parfait

Keep in mind, some of the sources cited in the article include the all-knowing oracle known as "one NBA executive." Gotta love the certainty of biased speculation.

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I read such a propaganda piece. Boy, it's as if James Dolan wrote the article himself. Let me summarize what the "news" writer is saying: "I spoke to a random executive who thinks that the Hawks only goal is to save money. So, just give them a few bucks and you won't have to give up any draft picks. The Knicks are on the precipice of a championship, while Atlanta is in the gutter. Sucks to be them." So, let's say that Atlanta just wants to save and make money. What use would it be to get token cash considerations, when they're already getting out from under Bud's contract. Even if they threw $1 mill our way, that's a drop in the bucket if the Hawks are already saving $14 mill. Who says they can't save on Bud's contract AND extract a pick from the Knicks?! Yes, Hazer, some strong fertilizer on this field.

Oh, shoot! You mean to tell me that Hawks management's decision to rebuild was motivated purely by the desire to lower payroll, by having cheap, young players on the roster?! I've been bamboozled! I thought they wanted to revitalize the roster with a combination of young talent and flexible contracts. Damnit, now I have to hope that the roster ACCIDENTALLY gets younger, more talented, and more flexible during the course of this sinister plan. Oh, why did they have to rebuild cheaply?! Why couldn't they have chosen to rebuild...expensively?!

Hmm, you still seem to be fixated on this idea (based on zero evidence) that Ressler is going the cheap route, and it must be coloring your view of the whole situation. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to keep Bud as Coach/GM at $7 mill per year, rather than hiring Schlenk on top of that for $2-3 mill or whatever he makes? Wouldn't it have been the cheap route to have continued with the current G-League arrangement and not bought their own G-League team? Wouldn't it have been thriftier to leave Philips as is and avoid costly renovations? And was it really urgent for a non-championship team to have a state-of-the-art practice facility? He must have just done it for some sort of write-off!

They signed a couple of solid veterans last offseason in Dedmon and Ilysova, both averaging 10 pts per game with a PER rating of over 15 each, with Dedmon rebounding 7.9 a game in 24 minutes. Belinelli was acquired via trade, and he made for a valuable 6th man for Atlanta and now Philly. These were quality vets and were much more than roster filler. This upcoming offseason, with every other team except the Hawks and 4 others being in salary cap hell, there will be even less options for a number of these quality veterans, not to mention the potential for the Hawks absorbing quality veterans with bad contracts via trade. There should be an abundance of available quality veterans to come to one of the very few teams with cap space, Atlanta. And Schlenk has said, as long as they have manageable contracts, he will welcome them. This influx of quality veterans to go with Bazemore, combined with continued growth from Collins, Prince, Dorsey, and Schröder, should make an increase of 6+ wins next year more than attainable.

You know what's a reasonable amount of time?...more than just 1 year, lol. I would say at least 3 years. In fact, what if I told you that this rebuild is not the endless, slow-burn of a rebuild that you are assuming it to be. What if the parameters of the rebuild are as follows: Year 1 ('17-18): Tank majorly, but remain competitive/entertaining, Sign quality veterans to value 1 year contracts. Accumulate draft capital - ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED. Year 2 ('18-19): Accumulate further draft capital via taking on bad contracts no greater than 2 years. Develop current youngsters. Integrate more quality rookies. Sign quality veterans to value 1 year contracts. - SHOOT FOR 30+ WINS. Year 3 ('19-20): Accumulate further draft capital via taking on bad contracts no greater than 1 year. Develop youngsters further. Integrate a couple of more rookies. Sign quality veterans to value 1 year contracts. - SHOOT FOR 40+ WINS/PLAYOFF CONTENTION. Year 4 ('20-21): The Schröder, Plumlee, and Bazemore contracts have expired. A bevy of youngsters have been developed. Sign 1-2 impact free agents the summer of '20 with massive capspace. - SOLID EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF TEAM. Of course, they have to pick the right players. But accumulating more #1's provides better odds to do so. And they need to continue to develop players as they have. But, if they were a borderline playoff team by '19-20, and a solid playoff team by '20-21, wouldn't that be reasonable? I believe so, and I believe that this is in fact Schlenk's timeline based on the length of their current contracts.

Ressler forcing Howard upon Bud, as is the prevailing rumor, was definitely foolish on his part, and ranks as the 2nd worst move that he has made as an owner. The #1 worst move he has made as an owner was not conducting a proper search for a replacement GM for Danny Ferry and handing the title to the unqualified duo of Bud and Wilcox. And, unfortunately, the Howard deal was not the worst of contracts given out. The worst contract given out by the Hawks organization in recent memory was the 4 year deal for above-average starter's money Bud gave to a 7th man, Kent Bazemore. This is probably the worst contract given by the Hawks organization since Jon Koncak. Heck, at least Howard is still considered by most to be a starter, and the deal was only for 3 years. GM Bud also pissed away the 2015 draft for 2 years of Tim Hardaway, Jr. Not to mention his lack of savvy in handling the expiring contracts of Horford and Milsap. Can't blame those on Ressler. GM Bud was simply in over his head. GM Schlenk has the pedigree to do far better. Let's give him a reasonable amount of time to prove it.

I definitely won't argue against Bud being a good coach. He has shown himself to be a good coach over his 5 seasons. But there simply isn't enough evidence with which to label Travis Schlenk a "loser" GM with "stupid" philosophies. He was the lead personnel guy in Golden State, where they drafted well, and managed the cap well. He got a ringing endorsement from Jerry West. He nailed his first draft with the Hawks. He was able to scrape out an asset for Milsap, when he was all but gone for nothing. He avoided the temptation of matching the lavish Hardaway Jr. contract. And he signed a couple of value free agents in Dedmon and Ilyosova. He is not accomplished yet, by any means, but he shows great potential. The ideal scenario would be these two guys working together. But if Bud is saying, "It's my way or the highway," which he appears to be doing, then a responsible owner cannot throw out the GM that he just hired to undo the damage done, ironically, by GM Bud.

We know that Bud is far better at coaching than Schlenk is (although I heard he ran a hell of a practice for Ron Jirsa back at UGA, lol). But remember, a lot of Bud's appeal is still tied to potential. The 60 win season that highlights his resume was certainly more than meets the eye. The reality is that that team peaked in February. They limped to the finish line. Then they barely scraped by a sub-500 Brooklyn team in the first round of the playoffs. Then they proceeded to stink up the joint further, as they slipped past a John Wall-less Washington team the next round. Finally, they embarrassed themselves for the final time that season by getting boat-raced, both physically and tactically, by Cleveland. Bud is a top 10/12 coach for sure. But so far, the only tangible thing that he has accomplished is to lead some scrappy, blue-collar teams to mediocre finishes. Now the organization would like to infuse the roster with some higher level talent. And if Bud doesn't have the patience for that, then that's reasonable. Heck, I'm sure they've tried to convince him to stay, but that's just speculation on my part. None of us know the truth about their relationships (I can't wait for Steve Koonin's tell-all!) But to bend over backwards (and back up the brinks truck even further) for a coach that seems good but hasn't actually accomplished anything yet, and is militantly against management's decision to rebuild...I'm sorry, he ain't got no rings on his fingers, just diplomas on the wall.

How about this under-the-radar scenario: Terry Stotts gets fired after this first round playoff debacle, and Bud goes to Portland. That could be a real good match.

It takes two to divorce. And in this case, there's a very good chance that Bud is the one who unilaterally filed for divorce. He definitely seems to be driving this random interview process. The words "hell-bent to get out of there" seem to describe it. And if Bud truly is at a philosophical impasse when it comes to embracing the rebuild (and maybe Schlenk just royally gets on his nerves), then Hawks ownership/management are obligated to avoid a situation where a coach is there against his will. If Bud vehemently wants out, then the Hawks must do what is best for the Hawks. Remember, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. They cannot cater to a coach, any more than they should cater to the emotional needs and biases of fans like us.

Maybe a #9 for #19 swap and a 2nd rounder or future 1st?

I would be very intrigued by Barry. He routinely offers keen insights that, in my opinion, show him to be superior to many of the so-called A-listers on television.

Hmm, that scenario sounds vaguely familiar

There is also the decent possibility that a couple of those picks will be packaged in order to move up higher in the first round. In addition, the late first, and/or the early second, could be used on a draft-and-stash Euro, thus leaving 2-3 rookies on next year's team. These are the 2 most likely scenarios referenced by Koonin's statement in my opinion.

Aside from ex professional athletes, all professional sports owners come from some other area of business or finance. There is not a shred of evidence thus far in Ressler's brief period of ownership that he is a stingy owner. In fact, he has pumped money into a state of the art practice facility as well as paying for significant renovations of Philips arena. You have stated ad nauseam that you disagree with his decision to rebuild the roster. But with no evidence thus far to support an allegation of Ressler's approach being profit-focused, you may as well just call him a Dummy Head. Both would be equivalent forms of lazy name-calling.

I'm a Hawks fan, but I live here in the Bay Area. Just ask any Warriors fan who watched Jackson's archaic offensive system on a daily basis. They would tell you that Jackson single-handedly PREVENTED them from becoming a championship team.

Keep in mind, Schlenk could have easily truly bottomed this team out and cemented the number one lottery position. He didn't just go with Plumlee and Muscala at the center position. Instead, he signed an above average veteran in Dedmon to man the position. And instead of throwing a rookie Power Forward to the wolves by leaving him to start right away, he signed a sought-after skilled veteran in Ilyasova. This season's Hawks team was more consistently competitive than even last season's playoff team. There was an inordinate number of games last year that were over by halftime, even at home! This year's team was in the running late in games just about every night. Travis Schlenk put a far more entertaining product on the floor this year. And along with competitiveness and entertainment factor came draft capital and cap flexibility. That, along with a promising pair of young forwards who are already fairly productive, and you're building from more than scratch in my opinion.

I think it's premature and wholly unfair to already label Ressler a bad owner. He's only been an NBA owner for a couple of seasons, and there is definitely a learning curve to being a professional sports owner. He's clearly made mistakes, with his first and biggest being the handing of personnel power to the head coach. He then compounded this mistake by pressuring his miscast GM into making certain moves, such as the regrettable swapout of Al Horford for Dwight Howard. But the number one sign of a good owner is that they care (just ask us Braves fans). And Ressler clearly cares about this team. But a more difficult second lesson for a neophyte owner is knowing how to control that level of caring and knowing how to let sports people do sports work. Ressler is wrestling (sorry, couldn't resist) with this one. He took a big step in the right direction, however, by conducting a structured search for, and then hiring, a proper General Manager. Now, Ressler will just need to further learn to stay out of his GM's way. Incidentally, I do wish the Hawks had some sort of VP of Basketball Ops/Czar-type as a bridge between the GM and owner (What does Rick Sund actually do, by the way?) Nonetheless, I do think Ressler is evolving in a positive way. Remember, Falcons fans, Arthur Blank made plenty of mistakes early on in his ownership. But even when he was erring, you always knew that his heart was in the right place, and that he just needed his head to catch up with his heart. I believe that Ressler shows the same potential as an owner.

I agree that BK gets a pass for Marvin. He was a consensus high-upside pick. But he gets a serious FAIL for Childress. He had NO chance of succeeding with that broken shot. A waste of our 2nd highest pick during that era. He also missed on Acie Earl in 2007, #11 overall. Another wasted Lottery Pick. And then, he in reality gave away too many 1st round picks (as well as a successful 1st rd pick in Boris Diaw) for Joe Johnson, which made little sense for a rebuilding team. It was almost like Pete Babcock's latter years, where he didn't trust himself to hit on draft picks, so he started trading them away. In the end, not enough of a foundation was laid through the draft. That is where BK went wrong.

KB, is there a theoretical win total that this translates to?

And if we win 30-35 games next season...and get the #8 pick to go with 2 late 1st rounders... with Mike Budenholzer reasserting himself as a Top 10 coach... and the young core of Schröder, Bembry, Prince, and Collins makes strides... and we have tons of cap room in 2018 and 2019, while few other teams have any... then will the point of the 2017 off-season become more clear?

As of earlier today you didn't know that Lowry had resigned with the Raptors.

Hmm... Charlotte #5 "They have some good players." Chicago #9 "...should be fun." "Still, I think Chicago got some more trades coming." NY #10 "They have a great coach." [Hornacek?!!] "...Zingas [?!!] and Melo is still formidable..." Detroit #11 "I can see Detroit as high as #3 in the East..." So, did you just throw darts at the board to come up with these numbers? And, boy, I've never seen someone give just about every other team's unproven players the benefit of the doubt... EXCEPT Atlanta's! Sounds like someone's using their HATE instead of their HEAD.

I don't believe anyone has any actual adoration for Schlenk. The jury is definitely still out. And you're right, even Billy Knight did a decent job with the initial teardown. But a number of us at least are giving Travis the benefit of the doubt, which you don't seem to be doing. He comes with a good pedigree and great recommendations. And in the broad sense he is doing the right thing: avoiding bad contracts and accumulating assets. He many not have gotten optimum value for Howard, but it seems pretty clear that his initial investigation of Hawks culture revealed that Howard needed to be removed from the locker room (and the defensive rotation) asap. Regarding THJ, that contract was universally panned. No responsible GM would sign him to that contract. Regarding Crawford, if no one was offering value (and no contenders have cap space) so how could he have gotten anything for him? Where Schlenk can really separate himself from Ferry, and certainly Knight, is if he drafts well. Ferry missed on 3 of 4 first round picks. And Knight blew the franchise's only high lottery picks in recent decades. Schlenk is looking good so far with at least Collins, and he was the lead personnel guy in a department out west that drafted pretty well in recent years. Travis Schlenk doesn't require our adoration. But the benefit of the doubt is the least that we can give him as we hope for the ship to get turned in the right direction.