RealGM

Write=up over at ESPN:

A small dose of mandatory nostalgia is fine, but there isn't an NBA franchise in the fall of 2015 that's less devoted to its past than Atlanta. Danny Ferry might have left the building, but his aggressive futurism remains the guiding principle, even more so after his departure. Whether it's distant or recent, "The past is the past," Paul Millsap said. The Hawks forward was referring to the 33-2 run Atlanta ripped off after last Thanksgiving following a first month as uninspiring as the stretch they're currently slogging through.

...Trying to replicate success rather than creating it can breed frustration, which the Hawks had been slogging through before Tuesday. No matter how well they perform, the Hawks are a certain bet to win fewer games this season than in 2014-15...For Atlanta, there's a singular, if uninspiring goal: play its best regular-season basketball in March and April, something last season's Hawks did not do, even as they clinched the No. 1 seed three weeks before the playoffs started.

HERE

...the Budenholzer Administration is now officially on the clock. The Hawks have undergone what some in the organization call a cleanse. The ranks of the front office have swelled with more junior execs, more scouts and more quant heads. It's a cultural revolution from a franchise determined to make culture its calling card.

The organization might be stable...but the future is anything but certain. Teague and Dennis Schroder can co-exist at the point ... for now. Defenses are affording Korver, who will be 35 when the playoffs begin, zero space on the perimeter and he hasn't averaged fewer 3-point attempts per 36 minutes since his final season in Utah. Tiago Splitter can help the Hawks fortify their longstanding issues on the glass, but only when he's able-bodied.

Millsap and Al Horford have been the mainstays, but the latter will test the depths of owner Tony Ressler's pockets as he enters unrestricted free agency next summer. Nothing can spoil a honeymoon between ownership and management more than a $140 million-$150 million bill for Horford, an exceptional big man with across-the-board skills and incomparable selflessness, but not exactly the kind of superstar who can fill the building..

They'll be able to pay Horford and with his (relatively) modest cap hold of approximately $18 million, have some moola left over to sign additional talent. In many respects, the Hawks' future success and failure will come down to Budenholzer's salesmanship -- his ability to attract that talent.

Thoughts?
Predictions?

Concerns?

Encouraging to see the 'cleanse' throughout the franchise that was indeed necessary to prevent a return to the treadmill we'd been on for decades. But it is a worrisome proposition that so much could fall on Bud's ability to attract top talent, given our track record at bringing in top players...even during the Ferry era.

We HAVE to start getting more out of the 1st round of the draft. I don't need HOF players and All Stars like San Antonio (though that'd be wonderful), but we at least need rotation caliber players that produce at low cost for a number of years.

JJ2, Bebe Nogueira, Adreian Payne, the THJ pick...that's a lot of youth and depth we've whiffed on in the last 4 summers. And most of those were made with Bud onboard as coach.


The franchise seems to operate much more efficiently than the pre-Ferry era. Even the staunchest Ferry critic has to admit as much.
But from a personnel standpoint, our current iteration likely has three...four years tops before the team has to reload.

And seeing MIA, INDY, CHI reload with young talent in recent years...I'm not even sure those 3-4 years see us as actual contenders, as opposed to middle of the pack.