Are we a treadmill team again?

[StitchJones]

I think it's a legitimate question to ask if we are right back where we started at the end of the 2009-10 season.

We had just come off of a 44-38 season. We had a mix of young guys and veterans, but were obviously not going to reach the elite of the eastern conference. So we gutted the team and started over with the idea that we would build a contender through the draft. Five seasons later we have a team with a mix of young guys and veterans again fighting to get a 7th or 8th seed so that we can get bounced out after the first round (probably without a win to show for it).

At the time the young core was:

Felton
Henderson
Augustin
Tyrus Thomas

With vets like:

Chandler
Wallace
Bell
Hughes
Jackson
Ratliff

Today I believe the young core is "slightly" better, but the team itself is definitely not as good as that one was. We have gone through some really bad years all to end up with essentially the same grind it out, offensively limited, flawed team, with no real chance to get in the top 3 in the east. Am I missing something here, or are we essentially the same team we were 5 years ago?

[yosemiteben]

Am I missing something here, or are we essentially the same team we were 5 years ago?

I'll give you a guess...what do Kemba, Al, Lance, Biz, MKG and Marvin all have in common?

[mrknowitall215]

The way the roster is currently constructed, yes. At least until 2016. Upon conjectural belief Cho is supposed to have a master plan in place for the 2016 offseason

[Liver_Pooty]

I think we're a very solid team when everyone is 100% healthy. Unfortunately that's never the case.

[mrknowitall215]

I think we're a very solid team when everyone is 100% healthy. Unfortunately that's never the case.

Injuries are a part of the game. Every team has them. We're not exempt. We're not that solid. We have a select few players that make a difference and then the rest of the roster is full of players that could be replaced off the scrap heap. The fact that they just loss to a team full of D-League players that were throwaways agree with my notion

[HornetJail]

Nah. We've been decimated by injuries all over the roster this year and we're still the 7th best team in our conference with the hardest part of our schedule behind us. You're forgetting just how many games we blew early in the season while guys tried to gel and battle injury. We're a few unlucky bounces from .500 even with all the injuries. Our young talents are all improving, we are competitive now, and they aren't even hitting their ceilings soon. The team could use some retooling to its bench this summer (or right now) but our young nucleus is really good. We aren't a treadmill team when your second oldest core guy is 24.

[thruthefire]

Larry Brown and Higgins sold their souls to get to that point.

Cho thankfully has not.

[BeesWax]

I think we're a very solid team when everyone is 100% healthy. Unfortunately that's never the case.

Injuries are a part of the game. Every team has them. We're not exempt. We're not that solid. We have a select few players that make a difference and then the rest of the roster is full of players that could be replaced off the scrap heap. The fact that they just loss to a team full of D-League players that were throwaways agree with my notion

Injuries sent OKC from a favorite to win it all to bottom of the barrel. Now that they are back and healthy things are going the right direction. Every team has a few key players they cannot afford to lose and those happen to be who have gone down for us this year.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Kemba, Lance, MKG, Zeller, and Biz are only "slightly" better than Felton, Augustin, Tyrus, and young Hendo? Not to mention Vonleh and Hairston.

That team was pretty much maxed out with the vets carrying the load. This team has 9 guys under the age of 25, and Hendo is only 27 I think. Really the only notable player that is maxed out is Al.

Plenty of room to grow.

[mrknowitall215]

I think we're a very solid team when everyone is 100% healthy. Unfortunately that's never the case.

Injuries are a part of the game. Every team has them. We're not exempt. We're not that solid. We have a select few players that make a difference and then the rest of the roster is full of players that could be replaced off the scrap heap. The fact that they just loss to a team full of D-League players that were throwaways agree with my notion

Injuries sent OKC from a favorite to win it all to bottom of the barrel. Now that they are back and healthy things are going the right direction. Every team has a few key players they cannot afford to lose and those happen to be who have gone down for us this year.

You make a great point to a extent. Missing Jefferson, MKG, and Kemba has had it's effect, but I'd half-heartedly argue that those injuries might've made us better as each one of them taught Clifford a wrinkle that he didn't know or understand

I'll gracefully bow in defeat because I believe this team would've been over .500 if MKG hadn't got injured early in the season

[tondi123]

We also still have all future #1 picks which that team did not have.

[JDR720]

not to the level of the Wallace,Felton team. Good enough to make playoffs and maybe even win the division if everything clicks but not a title contender until we get a legitimate top 10-15 player or our core pieces (Vonleh,Kemba,MKG) develop into that.

Core Pieces (players team is built around)

Kemba,MKG and maybe Noah based on potential
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Young Support Pieces (players that support the core)

Zeller, PJ, Bismack
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Need to dump/upgrade or get better fit

Al, Neal, Rob, JT, Marv, Max, Lance, Gerald

[HornetJail]

Kemba, Lance, MKG, Zeller, and Biz are only "slightly" better than Felton, Augustin, Tyrus, and young Hendo? Not to mention Vonleh and Hairston.

That team was pretty much maxed out with the vets carrying the load. This team has 9 guys under the age of 25, and Hendo is only 27 I think. Really the only notable player that is maxed out is Al.

Plenty of room to grow.

Wallace peaked
Felton peaked
Chandler was injured
Jackson was already on the decline
Thomas peaked
Diaw was on the decline
Nazr was on the decline
Hughes, Brown, Diop, Ratliff, Ajinca, Graham, Murray were out of the league after a couple years

DJ and Hendo were the only prospects on that team that improved at all after 2010.

With Kemba, MKG, Biz, Noah, Zeller, Hairston, and Lance (yes I'm including him in our young core, deal with it) all under 25 years old and many of them barely even scratching the surface, I find it very hard to believe we're going to be stuck as a 6th or 7th seed for long- especially since the veterans (Al, Marvin, Hendo, Maxiell, Taylor, and Roberts) haven't really been difference makers this year. I'd be happy trading all of them for lesser talents that actually fill needs like 3 point shooting, perimeter defense, and interior scoring. Honestly, between Kemba, Biz, and MKG we have one of the easiest young cores to build around. We may not reach our peak the way we're currently constructed, but we are anything but a treadmill team.

[BeesWax]

Injuries are a part of the game. Every team has them. We're not exempt. We're not that solid. We have a select few players that make a difference and then the rest of the roster is full of players that could be replaced off the scrap heap. The fact that they just loss to a team full of D-League players that were throwaways agree with my notion

Injuries sent OKC from a favorite to win it all to bottom of the barrel. Now that they are back and healthy things are going the right direction. Every team has a few key players they cannot afford to lose and those happen to be who have gone down for us this year.

You make a great point to a extent. Missing Jefferson, MKG, and Kemba has had it's effect, but I'd half-heartedly argue that those injuries might've made us better as each one of them taught Clifford a wrinkle that he didn't know or understand

I'll gracefully bow in defeat because I believe this team would've been over .500 if MKG hadn't got injured early in the season

I agree it was a learning experience. But as for treadmill team we are not close to that. We have a very solid team when healthy and MKG is getting better. Zeller, MKG, Noah, Biz and PJ are all very young and have all shown at least flashes of being solid NBA contributors. Our coach is young in terms of being the lead man as well. I think we have a core that will get better. I am hoping we decide to move all in the next two weeks for some more young pieces. If we can build more around the young core with fitting pieces I think we can be good and still improving.

[fatlever]

This team is different in many ways, which have been mentioned here already.

1. We have a lot more youth on this team that still has potential to improve and also has some trade value. The Larry Brown team really only had DJ Augustin and Gerald Henderson as youth with potential. This team has MKG, Vonleh, Zeller, Hairston, Biz and Lance as young guys with room to improve. Not to mention Kemba.

2. Our cap situation is in a good place. We will have a ton of cap space in 2016 and as early as this summer pending Al and Hendo. In 2009 our cap situation was a complete disaster thanks to the short-sided trades for vets during the playoff push.

3. We own all our future 1st round draft picks.

This current team may still end up on the treadmill, especially if we re-sign Jefferson to a long, expensive deal and the young guys don't improve much, but for now, the future looks much more promising.

[catch20two]

We're a treadmill team for the next 2 years unless Cho make some kinda move. Our young core is the ONLY reason why we win but Cho did a bad job of putting fitting players around them to their strengths. We went all-in on tryna find players for Alfense when Alfense don't win sh*t.

[catch20two]

We're a treadmill team for the next 2 years unless Cho make some kinda move. Our young core is the ONLY reason why we win but Cho did a bad job of putting fitting players around them to their strengths. We went all-in on tryna find players for Alfense when Alfense don't win sh*t.

[Stun704]

The term "treadmill" is an overrated damnation term in the NBA, The Hawks were the epitome of a treadmill team a few years ago, and look where they are now. As long as you do not stay complacent and continue to strive to improve your roster for greatness, then you do not have to worry about being stuck in mediocrity.

[Liver_Pooty]

The term "treadmill" is an overrated damnation term in the NBA, The Hawks were the epitome of a treadmill team a few years ago, and look where they are now. As long as you do not stay complacent and continue to strive to improve your roster for greatness, then you do not have to worry about being stuck in mediocrity.

Great post.

[countryboi]

The term "treadmill" is an overrated damnation term in the NBA, The Hawks were the epitome of a treadmill team a few years ago, and look where they are now. As long as you do not stay complacent and continue to strive to improve your roster for greatness, then you do not have to worry about being stuck in mediocrity.

I think the hawks are fools gold, if you are putting a team together without at least one superstar hoping to catching lightning in a bottle like the hawks i think you are going to disappointed more often that not.