2024-25 Insider Thread

[Spud2nique]

5 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

"We are comfortable

I’m not 

[AHF]

43 minutes ago, Gray Mule said:

Cody Zeller is an Atlanta Hawk.  A 6'11" center who is 31 years old.  His $2 mil. salary is one of our cheapest.  It seems to be the belief of all of us who post on the Squawk that he is completely useless.  The deal wasn't going to happen if we didn't take him.  I must wonder how he feels about all this.  After all, somewhere in his past he was good enough to be awarded with an NBA contract.

What if he's not as terrible as we believe?  I hope we play him enough in pre-season so we can actually see what we have.

The deal happened.  He's a Hawk.  Cody Zeller, enjoy your time here!

FWIW, he got more than a minimum salary and is being paid $3.5M this year.  Almost double $2M but I don't think we could have paid him $2M even on a minimum contract.

I do hope your optimism pans out and he actually plays some good minutes.  4 years ago he was actually a regular part of a rotation and he has only played a single season's worth of games since then so he shouldn't have too much wear on the tires.  Last season was abysmal in every respect but was also an outlier for him with just how bad he was in some areas so here's hoping he is more than a reminder of how the NO got worse over time.

13 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

I have long let go of the Zeller thing. Mainly because I can actually picture Nance as a PF which helps balance our roster. For those who only see him as a Center then the Zeller thing looks even crazier.

He is an emergency big. Whatever at this point.

Eating Zeller forced us to cut Bruno and precluded us from using the roster spot on something better so I'm not letting it go.  It was suboptimal at best.  I am hoping Nance is ready to play PF in addition to C as well.  If he can't play PF that is actually a real problem but I don't see a reason to assume that right now.  He played C for NO but has played PF in the past and is basically the same height as Hunter and Daniels (granted he weighs roughly 50 pounds more than DD and 20 more than Hunter) so at 32 years old he shouldn't be incapable of filling in there.

[ShayD]

14 hours ago, Sothron said:

Our position from what I've been told is we are going to be "very comfortable" with this roster with an eye on moving Capela/Hunter before the deadline if a deal they like is finally offered for either of them.

My take: we still need a veteran backup PG. I don't trust Kobe to stay healthy for 82 games and I don't think a 2 way player is the answer. I absolutely hate we have to carry a non NBA level player on our roster because the FO wouldn't play harder ball with the Pelicans to refuse the corpse of a Zeller. 

I was going to ask for an update to this post

On 7/3/2024 at 3:21 AM, 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.

 

So I guess this counts as one

[Sothron]

2 hours ago, ShayD said:

I was going to ask for an update to this post

 

So I guess this counts as one

Yes. I've said several times while I think the roster has improved we still need a veteran point. 

[ShooterSays]

At least the Falcons made a big trade today

[AHF]

7 hours ago, ShooterSays said:

At least the Falcons made a big trade today

Actually putting a priority on the pass rush is such a non-Falcon thing to do.  Great to see.  Now they just need to sign him and get him to work.

[Dragitoff]

2 hours ago, AHF said:

Actually putting a priority on the pass rush is such a non-Falcon thing to do.  Great to see.  Now they just need to sign him and get him to work.

Not to divert the convo to Falcons, but if they sign Simmons that defense went from iffy to potential stud, which certainly improves the Falcons chances beyond just winning the division. 

 

Back to Hawks talk...I think Nance and OO make a good PF/C pairing that could work.  Just enough shooting to keep defenses honest and Nance is a smart veteran player that does little things. 

[kg01]

11 hours ago, Sothron said:

Yes. I've said several times while I think the roster has improved we still need a veteran point. 

No worries, soth.  Per the eggsperts on fakegm, that stellar Lakers package is still available.

Trae for Gabe Vincent, Hachimura, and picks (they don't have) is a viable option, bro.

Or even Capela for that same package is possible.

[Dragitoff]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

No worries, soth.  Per the eggsperts on fakegm, that stellar Lakers package is still available.

Trae for Gabe Vincent, Hachimura, and picks (they don't have) is a viable option, bro.

Or even Capela for that same package is possible.

I know you were joking, but I want the Lakers to have one of those miserable seasons that forces Lebron to go ahead and retire and tanks that pick.  That franchise sold its soul for Lebron and AD and I love that it blew up, but it's only because I can't stand Lebron. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Dragitoff said:

I know you were joking, but I want the Lakers to have one of those miserable seasons that forces Lebron to go ahead and retire and tanks that pick.  That franchise sold its soul for Lebron and AD and I love that it blew up, but it's only because I can't stand Lebron. 

Not sure I could call a championship and a conference finals appearance "blowing up."  If so, I hope we blow up like that over the next 5 years.

[JeffS17]

5 minutes ago, AHF said:

Not sure I could call a championship and a conference finals appearance "blowing up."  If so, I hope we blow up like that over the next 5 years.

Yeah, but that will be it for what will likely be 7-8 years of Bron paired with prime AD.  And signing Lebron in free agency is going to have pretty high expectations considering they didn't have to give up anything for him.  Lakers completely mismanaged their roster through his tenure there.  One chip is nice but Lakers fans have plenty and the expectation was probably much higher than what has transpired.

The Westbrook trade completely derailed what could have been another dynasty.  They completely overreacted to that Suns series loss when AD wasn't even healthy.  Trading away premiere role players and shooters KCP and Kuz for ball dominant Westbrook was just mind boggling.  I still don't get it.  And they had offers on the table for guys like Buddy Hield who would have absolutely feasted with Lebron.  I think the best GMs really separate themselves how they handle winning rosters to sustain success and Pelinka botched it hard.

[Dragitoff]

40 minutes ago, AHF said:

Not sure I could call a championship and a conference finals appearance "blowing up."  If so, I hope we blow up like that over the next 5 years.

Valid point.  I guess I should've said it has blown up in the latter years of that. 

[Vol4ever]

14 hours ago, Sothron said:

Yes. I've said several times while I think the roster has improved we still need a veteran point. 

I don't think the front office has done a good job, but I'm an old-time veteran.  At this point just have to take a wait and see approach.  I do know some within the organization that are not happy with the GM situation, he did not do a good job on a couple deals.  That being said there is not a lot happening at this point from the business contacts I know.  The Hawks are a tough sale to free agents around the league, but it's been that way forever.   

[macdaddy]

We're sitting here on August 15th with DJ,Bey out, Dyson, Zacc, Nance in.  I feel good about those changes but they are modest changes to a roster that didn't make the playoffs.  Seems we're in a second (at least) offseason of not being able to make the moves we want to make.   As good as the DJ trade and the draft were I still don't have faith in the FO.   

[AHF]

1 hour ago, JeffS17 said:

The Westbrook trade completely derailed what could have been another dynasty.  They completely overreacted to that Suns series loss when AD wasn't even healthy.  Trading away premiere role players and shooters KCP and Kuz for ball dominant Westbrook was just mind boggling.  I still don't get it.  And they had offers on the table for guys like Buddy Hield who would have absolutely feasted with Lebron.  I think the best GMs really separate themselves how they handle winning rosters to sustain success and Pelinka botched it hard.

100%.  Why a team like the Lakers would have been even a little interested in Westbrook is a complete mystery to me.  With his need to hold the ball and his terrible shooting, it was a disaster from the moment their GM even thought about it.

39 minutes ago, Dragitoff said:

Valid point.  I guess I should've said it has blown up in the latter years of that. 

The last two years have been a conference finals and a playoff appearance.  That isn't a disaster by any means.  The Lakers have made a bit of a mess of things but the AD/LeBron core is so good they still have had some meaningful playoff success.

[Dragitoff]

6 minutes ago, AHF said:

100%.  Why a team like the Lakers would have been even a little interested in Westbrook is a complete mystery to me.  With his need to hold the ball and his terrible shooting, it was a disaster from the moment their GM even thought about it.

The last two years have been a conference finals and a playoff appearance.  That isn't a disaster by any means.  The Lakers have made a bit of a mess of things but the AD/LeBron core is so good they still have had some meaningful playoff success.

When you have Prime AD and Lebron, only winning the "Bubble Championship" is not what they envisioned when they made those deals.  They thought they would have won at least a few championships during that run. 

[Final_quest]

22 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

We're sitting here on August 15th with DJ,Bey out, Dyson, Zacc, Nance in.  I feel good about those changes but they are modest changes to a roster that didn't make the playoffs.  Seems we're in a second (at least) offseason of not being able to make the moves we want to make.   As good as the DJ trade and the draft were I still don't have faith in the FO.   

I also consider Kobe, Vit, and Gueye as something like new guys because they were barely able to play last year.  Barlow, Roddy, and Lundy are also potential risers.  

The unknown is the injury factor and midseason trades.  

[kg01]

2 hours ago, Dragitoff said:

I know you were joking, but I want the Lakers to have one of those miserable seasons that forces Lebron to go ahead and retire and tanks that pick.  That franchise sold its soul for Lebron and AD and I love that it blew up, but it's only because I can't stand Lebron. 

How do you know I was joking?  Per the eggsperts, we'd be lucky to land that crappy package for Trae since he's so trash ...

... so trash that he'd elevate the Lakers back to contenders.

Make it make sense, dragi.

[AHF]

12 minutes ago, Dragitoff said:

When you have Prime AD and Lebron, only winning the "Bubble Championship" is not what they envisioned when they made those deals.  They thought they would have won at least a few championships during that run. 

When you are talking about late 30's LeBron (he'll be 40 this season), I don't think AD is enough to have you as a championship favorite.  I don't think multiple championships would be a reasonable baseline expectation given how many LeBron was able to win Cleveland before he moved to LA.  So once they won a ring, I think anything after that was gravy.

This may just be more of a disconnect on what we expected.  My expectations were more moderate for that pairing.  I wasn't assuming they would be the best in the West like LeBron's Heat teams were when he had prime Bosh and Wade during his own prime.

[Dragitoff]

44 minutes ago, AHF said:

When you are talking about late 30's LeBron (he'll be 40 this season), I don't think AD is enough to have you as a championship favorite.  I don't think multiple championships would be a reasonable baseline expectation given how many LeBron was able to win Cleveland before he moved to LA.  So once they won a ring, I think anything after that was gravy.

This may just be more of a disconnect on what we expected.  My expectations were more moderate for that pairing.  I wasn't assuming they would be the best in the West like LeBron's Heat teams were when he had prime Bosh and Wade during his own prime.

You could 100% be correct, but I think the Lakers truly thought they'd get more than 1 ring out of AD and LeBron.  Regardless of who is right, I still hope they bomb this season and make that pick a really good one!