We're holding an Ace card

[tbhawksfan]

So far Sund has done a very nice job; Teague was a solid pick, Craw a steal. The Crawford deal was one of those deals everyone talks about; the one that moves them up the food chain.

Also signed Bibs very reasonably and got a pretty good deal on Zaza. MW will likely sign long-term in a declining market (cap going down hard next season). I'd love to get him into a 4@$30M kinda deal.

Very nive off-season. Only problem is, Hawks need two of those defining type moves (Craw). We were a solid fourth seed last season and have already done enough to hope to at least remain there. Can we move up to third or second......

Gotta get something for Chils. If at the least he could be S&T for a solid oung back up with a reasonable contract, or a quality expiring vet or even a decent pick and an expiring, we'd be looking great. Of course, he wants to come back, love to have him.

Bring in Andersen. He'll contribute and he's cheap. A solid back up PF / C at about $3M.

Either bring Chil in or trade him for someone. He should be able to bring in a number eight or nine in a deep rotation.

Horf / Zaza
Smoove / Andersen
MW / Mo
JJ / Craw
Bibs / Teague

[raleigh]

If you sign Marvin and Andersen, anything you get for Childress would have to be minimal due to luxury tax concerns.

[tbhawksfan]

Even if we do everything I listed, we probably avoid the tax. Hey $1M over the tax could be worth a championship run.

[raleigh]

You only listed 10 players

[tbhawksfan]

Add about $4M back from a Chil S&T, another FA at about $1.5M and finish the roster with two or three league mins.

I've made an attept at the salaries on other threads and a senario like this doesn't put us over the lux.

At the deadline, perhaps it'll be our turn to sign a quality released vet and make a Chip run.

[killbuckner]

You honestly believe that the team you listed is as good as Cleveland, Boston, or Orlando?

[LL Cool Scott]

The next move needs to be a blockbuster for us to even think about a championship run. We'd need to package something together to get Bosh or Amare to contend. Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando are still FAR FAR FAR ahead of us at this point, and Chicago, Miami, and Detroit are creeping up. Great offseason so far, but we're going to have to swing for the fences to leap over those three teams in the next few years.

[GTfan]

Wizards and Raptors have both gotten significantly better too. I don't see the Raps trading Bosh before the season so that just leaves Amare as a possible blockbuster. I wouldn't count on it at this point. We just have to feel good that we didn't lose anything and we did add some really good pieces (Craw, Teague). We can add one more nice piece in Andersen and I think we're a 50 win team and will contend, probably win some games in the 2nd round but not advance to the Conference Finals.

[tbhawksfan]

C'mon guys. We took Celts to seven, beat MIA and lost all steam against Clev.

BUT, this team with a couple more minor moves S&T Chils for a useful player on a reasonable contract. Sign Andersen to a very reasonable contract.

Horf / Zaza
Smoove / Andersen
MW / Mo
JJ / Craw
Bibs / Teague

We can include Mo / Morris and future picks in the Chil trade. Don't think Chil / Morris / Pick will get Camby? What if we convince Chil to come in and start and trade MW for Kaman?


These moves would leave us like 10-11 deep. Sign a couple league mins and try to keep a roster spot open to bring in a vet on a Championship quest.

And, yes I think this team could challenge the East powers.

[D21]

...and Chicago, Miami, and Detroit are creeping up.

And don't forget WAS.

Right now, the moves made by Sund are good, that's sure, but it only help us to keep the 4th place in the East.
But owners are certainly happy with the idea of stay under the tax and play Eastern Semi Finals, more than paying tax with few possibility to go further.

One trade I see not making more salaries is a sign-&-trade of Marvin+Evans for Przybilla+Webster(or Outlaw), especially if POR can get Millsap, they could be open to deal Przybilla.

Outlaw is expiring and cost less than Webster (who also come from a serious injury).

[ATL DirtyBird]

Detroit hasnt gotten significanlty better at all. They got offensive pieces, they dont play any D. That team wont be very good. Miami still shouldnt be a threat if we play the way we can play they wont be a factor.

[evildallas]

With a long way to go in the offseason here are my feelings on the teams changes.
Cleveland + (Shaq was essentially free, but still have to see the final product)
Boston + (Rasheed was a good signing, but also incomplete)
Orlando + (not sure it is really an upgrade yet till I see them mesh on the court)
Atlanta + (bench upgrade so far, still incomplete)
Miami = (no changes that I know of)
Philadelphia = (likely to go down if Miller leaves)
Chicago - (they've not offset the lose of Gordon)
Detroit + (better than the end of the year, but not back to the level of the previous year though)
Indiana = (no real improvement)
Charlotte = (no substantial improvement)
New Jersey - (maybe now we can beat them)
Milwaukee - (almost starting over)
Toronto + (better, but really thin roster)
New York = (likely to go down as they value cap space at a premium)
Washington + (had to be better, but still no defense)

I don't think we've slid any and we'll have to see how the roster finishes and how the players improve to get a feel for if we closed the gap any. Washington is probably the greatest threat to move ahead of us. Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Toronto and maybe Indiana should all compete for the last few playoff spots. New Jersey, Milwaukee, and New York are afterthoughts.

Still a lot of summer left though, not to mention injuries and in season trades. Wasn't really worthy of status check at this point.

[wizardg]

Good/Great analysis.
Also a lot of the Hawks improvement will come from maturity, and expirience. Zaza, Marvin (who missed 30 or so games, Horford and Josh will all be better.

Some of Josh's overagressive poor shot problems came while filling Marvin's void and Bibby's lack of game.

Some of JS's bad shots will go to Crawford, lol but hopefully JC can turn them into good shots.

With a long way to go in the offseason here are my feelings on the teams changes.
Cleveland + (Shaq was essentially free, but still have to see the final product)
Boston + (Rasheed was a good signing, but also incomplete)
Orlando + (not sure it is really an upgrade yet till I see them mesh on the court)
Atlanta + (bench upgrade so far, still incomplete)
Miami = (no changes that I know of)
Philadelphia = (likely to go down if Miller leaves)
Chicago - (they've not offset the lose of Gordon)
Detroit + (better than the end of the year, but not back to the level of the previous year though)
Indiana = (no real improvement)
Charlotte = (no substantial improvement)
New Jersey - (maybe now we can beat them)
Milwaukee - (almost starting over)
Toronto + (better, but really thin roster)
New York = (likely to go down as they value cap space at a premium)
Washington + (had to be better, but still no defense)

I don't think we've slid any and we'll have to see how the roster finishes and how the players improve to get a feel for if we closed the gap any. Washington is probably the greatest threat to move ahead of us. Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Toronto and maybe Indiana should all compete for the last few playoff spots. New Jersey, Milwaukee, and New York are afterthoughts.

Still a lot of summer left though, not to mention injuries and in season trades. Wasn't really worthy of status check at this point.

[Harry10]

Boston + (Rasheed was a good signing, but also incomplete)

Boston is going to be very very good, they have a very complete roster. If the Celtics had a healthy KG last season, they could have easily gotten their 2nd straight championship. i'm not sure if Rasheed is going to start, but he is going to get 20-25mpg. a Rasheed/KG front court is going to be absolutely amazing. Boston is still going to need a healthy KG for next season, but if the Celtics can get and go with a line up of Rasheed/KG/Paul/Ray/Rondo, then i don't see any weakness at any position.

[azuresou1]

KG is done, just like Duncan. It's not an injury thing, it's just age. When your knees go, they go. As for Sheed, I think it has a lot of potential dangers, as Sheed has a tendency to drift out of games. Also, he tends to play very passively and camp out by the 3.

Matchup wise, I think we'd do better against the Celtics with Sheed/KG in than we would against Perk/KG, simply because defensively whoever guards Sheed (whether it's Smoove or Al) will have an easier job, and offensively the lack of Perkins in the center means that it's an easier path to the paint too.

[evildallas]

Boston + (Rasheed was a good signing, but also incomplete)

Boston is going to be very very good, they have a very complete roster. If the Celtics had a healthy KG last season, they could have easily gotten their 2nd straight championship. i'm not sure if Rasheed is going to start, but he is going to get 20-25mpg. a Rasheed/KG front court is going to be absolutely amazing. Boston is still going to need a healthy KG for next season, but if the Celtics can get and go with a line up of Rasheed/KG/Paul/Ray/Rondo, then i don't see any weakness at any position.

I agree it a good signing, but they've not resolved the Davis situation and Powe is out, maybe he comes back later, maybe not. They've not dealt with backup PG either. Last year's rentals are likely gone. I wrote as I did because of the sheer number of questions left to resolve. What they have so far is very solid and I've no doubt they'll spend all they can to win now and finish out the lineup.

My list was in order of finish last season and whether they are up, down, or even at this point.

[theatlfan]

The elite in the East looks to be a team that could challenge 60 Ws. IMO, the elite in the East right now are ORL, BOS, and CLE with MIA and ATL being the only clear competitors for entry into that group. MIA because of D-Wade and Beasley having a year under their belt. If Beasley emerges and helps keep D-Wade healthy, they got enough good role players to be interesting. Us because we were the closest last year and have already had 2 significant upgrades within our regular rotational minutes (Craw and Teague over Flip and Law). We've had one of the top starting 5s in basketball so even being able to squeeze 5 extra minutes per night out of our bench will have a large overall effect on our record.

CHI lost Gordon who did a lot for them in their playoff run. Not saying they won't be better eventually without him, but I can't see them stepping up a plateau just yet. Now, if they do land Boozer, then I'll definitely reevaluate my position here.

WASH has sung the same tune for the last 2 years: "If we're healty next year...". At what point can you say that if something happens every year, then it's likely to happen again the next? This is a team that is banking on all their talent but hasn't been over .500 since '05-'06 and they weren't even that good then (42-40). Miller could give the team a significant lift, but I simply can't see them undergoing a 35-40 W turnaround this year to get there even with Arenas. I'll believe in this team making that type of jump only when I see it.

TOR? Is a 30 yo Turkoglu really going going to yield a 25 W turnaround? I highly doubt it...

DET could be scary though. IF Gordon and Charlie V fit in to the "Detroit Way" and IF Stuckey breaks out and IF they can get some more front court help, then they'll be very good. Just too many big ifs for me right now, but maybe...

The only other team that's should even be in the conversation is PHI, but they seem a little discombobulated right now. Miller's FA, Brand's injuries and play, Dalembert's - uh - situation. Just a lot of drama up there right now. But they have the talent that if they come out of the off-season with a decent starting PG (Miller would work; Holliday could surprise as well) and a deep shooting threat (well, another 1, Kapono doesn't have overall game to be enough here) could push them over the top.

[td00]

I tend to go with the wait and see on Boston. Garnett will help them by just being a threat on the court. I think they will miss Big Baby and Powe if they don't get them back. Mikki Moore and Starbury were horrid for them last year.
Cleveland will be more of a 1/2 court team and will need to keep putting Shaq and Varejo on the FT line. I think they get 60 wins, but still have weaknesses defending the perimeter.
Orlando is the question mark; did they flourish at the right time last year? They did it twice on the road in the playoffs. Is Carter enough and is Nelson a legit PG to take them back to the Finals?
We have gained more depth in the backcourt, and hopefully we limit Smoove to 10 shots/game. Him improving his FT% would up his average, what 5-7 ppg?
We still need that big man in place of the rights to Chills. That would well-round out our team for a run at homecourt advantage thru 2 rounds. Doesn't guarantee anything, but it gets us one step closer to the EC Finals. And somehow keep us out of Boston in the playoffs. We are horrid there.

[tbhawksfan]

OK, time to bring out our Ace and Queen (?)


Chil / Andersen / Morris

for

Kaman

[killbuckner]

That doesn't come remotely close to working under the salary cap