Hawks' Draft Decisions Have Undermined Their Run

[Jamaaliver]

This is a good read.

The writers here at REALGM have clearly been reading through our Forum recently:

The comparisons between the Atlanta Hawks and the San Antonio Spurs were inevitable as soon as Mike Budenholzer was hired.

However, for as much success as they had in the regular season, the Hawks lack of superstar players who could take over games became apparent in the Eastern Conference Finals...Horford isn’t Duncan and Teague isn’t Parker. More importantly, they don’t have an under-25 superstar like Kawhi Leonard ready to take over the reins and that’s where the comparisons between the Hawks and the Spurs really fall apart.

The overarching factor is that San Antonio never forget the importance of the draft and never let competing for championships distract them from the task of building for the future.

The same can’t be said for the Hawks and that’s where the real concern about the long-term success of the franchise comes in. ..[The Hawks] have wasted a ton of chances recently to find quality young players in the middle of the first round. While no one is going to bat 1.000 in those circumstances, Atlanta hasn’t even been trying.


2013: No. 16 overall - Lucas “Bebe” Noguiera

The Hawks wound up with Nogueira after a series of draft night trades in the middle of the first round and it looked like they had found a nice pick-and-roll combination of the future. Instead, after keeping him overseas for a season, they traded Nogueira and Lou Williams in a salary dump for John Salmons. Considering that Williams won the Sixth Man of the Year Award for the Raptors and Salmons only played 35 more games in the NBA after being waived by the Hawks, it’s hard to believe they couldn’t have made the deal to clear space without giving up Nogueira’s rights.

2014: No. 15 overall - Adreian Payne

The selection of Payne made a lot of sense on paper as he flashed the combination of skills at Michigan State that would make him a good fit for Atlanta’s system. At the same time, the Hawks system requires their big men to be able to make plays out of the high post and put the ball on the floor and those have never been the strengths of his game. They held on to Payne for only three months before giving up on him and shipping him a future pick.

The bigger concern is that Atlanta fell out of love with him so quickly after drafting him, suggesting a difference between the way the front office and the coaching staff values players.


2015: No. 15 overall - Tim Hardaway Jr.

The Hawks originally flipped the guys they selected to the New York Knicks for Tim Hardaway Jr. The moves made sense on paper given that the Hawks had just won 60 games so it would be difficult for a rookie to earn playing time.

The problem is there once again seems to be a coordination issue between the front office and the coaching staff (even though Budenholzer is now in charge of both). Hardaway, a guy whom they gave a very valuable asset for, has yet to play a single minute this season played sparingly and is buried at the end of the bench behind second round picks (Lamar Patterson) and waiver wire pickups (Justin Holiday). What makes the trade even more of a head scratcher is that Hardaway didn’t have a ton of of fans around the league following two very up-and-down seasons with the Knicks and it would make a lot more sense to have a rookie rather than a third-year veteran learning on the bench this season.

[Jamaaliver]

In and of themselves, all of these moves are defensible. The Hardaway trade is the least excusable and even then they had no clear idea what they would be able to get out of Bazemore, Holiday and Patterson coming into the season.

One way to look at it is that they are a veteran team that has been in contention over the last few seasons so it would have been hard for any of those guys to make an [immediate] impact. The other way to look at it is that they were a 60-win team with the rare chance to draft in the middle of the first round thanks to the largesse of the Brooklyn Nets.

Here’s a look at some of the other players that were available to the Hawks when they picked the last few years.

2013 - Gorgui Dieng, Mason Plumlee, Rudy Gobert, Allen Crabbe

2014 - Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, Mitch McGary, Rodney Hood, Clint Capela, PJ Hairston

2015 - Justin Anderson, Bobby Portis, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, RJ Hunter

[Yungsta404]

absolutely putrid drafting/asset management.

I cant believe Utah was able to find two starting caliber players in our position of need AFTER our selections. Even the nets are getting more value from their pick after we swap picks.

[DirtybirdGA]

I'm sure fans thought all is well after Knight and Sund in the draft department. lol

[Jamaaliver]

I'm sure fans thought all is well after Knight and Sund in the draft department. lol

It's even more perplexing because we tend to do fairly well in the 2nd round.

It's only top 16 picks that we really strike out on over and over again.

[my2bits]

Seems that the Hawks are more concerned with their vision of the "Spurs way" than actually adding the best available talent and then molding said talent into it's system. Is the coaching staff too rigid in it's concepts to include less refined or cerebral players who may be explosive athletes in the hopes that with some cultivating they could become integral to real success? Style over substance?

[PandaKidd]

While I agree with the overall sentiment, this teams problems THIS YEAR arent really related to this past draft. Or even the year before.

[Jamaaliver]

While I agree with the overall sentiment, this teams problems THIS YEAR arent really related to this past draft. Or even the year before.

I think it plays a part.

You and I have discussed in the past how our team lacks in overall talent. And that lack of drafting/development has played a role. We also struggle with perimeter defense/interior defense/rebounding. Things that could be better if we had stronger personnel coming off the bench.

Instead....we have limited guys like Lamar Patterson, Mike Scott, Justin Holliday, Tavares, THJ.

If these role players had other top flight skills like rebounding, shot blocking, or the ability to create their own shots...they could complement the deficiencies in the starting five. Maybe even get promoted to a starting role.

We're an atrocious rebounding team right now...and a middling defensive team overall. You really don't believe that Rudy Gobert helps offset that weakness?

Our shooting is putrid right now. Having another elite shooting option like RJ Hunter wouldn't help the bench when KK is out of the game?

MIA has managed to transform to a defensive juggernaut by adding three young players in Hassaun, Ty Johnson and Justise. These serve to complement the vets and changed the teams strengths and weaknesses with their additions.

Last year our own team benefitted from Dennis taking a huge step forward in his development. PG went from a weakness to possibly the best rotation in the league.

We could use another young stud stepping into a big role this season to strengthen the frontcourt rotation and take over the SG role moving forward.

[Jamaaliver]

Found an interesting blurb from Ferry's first offseason in 2012 as Hawks GM. He talks about young players, player development and transitioning from one generation of players to another.

Seems insightful:

How do you account for San Antonio’s draft successes?

...when it comes to scouting, they’re one of the first teams looking overseas for players. He’s curious by nature, and process driven. I think one of the things they also do, as good if not better than anyone else, is player development. So they get the talented players and they work with them, and help them succeed once they’re there. It’s not just ‘Throw them out there and go ahead.’ It’s working on specific things and having a development plan for the player, and a buy-in from Pop that he’s gonna work with them and help them grow as people and players. That helps a Kawhi Leonard quite a bit. That helps a Corey Joseph — coming up next for them —that’s maybe going to be a good player. It helped Tony Parker. You can go through the list of guys. They have a level of patience, as well. Best example is, they drafted Manu [Ginobli], but let him stay over there in Argentina for years, to grow and get ripe to come over. Had they not had that patience, maybe he would have failed right away.

[jayu70]

Found an interesting blurb from Ferry's first offseason in 2012 as Hawks GM. He talks about young players, player development and transitioning from one generation of players to another.

Seems insightful:

How do you account for San Antonio’s draft successes?

...when it comes to scouting, they’re one of the first teams looking overseas for players. He’s curious by nature, and process driven. I think one of the things they also do, as good if not better than anyone else, is player development. So they get the talented players and they work with them, and help them succeed once they’re there. It’s not just ‘Throw them out there and go ahead.’ It’s working on specific things and having a development plan for the player, and a buy-in from Pop that he’s gonna work with them and help them grow as people and players. That helps a Kawhi Leonard quite a bit. That helps a Corey Joseph — coming up next for them —that’s maybe going to be a good player. It helped Tony Parker. You can go through the list of guys. They have a level of patience, as well. Best example is, they drafted Manu [Ginobli], but let him stay over there in Argentina for years, to grow and get ripe to come over. Had they not had that patience, maybe he would have failed right away.

I remember that article well. The question is will Bud have the patience to stick with guys like Dennis and THJr (we already saw he got rid of Payne, guess he felt he couldn't develop him).

I posted an article in another thread about the player development process for Baze and even Thabo (even though he isn't a young guy). They had specific things for Baze to work on so now we can see the improvement.

The statement about 'not just throwing' guys out there, is this the reason we haven't seen THJr?

Pop had the luxury of TD and a championship to be able to stash Manu, so he had equity with fans. Hawks don't have the same luxury unfortunately. The draft and stash of Bebe (IIRC Hawks wanted him to stay overseas).

SAS does a great job of scouting Euro league, they have a process and stick to it. Hawks barely had a scouting dept. as the ASG ran the personnel and front office on the cheap until DF came on board and he overhauled it.

Hawks had Spurs 7'-4" Boban on their summer league squad in 2013 IIRC - spurs swooped in picked him up.