Wretch

I assumed as much, but I always leave room for a little doubt. TBH, this explains the entire season to me. It's a team game and the whole team is responsible, but what we're going through right now is a whole chemistry meltdown. To be clear because the Squawk loves polarizing conversations: I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT DEJOUNTE IS A CANCER NOR AM I TRYING TO IMPLY THAT. I think what's going on is simply bad chemistry between the coach and a player. DJ is playing out of position and I don't disagree with him. It sort of worked under Nate but it's not working under Quinn. It is however, discouraging to see Murray going in with fans like that. Way too many of us, and other NBA fans, like and respect that dude for him to be bothered by the noise AND let it be known publicly. That's some KD level "f#cks given" and is a horrible look for the team. What happened to that whole code or whatever that players honored to keep the locker room stuff out of the public eye? Y'know, the whole between brothers/family matters/"it's internal" mantra... DJ basically just took a on that. If it's tactical and put out there to pressure the FO, then I'm pretty much done with dude. Regardless, now more than ever we have to draw a line in the sand. Side note, for all the hate Trae gets...here again, we see an example of what kind of person/player he is and not getting credit for it. Compare his drama to this craziness. He ain't perfect, but at least Trae kept his dirt out of the public and refused to comment.

A few local articles picked it up. They note that he had social interactions like that with fans in San Antonio and he's deactivated his Twitter(?) account. It would makes sense for DJM and the team to publicly address it with a denial and it is curious that it's out there still. I can't say that I believe it's 100% genuine, but it does line up 100% with our performance, Dejounte's father posting things, and all the trade back chatter. Lastly, the message was in response to an exchange between that user and DJ's dad who has since deleted his tweet. Lots of smoke there, if not a whole fire.

I'm in agreement. DJM is unhappy that he's not playing his natural position - what he's been doing his whole life. He wants the ball in his hands and he wants to facilitate. Dude has been playing that role his whole life. Judging by that tweet, it looks like there's some inconsistency between practice and what happens in game - and some coach/player tension. That's not a talent problem. That's a chemistry problem and I don't doubt that it's affecting the whole team. Murray doesn't want to be just a spot up shooter and he shouldn't be. I don't know what the solution is other than throwing out the obligatory "more player and ball movement." I will say that we're not winning with whatever it is we're doing now though so it couldn't hurt to experiment. I'd much prefer that and shut down this trade circus. I might be swayed if we could get a player at a different position that is equally young and impactful as that would work for everyone.

LOL...no this totally makes YOU sound like the burner! I am a piece of furniture on the Squawk. Albiet lamp sitting in a less trafficked corner of the house, I'm still a vetted long-time fixture. Literally @Sothron and I know each other in IRL. I'm ~70% certain that I know @Diesel too, but he's good at keeping his shields up lol

What @JayBirdHawk said. I won't put it all on Landry, Kyle & Co. Certainly they can make things worse and by no means am I absolving them from that. I'm just saying we're here because of decisions made prior to their arrival. I want to believe what you believe - that we hold the cards with a young, very good player, not in his prime, and locked in on a team-friendly deal. At the same time, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes with agents and the politics of GM/player negotiations...and we are consistently being cautioned by all of the insiders to temper our expectations on returns. In short, I will be LIVID if all we get are some token 1st rounders and a "solid" rotational and/or expiring player...but the larger portion of blame I would place on ownership meddling.

I do want to say for the record AGAIN...that if we're disappointed with the returns or the direction the team is headed, that I personally am not holding it all against the current FO. They walked into this and have their own challenges making it work. I'll judge them exclusively on that.

I should probably disconnect from the Squawk over the weekend...maybe until the trade deadline passes. I am prone to overthinking and I have a RIDICULOUS imagination See above! lol

On the surface it makes absolutely no sense. The pessimist in me is running wild with the idea that DJ is unhappy, Klutch is strong-arming the FO, and our reputation is hurting our bargaining posture. ...and I can't lie. I'm trying really hard not to buy into the "perceived value" circus going on. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen less than optimal returns in a deal where players are unhappy.

Sorry... She's in disbelief

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39383254/mavs-luka-doncic-asks-security-eject-heckling-fan-loss-suns

As I suspected and feared. I don't know if I blame anyone outside of the ownership group that has made a mess of things, but I certainly have no appreciation for sports agencies basically tampering. Maybe I'm just jaded because of the LeBron James effect...

The writing is on the wall...and answers questions regarding the offers we're hearing about. I believe this FO will do the best it can, but clearly there are more factors at work here than just having a losing record and trying to improve the team.

For the record... I believe Nick is in here. I have long suspected that there are lurkers among us who are or have been directly connected to the Hawks organization. Many years before we started officially acknowledging that we have "insiders" in fact. I think some of us underestimate collective intelligence and experience represented on this forum. Collectively, outside of the best NBA front offices, you will not find a group of people more capable of analyzing HAWKS basketball. I am not of the belief that only people who work in an NBA front office or have played on an NBA court are capable of scrutinizing basketball operations. They're just people who use the toilet exactly like we do. So yes, I have zero doubts they are in here. I can promise you that if I were a Hawks player, I would be in here taking in what you all have to say about my game and enjoying every second of that anonymity.

I'mma throw this out on every rumored deal...since it seems to be the going rate.

The way it reads in the rumor mill, the only players worth 1sts on our team are Trae, DJM, and JJ...and just barely. The insiders have said that teams are looking at us like a farm team and expecting discounts on our assets. My immediate thought is it's true and they're trying to lower the value and the lowball "bidding war." In the case of Murray, there's probably a multitude of factors - Klutch being the biggest.

To be clear, the rumors don't bother me and I'm not dumping on Landry/Kyle. They are doing their job and I'm honestly waiting to see how this plays out. They are responsible for their performance in the FO, but not for the entirety of the Trae Young era of the Hawks. What's bothering me is reading between the lines. It's unsettling to say the least and I'm not talking about trade rumors here. I'm talking about reviewing public comments, firings, trades, etc. with the full benefit of hindsight and insider commentary. There's so much to draw correlations with and solid consistency between the things that @Sothron, @NBASupes, and now @Mikey have said. It all lines up to some very clear writing on the wall and it makes my chest ache.

Y'know.... There's a time and place for resetting. Just like there's a time to push a young team to start winning. In both cases, it's like we moved too soon. I'll never abandon the Squawk though. The reality is, this place will be far more interesting than anything they put on the court. I'll just go 99% lurker mode.

Too much meddling. Too many chefs in the kitchen. Agents running the show behind the scenes. Holding onto sacred cows too long. Focusing too much on the bottom line and the box office... Fans want to see a winning team. You need to make basketball decisions to build a winner, you need competent basketball minds making those decisions, and you need to let those competent basketball minds do their damn job. I'm so tired of basketball drama in ATL. For once, I thought we finally had a relevant talent and could build something...but it's looking like same old Hawks. The loyal fan in me is patiently waiting to see how the dust settles, but this DJ ordeal is looking like the final straw for me. I'll appreciate the team from a distance through the rebuild.

Grimes and filler.

I would really like to stop talking past each other. Diesel, I agree with you. Pause and digest that. This is another example of the polarized/binary conversations we have in here. I don't want first round picks right now. I don't want to rebuild. I would rather mortgage the future for immediate talent. I think it was wise to give up first round picks for DJ. I think it was wise to give up unknown, protected, first round picks for Joe Johnson. We're not in disagreement there. Where we disagree is what a proper bid is and a little bit of revisionist history. Prior to becoming a free agent, Joe Johnson could not secure a contract with Phoenix. He was frustrated with his contract situation, he was frustrated with the negotiations, and he was frustrated with being the fourth option. We put in a max contract offer for him and he asked his ownership not to match it. Robert Sarver was known for running a tight payroll. No one other than Cleveland had the cap space to make an offer for Joe Johnson and they pivoted to Jerry Stackhouse. No one else even showed any real interest. Joe was a very good player, but not proven as a star. My opinion, and that of sources at the time, is that we could have just sat on the max contract offer and Phoenix would not have matched it. Certainly Boris and a first round pick would have gotten it done. My assertion is that we bid against ourselves. Regardless of what we paid, It was more than we had to. We will have to agreed to disagree on that...but this is something that infamously fractured our front office much like it is doing you and I right now. In terms of DJM, all I'm saying is those pics should have been structured the way JJ's trade was. As it were, my opinion is that three unprotected firsts in succession is too rich for my taste. We will have to agree to disagree on that as well.

I lol'd.

This is exactly my point. We are talking past each other in here. JJ is clearly worth the settled cost. No one would argue that. We simply put in a higher bid than necessary to secure him. Both statements are accurate. DJ's cost is unknown. He is worth an infinite number of Priest Lauderdales and Sheldon Williams'. He's not worth a single Luka Doncic...let alone 3. I love DJ and I think he's worth gambling on, but I'd fold on three unprotected picks. That is too rich for my tastes.

Ya'll are about to learn something about me... So... There's a lot of ways to interpret this depending upon your spiritual values. Regardless, dreams are always for YOU. It could be something that you have to do personally or it could be a message that you have to deliver to someone for them to do something. The biggest consideration though, is that you had the dream. Some keys to interpret it are... How did you feel. Your reaction to the dream is what the orchestrator of the dream is looking for. Negative experiences... Creepy/scary dreams are meant to intimidate you Authoritative/serious/thought provoking dreams are meant to guide you or "straighten" you up Positive experiences... Lustful/naughty/scandalous dreams are meant to corrupt you or mislead you. Wholesome/beautiful/nice dreams are meant to encourage you, lift you up, or calm you down Black is the unknown or insignificant. Either take no consideration for this aspect or treat it as an unknown negative factor if the color is linked to causation - IE: a player in black shoved Bogi. It's the Hawks because that's where your interest is at the moment. It's a metaphor that catches your attention - especially because you never dream about them. It's something you'd remember after the dream. It's Bogi because he's the most impactful that is least discussed. Easily overlooked. As a personal message, this is telling you to look at something you think you have under control and consider what would happen if you lost it. Confirmed by the fact that everybody notices what's going on except for the players - the Hawks players. The Hawks are ignoring their downed player and the opposition doesn't matter because they are irrelevant/unknown (black) if they are uninvolved in the injury. They also don't matter because it's the Hawks you care about. Clearly, the right thing to do is take a foul and help Bogi. It's also bigger than the game (life), but the Hawks are too focused on the game (goal/prize/reward) and are ignoring the obvious. It's worth noting that the dream could have happened without commentary, but Bob and Nique weighed in. They represent the observers along with you. This is where you have to assess their tone, your spiritual values, and how you feel about their reaction. On a final note, if you think this was a message to you specifically my immediate guess is Bogi may represent your spiritual health (intangible) where we are easily overwhelmed/distracted by our physical health/environment. The fact that you are sick kinda leads it there IMO. Meditate on it dude and trust your right brain (intuition) here. I also don't believe in coincidences. The second that I hit submit, the Squawk went down. The message was saved, even though I copied it just to be sure (because the post was taking too long).

I'm inclined to agree. The NBA draft was my jam from the early 90's up until like 2012ish as like watching how talent was drafted and developed. It's all hit or miss, but the game changers are found almost exclusively in the lottery. Outside of that, in any draft it's a matter of pure due diligence, fit, and player development/opportunity...and like a ~2% chance of finding an all-star quality talent. This is why when you have talent, you carefully examine what you need to maximize its impact and prioritize building around it. This is a great time to drop a note for the Squawk... For future reference ya'll, this is why I maintain that everything is negotiable. The next time I say that I would trade <player x>, please don't look at me sideways. Potential has an expiration date and it absolutely KILLS us coddling our sacred cows too long.