Rebuild reality and doin it right

[tbhawksfan1]

I'll leave it at this; the Hawks didn't handle Schro well. Should have seen he wasn't fit to tank and given that TS knew which direction he was going to go, could have handled the situation differently. Through Schros antics and inefficient play AND TS not handling the situation better, Hawks had an asset completely drained.

I'm not going to hang TS for this or even Schro, just not happy with the whole Hawks / Schro thing.

As I said somewhere; over-all I like that TS is in BIG rebuild mode and he knows it will take time. His moves are, of course, debateable, but not bad.

Can't wait to see the toung guys play / develop

[ChokeFasncists]

I can't see Dennis averaging 24/7. I feel our front office probably put feelers out on Dennis and found out quickly that no body wanted him. Lin didn't kill dennis' value, Dennis did that himself. Lin made Dennis expendable.

I'd imagine the DS for Melo trade was pretty much done when the Lin trade happened except for some details like protection. Perhaps OKC didn't want to take the risk of Lin's injury.

[tbhawksfan1]

Looks like all but the most minor off-season move are done.

What's next in TS's grand scheme? Trade deadline is the next big movement phase. What will TS do with the deadline? Dedmon and Lin can be moved to hopefuls for picks. Will he do it?

Lin is 30 and coming off a major injury. We have no idea how he's going tp perform. Will he be tradable as a large salary expiring? I say unlikely, at least for any decent draft assets.

Dedmon should have very good value. He should be worth a pretty high second, or more in the right situation. Plumlee is here to slide into the rotation behind Collins / Omari / Len. Pick up a min contract for depth. Tanking season anyway.

With Dedmon and Lin either traded or expiring. The roster next season will be incredibly young and much more talented.

Len / Kaba?
Collins / Omari
Prince
Heurter / Dorsey
Trae

Baze / Plumlee might make it through next off-season, might not. Then add our should be top 5 pick, DAL pick should convey and so far looks like CLEV pick will also. Anyone for adding something like Zion / Reddich / Bol to above group? Plus two high seconds...

[Jamaaliver]

Are We Sure ... That the Hawks Know What They’re Doing?

Passing on Luka Doncic for Trae Young has put Atlanta’s rebuilding process under the microscope



Unlike in their very recent history, the Hawks can at least sell hope.

The Hawks may not play a single lineup next season with an established veteran at every position, but they may be able to draft an entirely new five-man unit next year. In addition to all of their own first-round picks and the one from OKC, the Hawks are owed two more firsts likely to convey next season, as well as five future second-rounders.

The Hawks have drawn mock-comparisons to the Warriors, Schlenk’s former employer, after using their two recent first-round picks on Trae Young and Kevin Huerter. But in taking the slow and methodical approach, the team has become the closest we’ve seen to successors of the Process Sixers. The Hawks, most notably by passing up a chance to draft wunderkind Luka Doncic to instead acquire a future first from Dallas, appear in lockstep with the broad interpretation of that idea. Add in intentionally stripping a competent team down to its studs, hiring a Brett Brown lieutenant to oversee the day-to-day, and working the financial fringes, and Atlanta might as well be using Hinkie’s resignation opus as its show bible.

Unlike Hinkie, who quickly established himself as a shrewd dealmaker, Schlenk’s earlier body of work looks more curious under the microscope.

In their quest to open up extra routes to a star, it’s possible the Hawks let one slip right through their hands. That’s the beauty of thinking big picture: A miss on Doncic may ultimately look like nothing more than a bad beat if the Hawks land the superstar they’ve been searching for next year or the year after.

The Ringer -- August 1st

[Roy Tarpley]

Questions about last year's Hawks: Didn't the Hawks have just as much reason to tank last year, yet "only" ended up with positioning for the 3rd pick?

1. Did the Hawks "tank" last year - either overtly or covertly? Trading Bellinelli and Ilyasova seem like tank moves.
2. If the Hawks did tank, then why couldn't they tank well enough to have the highest odds of the #1 pick? And if the Hawks can't control the tank well enough to get the best odds for the #1 pick in 2018, why do you think they can control the tank for the best odds in 2019?

[D21]

Questions about last year's Hawks: Didn't the Hawks have just as much reason to tank last year, yet "only" ended up with positioning for the 3rd pick?

1. Did the Hawks "tank" last year - either overtly or covertly? Trading Bellinelli and Ilyasova seem like tank moves.
2. If the Hawks did tank, then why couldn't they tank well enough to have the highest odds of the #1 pick? And if the Hawks can't control the tank well enough to get the best odds for the #1 pick in 2018, why do you think they can control the tank for the best odds in 2019?

Sure they could have get the highest odds, and Schlenk build a roster to not win anything, as much as he was able to... but :
- Bud was a coach wanting to show he can coach, and win some games (they got 11W Vs Western playoffs teams !)
- some players (maybe all) wanted to win and not tank, like Prince costing us several games, and they said it clearly when fans were asking to loose.

[Roy Tarpley]

Questions about last year's Hawks: Didn't the Hawks have just as much reason to tank last year, yet "only" ended up with positioning for the 3rd pick?

1. Did the Hawks "tank" last year - either overtly or covertly? Trading Bellinelli and Ilyasova seem like tank moves.
2. If the Hawks did tank, then why couldn't they tank well enough to have the highest odds of the #1 pick? And if the Hawks can't control the tank well enough to get the best odds for the #1 pick in 2018, why do you think they can control the tank for the best odds in 2019?

Sure they could have get the highest odds, and Schlenk build a roster to not win anything, as much as he was able to... but :
- Bud was a coach wanting to show he can coach, and win some games (they got 11W Vs Western playoffs teams !)
- some players (maybe all) wanted to win and not tank, like Prince costing us several games, and they said it clearly when fans were asking to loose.

I'm sure these same players will want to win again this year and not tank. But the Bud/LP difference could be important.

[jayu70]

Questions about last year's Hawks: Didn't the Hawks have just as much reason to tank last year, yet "only" ended up with positioning for the 3rd pick?

1. Did the Hawks "tank" last year - either overtly or covertly? Trading Bellinelli and Ilyasova seem like tank moves.
2. If the Hawks did tank, then why couldn't they tank well enough to have the highest odds of the #1 pick? And if the Hawks can't control the tank well enough to get the best odds for the #1 pick in 2018, why do you think they can control the tank for the best odds in 2019?

Unlike perennial pro tankers like the Suns and Magic, the Hawks had a coach that could actually coach. Released Beli and Illy for nothing - tank move. Sat Baze, Dennis and Dedmon in games down the stretch - tank move.
We won 2 games because of Prince's play down the stretch.

[Jamaaliver]

Quotes of Note from the last 12 months:

This is a town that understands, and craves a championship, and that there’s a price to winning a championship. And sometimes you have to take a step back.

Oct 2017

Truly, there are three options in the NBA, I would argue: being a contender, being a competitive team, and being young and fun. At least that would be my opinion. And we didn’t have the option of being a contender."

Oct 2017

This is our 50th anniversary, and this is a team that hasn’t won a championship in those 50 years. And if there is anything any of us have to say about it, that’s going to change.

Aug 2018

At the end of the day, as my wife likes to remind me, she has already picked out the parade route of this championship. Ten years from now, we’re going to be ... enormously proud of the franchise that we own and have built. … It’s time that we focus on how to win a championship as opposed to compete in the NBA, and that is precisely where we’re going.

Aug 2018




Tony R is certainly saying all the right things. I put him in the upper echelon of Atlanta team owners...up there with Teddy Turner and Arty Blank.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

Though they’re only one season removed from a decade-long playoff streak, the NBA’s second-longest at the time -- It seems as if the Hawks have been rebuilding for ages.

General manager Travis Schlenk has swiftly done what his predecessors didn’t – dismantle a team that won 60 games and commit to rebuilding. In fact, Schlenk has advanced far enough that he’s already well into building Atlanta back up. The Hawks aren’t done dismantling. They’re poised to tank another season. But their rebuild has already seen a defining move.

On draft night, Atlanta traded the rights to No. 3 pick Luka Doncic to the Mavericks for the rights to No. 5 pick Trae Young and a future first-round pick. That decision will take year to evaluate and will linger over both franchises far longer. If the Hawks preferred Young anyway, they did a great job leveraging an extra first-rounder and still getting their man.

Atlanta splurged a lot of its cap room on Jeremy Lin, getting the point guard with just a smattering of second-round considerations going between Atlanta and Brooklyn. Could that cap space have been put to better use, like a salary dump or even just saving ownership money? Did the Hawks acquire Lin as a fan draw? Will Lin generate more revenue than his $13,768,421 salary? He could work well as a veteran mentor, but that’s a lot to pay a veteran mentor.

With Young, John Collins and Taurean Prince at the forefront and Spellman, Anderson and Len diversifying the portfolio, the Hawks have a nice core to build around. They’ll add to it with their own first-rounder, the extra first-rounder from Dallas and a potential first-rounder from Cleveland (top-10 protected the next two years or else it becomes two second-rounders).

[jayu70]

Except Schlink didnt dismantle the 60 win team. DMC, Teague Korver, Al - all gone b4 Schlenk.

[ChokeFasncists]

Questions about last year's Hawks: Didn't the Hawks have just as much reason to tank last year, yet "only" ended up with positioning for the 3rd pick?

1. Did the Hawks "tank" last year - either overtly or covertly? Trading Bellinelli and Ilyasova seem like tank moves.
2. If the Hawks did tank, then why couldn't they tank well enough to have the highest odds of the #1 pick? And if the Hawks can't control the tank well enough to get the best odds for the #1 pick in 2018, why do you think they can control the tank for the best odds in 2019?

Sure they could have get the highest odds, and Schlenk build a roster to not win anything, as much as he was able to... but :
- Bud was a coach wanting to show he can coach, and win some games (they got 11W Vs Western playoffs teams !)
- some players (maybe all) wanted to win and not tank, like Prince costing us several games, and they said it clearly when fans were asking to loose.

Did they play hard on D? That team had some capable defenders.

[macd-gm]

There were a huge number of teams also tanking last year. Not everyone can finish last.

[Jamaaliver]

The Great Hawks and Mavericks Rebuilding Experiment


Assessing that draft night trade depends almost entirely on what you think of Luka Doncic

For Atlanta, the trade was a bet on Trae Young and future picks, but it was also pretty clearly a bet against Doncic. If Atlanta didn't think he had a top 3 value, capitalizing on the misplaced hype made sense, and the Doncic trade was this year's version of the Jayson Tatum deal.

Of course there's also the other side of that coin: if Doncic is ever going to be as good as his believers expect, that gamble could quickly become a disaster.

Young looks like the inverse of Doncic. His ceiling and star potential is indisputable, but the floor is much scarier—there's a chance that he just isn't good. Also, the NBA isn't Oklahoma. If Young takes one too many 35-footers next season, he might get attacked by his teammates.





The rest of the Mavs and Hawks offseasons followed the same pattern as draft night.

Atlanta parted ways with Mike Muscala, added Jeremy Lin and Alex Len as placeholders, and began playing for the future. Last week they traded Dennis Schröder to OKC for a 2022 lottery-protected pick and the right to buy-out Carmelo Anthony's deal.

Instead of running it back with Schröder and pairing him with Doncic on the wing, the Hawks chose long-term flexibility (shedding the remaining $45 million on Schroeder's deal), future picks, and a blank slate in the short term. They will head into next season with John Collins, Trae Young, Taurean Prince, the ghost of Jeremy Lin, and... not much else to look forward to until the 2019 draft.

Atlanta has just finished forging a future that will look great on NBA Reddit and could be absolutely miserable to watch for the next several seasons. They are homeless man's version of the Warriors while also executing a cheap knock-off of The Process.

Atlanta may as well be Siberia when it's time to sign star free agents. Given the recent history and those limitations, it makes sense for the front office to tear it all down and hope to luck into someone who is good enough to change the story. All Warriors comparisons need to be banned as soon as possible, but in general, this plan comes with more hope than Atlanta has seen in several years.

More than anything, I appreciate the conviction on both sides. Atlanta is hoping to get lucky with Young and a future full of lottery tickets...

SI.com

[Jamaaliver]

The Atlanta Hawks lead the NBA in dead cap space with $32 million (32 percent of total salary), which means salaries for players not on the roster.

April 2018

Hawks, Nets Carrying Most 2018/19 Dead Money

Nearly two-thirds of the NBA’s 30 teams are carrying some sort of “dead money” on their salary cap for 2018/19. This dead money is created as a result of having, at some point, waived a player who had guaranteed money left on his contract.

there are several teams with a substantial amount of 2018/19 dead money on their cap. This isn’t necessarily a sign of cap mismanagement — the Hawks, for instance, lead the way with nearly $28MM in dead money on their books, but those charges are a result of acquiring and waiving Carmelo Anthony and Jamal Crawford. Both of those players came with first-round picks attached, so Atlanta doesn’t mind the fact that they’re taking up a chunk of the team’s cap room this year.

Here’s the full list of 2018/19 dead money by team, as of August 23, starting with those Hawks:

1) Atlanta Hawks: $27,838,479
2) Brooklyn Nets: $24,394,512
3) Milwaukee Bucks: $7,372,604

August 2018

[macd-gm]

The Atlanta Hawks lead the NBA in dead cap space with $32 million (32 percent of total salary), which means salaries for players not on the roster.

April 2018

Hawks, Nets Carrying Most 2018/19 Dead Money

Nearly two-thirds of the NBA’s 30 teams are carrying some sort of “dead money” on their salary cap for 2018/19. This dead money is created as a result of having, at some point, waived a player who had guaranteed money left on his contract.

there are several teams with a substantial amount of 2018/19 dead money on their cap. This isn’t necessarily a sign of cap mismanagement — the Hawks, for instance, lead the way with nearly $28MM in dead money on their books, but those charges are a result of acquiring and waiving Carmelo Anthony and Jamal Crawford. Both of those players came with first-round picks attached, so Atlanta doesn’t mind the fact that they’re taking up a chunk of the team’s cap room this year.

Here’s the full list of 2018/19 dead money by team, as of August 23, starting with those Hawks:

1) Atlanta Hawks: $27,838,479
2) Brooklyn Nets: $24,394,512
3) Milwaukee Bucks: $7,372,604

August 2018

[Jamaaliver]

Will Your NBA Team Be Better or Worse Off in 5 Years?

Atlanta Hawks: Better



The Hawks may come to regret trading back and drafting Trae Young instead of taking Luka Doncic. Even if Young's best-case scenario comes to pass, the Hawks still might wind up on the wrong end of that deal.

But their trajectory does not hinge on one hit or miss. They have their hands in enough opportunities to brighten up their outlook through opportunistic volume.

Young and John Collins are two potential headliners for Atlanta. Taurean Prince should not be precluded from joining those ranks. At least one of DeAndre' Bembry, Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman could turn into something notable, too.

Beyond that, the Hawks should retain open-ended access to max cap space for as long as they please. They'll have no trouble getting there next summer, and their most expensive pacts will be off the books by the time they need to re-invest in one of their kiddies.

Toss in as many as eight first-round picks through 2023, including what could be three selections in 2019 alone, and the Hawks will be just fine. The bar for advancement isn't high relative to the current product, but they're equipped to aim for so much more than default improvement.

Bleacher Report

[HMFFL]

There were a huge number of teams also tanking last year. Not everyone can finish last.

Sadly, many players will following the teams lead when it comes to tanking, because they feel it's job security to do so. For the role players at least.
When, in reality it's not, and the future is unknown anyway.

The league will evolve and eventually divisions will be a thing of the past.

Sent from my SM-N920P using RealGM mobile app

[tbhawksfan1]

There were a huge number of teams also tanking last year. Not everyone can finish last.

Sadly, many players will following the teams lead when it comes to tanking, because they feel it's job security to do so. For the role players at least.
When, in reality it's not, and the future is unknown anyway.

The league will evolve and eventually divisions will be a thing of the past.

Sent from my SM-N920P using RealGM mobile app

The only path to competitivity in a league is a hard cap. The NBA has a soft cap that allows rich teams to buy cap. It's like carbon-sharing. It doesn't reduce pollution, just allows the rich to pollute. Want to take advantage of a fixed system... buy some lux tax. it's called buying odds. You don't pay, you get the worst odds. Then this really crazy thing happens, small market (poor) teams can't compete financially and when they attempt to use the draft to try and improve by cutting some useless vets, everyone says that that isn't competing....

Like David and Goliath, but instead of encouraging David's courageous stand, people want to ban the sling....

[tbhawksfan1]

Now the NBA is going to allow betting on games....and make the lott more of a crap shoot giving bad teams less of a path. What's the only path to a championship? $