RedDawg#8

I feel empty inside...... sigh

Cam and Dre are like best friends and reportedly INSEPARABLE off the court. I wonder if Cam was so unhappy, what does that mean about Dre, with whom Cam would have been confiding in this whole time?

Cam is a volume kind of guy. Imagine if we already had a star player when we drafted Trae and told him that he had to not only play without the ball, but he could only get 10 shots a night. Remember Trae's shooting % before this season and apply that to coming off the bench and playing off of another player who gets to hunt 20+ shots a night and finds another 20 or so looks for his big men each game. Then there is a log jam at the same position. Im not saying that Cam is Trae, but what I am saying is that he needs a TON of shots for his efficiency to climb to even respectable. He is not a pure shooter, but he can get hot and put up buckets when allowed to miss a couple and still get the ball back. I think with an expanded role and focus on him, he is easily a Brandon Ingram type player. But as long as he shares the court with multiple guys that are ahead of him in the pecking order, he won't get the kind of volume attempts that will make him worth your while. I don't see that happening in NY. He needs to be on a rebuilding team that will let him play through his mistakes and get him the ball.

Literally, WTF did I walk in to today. I was so pissed after the game last night that I shut down all my basketball news until just now out of sheer boredom. I tried to keep up with this thread and everyone's takes. Here is mine: Cam was expendable to me. But not for nothing. I felt like he was the best bargaining chip that we had available based on upside and ability. I thought he was worth way more in a package deal for a big time player than what we got for him straight up (and Solo) I am not particularly worried about him going to NY and killing it, mainly because he has always shrunk in the presence of RJ. RJ makes Cam turn in to a Beta dating back to their Duke days. I do not expect this to change now. My money is on Cam going off against us every time we play him for the rest of his career, but that's about it. Until he gets a shot to be the main guy, he won't ever reach his full potential. Doesn't look like that will be he case in NY either. Thibs will totally unleash him defensively though. That much is for certain. If I'm wrong I'm wrong. And good for him if so. Either way, I'm not happy about this at all. All this chatter about teams calling for Cam over the last year or so, and this is what materialized.... yikes.

That's how they are being coached. Jent needs to change his philosophy. These guys are programmed to sink down and show a crowd. Teams know this and are not only finding open shooters, but the shooters are ready with confidence as soon as they see their defender leave. Shift over to the passing window, catch it clean and let it fly. Every team has unlocked this strategy against our defense. We keep preaching effort but guys need to know from the coaches that they can stay home on shooters.

Miami will never forget that 50 piece he hung on them. Spoelstra will not let him get comfortable like that again.

At least we didn't give up 70 in the 1st half. Heck, we managed to keep them under 60. I don't like that OO sat so long. Him and JC were putting in great minutes together in the 1st quarter and I don't think they shared the floor after the first substitution. Dre is ready to get his spot back from TLC. He looks good on both ends.

Refs are really bailing out the Heat tonight. They are not calling that same contact equally. Heat allowed to play physical, but not us.

Bench blows the lead AGAIN. This is beyond a broken record at this point. It's not just the offense. Their defense is just as poor. Heat shooting with confidence

Exactly. Of our last 2 drafts, 3 players (JJ, Coop, Mays) are stuck in the G-League, and the #6 overall pick can only get real minutes when Clint goes down, otherwise he barely plays 15 mins a night. I cannot see more rookies coming in and getting a real shot to play and prove themselves. We full right now lol

It is, but we have less and less space for rookies to actually come in and contribute. And we are already super young. I think they would be open to adding in young vets more so than hording picks that wont see the floor for us as currently constructed.

You were right, I was wrong (Assuming he does play lol)

Maybe the on court play calling will improve with Nate back. I know he likes to empower the guards but, especially with the bench unit, we are a team that settles a lot. Trae is great in that environment because he can make something out of nothing. But the other guys are not. So having more organization and definition would be great for the whole. I know ppl think our offense isn't the problem, but the truth is that we suck in transition defense which stems from turnovers, long rebounds, or just missed shots in general. Teams also get a lot of points in short spurts against us do to momentum shifts. We have to stay out of transition. Any improvement to the QUALITY of offensive possessions we get will have a major effect on our defense.

I kind of agree with this sentiment, but realistically we don't have much time to accomplish this. We only have 15 games left before the trade deadline, and Dre, Cam, Clint are still dealing with injury. We may not see all of our top-12 together for a couple more games, and that's only if nobody else goes down in the mean time. Then there is the whole chemistry, rhythm and rotation thing for them to figure out when they do get back. Most teams typically wait until the last day to pull the trigger on trades, but the lines are ringing now and you have to engage to put the parameters of these deals in place way in advance. Meaning. Even though we likely won't see a trade until Feb 9th or 10th, Travis can't sit back and wait until everyone is healthy before he has serious conversations. He has to (and I'm sure already has) wrap his head around what this team is and what this team needs based on what they have shown even at less than full strength. Things are moving now, ideal or not, it is what it is.

I appreciate the positive spin on my negative take lol

I hope Hunter can eventually work his way back to his pre injury form. And not only that, I hope that he can stay healthy for a sustainable length of time. The way he played pre-injury, I'd not bat an eye at trading away Cam or another core guy. But the way he looked to start this season, he looked worse than he ever did even as a rookie. Not bad, but just completely ineffective. I want the Dre who was our second best player back. Im not getting my hopes up considering how much time he has missed in the last 11+ months

Philly's hands have been tied. Ben is not suiting up for them ever again, and everyone knows it. If there was a better deal, it would have been done already. The only way they get back a star player for Ben was if a disgruntled one became available. Zion and Kyrie were the two names I floated around before the season as star level guys that have toxic situations. Other than that it's going to be multiple assets and matching salary. But the bottom line is that Ben is never playing for the Sixers again, so they will make a trade one way or the other. It's just a matter of when at this point. We are team that wants to make a trade, but we don't have to. We can be stubborn and reject deals. Philly HAS to trade Ben or they will just continue to waste time. money and a roster spot on a DNP player every night. They will be flexible or they will be stuck with this drama even longer.

A chance? Coming from Schlenk's mouth? I would not bank on it. He is close though

We are in a good spot asset wise. The best contracts we have to move are Bogi and Gallo. Clint was too before his extension. Our young core guys are attractive pieces but they wont net equal value in return which is good for us because we wont trade them in 90% of these scenarios.

With Cam down, I am hoping they give Delon more minutes in the backcourt WITH Trae and not just backing him up. Anyone that shares the court with Trae typically performs better offensively, I don't see why that wouldn't apply to Delon. He would still be the backup PG, but he would get minutes at SG now too.

Thanks I just saw this in the other thread.

When we getting Nate back is the real question. He should have been under the new guidelines for 5-6 days

I went through this during the playoffs. He and John Collins have the exact same measurables with and without shoes. But John was sized down and Ben was sized up. However tall you consider JC to be, Ben is his equal

I think he is easily. But I do not like the fit next to Trae. Portland can't do anything in the playoffs because of their tiny backcourt. Trae is even smaller and a worse defender than Dame. We would be locked in to a very undersized backcourt that likely would suffer the same glass ceiling as Portland. Size and defense have to be considered in any of these trades. Losing 6'7 for 6'3 is no bueno. I do like the Simmons trade though. He boosts our 2 biggest weaknesses, Defense and playmaking outside of Trae.

I know we didn't win it all, but on everything, I believe that 26 point comeback win in game 5 against Philly and subsequent series upset broke the title curse over this city. Every embarrassing playoff meltdown I have witnessed was washed down the drain. The ghosts of choking past were locked away for good. A new era of Georgia sports was unlocked. We are now 2 for 2 in major sports titles since that magical Hawks run ended. If Trae doesn't go down, we win games 3+4 and maybe go the distance. But we did our part either way. Now every team in this state can be great again.