Taurean Prince

[peoriabird]

8-)

Question: When you go casually shopping, wishing to trade your present car for another, do you just take
any offer that you get? No. Well, we may have shopped TP but we didn't like the offers. We kept what
we had.

Some of us under value what we have and some of us over value. If TP doesn't bring what he's worth, we keep him.
Hint: Our GM probably knows his value better than any of us.

I agree with you Grey! It has taken some time for Prince to adjust to our current system but he is slowly showing signs lately. Prince might be the best shooter on the team and I don't know which wings the other poster was talking about coming out of the draft but it sure ain't them Duke wings. Prince had 5 assist last night and the ball was moving but I guess it is hard to see progress when you have already made up your mind i.e. Rookie of the year race. I say keep him and see what develops over the summer. If next by next season there is no chemistry then there is the trade deadline. But you can't build cohesion by constantly changing the pieces. I think the good GM/Coaches realize this!

He's doing good offensively, but that's not what we need from him. We need defense, and he hasn't shown he can play defense at even an average level at any point in his career.

yeah he did in his 1st year in the league

[Jamaaliver]

Prince entered Year 3 with the Hawks with high expectations for himself, and he was pegged by some national analysts as one of this season’s breakout players.

Mike Budenholzer deployed Prince as the team’s go-to scoring option at the end of the season, and it resulted in him scoring nearly 20 points per game in March and April. That mentality carried over into the start of this season. Prince told The Athletic that he viewed himself as the go-to option at the start of the season.

After the final game before the trade deadline, Prince stood in front of his locker in Washington and admitted he came to a realization. He had to adjust his game if he wanted to be a part of the team’s future. In October, Prince averaged 14 field goal attempts, shot less than 40 percent from the field and averaged nearly four turnovers per game. In October and November, Prince had the worst assist-to-turnover ratio out of all qualified forwards. Needless to say, he was wildly inefficient.

Prince’s defense this season was also a negative, but, collectively the entire team was bad on defense. But Prince, in particular, struggled on that end of the floor.



The Hawks were a net positive when Prince sat. Prince ranked 41st in player efficiency rating out of the small forwards in the league, which, obviously, isn’t ideal for your expected starting small forward.

The Athletic

[ATL Boy]

Prince entered Year 3 with the Hawks with high expectations for himself, and he was pegged by some national analysts as one of this season’s breakout players.

Mike Budenholzer deployed Prince as the team’s go-to scoring option at the end of the season, and it resulted in him scoring nearly 20 points per game in March and April. That mentality carried over into the start of this season. Prince told The Athletic that he viewed himself as the go-to option at the start of the season.

After the final game before the trade deadline, Prince stood in front of his locker in Washington and admitted he came to a realization. He had to adjust his game if he wanted to be a part of the team’s future. In October, Prince averaged 14 field goal attempts, shot less than 40 percent from the field and averaged nearly four turnovers per game. In October and November, Prince had the worst assist-to-turnover ratio out of all qualified forwards. Needless to say, he was wildly inefficient.

Prince’s defense this season was also a negative, but, collectively the entire team was bad on defense. But Prince, in particular, struggled on that end of the floor.



The Hawks were a net positive when Prince sat. Prince ranked 41st in player efficiency rating out of the small forwards in the league, which, obviously, isn’t ideal for your expected starting small forward.

The Athletic

Given Taurean's physical tools that's just unacceptable. Trae struggling on defense is to be expected, his arms aren't the longest and he's pretty small in stature (not height, but body yes). Taurean has no excuse not to be a good defender, and this tells me that it was a lack of effort.

[King Ken]

The biggest issue with Prince isn't his talent, it's his fit. Our personnel requires him to be a sound defender due to some others lacking. If he had the right fit, he would be a pretty valuable role playing SF.

[shakes0]

The biggest issue with Prince isn't his talent, it's his fit. Our personnel requires him to be a sound defender due to some others lacking. If he had the right fit, he would be a pretty valuable role playing SF.

I think his biggest problem is his own inflated self-worth as a basketball player. He thinks he is better than he is and that belief has hurt the team and made him a worse player than he should be.

[Atlanta Hawk Fan]

Prince entered Year 3 with the Hawks with high expectations for himself, and he was pegged by some national analysts as one of this season’s breakout players.

Mike Budenholzer deployed Prince as the team’s go-to scoring option at the end of the season, and it resulted in him scoring nearly 20 points per game in March and April. That mentality carried over into the start of this season. Prince told The Athletic that he viewed himself as the go-to option at the start of the season.

After the final game before the trade deadline, Prince stood in front of his locker in Washington and admitted he came to a realization. He had to adjust his game if he wanted to be a part of the team’s future. In October, Prince averaged 14 field goal attempts, shot less than 40 percent from the field and averaged nearly four turnovers per game. In October and November, Prince had the worst assist-to-turnover ratio out of all qualified forwards. Needless to say, he was wildly inefficient.

Prince’s defense this season was also a negative, but, collectively the entire team was bad on defense. But Prince, in particular, struggled on that end of the floor.



The Hawks were a net positive when Prince sat. Prince ranked 41st in player efficiency rating out of the small forwards in the league, which, obviously, isn’t ideal for your expected starting small forward.

The Athletic

Given Taurean's physical tools that's just unacceptable. Trae struggling on defense is to be expected, his arms aren't the longest and he's pretty small in stature (not height, but body yes). Taurean has no excuse not to be a good defender, and this tells me that it was a lack of effort.

Agree but there was some real risk on his defense coming out of zone defensive schemes at Baylor. He has the tools so I think it is a matter of focus. If he wants to earn some real money, he needs to really dedicate himself to improving defensively this season. I think he had that focus as a rookie and then got away from it as he saw himself more and more as a scorer first.

[jayu70]

Read on Twitter

[Jamaaliver]

If he wants to earn some real money, he needs to really dedicate himself to improving defensively this season. I think he had that focus as a rookie and then got away from it as he saw himself more and more as a scorer first.

I expect that we will see a career year from Taurean next season, as pending Free Agents often do.

If we don't trade him first or get him signed to a rookie contract extension, I predict it will greatly muddy the waters on deciding what to do with him.

(Should we match a top offer in RFA to keep him, knowing that younger, cheaper, higher ceiling prospects are aboard already?

Or do we let yet another good player walk away from the team in Free Agency ala Millsap, Horford, DMC and Smoove?)

[jayu70]

If he wants to earn some real money, he needs to really dedicate himself to improving defensively this season. I think he had that focus as a rookie and then got away from it as he saw himself more and more as a scorer first.

I expect that we will see a career year from Taurean next season, as pending Free Agents often do.

If we don't trade him first or get him signed to a rookie contract extension, I predict it will greatly muddy the waters on deciding what to do with him.

(Should we match a top offer in RFA to keep him, knowing that younger, cheaper, higher ceiling prospects are aboard already?

Or do we let yet another good player walk away from the team in Free Agency ala Millsap, Horford, DMC and Smoove?)

There is an option to extend him early if the Hawks can get a team friendly deal - a Justice Winslow deal.
I'll be watching to see what Kelly Oubre gets as a RFA this offseason.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

https://www.nba.com/hawks/features/seven-ways-taurean-prince-has-shown-growth-in-2018-19

[ATL Boy]

If he wants to earn some real money, he needs to really dedicate himself to improving defensively this season. I think he had that focus as a rookie and then got away from it as he saw himself more and more as a scorer first.

I expect that we will see a career year from Taurean next season, as pending Free Agents often do.

If we don't trade him first or get him signed to a rookie contract extension, I predict it will greatly muddy the waters on deciding what to do with him.

(Should we match a top offer in RFA to keep him, knowing that younger, cheaper, higher ceiling prospects are aboard already?

Or do we let yet another good player walk away from the team in Free Agency ala Millsap, Horford, DMC and Smoove?)

I'd love to execute a trade on draft night. I don't really see Prince here long term if we get a wing in the top 10 of the draft.

[Jamaaliver]

There was moderate interest in Prince from teams before the trade deadline. Maybe the interest wasn’t as high as it could have been because of how inefficient he was prior to the deadline, but with the increased efficiency and his best shooting numbers to date, his value may not get any higher.



Q. What's a realistic return for Prince?

A. It depends. If you package him and an early 2nd, it could probably net you a late lottery/mid-first round pick. If you don't package him with something, probably a late first is what you'd get in return.

The best option, in my opinion, would be to package him with one of the early 2nds and try to get a mid-first in return.

I'll also say, the Hawks don't *have* to trade him this offseason. He's still on his rookie deal. But if they know he's not part of the future, it's probably best to get something in return.

The Athletic

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

I want to retain Prince.

The problem is that he becomes an RFA in OS 2020, and I wouldn't want a market-dictated salary clogging up the books for OS 2021 major free agent signings.

So, I'm interested in a one year extension that probably represents an overpay in that 2020-21 season, but then allows me to have Bird rights to resign him. Yes, there's a cap hold to be concerned about, but if opportunity to sign a higher value player emerges, then I can make that judgment then and let Prince go. Otherwise, it gives me the option to bring him back.

Am I missing something?

[kg01]

I want to retain Prince.

The problem is that he becomes an RFA in OS 2020, and I wouldn't want a market-dictated salary clogging up the books for OS 2021 major free agent signings.

So, I'm interested in a one year extension that probably represents an overpay in that 2020-21 season, but then allows me to have Bird rights to resign him. Yes, there's a cap hold to be concerned about, but if opportunity to sign a higher value player emerges, then I can make that judgment then and let Prince go. Otherwise, it gives me the option to bring him back.

Am I missing something?

If you're Prince, why would you sign that?

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

Answer; For essentially the same reasons Schlenk would sign that... risk reduction in the near term and keeping options on the table in the longer term.

For Prince, there is the legit possibility that he ends up like a lot of RFAs, unable to find an offer that's acceptable, and having to play for less than $5 mil in that last season before becoming a UFA.

If ATL is willing to pay him, say, $10-$15 mil for that season, where's the downside, really? He still gets to become a free agent at the end of the 2020-21 season. Does he really think he'll get that much more if he declines and goes RFA? Is it worth the risk to find out?

[kg01]

I'd say it's much more likely that he'll get overpaid than unsigned. I think Kelly whOubre is a nice test case in that regard.

[Jamaaliver]

If you're Prince, why would you sign that?

Bingo. Prince's agent would be a fool to let him sign a single year extension when he's 12 months away from the biggest multi-year contract of his career.

Considering he's already 25 years old, he needs to be thinking about long term financial security for his kids.

And putting off Free Agency until his age 27 season would be extremely unwise.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

Liver, what's missing from that assessment is he doesn't know what you say he knows... more RFAs go unsigned than otherwise... and it's not as-if Prince has never been injured, either... that, in fact, might be the biggest risk factor, that his 2019-20 season may or may not go all that well for his cause.

But there's still another thing.... all things being equal, who's to say he'd be making more in RFA than he'd make as a UFA a year later? As an RFA, you don't have the benefit of multiple teams competing for your services in the way that you do as a UFA. Moreover, if Prince really feels all that great about his future and wants to bet on himself, he's better to sign with a team that can give him 5 years ultimately than one that can only give him 4... or, at least, keep that team as one of his options.

I don't know what the exact number would be, but there's a number for 2020-21 that would be enticing enough, in view of the risks.

[CP War Hawks]

Tp is a part of that horrendous fa class. Bad for teams, good timing for players like prince. He's arguably a top 10/15 fa in 2020.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

What's missing from that assessment, CP, is that teams also understand that 2021 is an excellent FA class.... and teams will be hesitant to overpay in 2020, which would constrain their capacity to compete for FAs the next off-season.