It's official: Travis Schlenk Named as GM (and PBO)

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

The Atlanta Hawks today announced the hiring of Travis Schlenk as General Manager and Head of Basketball Operations. He will start leading Hawks basketball operations on June 1.

Schlenk, a veteran of more than 16 years in the NBA, joins the Hawks after 12 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, including the last five as Assistant General Manager.

During Schlenk’s time as part of Golden State’s basketball leadership, the Warriors hired 2016 NBA Coach of the Year Steve Kerr as head coach, drafted two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry, two-time All-NBA selection Klay Thompson, two-time All-Defensive First Team pick Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes; acquired 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut via trade; and signed 2014 MVP Kevin Durant and Shaun Livingston.



Thoughts on the hire?
Predictions on the direction he takes the team?
Concerns on what players/coaches might be out the door?

Think we need to fill the Pres of BBall Ops position?

Spoiler:

[Jamaaliver]

I'm glad he's here.

I look forward to critiquing every move he makes for the next decade.

NOTE: He looks like the Principal from Back to the Future (down to the bowtie)

Read on Twitter

[reazun]

I'm glad he's here.

I look forward to critiquing every move he makes for the next decade.

NOTE: He looks like the Principal from Back to the Future

I like the hire. It will be interesting to see what happens with Millsap now though. It seems that Atlanta ownership was really sold on Millsap and they want to push money on acquiring big free agents to build the current team now. They want to win now, probably b/c they want to build the momentum from the 62 win season before the bandwagoners all completely fall off. But GS seemed to get great young talents and develop them. They took the patient way to a championship team. I dont know if the ownership seems very patient..but i might be wrong about both of them. either way, this guy seems to be someone I can trust handling the job.

I was gonna say he look like Elmer Fudd..but yeah I see the principal more. lol

[HMFFL]

I support this hiring very much.
Now, I look forward to seeing what his plans are this off-season.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

My thoughts:

Sounds like Schlenk will head the entire Basketball side of the business. Even without the title of PBO.

Thusly, I expect Tony to give full decision making power to TS. I'm sure they have already discussed the mandates and what will happen with Paul.

We have a ton of draft picks. Schlenk, long regarded as a premier scout and talent evaluator, will either stack the roster with young, cheap players to use as currency in future trades. Or consolidate some of these to move up in future drafts.

The most important thing now is that Bud and Trav build a good working rapport. Otherwise, Budenholzer will likely bolt as soon as his contract is up.

[Geaux_Hawks]

Think this works out for everyone. Schlenk coming from the new power house of the NBA gives us excellent insight on how GS has risen to power, and potentially what future moves that might have made if he was still there. He's got plenty of experience being a key figure in BB operations, so I trust anything he does for us.

[Skyhawk1]

I hope we got this right. It's hard to judge an assistant, as he was never in complete charge of anything. I just hope he's able to do his job without interference from ownership. I think signing Millsap long term to a humongous contract is a mistake. Patience is key here as we are light years away from really contending. He'll be judged soon, we all shall wait and see!

[tbhawksfan1]

Now that we got a very nice hire....here's what I want to see:

Schlenk follow in Bud"s foot steps as a long time, well apprenticed guy ready for his chance. Both come from great systems and paid their dues and got their experience.

Ressler let Bud and Schlenk get together and decide what they need to do. They need to present a plan that Ressler can get behind.

Schlenk can convince Bud that some very hard choices need to be made, but it can be turned into something special if they do things right

[atlantabbq99]

Schlenk was my first choice since day one. This makes me very happy!

I'm not going to say that Schlenk was the one who identified Curry, Klay, Green, Barnes, but he was at the table when those decisions where made, so he must have learned something.

I'm not sure, but i assume Schlenk knows how to blend analytics with game film and player evaluation

Warriors play a version of Budball or euroball, I don't think Schlenk won't have any problems in finding system players for Budz.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

1. Paul Millsap: Right off the bat, Schlenk will have to decide how much he is willing to pay to keep the four-time All-Star power forward, who is eligible for a maximum contract.
2. Tim Hardaway Jr.: The shooting guard had a big season and will get plenty of offers as a restricted free agent. How high are the Hawks willing to go to match another offer?
3. The draft: The Hawks have three draft picks this year with the selections at Nos. 19, 31 and 60
4. The Hawks have five other unrestricted free agents of their own. Who to keep?
5. The Hawks could have considerable salary cap space should they lose Millsap. Who should they go after to add to the roster?

[Jamaaliver]

Dude is already in the office, a week before his official hire date.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[tbhawksfan1]

Dude is already in the office, a week before his official hire date.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

The way it should be. If you actually take real interest, it's much more than a job. Love hearing he and Bud talking roster. Things are going to unfold quickly over the next 6 weeks.

[jayu70]

He and Bud has ties...

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

He and Bud has ties...

Read on Twitter

Now THAT's interesting. Schlenk was part of the team that passed Bud over for an open job years ago.

Oh, my.

[jayu70]

He and Bud has ties...

Read on Twitter

Now THAT's interesting. Schlenk was part of the team that passed Bud over for an open job years ago.

Oh, my.

Golden State majority owner Joe Lacob personally interviewed three candidates before hiring ABC-TV analyst Mark Jackson as his new coach.
Tim Kawakami in the San Jose Mercury-News mentions that Lacob might have felt a little pressure to hire Jackson. Malone was close to joining Mike Brown’s new staff with the Lakers. But Lacob apparently sped up the process to hire Jackson and also add Malone to his staff as his lead assistant.
Dallas lead assistant Dwane Casey was left out because of Lacob’s determination to get the hiring done quickly.

Lacob had some interesting comments about his interview with Budenholzer. Here’s what he told Kawakami about it.

-Q: You flew out to talk to a Spur assistant coach…

-LACOB: That was one of them.

-Q: What was the tenor of the conversation like with Budenholzer when you met him?

-LACOB: It was a long, long conversation, because he was late in the process. I think he is technically a very good coach. Excellent.

I didn’t think he was the right fit for our organization at this time. I think he fits very well in the San Antonio organization. He’s been there for 15 years. I think he’s a very, very good coach. He was strongly in consideration, but he’s not the guy we chose.

Sometimes, it turns out that the best moves are the ones that aren’t made.

Budenholzer received a valuable lesson in job interviewing with his dalliance with the Warriors. He comes back to San Antonio as the favorite and most popular choice among most in Spurs Nation to replace Gregg Popovich with the Spurs when he hangs up his whistle.

It’s a lot cheaper to live in San Antonio than San Francisco. Budenholzer’s kids get to remain in their schools.

That’s not a bad consolation prize.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2011/06/13/lacob-explains-why-he-picked-jackson-over-budenholzer-for-warriors-job/

[Jamaaliver]

^Mike Bud must be a horrible interviewee.

Word is he bombed his initial hawks interview also. Ferry had to plead with Levenson to get him a second audition where he managed to earn the job.

I hope Schlenk doesn't come here with a pre-conceived notion of Bud's acumen based on a mediocre interview 4 years ago.

[jayu70]

^Mike Bud must be a horrible interviewee.

Word is he bombed his initial hawks interview also. Ferry had to plead with Levenson to get him a second audition where he managed to earn the job.

I hope Schlenk doesn't come here with a pre-conceived notion of Bud's acumen based on a mediocre interview 4 years ago.

He'll be judged by what he has done on the court since he has joined the Hawks.

“I’m real fortunate coming into this situation,” Schlenk said. “Normally when you come to a new team you are talking about teams that are not good. This is a franchise that has been in the playoffs 10 straight years. Three years ago they were in the Eastern Conference finals. We’ve got a good coach in place. That is a big relief for me coming in as a new general manager.

“Coach Bud and I spent a couple hours again this morning. I just want to get his thoughts on the roster, what style he wants to play, what pieces he wants to add.

[tbhawksfan1]

Yeah, Bud has already established himself as a coach. Still room for growth, though Schlenk's first brilliant move is to show Bud how the Hawks can build a really good team

[Jamaaliver]

We'll see.

But two first round exits and two postseason sweeps could leave Trav the impression he needs to look elsewhere.

Especially if Warriors brain trust already judged Mark Jackson a better coaching option.

"We have a good coach." Not exactly lavish praise from the new head of Bball Ops.


Sent from my iPad using RealGM Forums

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter