sturt

A guess is that the BogBog situation actually had it get out that the deal was done... and BogBog and his agent, by all accounts, weren't even in the loop at all. Think you can get away with talking with teams about possibilities. Where it crosses the line is any sense that you've finalized something.

Correcting my thinking... Keith Smith in his podcast today reminded us that the reason free agency doesn't start immediately is that the bean counters need a few days to determine for a fact what the thresholds for the new league year are precisely to be. So, not tonight, not tomorrow morning, and probably not until later in the week.

Good question. Surely we'll hear something tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.

Or maybe the newish exec in Sactown, still reeling from the BogBog tragedy, has been so inundated with criticism, he's seeking a little face-saving relief.

Let's just not go there, please. For you or me, maybe it's okay, but there are some around these parts that you really don't want them to pick up on that theme with any transparency.

Will Iggy cost more than Solo? Can hardly believe it's 2021 and he's still a plausible consideration for someone's roster... the memories of the Chilz vs. Deng vs. Iggy pre-draft debate still lingering in my brain.

Whether one believes it's intentional or not, there's been a fairly obvious philosophical comparison to be made between how Schlenk's previous team progressed toward championship contention and how this one has. Hence, I honestly believe that Schlenk envisions a team where he's developed his own superstars, and will only trade out if he gets an offer he can't refuse. Every time someone talks about the Hawks not being prepared to keep guys, it's outside speculation... probably a lot of the same people who also would have told you in the past that Trae Young posts empty stats and will never amount to much. Do I believe reports that Schlenk listened for Cam offers this time? Sure. "Listened." And to be honest, this team largely got to where it got this season without Cam, so while it would have been disappointing, Cam's not objectively been a part of the actual real-life on-the-court core success. At least, not just yet. There was a price at which there could have been an offer Schlenk couldn't refuse, but it didn't happen. I probably would feel a whole lot less certain of my conclusion here except that Ressler has said publicly what he's said. As long as this team is producing ample reason to believe it's a contender, he's committed to paying tax. At that point that it's not, then business decisions will have to be made. But for now, we're on this side of what we have reason to anticipate will be the best ride of our Hawks fan lives. So, consolidation trades? It's not really part of the DNA of our GM, and practically every one of our core is still at an upward trajectory. And there's really just not that much of an impressive array of expensive difference makers you'd want anyhow, in my opinion. Not persuaded that's happening, at least unless/until we've won our first title, and we're trying to figure out ways to stay at the top.

My take is that you really don't want to make that commitment beyond this year. It's not that big of a deal if it's at the minimum, but it's begun to sound like there will be competition, and that in turn hints he's ending up with something more. There's no debating that Lou's a stabilizing force on the roster. There's no debating that Lou's been especially good for OO's progress. There's no debating that Lou can still get hot and be a difference maker. But what will that look like this time next year? Sure, he'll still be Lou. But how much more help will he be to young guys after another year under their belts? How much will he have shown decline that naturally takes hold in the mid 30s? Wisdom, to me, says don't make commitments you really don't need to make. Don't overpay JC. Don't offer 2nd rounders and UFAs multi-year contracts until it's actually proven that they're going to become an multi-year asset. Don't offer Solo more than the minimum for a single year. So. I'll pay a little more for Lou for 2021-22 probably than I would have without MIL and IND having interest. Team option for 22-23? Okay, why not. But not prepared to guarantee anything beyond this season.

(Not seeing it, me.)

This is my one disappointment with this draft, but it feels hyper critical to say so.... ie, part of the ingenuity that kept SAS relevant for as long as they were is they were arguably the most aggressive Eurostash team for lo those many years. For a team that expects to be drafting late for a few years, accumulating some extra 2nd rounders and using those to pick up some European developmental pieces ends up acting as a supplement year after year as those fruits ripen.

I'm aware of no constraints on the MLE. It's ours to spend on free agents to our hearts content as far as I've ever understood.

To no one in particular.... Having worked through the 21-22 and 22-23 numbers, I wouldn't be one to anticipate that Schlenk will treat Kvon any differently than he has JC. Meaning, he may get an extension offer, but it will lean hard toward the team friendly side. He'll likely pass. And this time next year, we'll likely be having the same basic RFA conversation about Kvon instead of JC.

Is Kevin wrong?

I believe I learned from your own post (?) originally, it's an RFA situation and we get to decide whether or not to match.

No apparent contradiction between the previous post and this. And/but to the contrary, when you send the big hog lineman into the game whose deficiency is that he's not quick enough on his feet to pass protect, it inherently changes the style of play if your team is otherwise built on a west coast offense style.... all the more so when you're talking bout a game with 5 players instead of 11 in the field of play. You're going to lose some games. You just are. Some nights it will be because the other team was better than you. Others, it might be because their style of play was better than yours was. But for most nights, if you have the best roster, and if you play your game, you should find that you're coming out on top more than you aren't.

And the raging debate appears to continue. Try to sell hamburgers, hotdogs, roast beef, fish, chicken, corned beef, ribs... on buns, on flatbread, on wheat bread, in gyros, in flour tortillas, in taco shells... and with every veggie, every sauce on the planet.... sorta like my local Arby's has gravitated toward. Or just sell the best damn cheeseburger and fries on the planet... sorta like my local Five Guys. Swiss army knife approach? Be all things to all people? Or pick a philosophy and do what you do better than anyone else, and so exceptionally that everyone else is trying to figure out how to match up with you. Let's see what Schlenk seems to choose. Big butt, big thighs, and as tall as possible in the quest to match-up with the reigning champs (with a player who won't see the floor anyhow b/c he's not better than CC or OO).... or someone who looks a lot more like CC or OO. Not betting on this one, but suffice it to say, given Schlenk's history, feeling pretty confident he has his eye on an asset more CC or OO than Lopez or Boban.

Happy for fanatic if that means he's found there's more to life than being quite that deep into NBA numbers. But selfishly, yeah, I've mainly enjoyed following his deep dive journeys, and wish for more. Think he may have just been too high strung, though, to endure it. Really seemed to stress him out to find someone ever questioning his stuff or find someone who just made some error in understanding. I speak from experience... hehe.

Supes, first, this is exactly why I don't do public discussion anymore. So, just going to leave it at this. We differ in how widely we're willing to consider a given board to have reliable sources informing it. For instance, I only reference Tankathon for their visual assessment on comparable stats... never had any actual reason to believe the person(s) running it have any actual NBA-personnel-informed insight. And yes, there is a variety in when big boards are updated--probably mocks are more frequent just because they are more reliable click-producers. ESPN/Givony updates, but assuming the link you provided for B/R is the most recent--I didn't bother to look--that was updated two weeks ago... and Wasserman is a fairly well-regarded informant, but/and how many mocks did he generate within those two weeks? The gold standard for as long as I've been paying attention is Givony, based on reviews of final mocks versus actual drafts. I haven't looked yet at this year, but when I last went back and compared the most prominent mock sources, he was almost always 1, 2 or 3. He had Cooper as his 12th best PG on his big board. On the money. Just sayin. We all tend to get hyped about our pet cats. Sometimes supe-rhyped, and it begins to get a little emotional and ridiculous. sturt out.

Btw... that two-way contract avatar bet offer is still hanging out there for any who firmly believe Cooper's going to get a standard contract. I understand some just refuse bets of any kind as a matter of moral conscience (or so I'm left to understand). So, no dumping on any one person for avoiding the bet, but for you brave souls who cast moral conscience aside like me... ... : )

Something that Mays brings that many probably knew but haven't thought about since the day we signed him.... He's said to be super-intelligent, to the point that there was some who thought he might choose pursuing a medical degree over furthering his basketball career. For what that's worth.

I'll just say this. Of course, big boards tend to be set weeks and in some cases months ahead of a draft. Those that are not revised over time, then, do not adjust for the natural evolution in how a given player is valued. Some do, but many if not most do not. While, to be fair, mocks do have the added complexity that the perception of a single mocker that a given team anecdotally values a player and happening to pick earlier in the draft can cause some ripple effects... that gets strained out by looking at more and more mock drafts, so that outliers are fairly readily identified. (And, all nine of the mocks included in the spreadsheet were posted 1-3 days ahead of the big show.) So, because they are, more often than not, more sensitive to fluctuations given what some of these guys like Givony and Woo hear from their sources, mocks produced by higher-informed sources and taken as a group are a stronger indication, as a rule. And the results of the actual draft bear that out. To the point here, the evidence as unwanted as it might be points to many teams--and in particular the 11 teams who drafted a PG ahead of the #48 slot--deciding that there was a better PG than Cooper on their board. He was the 12th drafted (unless my reading glasses missed something). And while that is indeed lower than what the most up-to-date intel suggested we might see evolve, it's not earth shattering. I'm bullish on what the player could develop into. But the assumption that he can develop a reliable shot, and hopefully with that a quicker release, and hopefully with that a more ergonomically smooth form... is a lot on its own. My personal guess is that the defensive flaws might be able to be somewhat coached out of him, because though his instincts and his effort are both poor, he does have the quickness to conceivably transform that part. And you expect a kid to some degree to have some turnover concerns at that stage. But at the risk of stating the obvious, he's got a considerable hill to climb with his shot. Cooper reminds me of a two-inch-taller version of Tyler Ulis, except Ulis has an okay shot. By most assessments I've ever read, Ulis was a tremendous game manager and distributor, but just became too much of a defensive deficit to be playable, though... and so his career has reflected that. That's what Cooper is up against. Time for him to go to work. Rooting for him (of course) to be our irrefutable #2 in 2022-23.

Aside: Loving that we have so little off-season, at least just this once. Draft just 48 hours behind us, and it's conceivable we'll have our roster set in short order. Summer league coming up. A month or so of preseason football and a month or so of the start of that season before we're right back into preseason NBA games. Niiiiice. And heck, I hate that an era in the District ended so abruptly, but it's the cycle of life... and just about the time that the Cowboys finish their next run of Super Bowl trophies and Hawks their run of NBA championships, the mighty Nats should be back near the top of the MLB hill. It's a wonderful life. (And heck, at this rate, I still don't even count them totally out of an NL East pennant for 2021. Been crazier things happen, and no one seems to want to win it.)

In my best Di ck Enberg.... OHHH MYYYYYYY. I mean, it's not dramatically different from the 26m AAV I'd presumed, but it's enough to merit an "oh my." That would say to me that JC's undeniably a team player through and through. Think he could get more in SAS, if not other places.

Am I the only one who would cheer for Gallo's team... because of Gallo himself, of course... over one that represents the US of A at this point? Maybe I shouldn't feel the disdain that I do, because truth is, the vast majority of us and the vast majority of our Olympians are, indeed, united in our respect and pride in our country and its flag as a tangible representation of it. But if just left to my emotions and not employing reason, I'm predisposed to care more about one of my NBA team's players. That's a new thing, and one I couldn't have imagined being the case 10 years ago. Lest this hijack the thread into being political, I'll just leave it there. But I would be interested in an answer to the question to the degree that others can similarly just stick to the question and not go off into the farther weeds.