willthepureshooter

John Collins hasn't touched the damn ball but one time in overtime! I can't continue to stress how bad of coach Nate is!!

John Collins is on a hot streak but Nate chooses to sub him out for Okongwu. Okongwu then gets torched on the perimeter while taking a terrible closeout angle.

Did I see Justin Holiday touch the floor before AJ Griffin? The fact that Nate has Justin guarding Klay Thompson has me ready to spike my remote through the floor! This dude is literally destroying this team on his way out!!

Wtf is Nate doing?!!!

That's a clear path foul!!

No offensive glow at all! Why is Aaron Holiday in this game? I'm sick of seeing him picking up at halfcourt only to get blown by.

What a cringeworthy sideline interview with Joe Johnson. He's at a home game with his former team, in which he was an all-star and leader. You find it smart to ask him, "how does it feel to watch two of his former teams play?" Come the hell on Bally Sports!! Get your crap together!

Watching Trent Forrest drive to the basket, stop and pick up his dribble to kick it out to covered shooters, annoys me deeply.

Who in the hell is this GLeague player in the starting lineup?! You can't have two people on the floor who can't shoot Nate!! I'm over this Trent Forrest and Onyeka Okongwu crap!!

Look at Okongwu out of position again. Oh, and another boneheaded foul because he was out of position. Why did we draft him again?

I'm tired of seeing Okongwu looking absolutely lost on defensive rotations and committing fouls miles away from the basket!! The absolute worst draft pick since Shelden Williams!

What in the hell was Landry Fields thinking when he decided to trade Kevin?! We can't shoot a pebble into the ocean!

1 minute ago, Diesel said:

I almost said the same thing about OO tonight. 

 

Okongwu is complete trash. I've given up on him. He's too small to not be a smart player on the court. Constantly out of position on rebounding opportunities and he commits 

Why is Frank Kaminsky on this team? Matter of fact, why's Frank Kaminsky even in the NBA?! 

He can't help us rebound or defend the paint! And he always looks lost on the court! 

I guess this one isn't on Nate? Lol, dude is way above his head at this point.

Nate ain't it. 

Okongwu ain't it. 

Landry Fields ain't it.

Kaminsky ain't it.

The Holidays brothers ain't it.

I have a strong dislike of Nate McMillan. The one on one offense in the last 5 minutes sucked the life out of the offense. Trae's tired, Dejounte's tired. Kaminsky should not be on this team. We're literally too damn small without Clint. 

Word from the league is AJ Griffin needs to mature. He has a tendency to sulk when things aren't going his way. And his defense isn't much to be desired. Seems like a pick that will make or break our front office in two years. 

One of my NBA scout buddies texted me this right after the pick..

"You're going to hate AJ Griffin in Atlanta. Lmao!"

3 minutes ago, nathan2331 said:

I'm curious, what do you think about Jalen Williams? He's my favorite prospect that should be around at #16, but I'm not sure if his draft stock has risen past that point now.

Jalen Williams has great size and can create offensively. He's literally the player we need beside Trae.

For the past 8 months I've had the opportunity to talk with NBA scouts, current players, former players, and media personalities daily. A part of me is glad it happened because I’ve grown to view the game at both levels differently. With the AAU scene controlling a large percentage of top tier prospects, it’s difficult to believe whether these players are truly talented or whether they’re just good players taking advantage of sponsored opportunity. And yes, I’ve learned there’s a difference between a talented basketball player and a good basketball player. Talented players are sometimes missed because they don’t have the sponsorship or opportunity to showcase their skills. A great example, Ja Morant. A kid who wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school. He was accidentally discovered playing 3-on-3 in an auxiliary gym by Murray State’s (mid-major) assistant coach James Kane while on a recruiting trip at small AAU combine. And the rest is history.  

During the past college season, I had Kofi Cockburn of Syracuse University, as my favorite. A large 7’0” 285lbs center who dominated in the paint and required constant double-teams. I absolutely bought into this kid as a game changer for the Hawks until I spoke to a scout. And he stripped this kid down and rebuilt him back while showing the flaws in his game. I won’t bash the kid in here as the scouting reports are available online. And it’s all true. Haha!!

Now, lets get back on track. The past two weeks have been a bit hilarious regarding the rumor mill. I’m pretty sure John Collins and Steve Koonin are somewhere quiet with their social media notifications off. The lopsided trade rumors and total disregard of how deals are viewed by NBA general managers is darn right egregious. Its about winning in this league. Nothing more, nothing less. The media has trained us to crave gossip and dreams. What’s sad is these same media minds DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE GAME OF BASKETBALL. They literally regurgitate information received from Twitter and other social applications. ESPN producers are even worse. Some of the guys create burner accounts and use them to generate legs for their wild rumors. For example, the John Collins to San Antonio trade was, in my opinion, manufactured. John Collins and Tim Duncan both went to Wake Forest. Secondly, who trades all those pieces for Dejounte Murray? What additional piece you can add that will replace the production lost with John and Onyeka? Our team still needs space offensively to be affected and Dejounte takes away from that feature as he’s not a consistent enough shooter. It’s the perfect definition of addition by subtraction ending with Travis Schlenk on the first flight out of town.

To get back to tonight’s draft and what we can see the Hawks do at pick #16 through the eyes of an NBA scout. I asked my guy the following question regarding the rumor around Sacramento and the 4th overall pick. How much value would you put on the 4th overall pick in this draft? His answer, “every team is different... Which team?” So, I rephrased my question to the following, “if the Hawks traded up, do you see a player at the #4 spot that can help them in 2 years if it requires giving up John Collins?” His answer was simply, “No.” Followed by “what pick do they have now?” I advised the Hawks have the #16 pick in the draft. His answer, “ehhh… they can move up to 10 and get what they want out of Jalen Duren 6'11" Center out of the University Memphis or Jalen Williams 6'6" Guard out of Santa Clara.” I asked him what it would take to move up 6 spots in this draft and he advised it could take Bogi or Huerter and our 1st round pick.

I also asked about Malaki Branham 6'5" Guard from Ohio State University, a guy whose game intrigues me the most. His body control on his shot reminds me of Jamal Crawford while his work around the mid-range reminds me of Joe Johnson. Although, he didn’t agree with the comparison due to those guys being bigger than him in size and can handle the ball better, he does believe Malaki can be better than both as his game matures.

I'll try to update you guys more as the Summer League cranks up. Please let me know if you have any questions you would for me to ask as the off-season progresses.

Clint Capela is at the bottom of the league (all players) when it comes to converting easy baskets at the rim. They say love is blind.

13 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Ask them about who the Hawks would most likely select if they kept #16.

I'll try but I don't know how far it'll get me. Do you have a few players you would like at the 16 spot? 

12 hours ago, JTB said:

Oh you got sources too?

 

well what hawk rumors have those “few nba scouts” heard ???? 

These guys are employed by NBA teams so it would be hard to get information related to the Hawks. But, if you give me a few players, I can go to them and try to get an honest assessment. 

5 hours ago, warcore said:

Michael Jordan wasn't the clear #1. Neither was Kobe. Just because there's not a clear #1, doesn't mean it's a weak draft. 

Remember when Andrea Bargnani was the clear #1? Yeah - that draft sucked, along with it's clear #1. Michael Olowakandi??

I talk to a few NBA scouts on the regular and they've been saying it for the past year. We're going to see a good number of international players this draft.

But take it as you will.