TheNorthCydeRises

Define "discount". Because nothing short of our top pick this year isn't bringing him here.

Nope. Of course you don't trade for him, unless he gives himself the green light to play. But if he does, that's a much higher probability path for the Hawks obtaining a superstar, than playing the lottery. When healthy, a team has a top 3 defender in the league and one of the top 10 offensive threats in the NBA. All of the prospects in this draft have NO SHOT in becoming great at both. Betting on Kawhi is a far better bet, than betting on these kids.

So Leonard can't play the 2? Are guards too quick for Leonard to guard?

Hopefully they can trade a few 1st round picks + Baze to San Antonio, to acquire Kawhi Leonard. Dennis - Kawhi - Taurean - free agent PF - Collins

Oh Lord . . . it's happening. Bud is turning John Collins into a 2 guard.

Iso Sap

Keep in mind that the NBA ( if I remember correctly ) does something like a "Pick 4" draw to determine draft position. To replicate what the NBA does, you're going to have to write out something like 1,000 possible draw combinations, and assign each 4-ball combination to a particular team. And you'll basically know now how many "ping pong balls" each team will get, due to their draft position. 250 combinations, 25.0% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick 199 combinations, 19.9% chance 156 combinations, 15.6% chance 119 combinations, 11.9% chance 88 combinations, 8.8% chance 63 combinations, 6.3% chance 43 combinations, 4.3% chance 28 combinations, 2.8% chance 17 combinations, 1.7% chance 11 combinations, 1.1% chance 8 combinations, 0.8% chance 7 combinations, 0.7% chance 6 combinations, 0.6% chance 5 combinations, 0.5% chance

Forever grateful.

The difference in those two groups of players, is that the 1st group weren't athletic enough to create their own shots and be as successful as they were in college. The 2nd group had all the physical tools to excel in the NBA on offense and defense.

It's the mistake that Detroit made back in 2003, when they chose Darko over Carmelo Anthony. That move alone probably cost the Pistons 3 more championships.

It did, although Pin Ups has fallen off considerably. I haven't been there in dang near 3 years. Friday nights used to be all the way poppin early, but it was more "choreographers" than customers in there when I went in. I guess the tax cuts didn't make it to the clubs in ATL. MJQ is always a winner on Fridays, with its diverse crowd and old school hip hop.

I tried to make it. But I didn't know that people travel on Good Friday like it's the day before Thanksgiving. I got stuck in Nashville, Chattanooga, and outside 285. Just Ridiculous. Oh well. It's Friday night in the ATL, so I can make up for it. ( Pin Ups - MJQ - and if I'm up to it, Dejavue II for the after hours )

Lethal's opening post read like a spoken word freestyle. The lone bright spot in this season of desolation.

Paul has played with an inside big for the majority of his career. That not the problem with his game. The problem, is trying to turn him into a stretch 4, when that's not what he is. It's all about playing to his strengths, not to a system. As for last year's Hawks, the data flat out shows you what the difference was. Even when Howard and Millsap wasn't quite gelling offensively at times, the defense was solid. Their two-man lineup point differential was ( -0.1 ), meaning that overall, it didn't matter who those two played with, because both of them were either producing, or stopping their opposition. But depending on who they were playing with, determined how that particular lineup fared. The difference was Bazemore and Hardaway Jr. Tim was the ( + ) player that the team looked good around ( until the playoffs ). Baze was the ( - ) player that everyone looked bad around. And early on, it was Sefolosha that was the difference maker, with his defense and surprising offense. That's what the data shows, not a "gut feeling".

This is the NBA lottery to me. A person currently makes $70,000/yr. If I give you a ball, and I give you ONE try to make ONE full court shot, you'll make $1,000,000/yr If you miss that shot, I'll immediately cut your salary in half, and you'll only make $35,000/yr Each year afterwards, you'll get one shot to make the million. If you shoot an air ball, I'll reduce your salary by $5,000. If you can at least hit the backboard, your salary will not change. If you can at least hit the rim, I'll bump your salary up by $5,000. Now if you're only making $35,000, and you're at the floor, then yeah, you're probably going to keep trying to take that one shot for the million. But if you're making $70,000, are you going to risk going down to $35,000, to win a million? That's the NBA Lottery to me. Would you do it?

Brooklyn made an idiotic move by trading young draft capital for two aging players. Also, part of that Brooklyn trade was to sell more tickets with big name players. That backfired too, seeing how high the Nets ticket prices were that season.

To KB's point, what if you're the San Antonio Spurs, and you know the situation with Kawhi Leonard is beyond repair. You're seeking to deal him for the best offer possible. As of right now, the Hawks can't even be a player in a deal for Kawhi, because they don't have enough player capital to make the deal. They have the DRAFT capital, but not necessarily player capital. If the 2019 1st round pick ( top 3 protected ) was part of the piece to get Kawhi, how do the Hawks do it with the current squad that they have? Taurean Prince would have to be part of this deal along with the pick. But we need to deal a major salary as well. Kawhi makes 20.1 mill next season. So what could the Hawks offer? 2019 pick + Prince + Schröder ( 15.5 mill + 3 more years ) 2019 pick + Prince + Bazemore ( 18.1 mill next year, then 19.3 mill opt out year ) Would the Spurs go for that? Because outside of giving them 2 - 3 1st round picks, that's all we have. They would have to place high value on the guys that we're giving them. What Schlenk is banking on ( and he pretty much said this in one of his interviews ), was to be in position to strike when a team is financially unable to re-sign a good player. He's probably talking about one of his former players ( Klay Thompson or Draymond Green ), but the example he used was the James Harden situation between OKC and Houston. OKC agreed with a trade, and Houston got its superstar. So if that's his plan, he's going to rely more on having the cap space to throw money at a player, and see if he accepts it. But we all know the problem with this strategy. If the player would take less money to play with a winner . . . we're back to square 1. It DID work for us once though . . . . with the Joe Johnson trade. Maybe it didn't work like everyone wanted, especially by giving up two 1st round picks. But it did work.

There's no convincing you, because no matter what anyone says, you won't believe it. This team was a 43 win team DESPITE the pitiful and inconsistent offense. So you may want to stop reading now. The negative point differential is directly attributed to the multiple blowout losses this team incurred, mainly because too many people had the "green light" to shoot the ball in this offense, if they're open. If you're open, but you have a tendency to shoot bricks, it doesn't matter if you're open. You're still going to miss. Maybe if they threw the ball inside a little more often, or take a few dribbles and take an 18 footer that they could make, the offensive efficiency wouldn't have been as bad. IF they brought everyone back ( Howard, Hardaway Jr, Millsap ), this is the squad. black - returning green - draft picks red - free agent signings Starters: ( roughly 88.7 million in salary ) PG - Schröder - 15.5 mill G - Hardaway Jr - 16.5 mill F - Prince - 2.4 mill PF - Millsap - 30.8 mill C - Howard - 23.5 mill Bench: ( 25.9 mill in salary ) PG - Frank Mason - 0.8 mill - 2017 2nd Rd draft pick ( #31 ) . . we retain this pick if we didn't trade Dwight G - Sindarius Thornwell - 0.8 mill - 2017 2nd Rd draft pick ( #48 ) G/F - Bazemore - 16.9 mill F/C - John Collins - 1.9 mill - 2017 1st Rd draft pick ( #19 ) G/F - Bembry - 1.6 mill PG - Delaney - 2.5 mill F - Cavanaugh - 0.075 mill - 2-way contract C - Diamond Stone - 1.3 mill - minimum contract Total: 114.6 mill + whatever exceptions or residual contracts I missed Salary Cap: 99.1 mill Luxury Tax: 119.3 mill If the only financial constraint that we're worried about is going over the tax, this is the team that we could field. As the season progressed, all 3 of those draft picks would be integral parts of the reserve unit, with Mason eventually overtaking Delaney as the backup PG. Thornwell, Baze, and Bembry are actually 3 above average defenders to throw at reserve wings. Either Bembry or Thornwell may be a casualty in the rotation though, especially if Bembry couldn't show the ability to sometimes run the point. Thornwell has more overall offensive scoring talent, and is just as good of a defender as Bembry. Potential minutes rotation: PG - Dennis ( 33 ) - Delaney/Mason ( 15 ) G - Hardaway Jr ( 28 ) - Baze ( 8 ) - Thornwell/Bembry ( 12 ) F - Prince ( 14 ) - Baze ( 20 ) PF - Millsap ( 32 ) - Prince ( 16 ) C - Howard ( 28 ) - Collins ( 20 ) Dennis ( 33 ) Millsap ( 32 ) Prince ( 30 ) Howard ( 28 ) Baze ( 28 ) Hardaway ( 28 ) Collins ( 20 ) Mason ( 15 ) Thornwell ( 12 ) That would be my proposed 9-man rotation. And that team, if healthy, DEFINITELY makes the playoffs. Defensively, we don't take a step back at all, and would still be a top 5 - 10 defense. You add 2 rookies ( Thornwell and Mason ) who are OLDER players that know how to play the game correctly. You add the young stud in Collins, who would get his minutes and learn from two of the better frontline players in the league in Howard and Millsap. And you'd have 1 more season in which the main core of the team could play with each other. This is at minimum, a 45 - 50 win team that challenges for a 3 - 6 seed in the East.

That's fine. But since I'm driving almost 300 miles to ATL, and Embiid isn't going to play, I want at least something for my money and time than just some matador defense and bad Kiss Cam acting.

Season? He might be done for the rest of his career. And not because of injury. What a disappointment he's been this year.

Are you (( bleeping )) serious? Hawks BETTER win this game tomorrow night. No dang excuses now.

Plays like that just piss me off even more with how underutilized he is on offense.

I need a win on Friday night though. While I'm going to see the Philly youngins, I'd like a win as well. That's the least they could do for their last Friday night home crowd.

Led by the great Marshon Brooks . . . who scored 14 points in the final 6 minutes of the 4th quarter. Made 4 threes.

Taurean or Wiggins?