Sekou Smith: "Hawks Will Rebuild From Scratch"

[parson]

What makes this interesting (besides the subject matter) is that Sekou Smith was a beat writer (one who knew what he was talking about) for the Hawks until recently. I'm sure he still has inside sources here.

The link is : http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/05/0 ... m-scratch/

Basically, it seems he's saying Ferry is thinking about letting go of EVERY player we have whose contract is ending. I think Sekou Smith means keeping Horford, Lou Williams and Jenkins and Mike Scott, since we have their rights for next year; however, what he actually said was:

In fact, Horford might be one of the only truly familiar faces around if Ferry carries out his master plan.

Pretty clear he's saying that Ferry will either sign Howard and Chris Paul - and renounce our FAs, or he will miss out on those 2 - and still renounce our FAs.

No Josh Smith.
No Jeff Teague.
No Devin Harris.
No Zaza Pachulia.

Just Horford/Lou Williams/Jenkins/Scott/1st rounder/1rounder/2nd rounder/2nd rounder. That's 8 players, with maybe 4 MLE-level FAs to add.

[Jamaaliver]

Makes sense.

I'm okay with it. Problem is, we have to spend at least a certain amount to meet salary cap minimiums. So we'll have to pay SOMEBODY.

But no one on our roster really should be considered untouchable.

It all comes down to how well Ferry can draft. In DF we Trust....

[parson]

^Right. I figure we'd have around $25 million promised to those 8. If the minimum is 90% of the cap, then it'll be around $54 million, meaning we'd have to pay the (at least) 4 FAs a total of $29 million. 4 MLE-level FAs (if the mid-level is about $7 million) would just about do it - that's if we can't sign a major FA.

[GrimeyKidd]

Im going to go on a whim and see we bring back only teague, harris, and korver

[Rip2137]

This type of rebuilding seldom works. The only way to end this type of rebuilding is to draft or trade for a superstar. If that doesn't happen, you end up sucking for a decade. I am not okay with that, but I think I might be alone in that.

I personally feel that Horford is as close to untouchable as you can get unless some team goes nuts and offers up a better player.

Everyone else is expendable.

[Jamaaliver]

^ I understand the reluctance. But our last rebuild through the draft was hampered by possibly the worst judge of young talent in Hawks History. (Billy Knight)

Imagine how our rebuild would have gone had we drafted Luol Deng and Chris Paul instead of Josh Childress and Marvin Williams.

Or Brandon Roy instead of Shelden Williams.

With a better evaluation process, I suspect Ferry can at least avoid the complete misfires that Knight so often oversaw (Acie Law, Williams brothers.)

[PandaKidd]

Teague should be kept. Hes young, a good PG is hard to find. Shouldnt be too expensive.

Harris only if hes cheap because hes old and injury prone. Korver id love to keep as well.

Everyone else can kick rocks. (besides Horford and Lou of course)

[Skyhawk1]

When you play in a conference with Wade, Lebron, P. George, JJ, those big guards/fowards, it makes it very diffcult to play Korver. While I love the way he shoots the ball, his D is very shaky to say the least. I don't want to see Ivan here either, dude is a knucklehead just like Smith, I'd like to see us keep Al, Teague, Lou, Jenkins. For God sake, i don't ever wanna see Petro on a Hawks uniform again. Dude's just awkward. Harris is too injury prone, but I like his game. He's one of the few guys who can actually get to the line on this team, for a reasonable contract, I'd keep him. I'd love to see us sign a guy like Tony Allen, dude plays the game the right way with so much passion. It could help change the Hawks basketball culture.

[parson]

The key question with Teague is can he become an instinctual PG? While he appears to be developing nicely in that direction, maybe Ferry feels otherwise.

Or maybe he's trying to keep Teague's asking price down.

[Rip2137]

I would LOVE Tony Allen, and Corey Brewer for a 2/3 haul.

I like Ivan, but he is 6'8 and while he brings energy, energy guys can be had for the same money that won't get you techs.

For me, if we don't swing for the fences and get a superstar, bringing in Dalembert, Allen and Brewer would be one hell of a haul for me.

We still would have the issue of not being able to score, but I love a defensive team any day of the week over a team that can't get stops.

[Rip2137]

^ I understand the reluctance. But our last rebuild through the draft was hampered by possibly the worst judge of young talent in Hawks History. (Billy Knight)

Imagine how our rebuild would have gone had we drafted Luol Deng and Chris Paul instead of Josh Childress and Marvin Williams.

Or Brandon Roy instead of Shelden Williams.

With a better evaluation process, I suspect Ferry can at least avoid the complete misfires that Knight so often oversaw (Acie Law, Williams brothers.)

There is so much hindsight in that though.

There are only 2-3 teams that WOULDN"T have taken Williams over Paul. Of course, we SHOULDN'T have because we were stacked at his position, but the general consensus was the Marvin was a superstar in the making. I didn't AGREE with Knight making that pick, but it wasn't as bad, AT THE TIME as people make it out to be. (think Jordan/Bowie where at the time, it wasn't a bad pick, history has made it one of the worse.)

Childress wasn't so cut and dry worse than Deng or Igudola(I believe he was the other option) at the time. There was more material on Childress and Deng, coming out of college, was a guy that could hit a midrange jumper and that's about it. Again, time and working on his game has made Deng better, but he couldn't defend, had weakfish handles coming out of college but boy could he shoot and finish. No one blinked at Childress.

Sheldon Williams was the best big available at the time in that draft. What Knight should have done and what any competent GM would have done was trade the 5th overall pick for a solid vet big and draft later in the round as the best players at his pick were guards which he didn't need. For instance, the Bulls were looking to give away Tyson Chandler and we could have given them the 5th pick for Chandler and the 16th pick and picked up Kyle Lowery or Rajon Rondo(who was friends with Smith and would have been the logical pick) filling both the Center and the point guard needs. THAT is a bad move.

But drafting is the ultimate crapshoot where the sure thing can become nothing, while the "might make the team guy" becomes an allstar. I hate trusting the future of my team to it.

[jagstang76]

I was thinking that Ferry might do as Sekou is suggesting. How realistic is it that he can get Howard and/or Paul to come to ATL? With all the cap holds and decisions to be made, I think Ferry may rather just relinquish the rights to them all (except possibly Teague) and move forward. If we can drop out of the playoffs this next season, we might have a good shot at a new star to build around. Combine that with potentially 4 players drafted this offseason who could contribute and a few FAs that will be role players for a few years. Yeah, we miss out on Howard and Paul, but Ferry might change the perception of the Hawks going forward to that of being a potential contender that better FAs will want to come play for. I don't want to take it all the way down to nothing again, but we won't be starting from bare bones like the last time the team rebuilt. Having Horford, Teague(potentially), Lou, and Jenkins with 2 1st rd picks and a ton of $$$ to spend is a LOT BETTER than before. Realistically, this team could be right back in contention in 2-3 years.

[NeZoRiL]

I was hoping Ferry wouldn't go this route. I was HOPING he'd go for Paul and Dwight this year. I don't think we'll be bad enough next year to get the first pick. Think about it. We'd end up picking like the Suns, getting the 12th or something...wouldn't work. I like Teague but he isn't getting much better, he will make some improvements next year but nothing heavy. Bring back Harris, Teague, sign Tony Allen.

Teague
Allen
Korver
Johnson
Horford

I guess. I would prefer we get Paul and Howard and cheap defensive backups. Sign CP3, resign Devin, maybe pick up Vince Carter (having a good year) and we'll be set.

[Jamaaliver]

^ I understand the reluctance. But our last rebuild through the draft was hampered by possibly the worst judge of young talent in Hawks History. (Billy Knight)

Imagine how our rebuild would have gone had we drafted Luol Deng and Chris Paul instead of Josh Childress and Marvin Williams.

Or Brandon Roy instead of Shelden Williams.

With a better evaluation process, I suspect Ferry can at least avoid the complete misfires that Knight so often oversaw (Acie Law, Williams brothers.)

There is so much hindsight in that though.

Perhaps. But BK was on record several times as saying, 'he didn't believe the PG position was particularly important'. He wanted a team of 6'9" swingmen who were all interchangeable on defense. Do you know how ridiculous that is? Especially since 4 years later PG has essentially become the most important position in the NBA.

He drafted 5 straight SFs at one point. (Diaw, Dunta, Chill, Smoove, Marvin)

He signed JJ with the intent of Joe playing PG. Despite the fact Joe hadn't played PG since High School. HIGH SCHOOL.

Few teams can have as many lottery picks in such a short period time and completely misfire. It takes really bad leadership and vision. And arrogance so strong it refuses to ever acknowledge mistakes.

The Shelden pick was panned immediately by fans and commentators. Chill was rated, by many, behind AL Jefferson. Iggy. Deng. (Iggy was being compared to a young Scotty Pippen!!!)

Marvin was picked a year after drafting the Joshes, with Donta still here, months after trading Diaw and a season (or two?) after losing A Walk, Harrington and Stephen Jackson.

That's 8 SFs. Eight. Knight was a moron; there's a reason he, like many of his draftees, is out of the league altogether.

You gotta stop defending the idiocy and mediocrity this franchise has thrown our way time and time again.

PS The team didn't start to coalesce and thrive until (surprise, surprise) BK drafted a Center (Horford) and traded for a REAL PG (Bibby).

[PandaKidd]

Most GMs , hire their own coaches. I dont see Ferry keeping Drew on as a head coach, and Drew is good enough to be a headcoach somewhere in this league.

Im all for blowing it all up and starting over, what do we have to lose? No one counted us in this year, and we ended up EXACTLY where we were last season, minus JJ 126 million dollar contract and Marvin Mediocre Williams. AND, Lou Williams was out half season or more.

Right now, this team is Al Horfords. We keep Teague, we have Lou Will locked up, let everyone else go and see what we can do in the draft and FA. IMO this free agency class is going to be us with a ton of money, and nothing to buy. The REAL FA class is next year.

Id rather see is put together a decent team, with no big contracts, than overpay for a "superstar"

Our #1 priority is a head coach, the rest will fall into place after that.

[NeZoRiL]

Most GMs , hire their own coaches. I dont see Ferry keeping Drew on as a head coach, and Drew is good enough to be a headcoach somewhere in this league.

Im all for blowing it all up and starting over, what do we have to lose? No one counted us in this year, and we ended up EXACTLY where we were last season, minus JJ 126 million dollar contract and Marvin Mediocre Williams. AND, Lou Williams was out half season or more.

Right now, this team is Al Horfords. We keep Teague, we have Lou Will locked up, let everyone else go and see what we can do in the draft and FA. IMO this free agency class is going to be us with a ton of money, and nothing to buy. The REAL FA class is next year.

Id rather see is put together a decent team, with no big contracts, than overpay for a "superstar"

Our #1 priority is a head coach, the rest will fall into place after that.

I feel like an elite PG like Paul would make a big difference.

[PandaKidd]

Of course , id love to have Lebron too while we are at it haha But CP3 IMO isnt leaving to come to Atlanta.

We have to chance the culture which starts with the GM (check) , then the Coach (on deck) , then the players.

No big superstar is going to come here until AFTER the culture of mediocrity changes, and the fan base buys into what they are doing.

Look at the Falcons and Braves and what they have done.

Name me the last legit real superstar the Hawks have had? Wilkins. we are talking 2 decades of mediocre guys we overpay and parade as superstars.

[NeZoRiL]

Of course , id love to have Lebron too while we are at it haha But CP3 IMO isnt leaving to come to Atlanta.

We have to chance the culture which starts with the GM (check) , then the Coach (on deck) , then the players.

No big superstar is going to come here until AFTER the culture of mediocrity changes, and the fan base buys into what they are doing.

Look at the Falcons and Braves and what they have done.

Name me the last legit real superstar the Hawks have had? Wilkins. we are talking 2 decades of mediocre guys we overpay and parade as superstars.

Paul is not satisfied with Los Angeles. Thing is, not many teams have cap space. CP3 could go to Detroit, Cleveland, Atlanta or Houston. The most likely is he stays put, but Houston and Atlanta are really his only other options. Dwight is from the ATL and is a friend of Smoove, so the fact they could possibly build a relationship and sign both to a deal would be fine. We can build a super team, have our shot. Ferry is hungry.

[PandaKidd]

My guy feeling is

Smoov leaves, because he will not get a max deal from us, and rather lose face, hell leave an go somewhere else.

D12 goes to Brooklyn or Houston

CP3 stays put because they are going to hire a coach better than VDN. Clippers are the most talented team, and they just lacked half court execution. Why would paul leave all that behind for dysfunctional Atlanta in rebuild mode and oh by the way, meet LEbron James and be in HIS division.

[NeZoRiL]

My guy feeling is

Smoov leaves, because he will not get a max deal from us, and rather lose face, hell leave an go somewhere else.

D12 goes to Brooklyn or Houston

CP3 stays put because they are going to hire a coach better than VDN. Clippers are the most talented team, and they just lacked half court execution. Why would paul leave all that behind for dysfunctional Atlanta in rebuild mode and oh by the way, meet LEbron James and be in HIS division.

I don't think CP3 is leaving LA. I am just saying Atlanta is an attractive destination for him. I still think it is a bigger risk to draft a player and rely on him, we can grab established young vets who are bound to improve our team.