gurpilo

Sure, I am an old days Hawks fan that lives in Basque Country in Spain. Have had the chance to go to some Hawks games on my business trips to US, lol. I grow up been a Nique fan.

Thinking twice with 7 good players probably we can keep 4 at the same time on the floor, I think that is the way to go but I see problems to cover efficiently the forward position, JJ or Griffin need to step up, that would be what we need on the roster.

I would say we have good starters (5) Young, Murray, Hunter, Collins, Capela. 2 good bench players: Bogi and OO 3 below average bench players: Aaron Holiday, Justin Holiday and Kaminsky After that the gap is really big with some question marks as Jalen Johnson and Griffin, that hopefully works and a bunch of players that probably would not be on any roster on the NBA, not sure about Tyrese Martin. I see lack of defense, size and strength on the 2nd unit unless AJ Griffin and Johnson really show they are good players, presumably they have the potential for that but I doubt Nate will give them minutes so the chances we are outscored on the 2nd units often are high.

Hopefully Favors is cut, he would provide some toughness inside but I doubt we would sign him, we are soft as butter inside.

Well the main problem with the bench is size and SF, PF and C depth. I would say Aaron Holiday and Bogi are good guard reserves. You can argue Holiday is small but he has been a backup for many teams for a reason. Behind them we have a battle, Forrest, Ettiene, Krejci, Armoni Brooks…. Probably battling for a rotation spot, I think Armoni should win that contest, and you need to add Tyrese Martin who showed some promise, we are good there. SF is where problem starts, Justin Holiday is small to defend big SF, he is more a SG, Griffin is unproven and injury prone, we don’t have a big SF. This group is well below league average. PF, behind Collins we only have JJ. We are really thin here, probably the thinnest of the league. Both Johnson and Collins have injury issues, both lack strength, both lack defense, we have a hole here. There is nothing out there except Markieff Morris or Eric Paschall. Silva is a joke. C, behind Capela we have Okongwu and Kaminsky, not bad but we lack Strength and size, a big C to defend big Cs like Gobert, Embiid, Nurkic, Vucevic…. We need a Hassan Whiteside or a Demarcus Cousins. We really lack strength and size inside and can really be a problem.

Is very shocking the extreme depth at guard position and the desert at the frontcourt. We just need an injury or 2 to be completely out of playof race. We have not been so thin in any season I can remember.

Another guard, Vit is a big guard with good handles and good passing, he can shoot but is a bad defender.

Sacramento is going to surprise a lot of people. Fox, Mitchell, Murray, Barnes, Sabonis, Huerter, Monk, Holmes, is a good rotation and a very good starting 5

Do you think Josh Richardson might be a player we are targeting with Harkless and MLE? I have always liked him and would be a perfect fit for Trae.

I wanted him badly

We are particularly bad at filling summer league rosters, we always play guys that would not make any other teams roster, never sign top undrafted players and never find a gem in summer league. Thera are other teams that are good at this, Miami, GSW, Boston, LAC, LAL… I guess this is also something that differences good basketball organizations from bad ones.

As far as I know, he has been mainly playing C, that doesn’t mean he can play PF but I think he is slow to guard the perimeter. I think he is a good signing, underrated signing, he is decent on defense and can stretch the floor. I don’t think that means JJ is not playing, I think they are different players and the rotation is weak, few players. JJ defense is what will say how many minutes he plays.

I think we are the smaller team in the league, bigger guy is 6’10”, after him 3 guys at 6’9”, I have doubts Okongwu really is 6’9”, then everyone is smaller. you cannot go and win consistently with this team.

Well the off-season seems that is over for us. We got Murray that was a big trade, we gave a lot but after all the effort we failed to fill the roster appropriately to be able to compete, we were cheap on that. There were some FA options that would have been extremely valuable for us and were signed cheap, affordable for us, we are going to the LT anyway. Now all the guards and wing options are already signed, we could still find a decent backup big center but I am convinced we are not going to sign any veteran center like Whiteside, Cousins or any other…. I think this roster with some additions as DiVincenzo and Roby and Whiteside would have been a real contender, I think we will stay as we are and I think we are missing some pieces and some flexibility to play some teams. In a situation like this as most are saying the most sensible thing would be to go all-in with Jalen Johnson and Griffin and try to get that contribution for them but our coach is really conservative, do not develop young players and will play the Holidays and Harkless with a scrub at center and a hole to defend big centers so our ceiling is capped. Anyway I think we are better than last year but it was so easy and close to finish the job that I recognize that I am upset at the FO for been cheap on the FA signing. I am not criticizing the Huerter trade, I think we needed to do it and was a decent trade but we lack 2-3 players to compete. Holiday is useful but he is not a playoff guy, neither is Harkless.

We already have "small" centers like Capela and Okongwu. I think we have MLE to sign someone, there are some options out there like Cousins, Bryant, Whiteside or Moses Brown that we could definately use against Embiid, Jokic, Gobert...

I hope is not the plan, we really need a true 7 footer to defend big centers. And there are still options on the FA market. Makes very little sense to go all in with Murray and be cheap with roster fillers, we need to go for the best possible team.

I think we need a big body to defend big centers like Hassan Whiteside, Moses Brown, Thomas Bryant or even Demarcus Cousins. I would also sign a backup PF like Roby or Lamarcus Aldridge. and we need a wing defensive stopper, I liked DiVincenzo, I don’t see anyone worth signing now.

Collins has that ability and JJ as well

Makes no sense to change a guy to a position he has never played just because there is no other way he fits with the team and even un that position he does not fit. We make trades to be better not to play players out of position.

And let me add that DiVincenzo would have been the best piece for our backcourt as 3rd guard for a 5 guards rotation. Provides the chance to make balanced rotations and avoid Trae and Bogi Trae/Murray Trae/Donte Murray/Bogi Murray/Donte Holiday/Bogi Holiday/Murray Hokiday/Donte…

I think he is good as a 5th forward, can defend and although is not a good shooter he is 0,33% shooter from 3. He is fine behind Collins, Hunter, Jalen Johnson and AJ or Holiday. The main question mark is if JJ or Griffin or Holiday are fine as 3rd or 4th forwards off the bench.

Donte DiVincenzo was a guy I was hoping to sign to complete the backcourt an offer a good fit for Trae, that kind of signings the good teams use to do, he is going to GSW on a cheap contract, as usually rich gets richer

That is why keeping Delon was key, this means the backcourt of Trae and Bogi are going to share significant minutes and that is weak defense, also means Holiday can only play with DM but we lack a good defender at SG to pair with Trae, Trae will need to play 12-15 mins with a bad defender at SG

It was clear that he was a big contributor last year and could have been key with Murray as PG or SG but we did not have the money to sign him

By the way, I think there is a decent chance Kings make the playoff this year, Fox, Mitchell, Huerter, Barnes, Monk, Keegan Murray, Sabonis and Holmes,… that is a solid 8, offense and defense. add Terrence Davis, Lyles, Metu… that is a solid rotation