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

[macd-gm]

Signing Iggy to me was the start of really building a championship team around steph and klay. Bogut was good for them too. And letting David Lee go. These are smart moves to shore up a team.

[Jamaaliver]

I don't...know why this exists.

The Atlanta Hawks and the circle of life

The Warriors have become a bit much. Every Dynasty is dull, after a while.

In this way, the Hawks are a noble franchise. Winning is gauche. It goes on and on in the same way and it sucks the air out of the league. The Hawks would never DREAM of living like this. Instead, they plod along year after year, they field some good squads, some bad ones, some excellent ones. They lose in the playoffs, their team leaves, they bite the bullet and rebuild. The circle of life: birth, death, rebirth.

The Hawks are doing it right. They exiled Mike Budenholzer...They kept some decent players, traded a pick that could have maybe been an all-time great player, got Vince Carter to teach the youngin’s skills and professionalism. They drafted a grip of 3-point shooters, throwing the dice and hoping that one of them has an unknown deeply buried ball-handling ability or enough personal ambition that they learn the tedious and unrewarding art of defense.

It’s probably not going to build to a title, because nothing builds to a title, really. Sometimes, I suppose, it works, and your team ascends once or twice or entirely-too-many times, but who honestly gives a crap, titles are fake constructions that you get for winning at basketball, which is also a fake construction. Other teams kill themselves to win titles, while the Hawks do the noble thing: see beyond the climaxes and doldrums of this asinine rat race, focus entirely on the process, run the franchise one day at a time, see what happens without expecting much to come from it, and stay calm when nothing does.

The Stepback

[Jamaaliver]

:wink:

If, as the heading indicates, we are now going to be the Warriors east instead of the Spurs east, there is a
guard on the Warriors that is a really, really good scorer. There is a guard in this year's draft that mirrors him.
He is expected to go in the top eight.

Will he become a Hawk? Don't act so shocked. It could happen. Hawks could move around, get an extra pick
and still manage to grab him. Or, we might package two picks later in the draft to grab him. The NBA has evolved
into a three point mecca. If you can't score from downtown at a good pace, it has become harder and harder to
win. Check out the Cavs right now. They are not burning the nets with the three ball, as has been their habit,
and Boston is having their way with them.

Hawks have four draft picks in the first round and very high in the second. Do we really want four new rookies?
If so, who will we retain from our ending roster from last season? and, what about our trading and the free agency
period? Finally, what about those teams wanting to dump salary thru us for future draft picks?

Any ideas??

-May 16th




GM, you nailed this prediction, BTW.

The day after the draft lottery you were already suggesting a trade down for Trae Young?!?

Well done, man!!!

[Jamaaliver]

State of the salary cap after the off-season...

Atlanta Hawks salary cap: Preseason 2018-19

Let’s look at the cap

Upcoming Issues

Looking at the current cap sheet, we know that Atlanta currently has dead salary that will finally leave the cap sheet at the start of the 2019 offseason: Carmelo Anthony’s $25,534,253 and Jamal Crawford’s $2,304,226, both of which were the result of buyouts. Unless Atlanta reaches some extensions with players, we are certain that Atlanta will have cap space even after accounting for cap holds of all free agents, as long as the salary cap is around $109 million. In the extreme situation where Atlanta renounces the rights to all their free agents, their cap space can reach north of $50 million this offseason. But the Salary Cap will not be set until late June of 2019, so we won’t know for certain the amount of cap space until the Salary Cap is set.

There are less obvious trade assets in Kent Bazemore and Jeremy Lin, in that reasonable people may disagree if they are net positives or negatives on their current contracts. They are certainly movable contracts if Atlanta is so inclined to; however, this is where the team’s timeline of competitiveness comes into play.

If Atlanta is intent on jumping into the 2019 offseason with as much cap space as possible, then moving Bazemore (and Miles Plumlee) for expiring contracts may become a priority for the team.

Peachtree Hoops

[Jamaaliver]

ATLANTA HAWKS

The Atlanta Hawks are selling their future, which lies with rookies Trae Young, Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman. Hawks GM Travis Schlenk, in his time in Golden State, is clearly using the Warriors’ blueprints to construct this Hawks roster — with Young, Huerter and Spellman serving as the Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green figures in their rebuild. The comparisons, no matter how outrageous they might seem, won’t go away.

Schlenk is betting his reputation on the Hawks’ rebuilding process. His blueprint is a picture-perfect mirroring of the plan used by the two-time defending champion Warriors, who were as fortuitous as they were calculated in charting their rise to the top. Play comparisons offer a theoretically reliable way of selecting talent, until you realize that the comparisons were way off base.

NBA.com

Fascinating Year Awaits Travis Schlenk and Lloyd Pierce



Travis Schlenk seems determined to rebuild the Atlanta Hawks from the ground-up with young, high-upside players, who, if you squint, resemble the early Splash Brothers-era Golden State Warriors.

According to a story by the Associated Press after the 2018 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks draft room was split between the two “best playmakers in the draft.”

“Luka is a heck of a player. We were happy with him. Trae is a heck of a player. Obviously we’re excited to have him,” Schlenk said in the AP story. “When the opportunity came to pick up a first-round pick from the Mavericks, it just kind of made sense to accomplish both goals with one move.”

There’s the rub. The Atlanta Hawks are in full “talent-acquisition mode,” which means they are looking for long-term upside and youth first, and thinking about fit second. The fact that Schlenk mentions the future first-round pick means that they value future assets (especially in a top-heavy 2019 draft class) more than they value current NBA players.

Soaring Down South

[Jamaaliver]

Atlanta Hawks

New GM Travis Schlenk wants to create his own version of the Warriors in the East. That’s probably a little too ambitious, but the idea of floor-spacing, intelligence, and oodles of shooting from the outside gives him a great structure. Young guys like Taurean Prince, Kevin Huerter, Tyler Dorsey, and DeAndre Bembry provide a lot of perimeter possibilities here.

New Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce will have to stick with the design of Schlenk, which he’s well aware of doing. It’s a big reason he took the job in Atlanta. He will grow as a coach as the players under him grow into veterans. Eventually, the tipping point falls into a successful venture. All of that takes a lot of patience and it means not just throwing veterans into the mix in an imbalanced way to stop big time losing streaks.

Lloyd Pierce learned under Brett Brown, who knows all about taking the lumps of coaching a rebuilding franchise. Player development becomes far more important than any regular season victories in the moment.

The more Pierce connects with Young, the better the future of the Hawks will be. He has to trust Young through the pitfalls of a rookie figuring things out on the fly. Both coach and point guard will be baptized by NBA fire.

The Athletic

[Jamaaliver]

Last major decision of the offseason -- kind of a no-brainer.

Read on Twitter

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, this.

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Atlanta placed a big bet on Trae Young


GM Travis Schlenk’s decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Mavericks for Trae Young and a 2019 first-round pick will likely define his tenure in Atlanta, for better or worse.

Choosing Young over Doncic makes it clear that Schlenk envisions the Hawks playing like the Warriors, with hopes that Young can play the role of Steph curry, orchestrating the offense while bombarding opponents with 3-pointers. Young used his tremendous shooting and playmaking abilities to lead the NCAA in both points and assists while at Oklahoma. As seen by his game-winner against the Spurs in the preseason, Young has the bravado and confidence to thrive in the spotlight. Expecting him to develop into Curry 2.0 and being an MVP candidate is a stretch, but his jumper will bend defenses from Day 1.

The players Young has modeled his game off the most, Curry and Steve Nash, have career shooting percentages of 64.6 percent and 65 percent from inside of 3 feet. For young to truly follow in their footsteps, he will need to figure out how score among the trees.

Yahoo Sports

[Jamaaliver]

For one night, if you squint really hard, you can see an outline of what Trav was trying to build.

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

podcasters above speculate we'll likely be in the market for a new backup PG next summer.

They mention Spencer Dinwiddie, TJ McConnell and Patrick Beverly as potential options who each bring a certain toughness that Trae currently lacks.

[Jamaaliver]

NBA Daily: Areas of Concern: Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks: Smooth Sailing To A Top Draft Pick

This feels like slightly cheating, to kick off these mini-capsules by saying there are no true areas of concern for Atlanta because they’re exactly where they should be: losing. In reality, the Hawks are in the midst of an important rebuild and even an unlikely postseason berth is not worth missing out on another top draft pick. Adding Zion Williamson or Cam Reddish to a core that already includes the talented Trae Young, plus John Collins, Kevin Huerter, Taurean Prince and Omari Spellman, should be a salivating prospect for the Hawks’ front office.

However, since it’s just the early stages of a long, long campaign, let’s assume that Atlanta wants to win a couple more games along the way. In that case, what should they do? On one hand, they could do worse than playing veteran Jeremy Lin more than 17 minutes per game, that’s for sure. Lin’s signing in Brooklyn was unfortunately marred by two gnarly injuries, but he’s proven to be adaptable and reliable at every other stop along the way. Even better, Lin’s minutes don’t need to come at the expense of Young either, as the former has experience playing alongside Kemba Walker in years past.

Still, the Hawks benefit most from racking up those losses while developing the younger portion of their roster — so don’t look for a major tune-up in strategy anytime soon.

Basketball Insiders

[Jamaaliver]

Undermanned Warriors Best Hawks

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Kevin Durant scored 29 points with a key jumper in the final minute, and the undermanned Golden State Warriors held off the Atlanta Hawks 110-103.

SMALL RING CEREMONY

Behind the scenes, a few more Warriors championship rings were delivered.

Former athletic trainer Chelsea Lane returned to Oracle with Atlanta and so did ex-Warriors performance coach and therapist Michael Irr and former assistant athletic trainer John Dusel.

Lane, who was key to getting Curry back on the court for the playoffs, left the organization after the latest championship run to become Atlanta’s executive director of athletic performance and sports medicine.

Warriors general manager and assistant GM Kirk Lacob presented the rings outside Atlanta’s locker room during pregame warmups.

Lane joked about texting a photo of her ring to departed center Zaza Pachulia, who won’t return to Oracle until late March with his new Pistons team to get his sparkling jewelry.

NBA.com

[jayu70]

Undermanned Warriors Best Hawks

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Kevin Durant scored 29 points with a key jumper in the final minute, and the undermanned Golden State Warriors held off the Atlanta Hawks 110-103.

SMALL RING CEREMONY

Behind the scenes, a few more Warriors championship rings were delivered.

Former athletic trainer Chelsea Lane returned to Oracle with Atlanta and so did ex-Warriors performance coach and therapist Michael Irr and former assistant athletic trainer John Dusel.

Lane, who was key to getting Curry back on the court for the playoffs, left the organization after the latest championship run to become Atlanta’s executive director of athletic performance and sports medicine.

Warriors general manager and assistant GM Kirk Lacob presented the rings outside Atlanta’s locker room during pregame warmups.

Lane joked about texting a photo of her ring to departed center Zaza Pachulia, who won’t return to Oracle until late March with his new Pistons team to get his sparkling jewelry.

NBA.com

Congrats to Lane.
That headline The Hawks were undermanned too - No Collins or Dedmon.

[Jamaaliver]

My crazy 'Klay Thompson to Atlanta in Free Agency' theory suddenly seems completely unlikely.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

An abridged version of a solid article on Schlenk.

Warriors know Schlenk’s track record, believe he will be successful with Hawks



Inside​ Golden State’s​ meeting​ room​ then-assistant general manager Travis Schlenk’s opinion was highly respected. Schlenk became one of Warriors general manager Bob Myers’ primary confidants on team decisions. As an assistant general manager with the Warriors, Schlenk’s primary duties were college and pro personnel, and managing the salary cap.

“One of his biggest attributes is his tireless work ethic,” Myers said. “He’s just a great worker. If I don’t know anything, I do know that hard work pays off. He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve come across in the NBA.”

When Schlenk arrived in Atlanta in 2017, the job required a lot of work. The Hawks made 10 consecutive playoff appearances, but the roster was aging and it was clear to him and others inside the organization that a rebuild was going to be necessary sooner rather than later.

With the Hawks, Schlenk acquired a protected 2022 top-14 pick when he traded disgruntled point guard Dennis Schröder to Oklahoma City and a top-five protected first-round pick in next year’s draft when he traded Luka Doncic to Dallas in exchange for Trae Young.

The latter move has been one that has been criticized by numerous fans and analysts because Doncic is seen as the more sure thing...

“He’s seen what success looks like,” Myers said of Schlenk. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen the same way it happened for us, but he’s seen the evolution of a team that wasn’t a playoff team, was drafting in the lottery and saw what happened when you find one player and then another player then make some trades to fully build. He’s got a ton of draft picks at his disposal, and they’re very valuable. The way he’s doing it is the way I think many in his position would attempt to do it. The thing he has going for himself is he has seen firsthand the possibilities of what he’s trying to accomplish. He has seen it come to fruition. That gives him confidence because he has seen it and experienced it. I think he’s certainly capable of doing it there."

The Athletic

Spoiler:

There’s no secret that Schlenk is trying to emulate what he learned in Oakland and apply it in Atlanta. The plan for the Hawks, like it was for the Warriors in their rebuild, is to find good players through the draft and have a few key free agent signings to take them over the top. Atlanta likely will have two top draft picks next season with its own selection and Dallas’ pick. The team likely will target a wing and a big man early in the draft.

Schlenk hired Lloyd Pierce because of his success in Philadelphia with player development, and Lloyd has a big fan in Thompson.

It’s all hard. But if there’s any solace to Schlenk’s job now, he has seen the Warriors go through their challenges and knows how Golden State became this decade’s most successful team.

[Jamaaliver]

This was worth mentioning by KL.

And is worth monitoring moving forward.

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

I've already said that I think DAL will fade. So far they haven't and Doncic is killing it. It REALLY looks like TS traded a potential super-star, Dirk level player. As I said, Doncic is playing so well that he is severely affecting the return on the trade. That's sticking it to TS twice.

The biggest question to me is, our GM scouted and traded Doncic. You and I both seem to be very high on Don and only optimistically luke-warm on Trae and the trade. most people had Don and Ayton #1 and #2 and what did TS do?.......

And yeah, to get comparable draft value #3 is worth #5 and about #8-11. All that's out the window though if one of the three is for real.

Luka looks great. He didn't fit into what Travis is trying to build. By multiple accounts, we weren't fully sold on Luka as franchise cornerstone.

Our scouting department was allegedly split between Doncic and Trae supporters.

There was reportedly even a faction that wanted JJJ instead, but ownership refused that option -- seeking a more high profile selection capable of selling tickets.

We'll have to wait at least a few moire months to see how that gamble pays off.

By season 3, I suspect Trae will have narrowed the gap between he and Doncic. I suspect by then, Doncic criticisms will hijack the narrative as Luka struggles to carry a mediocre Mavs team deep into the Western Playoffs.

[tbhawksfan1]

I'm with you here as well. Doncic looks great. DAL doesn't. I prefer our assets even though I'd trade Trae and DAL FRP for Doncic right now.

[personanongrata]

I've already said that I think DAL will fade. So far they haven't and Doncic is killing it. It REALLY looks like TS traded a potential super-star, Dirk level player. As I said, Doncic is playing so well that he is severely affecting the return on the trade. That's sticking it to TS twice.

The biggest question to me is, our GM scouted and traded Doncic. You and I both seem to be very high on Don and only optimistically luke-warm on Trae and the trade. most people had Don and Ayton #1 and #2 and what did TS do?.......

And yeah, to get comparable draft value #3 is worth #5 and about #8-11. All that's out the window though if one of the three is for real.

Luka looks great. He didn't fit into what Travis is trying to build. By multiple accounts, we weren't fully sold on Luka as franchise cornerstone.

Our scouting department was allegedly split between Doncic and Trae supporters.

There was reportedly even a faction that wanted JJJ instead, but ownership refused that option -- seeking a more high profile selection capable of selling tickets.

We'll have to wait at least a few moire months to see how that gamble pays off.

By season 3, I suspect Trae will have narrowed the gap between he and Doncic. I suspect by then, Doncic criticisms will hijack the narrative as Luka struggles to carry a mediocre Mavs team deep into the Western Playoffs.

It's the "it's ok Trae is a bust, Luka still hasn't delivered a title for Dallas" argument. I'm looking forward to those.

[tbhawksfan1]

TS is the Hawk's fourth GM in 6 years. With all the very debateable to bad moves he's making, maybe he shouldn't be defferring all those medicore draft assets so far down the road.