The cobbled together, stuff we held on to during the playoffs mega super rumor and team direction thread.

[Wretch]

25 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Addendum...

But we have to have that offensive player that protect Trae from Being isolated on offense.   That's what Mitchell represents to me.

Can PG13 be that player... Sure.. but he's what 35?

We're talking about a young DMitch who has mucho trade value. ... and if we see after 1 year that what you said is true and that this backcourt gets us cooked, we can trade him. 

But... What if it works??  Nobody wants to consider that you can put to good offensive players together and the team can be successful because the defenses can't easily focus on one...

 

See my post above this... If we could get him, then we'd be better served by immediately moving him in a 3way.  I absolutely think you can put two great offensive talents together.  I think with the right coaching and scheme and support players...and size, I don't think defense will be a problem.  Our scheme, support, and size goes to sh!t with Mitchell.

That's just how I see it dude.  I can't co-sign on this.

[Diesel]

1 minute ago, Wretch said:

I think with the right coaching and scheme and support players...and size, I don't think defense will be a problem.  Our scheme, support, and size goes to sh!t with Mitchell.

That's just how I see it dude.  I can't co-sign on this.

I think that's the unknown.  People are on here sounding like Experts... but the truth is that nobody can predict what will happen if we were to bring in Mitchell.  We don't even know what our scheme will look like.  We don't know what the roster looks like or how it will be used.  If you knew when we picked up Gallo and Bogi that we were going to the ECF and would be 2 games from the finals.. then you may predict and I might believe you.. but otherwise.... I remember being here and not hearing anybody predicting that we had a team that could win as much as we did.  IN fact, I remember going into the playoffs and a lot of squawkers believing that we would give NY a good fight or we would give Philly a good fight.. but we would not win... So as far as your overall predictive powers... let's give it a rest. 

But one thing we do know is that we will have two high powered offensive players that no defense would be able to easily isolate. 

[Diesel]

14 minutes ago, Wretch said:

I think maybe we're caught up on the idea that we have to get a star SG for Trae.  It doesn't have to be.

But if you could get a Star.. why wouldn't you?

 

[JayBirdHawk]

40 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Can PG13 be that player... Sure.. but he's what 35?

31 years.

[Diesel]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

31 years.

That's a lot better... 

DMitch is 25..  Lots of miles left...

[Peoriabird]

Why is there such a rush to change the core of this team after a 43-39 season that could have gone much better without the injuries and the Covid?  The core's average age is still around 24-25 years old right.  Can't we at the very least wait until the trade deadline to see whether this team is closer to the 2020/21 vs the 2021/22 team when healthy?  The trade value of most of our pieces are at an all time low so why buy high and sell low.  Sounds like a losing strategy to me.

[macdaddy]

17 minutes ago, Wretch said:

I think maybe we're caught up on the idea that we have to get a star SG for Trae.  It doesn't have to be.

Yeah for sure.  But it has to be a scorer somewhere.   We can't just have guys who can hit open shots but can't actually create for themselves or finish.  

I'm focused on wing because no one has won a title in my adulthood without an elite scoring wing.  Hakeem ain't walking through that door.  

What do you think of Lavine?   

[REHawksFan]

7 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I think that's the unknown.  People are on here sounding like Experts... but the truth is that nobody can predict what will happen if we were to bring in Mitchell.  We don't even know what our scheme will look like.  We don't know what the roster looks like or how it will be used.  If you knew when we picked up Gallo and Bogi that we were going to the ECF and would be 2 games from the finals.. then you may predict and I might believe you.. but otherwise.... I remember being here and not hearing anybody predicting that we had a team that could win as much as we did.  IN fact, I remember going into the playoffs and a lot of squawkers believing that we would give NY a good fight or we would give Philly a good fight.. but we would not win... So as far as your overall predictive powers... let's give it a rest. 

But one thing we do know is that we will have two high powered offensive players that no defense would be able to easily isolate. 

There's for sure a bunch of folks that apparently stayed at a Holiday Inn last night cuz they fo sho think they know what's going to happen.  I'll just say I'm done trying to figure this team out and predict what's going to happen with any success.  This was practically the same damn team as last year and the results were drastically different. Why?  Who the hell knows?  Both had injuries. Both had Nate.Same core. Different team.  

 

Could the key REALLY be Solo?  I dunno.  But one thing the last 2 seasons has shown me is any damn thing is possible with this franchise. So I'm not going to presume to know what pairing Trae and Mitchell - two close friends by the way - will do for the team.  Will they suck so bad defensively that nothing else matters?  Maybe. Will they have fun playing and give effort on D and become an elite team?  Sure, why not?  

I'm just at a point where I want to see some more talented dudes come in here and I'll wait to see how it all pans out next year.  

[macdaddy]

2 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

There's for sure a bunch of folks that apparently stayed at a Holiday Inn last night cuz they fo sho think they know what's going to happen.  I'll just say I'm done trying to figure this team out and predict what's going to happen with any success.  This was practically the same damn team as last year and the results were drastically different. Why?  Who the hell knows?  Both had injuries. Both had Nate.Same core. Different team.  

 

Could the key REALLY be Solo?  I dunno.  But one thing the last 2 seasons has shown me is any damn thing is possible with this franchise. So I'm not going to presume to know what pairing Trae and Mitchell - two close friends by the way - will do for the team.  Will they suck so bad defensively that nothing else matters?  Maybe. Will they have fun playing and give effort on D and become an elite team?  Sure, why not?  

I'm just at a point where I want to see some more talented dudes come in here and I'll wait to see how it all pans out next year.  

Yep.  And most likely whatever happens we probably won't really know about it until right before it does or even after.

[Peoriabird]

3 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

 This was practically the same damn team as last year and the results were drastically different. Why? 

 

This one is easy...Trae Young played like a super star in the playoffs last year but it didn't happen for him this year

[marco102]

18 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Why is there such a rush to change the core of this team after a 43-39 season that could have gone much better without the injuries and the Covid?  The core's average age is still around 24-25 years old right.  Can't we at the very least wait until the trade deadline to see whether this team is closer to the 2020/21 vs the 2021/22 team when healthy?  The trade value of most of our pieces are at an all time low so why buy high and sell low.  Sounds like a losing strategy to me.

I agree to this to an extent, but if there is a case to get a star now, you should probably do it. 

[Peoriabird]

9 minutes ago, marco102 said:

I agree to this to an extent, but if there is a case to get a star now, you should probably do it. 

What's the rush???  Is that guy or somene like him not going to be available ever again?  Sounds weird to me.

[Wretch]

14 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Yeah for sure.  But it has to be a scorer somewhere.   We can't just have guys who can hit open shots but can't actually create for themselves or finish.  

I'm focused on wing because no one has won a title in my adulthood without an elite scoring wing.  Hakeem ain't walking through that door.  

What do you think of Lavine?   

TBH, Lavine is one of two people on my list right now.  I've liked him for years.  He can handle the ball, he has size, and athleticism...  He has been my pick ever since he had those duels with Trae a few seasons back.  Brandon Ingram is the other guy I like right now and I've been high on him for the same amount of time.

Side note...I've eyeballed all 3 of Chicago's wings at some point or another.  I thought Lonzo would have been a good fit, but I couldn't bring myself to accept the reality of having his dad tied to our franchise.  Ugh.  I would have swallowed the pill for Melo though.  That was my guy in the 2020 draft.  I wish we could have moved up for him.......

[JayBirdHawk]

2 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

What's the rush???  Is that guy or somene like him not going to be available every again?  Sounds weird to me.

You always want to be getting better. If an opportunity presents itself, you make a move that makes sense for now and the future.

Schlenk has already stated that bringing back mostly the entire team was not such a good idea - so I expect some changes.  To what extent? We shall see.

[thecampster]

A few things for you guys to consider.

If we waive Gallo, we can stretch the waiver portion of his salary over 3 years at $1.667 annual. To be fair, this is a highly creative way to free up 3.33 million next year at the cost of gimping us 1.67 million over the next 2 seasons. This could be the difference between the LT or not. A trade out for Gallo effectively only saves you 1.6 to 5 million.  Don't expect a trade unless its for someone wanting to dump a $20 million salary so they can waive Gallo and get their own tax savings. Gallo will not be sent out in a sign and trade so any trade would have to be for someone with at least 2 years left on their contract for between (approximately) $15-$22 million or a package trade (like with Bogi) for someone with a $34-$40+ million salary.  The perfect fit here is cap relief for Brooklyn (before June 29th) in a trade for Simmons.  Brooklyn takes on Gallo/Bogi then waives Bogi immediately.  Any such trade raises Atlanta's cap number about $12 to $15.333 million depending on how you do your math.

 

Assuming  we waive Gallo, that we accept all player options and assuming we either resign Cooper, Mays, Knox at near their minimum +/ a bit (and or other vets to replace them)....it works out to 12 players under contract at roughly $143 million. A trade for Simmons would put us roughly at $158 million.

 

Bogi's contract after next season has a player's option at $18 million. This could both really help (potential expiring) or really hurt (he plays well earning a bigger pay day) his trade value. Either way, you may be stuck with Bogi on your roster for 2 more seasons (or) you may lose him after next year for nothing if he rejects his player option.

 

Now assuming there is also a trade for a center and our outgoing pieces are Clint + Huerter + 16 for lets say Gobert. This would raise our theoretical cap next year by about $1 million.  But the 2 above trades now leave us with a roster of 11 players. You can technically lower this number by $3.45 million using the traded player exceptions for Bruno and Hill.

Theoretical world here is where the above would get you at about $154.4 million in salary.

1. No draft pick.

Lineup

Trae/Wright/Cooper (other)

Simmons/Mays (other)/

Hunter/Knox (other)

JC/JJ

Gobert/OO

 

Assuming the last 4 slots are used on vet minimums and 2nd round picks you're looking at a final roster total of about $160 million, light tax payer status.

 

For all playing fantasy GM, I wanted to give you some real world expectations.

[Peoriabird]

12 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

You always want to be getting better. If an opportunity presents itself, you make a move that makes sense for now and the future.

Schlenk has already stated that bringing back mostly the entire team was not such a good idea - so I expect some changes.  To what extent? We shall see.

I'm not saying bring back Gallo and not see what you have in Jalen Johnson.  I'm not saying bring back Lou Williams but to dramatically change what had been a successful team is a big risk.  I would love to convert Bogi into something useful but he has zero trade value now.  I advocated getting rid of Bogi during his hot streak and got clowned but as it stands now we won't get equal value for the guy so we may as well keep him

[Wretch]

22 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

There's for sure a bunch of folks that apparently stayed at a Holiday Inn last night cuz they fo sho think they know what's going to happen.  I'll just say I'm done trying to figure this team out and predict what's going to happen with any success.  This was practically the same damn team as last year and the results were drastically different. Why?  Who the hell knows?  Both had injuries. Both had Nate.Same core. Different team.  

 

Could the key REALLY be Solo?  I dunno.  But one thing the last 2 seasons has shown me is any damn thing is possible with this franchise. So I'm not going to presume to know what pairing Trae and Mitchell - two close friends by the way - will do for the team.  Will they suck so bad defensively that nothing else matters?  Maybe. Will they have fun playing and give effort on D and become an elite team?  Sure, why not?  

I'm just at a point where I want to see some more talented dudes come in here and I'll wait to see how it all pans out next year.  

I think it was a combination of things...  The East got better, we had the amazingly bad combination of high strength of schedule over man-games-lost during a key stretch, with more key injuries than almost every other team, and the COVID disaster that has us running with DLeaguers.

However, I think the biggest factor was simply teams figuring out Trae, going all-in on him, and daring anyone else to do something about it.  Nobody answered that call all season long.

[Peoriabird]

7 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

I'm not saying bring back Gallo and not see what you have in Jalen Johnson.  I'm not saying bring back Lou williams but to dramatically change what had been a successful team is a big risk.  I would love to convert Bogi into something useful but he has zero trade value now.  I advocated getting rid of Bogi during his hot streak and got clowned but as it stands now we won't get equal value for the guy so we may as well keep him

 

[thecampster]

In the above scenario, assuming health, you have much better defense at the 2, improved defense and offense at the 5 and established backup play at the 1. You would also have better team rebounding.  You've got much better cuts/drives to the basket, much less outside shooting (unless JC plays the true stretch 4).

[thecampster]

I will say that the defensive combo of Gobert, Hunter, Simmons is enticing.