elite play once the playoffs started but our play in the 1st round against 2 mediocre opponents showed that this isnt a championship contending roster and showed that we werent "coasting" during the finals weeks of the regular season.

I wouldnt look at game 3 against the cavs as a positive because it showed a problem we had all season, which was blowing leads and not having a player we could rely on to put the ball in the hole we needed. We had ample opportunities to close that game and we didnt due to low IQ plays.

[Jamaaliver]

I'm not on board with making any major changes to our roster. I know we had about as bad a exit in the ECF as one could have imagined but let's not forgot that we were in game 3 the entire way up until about the last minute.

A very fair point. But Preston, we looked REALLY bad in the first two rounds. Even before the injuries started piling up, we struggled against inferior teams and inferior coaches.

Every weakness our critics levied against us throughout the season came to fruition.(Lack of depth, lack of a superstar, undersized frontcourt) Doubling down with an aging core that clearly is less talented than their competitors...is risky.

[Years80HAWKS]

We (or, better said, the franchise) has a decision to make:
- risk to improve or stay the same, if possible.
The improvement would have to come by signing new pieces, or at least a new piece while keeping Carrolland Millsap.
I am not against keeping them, but at the right salaries and for the right time. Not much money for 4/5 years. That will hurt us forever.
I cannot see Millsap going to an elite team for 5 years and a ton of money. If that is whay he gets, I would be happy for him, but I would not try to offer him the same here. The same goes for Carroll, who I believe would not have the same role in any other team in the NBA, except the Jazz, the Spurs or the Warriors, may be. May be the Cavs could decide to get him to avoid both a good LBJ defender and to fill in for JR and Shumpert. The Spurs could decide to get Carroll if Green leaves.

We definitely should put our money on Monroe. He would be the perfect complement to Al and finally we would have a different piece in our FC. Not a true C, not a true PF, but someone to contribute, improve with BDH and limit his negative tendencies.

We would keep our PGs, of course. We would be needing a young, athletic SF.

I like the idea of getting Matthews, but we already have a player who is coming into the team by December-January. Another one? Not a great idea.

Teague-Schröeder
Carroll-Bazemore
Korver-Sefolosha (although I would cut him for what he did)-rookie SF
Horford-Millsap
Monroe-Muscala-Tavares

[atlantabbq99]

We (or, better said, the franchise) has a decision to make:
- risk to improve or stay the same, if possible.
The improvement would have to come by signing new pieces, or at least a new piece while keeping Carrolland Millsap.
I am not against keeping them, but at the right salaries and for the right time. Not much money for 4/5 years. That will hurt us forever.
I cannot see Millsap going to an elite team for 5 years and a ton of money. If that is whay he gets, I would be happy for him, but I would not try to offer him the same here. The same goes for Carroll, who I believe would not have the same role in any other team in the NBA, except the Jazz, the Spurs or the Warriors, may be. May be the Cavs could decide to get him to avoid both a good LBJ defender and to fill in for JR and Shumpert. The Spurs could decide to get Carroll if Green leaves.

We definitely should put our money on Monroe. He would be the perfect complement to Al and finally we would have a different piece in our FC. Not a true C, not a true PF, but someone to contribute, improve with BDH and limit his negative tendencies.

We would keep our PGs, of course. We would be needing a young, athletic SF.

I like the idea of getting Matthews, but we already have a player who is coming into the team by December-January. Another one? Not a great idea.

Teague-Schröeder
Carroll-Bazemore
Korver-Sefolosha (although I would cut him for what he did)-rookie SF
Horford-Millsap
Monroe-Muscala-Tavares

They should risk to improve now, or a better phrase "win now". My logic behind this is because Horford is at his prime right now and he is already 30 years old. if he is already 30, then that means he only has a 3 year window he is going to be performing at his peak, 5 years tops.

If you don't believe me, you can look at KG, Duncan's, Rasheed, Kemp, Amare, and Webber's stats. All guys mentioned started a shallow decline in their early 30s

[D21]

I'm not on board with making any major changes to our roster. I know we had about as bad a exit in the ECF as one could have imagined but let's not forgot that we were in game 3 the entire way up until about the last minute. If we win games 3 & 5 @ home than I bet a lot of people on this board would be advocating to keep the roster the same and give it another go next season. Bottom line is this team won 60, FREAKING 60 games last season and had the best regular season in Atlanta Hawks history. We don't need to make any major changes to that imo. Any Capologists on our board? Is it possible to resign Millsap AND sign Robin Lopez this off-season? I seriously think R. Lopez should be one of our biggest pursuits.

Millsap/Horford/Lopez would be a fantastic 3 big rotation

I will add that we were playing without Thabo, and with Teague, Millsap and Horford playing, but injured. Add the Korver injury and it's impossible to win for a team with so many injuries when you don't have a superstar but a collective first team.
And the 60W could have been more because coach Bud let some games in the end of the regular season to be in shape for the playoffs, even if it didn't work in the end.

GSW stayed healthy and their game didn't change.
I'm not saying we would have beat CLE if healthy, and not forget that they also had injuries, but this ATL team had a higher level than what we saw during these playoffs.

Now, it doesn't mean we don't need any roster adjustment, but certainly not big moves.
What I also remember is that they miss lots of open 3s. OK, the defense is harder in playoffs, but lots of 3s were open and didn't hit.
Possibly bad rhythm, due to less energy and injuries.

[ATLHawksfan21]

I'm not on board with making any major changes to our roster. I know we had about as bad a exit in the ECF as one could have imagined but let's not forgot that we were in game 3 the entire way up until about the last minute. If we win games 3 & 5 @ home than I bet a lot of people on this board would be advocating to keep the roster the same and give it another go next season. Bottom line is this team won 60, FREAKING 60 games last season and had the best regular season in Atlanta Hawks history. We don't need to make any major changes to that imo. Any Capologists on our board? Is it possible to resign Millsap AND sign Robin Lopez this off-season? I seriously think R. Lopez should be one of our biggest pursuits.

Millsap/Horford/Lopez would be a fantastic 3 big rotation

Wow. A beacon of sense finally arrives.

Let's not forget that J.R. Smith's insane shooting stole game 1 as well. J.R. made 8 3's in game 1 and Shump made 4 in each of games 2 and 3. They were then cold as ice for most of the GSW series.

Get healthy, resign DMC and Millsap, land a solid player at #15 and add a bench player with an impact similar to Thabo's and we will have had a good off-season.

[PandaKidd]

JR Smith went insane because we had no one to guard him or Shumpert and DMC was getting ABUSED by Lebron. They didnt STEAL that game.

We NEVER looked better than CLE at any point in the entire series except for the beginning of Game 3 before AH got tossed.

Injuries are excuses, EVERY team was injured. Klay/Steph had concussions, Conley broke his face, Love/KI/LBJ all hurt or nursing injuries. Shumpert was hurt.

Millsap was playing, and what I saw was a non impact player that couldnt score when we needed him too. Im done with the AH C experiment. Get me a rebounding big, PERIOD.

We have to have the ability to go SMALL and BIG. We dont have that right now, we have SMALL and SMALLER. You can keep Millsap if you get me a 20 minute a game Robin Lopez or Tyson Chandler. But Im NOT paying Millsap 15-16 million a year. We can spend that money much better.

Dont get complacent

[ATLHawksfan21]

I agree that we need to improve, I just don't think that major chances are required in order to do so.

How can we spend the 15-16 million better when we can spend up to the cap and then sign Millsap? The cap is about to skyrocket and a 15 mil deal for Millsap is not going to hamstring us at any point. It won't this year and it won't in the years after.

Now if someone like M. Gasol makes it known that he wants to be in ATL, you obviously have to strongly consider this. The problem is you will lose DMC + Millsap and you won't have much space left to replace DMC this season. This move may make us slightly worse this year and possibly better in the years after.

I can understand the sentiment on rebounding bigs but they are not an end all be all. We just saw Golden St. go to a small-ball lineup and completely neutralize Cleveland's bigs. What we lacked was depth and health. There are many ways to win in this league and playing smaller was just proven to be one of them. I would also like to add some size if it doesn't cost us talent. I have no interest in replacing Millsap with a lesser player simply because the next guy has 3 inches and 30 pounds on Millsap. If the change is made, it better be for a guy like Gasol and not some average player like Asik.

I agree with your last point. A 3 big lineup with the ability to play small or big is the best move going forward. It's just a matter of if we can achieve it. I would love to be able to bring back Millsap while adding a defensive big.