Innocent, random roster move? Or is another shoe about to drop?

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

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Maybe I'm just jumpy being caught off-guard last week.... (yes, I'm one of those persuaded that Prince would be traded, but not until draft night...) but this seems odd to me... why now?

[Geaux_Hawks]

We're going to need room on the roster to add our picks. We'll probably see some more shuffling soon as we're almost a week out from the draft.

[jayu70]

Not odd, none guaranteed deal for a player that was nkt going r6o make the team.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

If you don't know you're going to need more than 3 roster slots, why let go of Davis already?

So. Do we deduce that Schlenk knows he needs 4?

[jayu70]

He's a 10 day-er.
We signed him because Spellman was done for the year with injury.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

We signed him to a 10-day, but then signed him to a non-guaranteed for 2019-20 at the very end of the season.

Obviously, he's dispensable, but it's just odd that if he's wanted in mid-April, you don't keep him at least through the draft, when you know how many roster slots you need to open up.

We have one more of those non-guaranteed dispensable guys, of course, Adams.

[jayu70]

He was wanted mid-April since Spellman was done for the year.
Hawks own draft rights to Adams and he will most likely be resigned to another GL contract.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

My friend, they had *one* game left when they signed Davis to a non-guaranteed contract.

I *think* they would have survived without him.

I could be wrong. Perhaps he was more indispensable than I'm giving credit. And I won't argue with you if that's really what you think.

I, though, will reserve my right to believe it's odd, and that Schlenk for some reason believes that roster slot will be taken by someone else... draft or not.

(Personally, my fingers remain crossed that Justin Patton is still on Schlenk's radar... but the better guess is if they didn't sign Patton instead of Davis before, it's probably not happening.)

[Geaux_Hawks]

My friend, they had *one* game left when they signed Davis to a non-guaranteed contract.

I *think* they would have survived without him.

I could be wrong. Perhaps he was more indispensable than I'm giving credit. And I won't argue with you if that's really what you think.

I, though, will reserve my right to believe it's odd, and that Schlenk for some reason believes that roster slot will be taken by someone else... draft or not.

(Personally, my fingers remain crossed that Justin Patton is still on Schlenk's radar... but the better guess is if they didn't sign Patton instead of Davis before, it's probably not happening.)

At the time, we didn't have the 17th pick. I'm sure once we added 17, Davis most certainly became dispensable. If we don't take 3 rookies in the first, we will probably add another in the 2nd round.

Of course this could lead you to think we might have another trade lined up that nets us a quality player or 2.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

I've been looking for some evidence that maybe they *had* to keep him for two months because it wasn't a 10-day contract. But I'm not finding anything. He signed this contract on 4/8, and this was the first Monday after 6/8, which is what made me suspicious.

[REHawksFan]

It could just be that the Hawks knew he wasn't in their plans this season and Davis asked to be waived so he could catch on with another team prior to summer league. I'd LOVE for this to have some other meaning and we're all pretty desperate for something more exciting than waiving a guy formerly on a 10 day, but not all moves are necessarily part of a bigger plan. Would be nice if it was though.

[peoriabird]

It could just be that the Hawks knew he wasn't in their plans this season and Davis asked to be waived so he could catch on with another team prior to summer league. I'd LOVE for this to have some other meaning and we're all pretty desperate for something more exciting than waiving a guy formerly on a 10 day, but not all moves are necessarily part of a bigger plan. Would be nice if it was though.

Isn't obvious? We are making room for Leonard, Anthony Davis or Kevin Durant!

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

So, he was in their plans on April 8, but then something happened to make him not in their plans on June 10.

What would that be? That we got Crabbe instead of Prince? As suggested above, that we added an additional 1st?

One can assume it's just a random thing that happened, but more often than not, these things don't tend to be so random once the whole of the picture comes into view. That is, this is the NBA and time normally reveals that some cause lurked behind the effect, one which wasn't a cause until some new condition came into being that made the cause have an effect.

What's the "new condition" here?

Unknown. Could be as simple as Schlenk saying to Davis' agent, "If he'll sign to play this one more game, we'll pay him on a minimum contract for two months." Could also be something like Schlenk has an unannounced trade worked out, and he is lock certain he's going to need 4 roster slots, so he might as well free up Davis with that trade just being verbally agreed upon.

Now, on that last point, I realize that we have 20 roster slots right now to work with, but if you already have good reason to believe you know Davis won't be one of the final 15--in other words, you know you're signing 5 training camp bodies w/ little question--then, you still cut him loose.

[ATL Boy]

Feels innocent for now. We'll need the roster space this offseason.

[jayu70]

These type players signing 'multi-year' end of season contracts happen every year.
Just last year we had two that were signed and also released:
Tyler Cavanaugh and Antonious Cleveland.

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

These type players signing 'multi-year' end of season contracts happen every year.
Just last year we had two that were signed and also released:
Tyler Cavanaugh and Antonious Cleveland.

Yes, they do happen every year.

Cavanaugh was waived on May 11. His situation is more like Adams, having begun as a 2-way, then signing on as mid-season regular contract.

That they happen every year is not novel. And that when they happen, it also is not novel that there is some generally obvious cause or set of causes that precipitates the decision...

In Cavanaugh's case, Hoops Rumors relayed: "Wojnarowski writes that an early guarantee date, an ankle injury, and a coaching change all contributed to Atlanta’s decision to part with Cavanaugh."

Cleveland was waived much later, on July 21st. His situation is more like Davis, having been signed to two 10-days, then signed to a minimum contract to finish the year. From Hoops Rumors: "the Hawks essentially had to waive Cleveland in order to open up the cap room necessary to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the Thunder and Justin Anderson from the Sixers."

Conditions changed, necessitating a decision.

Cavanaugh, no mystery. Cleveland, no mystery.

Davis... almost complete mystery.

And I've told you nothing you didn't already know.

[jayu70]

Maybe he asked to be released?

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?s=20

[_s_t_u_r_t_]

In fairness, it wouldn't be the first time Schlenk acted charitably toward a player, setting aside the team's interests... the Crawford buy-out being Exhibit A.

But I'm still hard-pressed to believe this was an act of charity.

Much easier to swallow that something has happened to make it less important to the team's interests to hold on to Davis.

And we'll just have to see if these rumors about involvement in a LAL/NOP trade turn out to shed any light on the situation.