another plan...

[TheRedStripes]

Trades

Childress to Detroit for Darko

This gives Detroit more depth for their title run. It gives the Hawks a big man with upside, and sheds some of the SF surplus.

Harrington and Delk to Chicago for no.7 pick and Tim Thomas

Chicago wants Harrington, and they want to be rid of Thomas. The Hawks wouldn't resign Thomas in the offseason of course, so the contract comes off the books

Draft

no. 1 pick: Adam Morrison

Morrison has the insane scoring ability, leadership ability, and killer instinct that the hawks roster lacks right now. The majority of the players on the Hawks just seem too passive to me, Morrison's fiery play would help this team immensely. Read this article if you need more convincing. nbadraft.net stock watch

no. 7 pick: Rajon Rondo

Rondo has the tools the Hawks need in a point guard, he is a good defender and distributor. He will not light it up from outside the arc by no means, but he will create easy baskets for his team-mates and perhaps his defense can keep the Hawks from getting torched by every point guard in the league.

no. 31 pick: James White

White may not fall this far, but if he is there at 31 he would be a very interesting pick. He is long and his athletisicm is just unreal. If you have seen his dunk highlight reel, you know what im talking about. He will probably win the Slam Dunk contest no problem. He has also improved his shooting and is putting up more points this year.

Free Agency

Sign Nene

Sign David Andersen

Hawks need big men and both of these guys are good options. Andersen probably won't be a starter in the NBA, but should be a solid backup at center. Nene could be a bit of a gamble with his knee problem, but If he recovers well, he would be a nice pickup.

Roster

Rondo/Salim/Lue

Joe/White/Donta

Morrison/Marvin

Smoove/Darko/Batista

Nene/ZaZa/Andersen

[Final_quest]

Had no idea Morrison's stock was rising so much.

[Lascar78]

Just say no to Morrison for our team. We have enough SF's and he won't be able to play D in the NBA. Marvin and Morrison will both be SF and SF only. You can't have both on a team.

I would, however, trade Al for the 7 pick and get Rondo in a heartbeat. You could use the #1 pick on whichever big is looking best by that point (Aldridge/Bargnani/Splitter).

Rondo/Lue/Salim

JJ/Chill/Salim

Marvin/Chill

Pachulia/Smoove

Aldridge/Pachulia/Anderson

Also, while James White's dunks are absolutely mind-boggling, he will be useless in the NBA, much like Ismail Muhammad out of Tech. He won't get enough PT to get invited to the dunk contest. I'm not so sure that he's any better than Donta Smith in any area other than dunking. I think we can make better use of this pick

[Packfill]

Isn't that line-up a little too young? Would the Hawks actually be able to keep that group together for an additional 2+ seasons when they are all experienced enough to play?

[Lascar78]

well you would like to sign a veteran presence regardless of who we draft and/or trade Al for. The only reason you couldn't keep that group together is if ownership gets tired of losing and decides to stray from BK's plan. Otherwise, we have the rights to keep most everyone.

We definitely need some real vets in here to teach the young, and I don't count Al or JJ as vets. This is the only team in the league on which they would be considered vets.

[Packfill]

I am just worried that if the Hawks go all young then once they all come off their rookie contracts it will get real expensive real fast and then the nucleous is blown-up before any good can be made of it.

The Hawks do need a veteran leader, someone like a Mark Jackson/Avery Johnson vet point guard or Alonzo Mourning who can enforce the law with the kids.

[Traceman]

A team that young cannot win. That team would have a lot of young talent but by the time they were good enough to compete for anything, we would be trying to figure out how to keep them. Just like the Clippers have done over the years up until recently.

Nene will be a restricted FA next season and Darko will be a restricted FA the following season (he will make over $5M next season). As athletic big men, both will likely get big offers from someone who is desperate for size. Even if we sign Nene for $8M a season to start and Darko for the same (if Darko is not worth $8M a season when he becomes a FA, he's a complete bust - particularly when Kwame got $8M), we will be in big time trouble with the cap.

Remember, Morrison (#1 pick) will cost in excess of $4M next season and Rondo would be over $2M as a #7 pick. That is $6M for those 2 guys. Throw in Nene's $8M (we hope) and Darko's $5M and that is $19M for those 4 guys NEXT year. Add that to JJ, Zaza, Marvin, Lue, Smoove and Salim and we are looking at a $47M payroll next season and that is BEFORE Andersen, Batista, Donta or White.

The following year, we would have to resign Darko plus give everyone their annual raises. Then, the following year, when we would finally have a chance to be a pretty good team, Smoove and Chillz will be restricted FAs and Salim will be unrestricted. No way we keep all 3. Even worse, Marvin will be restricted and JJ unrestricted the year after that. Then Morrison and Rondo come due.

The bottom line for me is that I don't want to add two rookies to the team next year in addition to two vrtually unproven guys in Nene and Darko. I'd MUCH rather see us either trade Al for a quality PROVEN vet at a position of need or resign him. We can probably still sign Nene if we resign Al. We will also still have the lottery pick.

As for Morrison, I like his offensive game but defensively, he is FAR worse than Harrington. I'll have to watch him some more but I can't see taking him over Aldridge if Aldridge's back checks out.

[SouthernBred]

Last year Bull's won with a very young team, if Deng and Curry played they might have gone farther.

[chillzatl]

it took them years of misery to get to that point and what do you know, they lose curry and resign chandlers who proceeds to stink it up.

It takes years to build a team of young players and even then it's a crap shoot. If you get lucky after a few years and they all progress, you run the risk of losing them becuase htey're tired of being on a crappy team. Worst case they never improve and you're stuck being young and horrible for years (clippers).

[Packfill]

Agreed. Moreover, the Bulls success came only after the team shifted its drafting strategy to drafting college players who could come in and contribute immediately - i.e., Hinrich, Gordon, Duhon and Deng.

[Traceman]

it up after signing the big deal is possibly what we could be looking at if we try to build with all young guys. Just when Curry and Chandler mature enough to allow you to be competitive, you lose one to free agency. Then, the one you chose to keep stinks it up.

[exodus]

Actually as i understand it Chandler has some medical issues. I don't remember the details though.

[TheDude]

plus the one hurt, should be playing pf anyway to cut down on his wear and tear so it's almost like they were made to play together.

[Packfill]

Chandler has played in just about all of Chicago's games this season. Is it his back again?

[emeans]

If we get the No. 1 pick this year. This is the year Atlanta should look to trade that pick and get multiple picks from it. Even if we get No. 2 we need to trade it without question.

This draft has a lot of SG/SF dominating the top of the draft. Rondo may fall in the 5 to 10 range. We need to target Rondo and a big man.

The problem is there are no 7 footers in this draft!! Everyone is 6'11" at best.

We need two 1st round picks in this draft to satisfy ONLY TEAM NEEDS (PG and C)!!!

[exodus]

Quote:

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Chandler has played in just about all of Chicago's games this season. Is it his back again?

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No. He was complaining of constant fatigue from the beginning of the year and got a lot of tests done but I don't know what the conclusions were. We'll just have to ask mudder.