TheNorthCydeRises

It would be interesting to see where we would stack up in the East, had we not hit the reset button, and re-signed at least Millsap and kept Howard throughout his contract. PG - Schröder ( 15.5 million ) G - Bazemore ( 18.1 million ) F - Prince ( 2.5 million ) PF - Millsap ( 29.2 million . . . . considering we signed him to a 3/90 or a 4/120 deal ) C - Howard ( 20 million ) We still would have the 3 1st round draft picks, but not the high lottery pick. Guys like Huerter and Spellman would've still been available to obtain. With another one of those picks, maybe we pick up a PG like Landry Shamet, a 6-5 PG who can shoot from NBA range and be a playmaker ( whom Philadelphia added to their roster, by the way ) PG - Shamet G - Bembry / Dorsey F - Huerter PF - Spellman C - Collins ( 6th man ) That lineup gave the Hawks 3 potential All-Star caliber players, plus a dearth of young talent to develop. The big thing with this lineup would be Taurean Prince. If he continued to improve his shooting, that would make that lineup even more lethal. So you go for it for 1 year w/Howard on the team. Going into 2019 - 20 season, Howard comes off the books, and Collins moves into the starting lineup as a 3rd year player, with Millsap being potentially overpaid, but the undisputed team leader. This would also be the last year of Baze's contract, before he becomes an unrestricted free agent . . and Prince, before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. If Trae is a bust, Schlenk won't be here long, and everybody outside of Collins probably will be too. The GM needs to do everything in his power to turn Trae into the best player possible. And that doesn't mean to keep playing the lottery.

That would've been almost the ideal scenario.

I disagree. Because we've seen too many teams that have been bad for way longer than what they should've been, trying to build through the draft. If you purposely pass up on high level talent that can make you better, in order to stick with the "plan", you get what you deserve. The teams that stay bad, are also the teams that can't attract good free agents to add with their young stars. Young teams need quality veterans on their squad to help them win games. If our current young guys like Prince, Collins, Young, and even Schröder keep getting better, adding a very good player to the mix could accelerate the development curve of the youngsters. Even with the Joe Johnson Hawks, it took the acquisition of Mike Bibby to really give us that veteran leadership in order to get to playoff level. Without him, they probably miss the playoffs again in 2008, and the ASG may have hit the reset button again in order to remake the team. Orlando is a perfect example of what trying to stay young will get you. After they lost Dwight and all of their veterans, they've completely lost their way. They've let 2 of their lottery picks go, with one of them looking like he's going to be a top 10 player in the league soon. Phoenix is the same way. So yes, I think the Hawks made a mistake by not making a decent play for Boogie. I guess after Dwight Howard, they didn't want to go down that route again.

The coaching in Summer League is an extension of Pierce's philosophy. The "chuck and duck" is exactly what they were doing in practice last week. I wonder if the shots were falling in practice. At any rate, I don't think they're trying to change anything about Trae's game right now, per his comments. Or maybe this is Pierce's way of humbling the kid, and forcing him to play the right way.

Pierce flat out said that he wasn't going to try to change the way Trae plays in Summer League. He wanted "Trae to be Trae". Well, he may want to change that philosophy up by the time we get to Vegas this weekend.

Also . . . let's not make excuses for Trae, when the other top prospects in the draft are having NO PROBLEM doing what they're supposed to be doing. The guys he's passing to may not be making shots. But the guy passing them the ball isn't making shots either. Even Salim Stoudamire used to light up Summer League. If Trae is supposed to be a scoring PG, I want to see that ability, as well as the passing.

I thought you LOVED the coach.

Panic? No. Legit concern? Yes. Let's keep it real here. We saw a guy in Los Angeles who was highly touted coming out of college, who shot the ball horribly in Summer League, minus 1 game. And that trend continued going into the season. With Trae, you want to see what can immediately translate to the next level. His passing is on point, so I'm not worried about that. But if he can't make shots, that's a problem. A BIG problem. Everyone he's going to face in this league is more than likely going to be bigger and possibly faster and more athletic than he is. So if he has trouble finding a rhythm to get his shot, that's a HUGE issue going forward. Playing with a guy like Dennis may actually be to his benefit, when he wants to get an open look. All of these PGs are gunning for Trae, to not let him even think about getting loose from a scoring standpoint.

If we're going to play this type of "run and chuck" style, we need a coach who knows how to coach it. Call up the "Big Baller". Shoot . . . LiAngelo Ball can shoot better than some of these guys we have in Summer League.

Actually they're much better. Most of these guys were either the star player or the #2 player on their college team. On most college teams, you maybe have 2 guys who even have a shot at the NBA ( unless you're talking about the 1 and done programs ).

Starters PG - Schröder G - Baze F - Prince PF - Collins C - Dedmon Bench 6th - Spellman ( PF ) 7th - Bembry ( F ) 8th - Young ( PG ) 9th - Dorsey ( G ) 10th - Plumlee ( C ) 11th - Huerter ( G/F ) 12th - Muscala ( F/C ) Ladies and gentlemen . . . your Atlantaaaaaaaaa Haaaaaaawwwwkkkkksssss

Thanks to Dwight Howard and Wilson Chandler, Trae isn't trending yet. Give it time though, if he has a duplicate performance like this in the 2nd half.

LOL . . Collins is like . . "These dudes suck ass."

Crazy that Trae had to make a Joe Johnson deep 3, just to get on the scoreboard.

OK Collins, your Summer League is OVER. Good job man. Shut him down like the Lakers did Brandon Ingram did last year. No more to see from him.

I don't know how people figure he has bbiq questions, when he's been the dominant player in his state and one of the best players on the AAU circuit.

Reds 4 - White Sox - 0 We're making that push for the wild card. Only 9 games out now.

Not with the new lottery odds. Top 3 picks all have the same odds 14% Picks 4 - 6 are only 5% away In the old system, the worst team had a 25% chance of picking 1st, and a 37% chance of picking 4th. In this new system, the worst team has a 14% chance of picking 1st, and a 48% chance of picking 5th.

In high school, I would always joke that I was All-State in warm ups. I literally couldn't miss a shot from about 21 feet and in. Gotta do it in the game Trae.

Assistant GM in New Orleans . . . and probably the cause of the domino effect of Demarcus Cousins signing with Golden State. He pretty much said in an interview last week that New Orleans had to decide if they were going to have a life with or without Boogie. He went out of his way to cite how they played without him, after he got hurt. So it was probably Ferry that convinced Dell Demps to go after Julius Randle, and sign him to a modest 2 year deal ( the exact same deal that he signed Millsap to ), instead of spending big money on Cousins.

Of course it's an overreaction to one summer league game. Had Trae scored 28 points and made 7 threes, there's no way you make this post. Just be honest about your feelings.

Can't really make the claim that Summer League is unorganized anymore. This Lakers vs Kings game is high quality, with both teams looking very prepared. So if a Summer League team looks unprepared, that's on them. Trae overall was bad today. That's OK. Just don't make it 2 in a row.

3 blocks by Bagley now . . and 1 that won't count because of a foul on Giles.

No he doesn't.

Those are his Olympics buddies. No way he'll destroy the Warriors. The Warriors may not win it all this year, but it won't be because of Cousins.