thecampster

Here, let me throw out this depth chart and then tell you what it costs.

Trae/Wright/Cooper

Murray/Huerter/Mays

Hunter/Knox

Portis/JJ

Gobert/Robin Lopez

Approximately $136 million.  Add in $5 million for Gallo's guarantee. $141 million.

You have $8 million to spend on 3 vet roster spots and still have the MLE.

That's a championship roster right there. It would suck to have to give up JC and OO to do it...but the goal isn't touchy feely, happy happy, lets all be together forever. The goal is a chip and that team can win one.

7 hours ago, Hawkmoor said:

And Kawhi Leonard went 15.  And the Hawks drafted a top 3 pick ( Jalen Johnson) in the bottom of the first.  Only the teams know who they value.  I KNEW the Spurs were gonna shop Murray which is why I wanted the Hawks to grab back in December.  Pops wants a true point guard, not a combo guard.

Damn it!  Now you guys have me agreeing with Hawkmoor....with HAWKMOOR!!!.....and liking his posts.

7 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Exactly. I don't even mind trading Okongwu but he's a centerpiece, not a filler. If you want fillers, Jalen Johnson is your guy

You've gone too far!!!

Jalen is the future at the 4. I know you want to put OO at the 4 but OO can't put the ball on the floor, OO can't (as of yet) shoot.  He's a defensive big right now.

This is Onyeka's shot chart. There are many like it, but this one is his.

 There is not 1 shot outside the paint, not 1. (okay, 1 missed one from 12 feet).

Jalen Johnson is a 3 tier scorer with the ability to guard 2-4. He struggles in switching and team defense but has improved greatly in 1 year at the G-League level. His 22/11/4.6 g-league stats are plenty to show he can play at this level. He just needs time. He has less questions on defense than OO has on offense. You do not thrown in Jalen Johnson. You already won that draft pick.

OO is a good player, a very valuable player but he is not elite. He will never be an elite center due to his height. He may win a chip one day but he won't be the reason they one the chip. He doesn't have that skillset. Go back last year and think of the number of passes he dropped when moving toward the basket (there were quite a few). Think of the number of moving screens (again, quite a few). The kid has holes in his game and most of them are movement based, footwork based. Give me a tall center who can hit a 15 footer all day long and I'll take serviceable.

Jalen Johnson is 1 full year younger than OO with 1 more year of team control on a 1/3 the price contract. If you were to throw JJ into any deal right now, teams would drool. He's a 3/4 that is fast enough to guard 2's. I can guarantee you he's been asked about by 1/2 the teams in the league sending out feelers. The team won't let JC go because they think OO is the future at the 4. They'll let JC go because they believe JJ is. The kid is going to be that good.

8 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Wait OO too? Damn. That’s a ton. 

We can’t give JC and OO? Our front court would blow.

Giving up JC and OO clears up about $13.3 million in space under the LT, leaving room to sign a front court vet replacement. It also means the possibility of keeping Gallo 1 more year to fill in. He did fine filling in for JC last year. (If I remember right, its when we made up ground and secured the play in).

The OO loss hurts but Murray is a playmaker a step behind Trae. There is no doubling Trae with the 2 of them on the court together.

Just now, Final_quest said:

So we finally get to hear there is a big rumor that something big is coming, but we don’t know what.  Got it.  

If I knew more, I'd tell you.

11 minutes ago, KB21 said:

I can't imagine 16 and future assets getting a "big fish".  

Oh no...that was "added to player(s)".

Breaking some radio silence on something you've heard some of us talking about.

On June 9th I bounced the following off the other insiders in the insider thread. I was on a strict don't talk about this publicly until the draft but I don't see the point in holding it any further.  My post to the other guys on June 9th, slightly truncated.

"

Just had a very interesting conversation that I thought I'd bounce off of you guys. It is quite possible that anything we've heard, anything you are hearing in the media is false right now.

I talked with the old source who is still being fed info even though he's out of his old job but that info is now 2nd/3rd hand.  He states the Hawks are engaged in a major obfuscation campaign right now in order to hide their actual offseason activities. Per my guy, the org has been more active than in any other year past in spreading false information. Per the source, they do have a major fish lined up and they don't want anything to ruin it. So they and their partners are actively pushing false narratives out through their media leak partners and even unaware journalists. Even he isn't aware who the big fish is.  Says its being kept very hush hush. Closed door phone calls only. 

My guy says it could drop around draft night and would involve 16 and future assets. I spoke with my only remaining full time source by chat who said, no...nuh uh...oh man that would make some sense and asked if he could get back to me. That was a while ago, no word. He went from "no way" to "holy crap" in about 8 prolonged seconds..... There might be something secret brewing."

This was back on June 9th and discussions were had. I won't speak for the other guys.  I tried checking in with whoever I could talk to over the ensuring days, every few days and kept getting a "we don't talk about fight club" answer.  Up until June 9th, the only "big fish" we'd heard about were either Gobert or Ayton and something that had legs for a day or two about Simmons.  The Hawks had continued to push the idea they were looking for a trade partner for Gallo so they didn't have to waive him. There was no other noise coming out of the org, just the constant dribble of rumors about swapping Clint for another big man.

A week+ in to this, Travis went on the radio and stated we weren't making wholesale changes, everything was overblown. There was really no reason to say this publicly and immediately there after, the rumors about JC began to surface.  My guy (guys) stopped returning calls until the primary guy today (not the guy feeding me this) when he said, something will drop tonight, I don't have details (stated earlier today). Since June 9th, he's confirmed something is up but hasn't brought forward anything new.

In my years of being on the board and for many years hoarding info only for myself, I've never been shut out of info like this or been told something secret squirrel is going on for this long without details.

One thing I gleaned, the desire to move on from JC is mutual but not combative or beyond repair.  JC's fit with Clint is easily questioned but the proposed trades are mostly centered around John's desire to be in a more mature situation and the Hawks regretting all of the spending last year. The team was in a rebuilding phase since John arrived. Its been more unstable than he's comfortable with. The Hawks feel hamstrung. John is the 2nd highest paid player on the team, holds the most trade value and is arguably the easiest to replace with a free agent (like Portis), a year more of Gallo or a move to JJ. Neither party is happy with the potential split but both feel it may be the easiest path to their goals.  Both would be happy if he doesn't move on by Thursday. It would be the least happy divorce in history. John loves Atlanta, Atlanta loves John. Its a matter of fit from both perspectives. It isn't a sure thing he's moved. They've shopped him aggressively to gauge his value against what they've already been offered for him.

The original thinking was the best way to keep John was to pair him with a different center. That is no longer the only path forward.

One thing driving the Hawks thinking is the Miami series. Its not that they lost but a number of things that happened in that series outlined below.

1. Trae being grabbed, manhandled by Butler.  Nobody got in Butler's face. Hunter stepped in and separated them, pushed them both back but went straight at Trae talking to him.  Bogi and Gallo meandered about but nobody got in Butler's face. What I'm being told is team executives, ownership watched that over and over and that no one took the tech to give Butler a shove, take the heat from the Heat bothered them and questioned their team psychological makeup. Mentioned was the shoulder chuck given by Solo the previous year to Taj. We lacked that moment.

2. The dirty play of the Heat targeting Young and Hunter repeatedly in the series was a further focus of the lack of an enforcer on the floor. Remembering that Clint was out the first 3 games and JC was hurt throughout the series. The lack of both a star who could bait a call and a goon to give a hard foul. Leadership has talked about the psychology of winning a championship and the effect the goon tactics of Draymond Green had for GS. They're aware.

3. That the Hawks 3 point shooters clenched during the Miami series was on notice. Leadership noticed the lack of clutch.

The general feeling is the team played soft, played scared. That is the driving force behind their offseason plan. To get tougher.

Take this for what its worth but the current and 2 old sources are not returning my messages on the current media rumors. I've enjoyed radio silence for going on 3 days now.

In my experience, this is the calm before the storm. Happens often right before something goes down.