PT: Hawks v.s. Cavaliers - ECF

[Jamaaliver]

In a new column, AJC sportswriter Mark Bradley ponders a similar thought to my own: wondering if Adreian Payne could have been more use to us as a reserve big against Thompson, Mozgov and the rest of the Cavs front line. We got bullied pretty bad and Pero Antic and Elton Brand weren't able to give us much for the second playoffs in the row:

Yet the only major personnel move made under Budenholzer’s managerial stewardship was the trade of Adreian Payne to Minnesota, which was a weird one.

Yes, the Hawks got a No. 1 draft pick, which is never a bad thing even if it is lottery-protected, which this one is through 2020. But they traded a big guy who was drafted 15th overall last June and who’d played 19 NBA minutes. And what, after the mostly uninspiring playoff showing, was seen by many as the Hawks’ chief flaw? Lack of size.

(Payne is 6-foot-10, 245 pounds. The Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson, who bullied the Hawks, is 6-9, 238. How much worse would Payne have fared than Pero Antic, who rarely played well, and Elton Brand, who scarcely budged?)

It's definitely a thought that crossed my mind.

[Yungsta404]

I watched payne a couple of times and he doesnt look like the banging/rebounder big that we needed. He looked like a carbon copy of all of our bigs. A mobile/athletic jumpshooting PF but he had pretty low IQ/awareness.

Looking at his rebounding stats as a Twolves he was only a 7.9 rebounder per 36 in his 29 games played.So I doubt he would of provided anymore resistance than any of our bigs.

Just an extremely questionable pick considering that our needs were literally completely opposite of what he does.

[Jamaaliver]

I watched payne a couple of times and he doesnt look like the banging/rebounder big that we needed. He looked like a carbon copy of all of our bigs. A mobile/athletic jumpshooting PF but he had pretty low IQ/awareness.

Fair points. But considering Adreian and Tristan are the same size, age, strength...it would have been a better matchup than throwing poor Muscala out there to get abused or letting TT run circles around Pero.

The bigs we did play made TT look like an All Star. Sometimes, in bball, you need pure strength and hustle. Especially from your bigs.