Packfill

I can't imagine Schlenk made the trade to get Young with the idea of him sitting on the bench. I have to imagine they are planning on getting him close to 30 minutes a night.

The Hawks do not need to worry about beating the Warriors. By the time the Hawks are ready to compete the Warriors' core will likely be dismantled/retired. I really dislike the Doncic trade but am hoping for the best.

I agree. Given the situation the team is in, they need to be thinking about maximizing draft capital for the next two drafts and then figuring out what they have and what they need to add. Obviously if they hit a home run in this draft that might move the timing up a year, but that is unlikely.

Hawks have really dialed in their tank. Not easy to lose a game to those Bulls.

I agree. Ayton seems similar to Towns in regards to defense. Shame because Ayton seems like a compelling piece for a rebuilding team like the Hawks - and definitely a better fit then someone like Bagley or Porter.

Good thread. To me Collins is the only building block on the roster (assuming he can make a jump in play next season). The rest are flawed assets. Dennis is talented enough to start but lacks the consistency one would expect from someone with his level of experience. Baze and Prince would be better with reduced roles of the bench. Dedmon I expect to walk at seasons end and the rest will be lucky to carve out careers as bench pieces. Depressing. Anyone think Ayton and Collins together long term is potentially a bad combo?

Too much competition for a top 2 pick this year!

Cleveland sure is getting a lot of shooters to go with LeBron for this season at least.

In fairness, Stanley Johnson is two years younger than Prince. That said, I doubt Johnson ever turns into a reliable rotation player. Given that Prince is on a rookie contract and the Hawks are not looking to win now, there is no reason not to give him heavy minutes until a better option emerges. Prince will likely settle in as a useful bench player on a better team.

Babbitt played due to the lack of other warm bodies. I am certain they would love to trade Plumlee, Baze, Belinelli and/or Ersan if it nests them some future assets, and I am willing to bet they would agree to take on some bad contracts to do so (particularly in trading the rental guys).

Right now it appears the Hawks main focus is to showcase tradeable assets. Once the trade deadlines passes my guess is Collins and others younger players get more burn.

Hawks currently have the worst record in the league and are in the pole position for the #1 pick.

The take away is not so much the number of picks, it is getting that foundational guy and then building a team around him in a manner, and on a time line, that fits with that foundational players peak career output. So if you draft a 19 year old you need to evaluate for a year or two to see if he has cornerstone player potential and then spend the next three years building a team around him with the idea of peaking beginning in that cornerstone players 4th or 5th season. To be clear, once the Hawks let their vet big-men walk I don't think they had any choice but to follow this path, but it is a long road to be certain, even assuming they do it right.

The Hawks are going nowhere fast until they get a foundational player, and assuming that guy is an 18/19 year they draft in 2018, that foundational player is going to need a minimum of two years of seasoning.

Agree or disagree with Nets taking a look at Okafor?

I don't think it is size (particularly given that both have long wingspans relative to their height) that is holding back either Prince or Bazemore . . . The Hawks need someone other than Dennis who can create shots efficiently plus they need a defensive anchor.

Booker is still young enough and enough of a scorer that I bet there are a fair number of NBA GMs that would trade Dennis straight up for Booker. That said, it is tough to really evaluate either player given how poor their respective teams are.

Not so sure about 5th given there are people that would place greater value on guys like Otto Porter, CJ McCollom and Steven Adams. Certainly top 10 though.

That video of the dude lounging in the first row during last nights game really says alot about the state of this team and season. So sad!

In fairness, Tatum is playing for a team winning basketball games - much harder to put up counting stats when your team is playing for something.

The East has a good chance to be very interesting in a few years. Obviously the Western conference currently has more established stars, but the young unicorns in the east (Embiid, Simmons, Greek Freak and Porzingis) should be ready for prime time when Lebron's hegemony is over - not to mention the fact that those unicorns will attract other stars looking for rings.

I would take the 2017 Philly roster over the 2016 Hotlanta roster every time. So would any rationale person.

Stats say a great deal about what a player brings to the table, but they do not tell everything. Kyrie is clearly the better player. Look at it this way, there is not one NBA GM, assistant GM or coach that would willingly trade Kyrie for Dennis. Not one. If Schlenk offered Dennis and Collins for Kyrie I think the Celtics would say no.

Every team in the league has 3 pieces if you think the Hawks have three pieces. Look at it this way, our three pieces are Dennis (age 24), Prince (23) and Collins (20), Boston has three pieces in Kyrie (25), Brown (21) and Tatum (19) which are collectively better. All that does not even take into account the fact that they have guys like Horford and Hayward, two all-star caliber veterans, and a host of other guys like Smart, Rozier and Morris.

I did not expect the Hawks to be as bad as they have been. I expected something more like a 35 win team. So far, however, looks like the Hawks are one of the front runners for the first pick. Some interesting talents to dream on at this point in the season. Probably will be at least three more years until the team is competitive again unless they trade picks for players.