BSPN rating us down

[Thomas]

12 hours ago, Hawksquawk said:

Normally I’d scoff at the thought of paying any player who is 32 a starting salary in excess of $33 million. If ever a player was worth that, it might actually be Millsap who has done just about everything possible for Hawks during his tenure. Whether it is a smart financial decision or not, it will be hard to part ways with Millsap and be a better team.

http://hawksquawk.net/community/topic/417646-peachtree-hoops-atlanta-hawks-plummet-in-espn-future-power-rankings/

Other than this comment a typically the sky is falling on the Hawks article by ESPN. 

[AHF]

ESPN has underpredicted us for at least the last decade.  Why stop now?

[macdaddy]

Typical illogical arguments.   Critical that we didn't resign 30 year old Al Horford to a 5 year max deal while also critical that we have a 30 year old Dwight Howard under contract for 3 seasons.  Dwight will be effective for 3 more seasons easy.   We'll have to pay Sap but no team ends up with 15 bargain contracts.   Outside of those guys who show no signs of slowing down, we have nothing but quality young players that we control for the foreseeable future.   Dennis, Baze, Hardaway, Delaney, Prince, Bembry, Edy plus vets on expiring and bargain deals who all chose to be here Korver, Thabo, Hump, Jack.     

I've been critical of Budcox's GMing but this roster has a LOT of promise for the future.   Dwight and Al this season are going to make Bud look like a genius.   Hardaway, Dennis, Prince and Bembry by next season are going to cement that genius status.   Overpaying Sap won't feel so risky when we have a team full of up and coming young guys.

[AHF]

They have our roster as the 21st in the league - meaning they think only 9 teams will be worse than us this year.  That is indefensible.  Moreover, they have us ranked below teams like Miami and Chicago which are clearly circling the drain right now.  Oh well.  Make them eat that crap like they do every year when they predict us to miss the playoffs.

[Thomas]

Guess there is no reason for them to have a conscious since they have no memories whatsoever of almost always being wrong about us in the first place.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

They have our roster as the 21st in the league - meaning they think only 9 teams will be worse than us this year.  That is indefensible.  Moreover, they have us ranked below teams like Miami and Chicago which are clearly circling the drain right now.  Oh well.  Make them eat that crap like they do every year when they predict us to miss the playoffs.

I agree but I think this is Future power rankings for the franchise's prospects for the next 3 seasons.

[AHF]

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

I agree but I think this is Future power rankings for the franchise's prospects for the next 3 seasons.

I still don't remotely buy it.  It is the current players and their potential growth, factoring in possible departures.

For the next 3 years, Sap and Dwight both look good.  Neither will even reach their mid-30s by then.  Baze will still be in his 20's.  Dennis will be better than today.  That leaves only Korver and a possible loss of Sap - but we will have max cap space next season and be able to sign him so that shouldn't be viewed as a definite.

You've got potential meaningful growth from other young players in their early 20's including Prince, Bembry, THJr, and Eddy and two of these guy play the one position in the starting lineup that looks like it will be a hole in a few years down the line.

In contrast, you've got a team like Chicago rated above us with very few players under contract after next season and a core of downward trending players like Wade and Rondo who look unlikely to still be positive contributors two years from now let alone 3.    They are staring from a place where they clearly aren't as good as us this year and their growth for the future looks to be based around 3 players: Mirotic (in the last year of his contract), Portis, and Valentine (who was picked in between our two rookies).

Given that they were worse than us last year and look to have some major roster issues, how can they rank above us?  Annoying.

[BigDog90]

14 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Typical illogical arguments.   Critical that we didn't resign 30 year old Al Horford to a 5 year max deal while also critical that we have a 30 year old Dwight Howard under contract for 3 seasons.  Dwight will be effective for 3 more seasons easy.   We'll have to pay Sap but no team ends up with 15 bargain contracts.   Outside of those guys who show no signs of slowing down, we have nothing but quality young players that we control for the foreseeable future.   Dennis, Baze, Hardaway, Delaney, Prince, Bembry, Edy plus vets on expiring and bargain deals who all chose to be here Korver, Thabo, Hump, Jack.     

I've been critical of Budcox's GMing but this roster has a LOT of promise for the future.   Dwight and Al this season are going to make Bud look like a genius.   Hardaway, Dennis, Prince and Bembry by next season are going to cement that genius status.   Overpaying Sap won't feel so risky when we have a team full of up and coming young guys.

Hawks got to pay Dennis and Hardaway. Dennis should get the max contract 5 years 117 million, I believe. Hardaway should command something comparable to what Fournier got (17 million a year) plus you got Baze and Dwight on the books. With the Hawks having to fill so many spots on the roster, I'm not sure if it'll be wise to spend big for Millsap, may just have to let him go. I can't see him taking a paycut to stay.  Somebody like Boston would pay him the 30+ mil. 

I wonder would Thabo and Korver ring chase. I'm sure plenty of teams would offer Korver.

2017 Hawks

PG - Dennis/Delaney

SG - Hardaway/

SF - Baze/Prince

PF - ?/Scott

C - Dwight/Hump

 

Edited October 5, 2016 by BigDog90

[AHF]

10 hours ago, BigDog90 said:

Hawks got to pay Dennis and Hardaway.   Hardaway should command something comparable to what Fournier got (17 million a year)

[Guest]

13 hours ago, BigDog90 said:

Hardaway should command something comparable to what Fournier got (17 million a year).

Yeaaah......NO.

Fournier is a legitimate starter, THJr has yet to show he's even a capable, reliable backup to Korver.

He would really have to take a monumental leap of epic proportions to get Fournier money.

(I'm hoping he does).

 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Yeaaah......NO.

Fournier is a legitimate starter, THJr has yet to show he's even a capable, reliable backup to Korver.

He would really have to take a monumental leap of epic proportions to get Fournier money.

(I'm hoping he does).

 

I think @BigDog90 needs to google Fournier and see some highlights.

[BigDog90]

12 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Yeaaah......NO.

Fournier is a legitimate starter, THJr has yet to show he's even a capable, reliable backup to Korver.

He would really have to take a monumental leap of epic proportions to get Fournier money.

(I'm hoping he does).

 

The way local media has been covering Hardaway, he seems to be likely to make that leap this season. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, BigDog90 said:

The way local media has been covering Hardaway, he seems to be likely to make that leap this season. 

I would love nothing more for that to be true. 

[BigDog90]

3 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

I think @BigDog90 needs to google Fournier and see some highlights.

I'm not saying he's as good as Fournier. I'm talking his contract. You got old out of prime players like Joe who won't even start get 11 mil a year. 16/17 mil seems to be the average this summer for role players (Deng, Fournier, Mozgov). It should be even higher next summer since the cap rising.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, BigDog90 said:

I'm not saying he's as good as Fournier. I'm talking his contract. You got old out of prime players like Joe who won't even start get 11 mil a year. 16/17 mil seems to be the average this summer for role players (Deng, Fournier, Mozgov). It should be even higher next summer since the cap rising.

What they have is a resume to fall back on.

Unfortunately, all THJr has right now is being traded for a 1st round pick, DNP-CD and NY thinking they robbed us. It's the current narrative.

That has to change first.

[AHF]

I think he can take the next step into reliable role player this season.  Saying we need to pony up $17M/yr for him is crazy even granting that his performance this season could easily result in a 7 figure differences in the value of his next contract.  If he has his career average season of 41% from the floor and 35% from 3pt range he won't get close to that amount.  If he scores like he did in March, he could make himself a lot of money.  That hasn't happened yet.  Hope it does and that his value is kicked up another notch by stepping up (rather than down) in the post-season.

[Thomas]

It's been said before that the coaching of our players has made good players very, very good and very rich as well so I expect nothing less this time around. THJ has everything in his favor including his DNA but it has to show on the floor with some stats and much more importantly him helping us earn wins when it really counts. The PR about his summer makes it seem like a strong year coming up and we are all waiting for it. Hoping for our future starting SG to appear.

[LamarHampton]

BSPN coverage of the Hawks is kinda like...

[Guest]

8 hours ago, LamarHampton said:

BSPN coverage of the Hawks is kinda like...

[SalvorMallow]

Is it just me, or is Zach Lowe becoming less and less comprehensible as the years go on? 

 

He rated hawks 25th on his "watchability" index.

Quote

25. ATLANTA HAWKS (25)

Oh my god. I might have to recalibrate any system that drops Team Cognoscenti15 spots in a single season. Do Dwight Howard's farts carry that devastating a stench? Perhaps the ratings are skeptical about mixing Howard's slowing interior game with Budenholzer's pass-happy, outside-in machine. The Hawks built their team around the idea that defenses couldn't keep up with two big men -- Al Horford and Paul Millsap -- comfortable popping, dishing, and screening 25 feet from the hoop. On defense, Horford and Millsap harassed ball-handlers 30 feet from the rim, arms spread into passing lanes, forming a hydra that swiped a ton of turnovers.

What do they do now? On offense, they want to use the Dennis Schröder-Howard pick-and-roll to batter the rim -- a fine style, but also one that robs the Hawks of what made them the Hawks.

Schröder's slithery recklessness on the pick-and-roll is magnetic, even if he struggles to finish wild flails at the rim. Millsap is one of the league's finest all-around players, but some of his best work is the stuff you miss on first watch -- not exactly "change the channel!" material.

There is something a little stale about the arena and television experience. The new court, with its shaded, feathery pattern in the paint, is a little too busy for my taste.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17681632/the-annual-nba-league-pass-rankings-part-1