Packfill

It is not just Bud. Clearly most NBA teams are moving to having 4 shooters on the floor. For that reason, Dedmon and Collins are not a good fit together. Collins hopefully pulls a Aaron Gordon and becomes a shooting tour-de-force in the years ahead.

This Hawks team is terrible.

Unless Collins develops some range on his shot and learns how to be more of a playmaker for others I think his long term best fit is at center. I think the worry with Collins is be becomes a guy whose game does not translate to heavy minutes and has more of an Ed Davis type of career. Obviously he is only a rookie and has talent so he will hopefully develop into more.

So the Marvin Williams experience has soured you on draft picks with more "potential" than production?

I think DMC, Jae Crowder, Wilson Chandler, Rudy Gay and Trevor Ariza as far as comps for Prince.

You guys are much more optimistic then I am. I think they have a couple nice young potential rotation pieces but no real stars or guys who easily project to become stars (and by stars I mean someone you can build a championship team around). Young teams traditionally do not win much so from a record perspective I have low expectations.

If the Hawks were middling along record wise at the trade deadline but Dedmon was playing very well, so well that you might not want to pay him going forward, how would people view trading him? A contender might value him as a rental.

That does show how quickly the franchise has moved on from the 60 win team. The starting five is all gone!

Aren't these the only guys with guaranteed contracts beyond the end of the season?

Agreed, particularly because it will give them more opportunity to rest Lebron. Cleveland's success this season will ultimately hinge on getting Thomas back healthy with enough games under his belt to be full-go come playoff time.

I agree with AHF 100%. A 35 win team could make the playoffs in the east this year though, and if that is the case, I hope it is not the Hawks.

Has Tavares done anything since he was released by the Hawks?

That link shows he scored in double figures only four times that season, three of those coming in blow-out losses. What am I missing?

That defensive stat is interesting. Places 6 San Antonio Spurs in the top 25. I am not surprised Kawhi is there, but Paul Gasol, Kyle Anderson and David Lee are surprising. Dwight and Millsap were also in the top 25. Will be interesting to see if Dedmon can play enough minutes to really make a difference.

Korver had averaged as many as 14 points per game over the course of a season prior to coming to Atlanta. He also had numerous seasons playing starter minutes - 30+ minutes a night. Babbit, on the other hand, has a career high of 7 pts per game and has never averaged as many as 20 minutes a night. So yes, no different . . .

He is a good long range shooter. Below average for everything else.

What was today's mysterious event?

Millsap has never averaged 20 pts per game in an NBA season. That said, Millsap was clearly the focus of opponents defensive efforts - and it is his overall game which makes him such a valuable and important player. With Paul gone, and the unproven secondary offensive options the Hawks now have, you can be certain opponents will look to lock down Dennis first and dare the rest of the team to beat them. It is an easy and obvious strategy. Because of that increased attention, there is a high probability that Dennis' efficiency drops. He should still average 20+ a night, because someone has to score. James Harden's efficiency dropped when he moved from third wheel to top dog in Houston, so saying Dennis is likely to experience a drop in efficiency is really just being reasonable about expectations for this season.

The tanking question is irrelevant at this point unless there are major roster changes still to come. The team made a clear determination to get younger and to retain payroll flexibility going forward. In doing so they lost their best player. It would be surprising even to the most ardent Hawks fan if the team did anything more than squeak into the playoffs. Given the state of the Eastern Conference, getting into the playoffs is a very low bar to hit.

Best rookie playoff performances in history? I think if take Magic Johnson's rookie year playoff performance as the highwater mark, I bet there are a fair number of rookie performances that fall in between!

I agree. The Bucks are on the rise though they need more seasoning and to get their guys healthy (I don't think Parker and Middleton played a game together last year). Greek Freak is younger then Denis and now arguably the second best player in the east.

No doubt Indy is going to take a step back without George, and to a lesser extent Teague, but Myles Turner to me still has lots more upside (while being a pretty decent player already at 21 years old) and guys like Oladipo, Collison and Thad Young give them some veteran stability while the other young big men gain experience in lesser roles. I think the top 5 teams in the east are easy to identify: Cleveland; Boston; Washington; Milwaukee; and Toronto. After that, I see a drop-off but with Charlotte, Miami and Detroit as the most obvious to slip into the final playoff spots. The remaining teams in the east either lack experience (young teams rarely win many games, even with elite talent) or are clearly shuffling the decks and rebuilding. Good topic.

That is depressing.

As long as Billy Knight is not doing the drafting the return to the playoffs should be a bit quicker this time around.

Am I missing something or are the Hawks playing a bunch of veterans 35+ minutes in a preseason game?