Who can we take a chance on?

theatlfan · Post #1 » by **theatlfan** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:53 pm

Now that we've passed the deadline, it's time to simply cut Cunningham and sign someone who can actually help an NBA team. It is no longer advantageous to hold onto Cunningham's expiring contract. From his D-League stats, DAL was correct in their assessment that Cunningham simply is not there yet and, in all probability, never will be. Simply put: there are other guys who have shown more and deserve the shot at being an NBA player more than Cunningham right now. It's time to use that roster slot more wisely.

Our SF issues are the most glaring and we should focus on defenders here to replace DMC when he goes down. Some names that I will throw out there:
- James Nunnally: Been here before. Didn't do much in his time here but he knows the system and giving him a 2nd chance wouldn't be the worst way to burn the spot.
- Orlando Johnson: Waived by IND after the Granger/Turner trade. Ferry (as well as Coach Bud) loves him some wingspan and Johnson's 6'11" span could allow his 6'5" frame to play up.

Now, there's a host of guys in D-League and coming back from overseas (i.e., Ivan "Big Balls" Johnson coming back from China) so I'm sure there's a lot of names I'm flat missing, so throw some out there...

parson · Post #2 » by **parson** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 6:42 pm

I agree. For awhile, it appeared to me that we were falling into the lottery - and that Ferry was holding back on making any moves to help facilitate that. Last night, however, I looked at DET, CLE and NYK's schedules. It'd be a miracle if we dropped below them. I think we need to try out a talent or 3.

Although, money may be an issue, as well. We may not want to spend for any tryouts.

theatlfan · Post #3 » by **theatlfan** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:55 pm

parson wrote:I agree. For awhile, it appeared to me that we were falling into the lottery - and that Ferry was holding back on making any moves to help facilitate that. Last night, however, I looked at DET, CLE and NYK's schedules. It'd be a miracle if we dropped below them. I think we need to try out a talent or 3.

Although, money may be an issue, as well. We may not want to spend for any tryouts.

lol - I'm sure that it has never crossed Ferry's mind that losing is a good thing. Even allowing his guys to get creamed by IND in 4 would be preferable to anyone in the organization thinking that losing is OK - even sometimes. To him, we can develop the guy we'll draft at 15 and make him better than the team that is OK with losing will draft at 12. There's also an argument that, in terms of what he is looking for, the BPA at 12 would also be the BPA at 15 95% of the time.

The bigger concern is in the reply is the 2nd paragraph though. If we're not willing to invest < $1M per year (the total cost of cutting Cunningham and signing the next guy) in the eternal quest to find cheap backups, then we'll never be able to sustain a winning culture. Maybe we think Cunningham is simply a better prospect than those other guys and that's one thing, but if not, then we best continue the quest to find the next Shelvin Mack.

parson · Post #4 » by **parson** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:22 pm

Well, Cunningham IS a gem of an athlete. Budenholzer's confident, maybe he thinks he can coach him up.

MaceCase · Post #5 » by **MaceCase** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 9:12 pm

I don't feel that Ferry will mine the DLeague with Cartier signed for the duration. If he waives Cunningham it'll mostly be because a gem of a free agent vet is released but you would have to imagine that that guy would go pursuing a team with better prospects in the playoffs (IE. Granger or perhaps even Kaman).

No, I imagine Ferry honestly stays put, waits on Goose and Antic to make it back and sees where the team goes from there. Playoff revenue would be nice but I just don't see him spending money to get there especially since, as Parsons mentions, the teams behind us don't really have friendly schedules to say with certainty that they'd make up the games in the standings.

The Hawks however by my napkin math have about ~19 games against teams either in or fighting for the playoffs including a brutal west coast road trip to start March. If the team demonstrates the same results over these slate of games like it did with last bunch of playoff bound and playoff hopefuls during the current losing streak then for sure I see an "organic" tank going down.

We are in a position where it doesn't really matter who we add to the roster now if the regulars can't right the ship but I imagine that Danny won't indicate a full tank by activating Cunningham either.

MaceCase · Post #6 » by **MaceCase** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:08 am

And awww shucks, there he goes and waives Cunningham to get Pittman. I wonder if he's kept his weight down while out of the NBA.