2024 Hawks Offseason Thread: Draft Over: What's Next?

[MarylandHawk]

18 hours ago, Sothron said:

If anyone seriously thinks this team's FO is actively doing a rebuild, even a soft rebuild, when we don't control our first round picks until 2028 I have some wonderful Arizona ocean property to sell you. It is right there on Arizona Bay.

I've had several people send me messages asking why the insiders are so quiet. There's a reason for that. Some of the moves they tried to make didn't work out. Either players signed elsewhere or a team signing a guy ruined the trade market for Capela or Hunter. 

The team is still trying to improve the roster. I've been told they are not done and to be patient. So...be cool. If we haven't done anything when August 1st rolls around...then  yes, be upset. I'll be right there with you.

Trying and succeeding are two different things. The Hawks are trying to hedge their bets. Makes sense since the owner is a hedge fund manager. Can’t play both sides of the fence. I would argue that no non playoff team had more leverage than us going into this offseason. If we really wanted to compete with New York, Indiana, Cleveland etc. we would have made a move to have a better roster than those teams at the end of free agency. Trying to make trades now to make the team better is working from a position of no leverage. So any trade we make now will keep us in neutral. If we make any trades now it would be trading our vets to teams trying to compete while we get future assets. Oh wait, that sounds the like the Dejounte trade. 

[deester11]

3 hours ago, Hawkmoor said:

You know that's my dad.  You killing me

[Final_quest]

5 hours ago, deester11 said:

Then their evaluation process is broke as hell. Perhaps it’s better now. Perhaps not, but all they’ve done is proven that they have mastered the mid game and to this point until otherwise shown, their winning strategy has been subpar. "Want to, or not.”

OK, but does every conversation have to devolve into how the FO sucks?  Can we talk about something else?  

Believe me I actually predicted that our ECF team needed a major upgrade and said that we shouldn’t sign everyone.  

Schlenk is gone, and I honestly think Landry is just getting started on some things.  Hope he converts a talent add trade.  Sounds like he’s struggling though.  

[georgia]

Keith Smith just posted on Twitter that a lot of these trade agreed on are about to be expanded and more trades announced.  
 

If the Hawks stand pat with this roster than we are beyond stupid.    

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[deester11]

55 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

OK, but does every conversation have to devolve into how the FO sucks?  Can we talk about something else?  

Believe me I actually predicted that our ECF team needed a major upgrade and said that we shouldn’t sign everyone.  

Schlenk is gone, and I honestly think Landry is just getting started on some things.  Hope he converts a talent add trade.  Sounds like he’s struggling though.  

Fair. But there have been minimal moves that project to be a true Hawks win. (The DJM trade is a push IF things swing right).  We’ve gotten better but marginally. Perhaps it’s best to relegate ourselves to wait and see, but have we not been waiting on sustained success for…. Ever?  

[REHawksFan]

2 hours ago, MarylandHawk said:

I don’t care what others think about my opinion but I believe our best path to a championship runs through Trae.  Build a sustainable plan around him that consistently make us better. 

I agree. Funny thing is, that's exactly what they are doing.  Building around Trae, adding pieces that fit him with length and defense. 

[AHF]

6 hours ago, REHawksFan said:

I agree. Funny thing is, that's exactly what they are doing.  Building around Trae, adding pieces that fit him with length and defense. 

Better hit the accelerator on the development of those young players.  They are the key and even guys like Ant take multiple years to blossom.  We have two years until Trae is an UFA.  The DJM trade miss really wasted a prime window for building this team the right way.  One possible road for us is to build too slowly right now such that Trae is gone before the vision comes together.  Quin is going to need to make a lot of progress better using guys who were on the roster last year.

[Gray Mule]

Guaranteed!  Every off-season we hear the very same thing.  All NBA teams except Atlanta has improved their roster.  Seems that I am not the only one who can't see the forest because the trees are in the way!

Hawks have drafted a great player.  They have added a veteran big, Nance Jr. and a player, who when we added him, he became our best defensive player on the roster.

Nope.  Can't see any improvement there.

Hawks have broken up our two guards together that didn't work out the way we had hoped.  We now have a head coach and GM who have had a little time to work together, blending their thinking into the future of this team.  Hawks University is back in business, working with all our youth, improving each and every one of them.

Nope.  Can't see any improvement there.

The thing is, Squawk posters, the Hawks didn't make all the moves that I wanted them to do.  They didn't make that trade that the other team refused to do, and they didn't spend foolishly for some player that didn't want to play here and wouldn't fit.  This is the reason I can honestly say:

Nope.  Can't see any improvement to this Hawk team.

[ABH]

8 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

I hope they add to them..fingers crossed

[Final_quest]

9 hours ago, deester11 said:

Fair. But there have been minimal moves that project to be a true Hawks win. (The DJM trade is a push IF things swing right).  We’ve gotten better but marginally. Perhaps it’s best to relegate ourselves to wait and see, but have we not been waiting on sustained success for…. Ever?  

Cavs, Pacers, Knicks, all won playoff series without being tax payers.  Two of the three tax paying teams in the east lost in the first round. Ironically we were locked in to mid with DeJohnTrae + Hunter and Capela, not because of a refusal to spend but because that core started to suck.  

We’re moving away from that while hopefully being functionally competitive.  Completely reshaping not just the roster but long term salary commitments. 

Did you know that from the tax line to the first apron is only $8M?  A ton of the fan rage comes down to a belief that since Tony won’t spend an additional $8M on salary we can’t win against other teams spending the same amount as we do.  OK, how much fun are we having bitching about it all day?  Is it even true?  

***To answer your question, I’m being patient with this offseason.  There are reasons to be concerned, but also reasons to be hopeful.

Edited Thursday at 01:15 PM by Final_quest

[REHawksFan]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

Better hit the accelerator on the development of those young players.  They are the key and even guys like Ant take multiple years to blossom.  We have two years until Trae is an UFA.  The DJM trade miss really wasted a prime window for building this team the right way.  One possible road for us is to build too slowly right now such that Trae is gone before the vision comes together.  Quin is going to need to make a lot of progress better using guys who were on the roster last year.

I agree. The plan needs to come together and the Hawks need to show that the plan will work, even if it takes a season while players develop.

But here's the thing. I don't think Trae has any interest in demanding a trade. There's been no rumors that he wants out. Only that he's told management he wants to win. If there was even a whisper of him actively seeking a trade, the media would be all over it, imo.

I think from the media side, the stance is, "it doesn't work with Trae so Atlanta should explore trading him". I don't even think the Hawks are serious about. I think they took some calls before trading DJ, but otherwise it's full steam ahead with Trae. 

Trae has an ETO so he has 2 full seasons under team control and then a 3rd that he can opt into or become an UFA. I'm not sure how appealing UFA is to a player like Trae because all the good teams are going to be full cap space wise AND because the league's opinion of his value is highly volatile.  

I say all that to say that I think the most likely scenario is they have 2 full seasons to get it right. And if it looks like they are, he'll sign an extension. If it looks like they aren't, he'll be traded before his 3rd year. But I actually think the Hawks would say if it doesn't work this time let's just get as much value for him as we can and start over. It would probably be a mutal parting of the ways. 

That's my thinking at this point. 

 

[gurpilo]

The main problem is that the pieces we are getting do not fit Trae.

JJ, Risacher, Bufkin, Gueye, OO, Dyson Daniels are too young to be main pieces of a contender.

Only Hunter, Bogi and Capela are mature enough to be key pieces of a contender. I don't know if Nance can be a key piece on a contender, probably can.

Now we are talking about trading Capela and Hunter, GM needs to think that incoming players for that deals need to be mature enough to make key contributions on a contender, we really need veteran presence on the team.

[AHF]

15 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

I agree. The plan needs to come together and the Hawks need to show that the plan will work, even if it takes a season while players develop.

But here's the thing. I don't think Trae has any interest in demanding a trade. There's been no rumors that he wants out. Only that he's told management he wants to win. If there was even a whisper of him actively seeking a trade, the media would be all over it, imo.

I think from the media side, the stance is, "it doesn't work with Trae so Atlanta should explore trading him". I don't even think the Hawks are serious about. I think they took some calls before trading DJ, but otherwise it's full steam ahead with Trae. 

Trae has an ETO so he has 2 full seasons under team control and then a 3rd that he can opt into or become an UFA. I'm not sure how appealing UFA is to a player like Trae because all the good teams are going to be full cap space wise AND because the league's opinion of his value is highly volatile.  

I say all that to say that I think the most likely scenario is they have 2 full seasons to get it right. And if it looks like they are, he'll sign an extension. If it looks like they aren't, he'll be traded before his 3rd year. But I actually think the Hawks would say if it doesn't work this time let's just get as much value for him as we can and start over. It would probably be a mutal parting of the ways. 

That's my thinking at this point. 

 

I don't think he is demanding a trade at all either.  But I also think that if we don't have a competent team this year (i.e., playoff team) then that could change next offseason.  I don't think we can take a slow build approach here. 

I'm not even talking about him demanding a trade.  If he simply refuses to sign an extension and lets them know he is disappointed with the progress, the Hawks will be facing a very hard decision next offseason.  Ride it out and deliver a much improved performance that gives Trae the confidence to resign and risk him walking away as an UFA for nothing ala Al Horford or go ahead and trade him while you still have team control.  

This feels like we are trying to build with Trae but it is a huge thing if he goes.  Got a lot of non-self-creator players on this roster and that looks a lot better with an elite creation engine like Trae and those are rare and difficult to find.

I don't think you can assume Trae will be here for year 3 of his current contract unless the changes we've made actually produce a better team and a lot of that is riding on the shoulders of some very young players.  I'm positive on Kobe, Daniels, and Risacher but if you start playing games like salary dumping Hunter it could get ugly quick.  Need some vets in the mix as well because those guys are either unproven or have significant holes in their game as of today.  (All three have some major upside as well.)

[AHF]

26 minutes ago, gurpilo said:

The main problem is that the pieces we are getting do not fit Trae.

JJ, Risacher, Bufkin, Gueye, OO, Dyson Daniels are too young to be main pieces of a contender.

Only Hunter, Bogi and Capela are mature enough to be key pieces of a contender. I don't know if Nance can be a key piece on a contender, probably can.

Now we are talking about trading Capela and Hunter, GM needs to think that incoming players for that deals need to be mature enough to make key contributions on a contender, we really need veteran presence on the team.

Agree on the need for some vets in the rotation but I would not say these guys don't fit Trae.  (OO should be old enough to be a main piece on a contender if he has the juice in a starting role but the others clearly should have significant growth ahead of them before reaching their primes).

The FO has been trying to get strong perimeter defenders around Trae and just not really delivered on that.  Wingstop broke down with Cam busting hard and Hunter never quite living up to expectations on defense (becoming a solid to good positional defender instead of a truly disruptive defensive menace and QB for the defense).  DJM was the next attempt but he was an abject disaster as a wing defender.

Now we are going for round 3 with the hopes of hitting the ball harder this time.  Daniels is your Thabo / Smart type of defender who will hopefully be the elite impact POA defender we haven't had ever since Trae arrived and Risacher should be a big and versatile wing with strong BBIQ and more STOCK potential than Hunter.  Combine them with Hunter who has strength that neither of them have and who already brings some good positional D and you might finally have that elusive group of plus defenders on the wing we've clamored for since the day we drafted Reddish and De'Andre.  At least once they have learned the system and done some maturing.

[NBASupes]

Development is key but this is the best fit around Trae since the ECF season. When Dallas and Luka did this, they made it to the WCF. Let's give this a real shot. I hope we can land Ayton which would give us more balance since we are scaled way too heavy on defense atm

[Hawkish]

7 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Development is key but this is the best fit around Trae since the ECF season. When Dallas and Luka did this, they made it to the WCF. Let's give this a real shot. I hope we can land Ayton which would give us more balance since we are scaled way too heavy on defense atm

Is Ayton a real target?

[theheroatl]

10 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Development is key but this is the best fit around Trae since the ECF season. When Dallas and Luka did this, they made it to the WCF. Let's give this a real shot. I hope we can land Ayton which would give us more balance since we are scaled way too heavy on defense atm

At this point any sort of upgrade would be welcome. I’m just not sure this FO has the urgency to make a deal.

[REHawksFan]

This is a really good listen on the DJM / Daniels trade.  I agree with a lot of this and Tyler has a pretty strong opinion on Daniels.  Gets me pretty dang excited for the season.  I think the FIT issues being resolved will have a very impactful effect on the record.  In a wide open East, I don't think it should be a surprise for the Hawks to compete for the playoffs.  Especially if they can upgrade at Center and maybe add another shooter.  

 

[gurpilo]

1 hour ago, AHF dijo:

Agree on the need for some vets in the rotation but I would not say these guys don't fit Trae.  (OO should be old enough to be a main piece on a contender if he has the juice in a starting role but the others clearly should have significant growth ahead of them before reaching their primes).

The FO has been trying to get strong perimeter defenders around Trae and just not really delivered on that.  Wingstop broke down with Cam busting hard and Hunter never quite living up to expectations on defense (becoming a solid to good positional defender instead of a truly disruptive defensive menace and QB for the defense).  DJM was the next attempt but he was an abject disaster as a wing defender.

Now we are going for round 3 with the hopes of hitting the ball harder this time.  Daniels is your Thabo / Smart type of defender who will hopefully be the elite impact POA defender we haven't had ever since Trae arrived and Risacher should be a big and versatile wing with strong BBIQ and more STOCK potential than Hunter.  Combine them with Hunter who has strength that neither of them have and who already brings some good positional D and you might finally have that elusive group of plus defenders on the wing we've clamored for since the day we drafted Reddish and De'Andre.  At least once they have learned the system and done some maturing.

I wrote It very quickly sorry, they don't fit Trae timeline, they fit Trae game. In 2 years they Will still be Young, no playoff experience, that ia what I wanted to say. I agree Risacher, DD, JJ, OO are good fit for Trae, well I would prefer a Big center