MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH ....

[Gray Mule]

 

Free agents flying all over the place.  Stars on the move, led by King James.  Teams who are over the cap worry about what to do.  Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks, with their surplus $$$$ payroll, sit quietly, twiddling their thumbs, waiting, like a vulture, to pick over the dead.

Things aren't getting any better.  Teams haven't began to sweat.  Not yet.  We all wonder what's going on behind the scenes.  We really don't know, but we can guess.  Some how, some way, it will all work out.  It always does. Hawks really don't know what they have right now.  How can we even guess about our future?

The first part of a rebuild is to tear down and do away with all the old that we don't want.  Hawks started that at the beginning of last season.  Then, we drafted three first round young men who we have high hopes for.  Are they any good?  Ask again in a couple of years!  Right now, they are green as grass.

Every fan worth his or her salt hates to lose.  We've been thru that.  The biggest star in the east has gone west.  The door is open.  Can this Hawk team win the east?  Don't be silly.  We know better.  Three teams now are fighting for the favorite position.  With the right moves between now and the onset of the regular season, we might be favored to make the playoffs.  Are we that good?  No.  Not yet.  Remember, we're 1000 to 1 odds to win it all.  Hah!

Don't give up on the kids.  They will make some silly, rookie mistakes that will cost us the game.  On the other hand, watch out!  Sometimes, when things go right and mistakes are held to a bare minimum, these young lads can beat any team in the east.  Not often, but it will happen.  And, the nearer we get to the end of the season, the more dangerous it will be for any team to face Atlanta.

MEANWHILE, GO ATL HAWKS !!

[DrReality]

You sound like that guy who is on  92.9 the game who ask and answers his own questions.   

[Gray Mule]

9 hours ago, DrReality said:

You sound like that guy who is on  92.9 the game who ask and answers his own questions.   

Best way to avoid an argument.  This is probably why I have few answering posts!!

[Gray Mule]

Now, suppose I stir the pot a bit:

Right now, before any trades are made and no free agents come or go, what do we have?

Three teen age draft picks, who have not yet come into their full maturity as men.  All of you who are older understand what I mean.  For goodness sakes, Spellman still hasn't shed all his baby fat.  Kevin Huerter is still recovering and hasn't played in summer league.

Trae Young, after 3 summer league games, has not been the scorer that we thought and, since his team mates have missed a lot of shots, his assists are lower than expected.  That's the bad stuff.  Apparently, he is a capable passer and he has grabbed a few rebounds.  And, surprise, he CAN play just a bit of defense!~

Remember, all the players on our roster at the end of last season are not gone.  As bad as the Hawks were (and they were trying to be, remember the tank) there was some fairly good players.  Without adding our three new teen ager players, we should be as good as we were last season.  I know, Bud and his crew are gone and we have Lloyd Pierce and his new crew, all unproven to us.  Who knows how well they will do.

All three rookies seem to be happy to be Hawks.  All three are said to have a good NBA IQ.  Then will need this as there is so much that they still must learn.  Personally, I am impressed with Omari Spellman.  Most say he would have been a second round pick if we hadn't taken him.  So what.  I like his talent and his attitude.

Doom and gloom.  (Hee Haw song)  "Gloom, despair and agony on me.  If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all."  Apparently, for some, this is to be our theme song for the upcoming season.

This is the second year of an expected ten year rebuild.  When this ten years are over, we start again.

Will we trade Dennis?  I hope not.  If we do, he must be replaced with a veteran PG to be here and help train Trae.  Will we trade Dedmon.  I hope not.  We need him.  He was pretty good last season. 

Before The King went west, Many said that the current Hawks team would struggle to win more games than our terrible team of a 13 win season.  I suppose that move should give us one or two more wins.

How many national televised games did the Hawks have last season?  None, as far as I can remember.  Look out!  With the excitement our three rookies are expected to bring, I'll bet we get there this season!!  We are already getting more national ink than we usually do.  If this season's Hawk team is stirring up the national audience, shouldn't our very own Hawk fans jump up and down and cheer just a bit !!

GO ATL HAWKS !!

[Spud2nique]

27 minutes ago, Gray Mule said:

For goodness sakes, Spellman still hasn't shed all his baby fat. 

? @JayBirdHawk I love this gramps. Tell you the truth, at 42 years of age, I still got a little of that too but I guess it’s not baby ? style anymore ...

 

Gramps, I need more chores at the ranch. I’m gonna shed all my man fat and become Thon Maker. (promise I won’t low kick any chickens ? on the ranch).

[JayBirdHawk]

44 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

? @JayBirdHawk I love this gramps. Tell you the truth, at 42 years of age, I still got a little of that too but I guess it’s not baby ? style anymore ...

 

Gramps, I need more chores at the ranch. I’m gonna shed all my man fat and become Thon Maker. (promise I won’t low kick any chickens ? on the ranch).

You don't have baby fat....just, you know...fat.

[Spud2nique]

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

You don't have baby fat....just, you know...fat.

 

[Spud2nique]

19 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

You don't have baby fat....just, you know...fat.

https://youtu.be/LVjMQH3zAFE

[AHF]

7 hours ago, Gray Mule said:

Trae Young, after 3 summer league games, has not been the scorer that we thought and, since his team mates have missed a lot of shots, his assists are lower than expected.  That's the bad stuff.  Apparently, he is a capable passer and he has grabbed a few rebounds.  And, surprise, he CAN play just a bit of defense!~

 

I don't think we will find out much about what Trae can and can't do this summer.  The schedule is short so there isn't much time and he is playing mostly against guys who won't be in the league or in their team's rotation if they do make the league.  We will find out how effectively he can drive, play defense, rebound, pass, etc. against NBA talent only in the regular season with an offensive system in place and real talent playing against him.  Similarly, can't read much into the shooting numbers mostly because of the small sample size.  His 36% FG% and 26% 3pt% in March and April concerns me more than his summer league shooting numbers.