RedDawg#8

This part. Every great has struggled at some point in their journey. With Trae, it’s almost like he was TOO good in the playoffs in 2021, and they had to bring him back down to Earth. Game 1 against MIL was probably the most disrespectful (in a good way if you’re Atlanta) display in the conference finals on someone else’s turf, in a game that wasn’t even a blowout but up for grabs until the end. Trae basically said, F the haters I can do this in my sleep. Hawks are 2-8 in the playoffs since we went off the backboard and shimmy three against the league’s new golden child. Next thing you know it’s a referee’s foot and then the Heat using 80’s Jordan rules as the only things to slow Trae down. Trust me. The league wanted to humble Trae. But Trae ain’t a humble man. It’s going to be a constant battle for him during his career.

Those were the most physical defenses he has ever faced to date. And they let a lot of non-basketball shenanigans go. You didn’t see that behavior allowed in any other series. Knicks, Sixers, Bucks had tough, physical defenses in 2021 and that didn’t stop him. Nevermind that Trae shredded both teams in the play-in. Trae has 1 bad series on his resume and all signs are that he is motivated to correct the things that the Heat neutralized. I wouldn’t count against a motivated Trae. He is undefeated at improving facets of his game over the offseason. He seems more motivated than normal this offseason too. You wont see that happen again.

I can agree with this sentiment. Only true NBA-heads know about his accomplishment. I think it’s the Atlanta hate thing. If Trae was a Knick/Laker/Celtic/Bull, they would be all on his sack too. But he is a Hawk. Nique was an undeniable superstar too and even he got robbed of some accolades during his time in Atlanta. It’s all shady BS and glamour market bias.

Agreed. I just wanted to make sure we kept it 100. It would have been CP3 OR Horford, but likely not both.

Not to get all Back to the Future about this, but IF we had drafted CP3 or Williams like we should have, we would have likely been too good and would have missed out on keeping that top 3 protected pick in 2007. Which means no Horford. Our ineptitude in the 05 & 06 draft is what helped us to eventually land the 2nd best player of that Hawks era.

I feel like even though Murray probably needed the Spurs to help him grow as a pro, he now has the shackles taken off of him and will step in to a new level of stardom. Players already have a lot of respect for him, I think he is about to open up a lot more eyes running with us. The pro-AM tour this summer is just the beginning. It’s an appetizer of whats to come. There is a reason he wanted to run with Trae too. Their energy is on the same level as far as hoopers that love to put on a show. Stay healthy, my friend. Can’t wait to see him in uniform.

Full Interview: https://sports.yahoo.com/kinda-scary-trae-young-teaming-170535501.html

Kyrie and KD are both hoopers that love the game. They just let other crap get in the way of playing basketball. Too caught up things that don’t matter, especially to the fans that support them

Brooklyn is talented. They have been talented. It takes more than talent. They have more than a few loose screws between the 3 of them

Plain and simple, improve our defense. We finish anywhere near top 10 defensively and stay a top 5 offense we are a contender. If Trae and Murray do what they do, and ANY of our front court guys perform at a borderline All Star level, or league-superlative level, we will be a for-real threat to reach the finals.

I just don’t want to be screwed over out of the gates like always. I’d like to start the year hot and get out in front of the pack for a change.

Yes, and shot better (.447) than Kev (.371), JJ Reddick (.399), and Kyle Korver (.434) at the exact same age in college. Better even than Curry (.408) too but his volume was insane. All of their shooting translated to the NBA right away (Kev obviously not the same caliber as the other 2) which is why I am confident AJ Griffin will be no worse than the guy we just lost in Red Velvet; .389 last season/.379 career 3pt shooter. Health/playing time are the main factors, but if we just ask him to knock down open shots, I believe he can do that for us today, without hesitation, at a .375-.400 clip.

AJ Griffin was a better shooter as a freshman than Kev Huerter (or JJ even Reddick) were at any point during their college careers. I know he is a rookie, but he should help the 3 point shooting we lost if given the minutes. Aaron Holiday is an identical career shooter as Kev, and better overall shooter than Delon. J Holiday and Kaminsky are both better shooters than TLC and Knox. The biggest fall off is Gallo’s ability to draw fouls and hit timely buckets, but I feel like Murray’s shot creation and attacking will offset that. Any uptick in performance we get from Dre, OO, or JJ will go a long way in our improvement. I’m actually pretty excited to see JJ get out and run next to Murray on the break. He could take a major leap in production off of fast breaks alone. Our team’s identity is going to look vastly different with the new options we have. We should not be jacking up the same number of tough three’s as we are accustomed to seeing. Doesn’t mean we won’t have spacing, just that we wont have to rely on it as a bail out anymore.

Well for one, it’s not that deep to me. I just tend to overvalue semantics and Bogi is not a Forward, i.e combo SF/PF. His game is not a frontcourt game. He is a wing, and that’s only because he is strong enough to guard some SF’s. But they didn’t say wing, or even use G/F. They said “F” for forward. And they likely did so because they lazily confused him with his (not)cousin Bojan Bogdanovic who is a 6-8 Forward. Our Bogi is a guard, plays like a guard, shoots like a guard, dribbles like a guard, etc… If you are going to use one letter to describe him it’s G, not F. If you want to use one word to describe his versatility it’s Wing. But he should never be called or referred to as a Forward only. Hence, I died on the inside a little lol

Look again where it says Returning from injury.

Any time I see Bogi listed as a forward a piece of me dies on the inside.

They need to drill down more on him being shot ready on his jumpers. Other than that, I like what I see. If he is going to be a reliable outside shooter in the regular season, he needs to have a quicker catch and release. Right now, he looks like a guy who can and should shoot only when he is left WIDE open. This is meant as props and constructive criticism only.

I feel you on this. But one thing you have to keep in mind is how fickle the draft is. Travis Schlenk basically admitted that the reason why he valued collecting picks for so long was because he wanted to take as many swings at the plate as possible. Alluding to the reality that you just never know how things will turn out with these young players. The other thing to rationalize is that our draft strategy was always to take the highest upside player as our BPA, and not necessarily the safer/more sure-fire prospects who would likely have more immediate success. It's even more unpredictable how these guys will turn out as a result. I will say this. OO could totally contribute more on the stat sheet if he was given the playing time. He just so happens to be behind a high priced vet that we extended. His game translates in his limited minutes that he is a difference maker on the court. Dre is the one that I am most focused on now because he has "flashed" the ability to perform at a high level. He just has not been able to stay healthy for it to be consistent. Those 2 guys are very key to us reaching our ceiling as a team.

I was thinking something similar honestly. The next Zeke and Dumars

The Spurs still run a movement based system. No Pop team is ever a one-man show. His usage was a career high last season, but he still had to get other guys involved. I see his assists dipping to maybe 6.5 per game, but his scoring staying above 20ppg, especially if he is getting a ton of minutes with the bench. Our offensive style is suited to feature a guards like Trae and Murray. That’s why this move is such a great fit. Murray will get plenty of opportunity to eat.

Im glad he isn’t our problem right now. Honestly, I’d trade his butt for scraps and ship him out to the worst team I could find. Maybe back to OKC, or even Houston. I’m coming off these punk-ass pseudo-superstars ASAP

You just want SOMEBODY that actually plays real minutes who wont take crap from anyone, and will go after the opposition instead of waiting to get hit in the mouth first. Murray could be a tone setter for our young locker room that the days of pushing us around are over. I love this energy from a Hawk that actually has game. Trae is a villain, Murray can be the henchman. Attitude through the roof.

These dudes are whack. I can’t give them anymore credibility after all this. Excuse after excuse after excuse

Murray is getting 20. He is about to have a green-light unlike ever before in his career. JC, Dre, and Bogi will each hover around 15ppg.

I am really high on Ant-Man. I think he could obviously improve in many areas, but he has the right mindset to do great things. It also helps that he is physically gifted to back up his aggressive attack mentality. His continued development is key for the Wolves becoming a contender.