What are the positives from this season?

[ATL_BALLER]

Assuming we continue our path toward eeking out the 8th seed and getting crushed round 1, I'd like to think we'll have something to show at the end of the day.

*Establishing a more competitive culture: record non-withstanding, this injury-ravaged group has battled. That's without a doubt a far cry from the more talented but prone-to-blowout teams of the recent past. The problem is that many of these players aren't necessarily long-term pieces, but I guess we've established the type of player that fits here.

*A year of experience for Coach Bud: he's been a lead assistant for so long, so not sure how valid/important this one is, but we can say he's established himself as our first real coach in some time

I'd love to add 'player development', but beyond Mack and Scott, and maybe DMC, who's still relatively young with more growth potential, who have we developed that's a significant part of the long-term plan? No chance they turn the keys over to Dennis with the playoffs at stake, so not sure we've really succeeded here.

Um, what else?

[buckeye242424]

Assuming we continue our path toward eeking out the 8th seed and getting crushed round 1, I'd like to think we'll have something to show at the end of the day.

*Establishing a more competitive culture: record non-withstanding, this injury-ravaged group has battled. That's without a doubt a far cry from the more talented but prone-to-blowout teams of the recent past. The problem is that many of these players aren't necessarily long-term pieces, but I guess we've established the type of player that fits here.

*A year of experience for Coach Bud: he's been a lead assistant for so long, so not sure how valid/important this one is, but we can say he's established himself as our first real coach in some time

I'd love to add 'player development', but beyond Mack and Scott, and maybe DMC, who's still relatively young with more growth potential, who have we developed that's a significant part of the long-term plan? No chance they turn the keys over to Dennis with the playoffs at stake, so not sure we've really succeeded here.

Um, what else?

Signing Sap to that crazy deal and he was a first time all-star.

[GrimeyKidd]

Finding 2nd round gems

[macdaddy]

Assuming we continue our path toward eeking out the 8th seed and getting crushed round 1, I'd like to think we'll have something to show at the end of the day.

*Establishing a more competitive culture: record non-withstanding, this injury-ravaged group has battled. That's without a doubt a far cry from the more talented but prone-to-blowout teams of the recent past. The problem is that many of these players aren't necessarily long-term pieces, but I guess we've established the type of player that fits here.

*A year of experience for Coach Bud: he's been a lead assistant for so long, so not sure how valid/important this one is, but we can say he's established himself as our first real coach in some time

I'd love to add 'player development', but beyond Mack and Scott, and maybe DMC, who's still relatively young with more growth potential, who have we developed that's a significant part of the long-term plan? No chance they turn the keys over to Dennis with the playoffs at stake, so not sure we've really succeeded here.

Um, what else?

I feel like we've done a lot for one season in player development. We can't see Dennis' development but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Millsap has improved. I think there is a lot of development put into Teague and as you said DMC. Plus we've established that Korver can be a serious offensive weapon whether he's shooting or not.

So we've got a core group right now of Teague/Korver/DMC/Millsap/Horford who are pretty serious players who's contracts aren't preventing us from grabbing a much better player or two. Unlike our previous core which took up all our cap and we were scraping the bargain bins to fill out the roster.

[Vol4ever]

I feel like we've done a lot for one season in player development. We can't see Dennis' development but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Millsap has improved. I think there is a lot of development put into Teague and as you said DMC. Plus we've established that Korver can be a serious offensive weapon whether he's shooting or not. So we've got a core group right now of Teague/Korver/DMC/Millsap/Horford who are pretty serious players who's contracts aren't preventing us from grabbing a much better player or two. Unlike our previous core which took up all our cap and we were scraping the bargain bins to fill out the roster.

I would disagree on the bargain bins....................we have several on this team. Dennis was not the player this year everybody jumped up and down about.Positives.........Millsap and Horford are the core. DMC is a decent role player pickup. Scott worked on and improved his game this summer. Coach Bud is the biggest IMO, he has kept this team in games we would have never been in before. I'm not a believer in DF at this point, he hasn't showed me much. He has no resume to show that he is or will become a top GM. I hope he does.

[capstone21]

I'm not a believer in DF at this point, he hasn't showed me much. He has no resume to show that he is or will become a top GM. I hope he does.

Danny got us out of the untouchable contracts and cap hell and got expiring players/draft picks in return.

He signed Sap to probably the best contract in the league

Found quality players like DMC

Brought in an excellent coach who gets the team to compete every day

Brought in quality guys and shuffled out attitudes (the whole culture thing)

Its extremely difficult to lure top tier free agent here even with cap space...the last time a top fa came here was Deke (Joe was a trade).

Dallas couldn't get anyone either with their recent cap space.

Ferry has done a tremendous job so far IMO

[DJlaysitup]

I think there would be even more positives if everybody stayed healthy - but since not - I would have to say Bud is the best story and his coaching up of Mack/Scott/DMC and team effort in general. Honorable mention to Millsap for being much better than anybody really expected and making the All-Star team.

Coach Bud's first impression left something to be desired and we hooted on him about the booze for the 1st couple weeks in the chatroom (pot calling the kettle black in my case)...but he has really shown his stuff as a coach.

Maybe this is going too far, but I could actually see the Hawks as a decent F/A destination in the future due to Coach Bud's style. Not for the flashy stars so much - but for the 2nd/3rd option type guys who are ready to play some team ball.

Congrats Coach Bud - now go out there and lose as many of these remaining games as you can!

(side note: My son is a big D.Wade/Heat fan so he is pulling for us to get that 8th seed bigtime - in hopes the Heat get the 1 seed and Wade can get a lot of rest in the first round series... ).

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

[*]Surprise emergence of DMC

[*]Scott's play

[*]Seeing a team with zero quit

[*]Knowing that we are set with our coaching staff for years to come

[Alex]

One more season closer to Ferry being canned. That's the only positive.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[benhillboy]

Defense sure isn't one, but what we've done offensively with our talent is nothing short of miraculous. I'd compare our overall on-floor talent that we've showcased up to this point as on par or greater than 4 out of 30: Orlando, Philly, Utah, and Milwuakee. None of those teams can boast that they're...1st in assiss6th in FT%7th in 3PT%7th in steals8th in FG%9th in PPS13th in PPGBasically, our offense is poised for success in the East for the forseeable future. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say many of those rankings were rarely approached by our Old Core, which supposedly had much more "talent." I can't be happier about the system Bud has brought.

Edited March 7, 2014 by benhillboy

[AHF]

Defense sure isn't one, but what we've done offensively with our talent is nothing short of miraculous. I'd compare our overall on-floor talent that we've showcased up to this point as on par or greater than 4 out of 30: Orlando, Philly, Utah, and Milwuakee. None of those teams can boast that they're...1st in assiss6th in FT%7th in 3PT%7th in steals8th in FG%9th in PPS13th in PPGBasically, our offense is poised for success in the East for the forseeable future. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say many of those rankings were rarely approached by our Old Core, which supposedly had much more "talent." I can't be happier about the system Bud has brought.

We have the 5th worst talent in the league but we are poised for success for the foreseeable future? All the teams you think we are comparable to are heading for much better draft picks than us but are not looking at big things for the immediate future. If I thought our talent was like that I would be worried that we weren't near the top of the draft.

[TheFuzz]

Think he meant with injuries. Positives? We know we can make good FA signings now (MIllsap, Carroll and to a lesser extent Korver), Ferry finds players in the 2nd round (Scott and to a lesser extent Muscala), we've got a great coach.

If we miss the playoffs we're pretty much in the 8-10 range depending on how hard we fall. Cleveland seems set on making the playoffs, NY and Detroit don't have their pick so I imagine they'll try to make the playoffs, and the West owns the 11-14 spots.

So, would you rather have, say, the number #3 pick in the draft (with perhaps another pick or two depending on what we get for Horford) and tank another year or two, or the #9 pick in the draft (plus Korver, Teague, Millsap, Horford) with the promise of a quick turn around, while Schröder develops into the PG he can be?

[AHF]

Think he meant with injuries. Positives? We know we can make good FA signings now (MIllsap, Carroll and to a lesser extent Korver), Ferry finds players in the 2nd round (Scott and to a lesser extent Muscala), we've got a great coach.

If we miss the playoffs we're pretty much in the 8-10 range depending on how hard we fall. Cleveland seems set on making the playoffs, NY and Detroit don't have their pick so I imagine they'll try to make the playoffs, and the West owns the 11-14 spots.

So, would you rather have, say, the number #3 pick in the draft (with perhaps another pick or two depending on what we get for Horford) and tank another year or two, or the #9 pick in the draft (plus Korver, Teague, Millsap, Horford) with the promise of a quick turn around, while Schröder develops into the PG he can be?

My plan for the season was a top pick and keep Horford. I thought that starting Schröder and some youngsters with Horford would let us get a top pick and then have the cap room to sign a max free agent this offseason. That plan would have been even easier to execute after Horford's injury. We would not have Teague, Korver or Millsap but would have the 23M in cap space they take up.

[Alex]

Dang Alex, even I don't hate Ferry as much as you do and that's saying something.

Surely you can think of another positive though, no?

Millsap is a positive. Always been a fan of his. He's a professional on the court and I am glad he made the all star game finally.

[NBASupes]

We have an identity. We haven't had one since Len was coaching Smitty, Deke, and Mookie.

We are finally tanking, how we do at this says if we had a great season or a horrible one.

Antić was a surprise at first.

Dennis showed in flashes. Few considering his PT.

[DJlaysitup]

We are the worst professional sports franchise on the face of the earth.Book it Dano

[MaceCase]

My plan for the season was a top pick and keep Horford. I thought that starting Schröder and some youngsters with Horford would let us get a top pick and then have the cap room to sign a max free agent this offseason. That plan would have been even easier to execute after Horford's injury. We would not have Teague, Korver or Millsap but would have the 23M in cap space they take up.

No way I could see that scenario playing out if Al was healthy. We've already seen just how publicly skittish he was already about Ferry letting guys go so there's absolutely no way I see him being quiet over an obvious tanking team with him still having to play Center no less. Just can't have our cake and eat it too, I mentioned before how guys like McGrady and Carter wouldn't even abide playing with Dwight and Bosh and how that ruined their trade value so I didn't see a better scenario with Al. If we were going the tanking route then I suggested Al being shipped off ASAP for more assets and securing us firmly as a top 5 lotto team. Just pie in the sky thinking we could willingly keep Al and get a top pick in any other scenario but a SA-Duncan or CHI-Rose so I guess we are actually in a better situation now than before if just a few things swing out way.

[tbhawksfan]

So, what's going to swing our way? Is Brooklyn going to lose enough to improve our pick? Are we going to beat anyone in the third round of the playoffs? Did we take advantage of a losing season to use the draft to improve the team? Did we develop last years firsts?

It looks like the ONLY way Ferry's plan will work is IF he can bring in a Harden type FA.

[AHF]

So, what's going to swing our way? Is Brooklyn going to lose enough to improve our pick? Are we going to beat anyone in the third round of the playoffs? Did we take advantage of a losing season to use the draft to improve the team? Did we develop last years firsts?

It looks like the ONLY way Ferry's plan will work is IF he can bring in a Harden type FA.

Swing our way = get really lucky in the draft by either hitting in the lottery or hope a Paul Pierce, Paul George, etc. slips all the way to our 9 (best case) - 15 (worst case) pick.

I also see us on the Houston path of mediocrity and flexible contracts. We may acquire our first late lottery pick to use as an asset ala the two that Houston used to fund the Harden trade.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Defense sure isn't one, but what we've done offensively with our talent is nothing short of miraculous. I'd compare our overall on-floor talent that we've showcased up to this point as on par or greater than 4 out of 30: Orlando, Philly, Utah, and Milwuakee. None of those teams can boast that they're...1st in assiss6th in FT%7th in 3PT%7th in steals8th in FG%9th in PPS13th in PPGBasically, our offense is poised for success in the East for the forseeable future. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say many of those rankings were rarely approached by our Old Core, which supposedly had much more "talent." I can't be happier about the system Bud has brought.

That's because our OLD core was a much better defensive and rebounding squad . . . attributes that actually win games on most nights. The offensive system means nothing if it can't produce wins. It's simply what Golden State used to do back in the early - mid 2000s

Edited March 9, 2014 by TheNorthCydeRises