Bankingitbig

To be fair to him, he did say in his first press conference and subsequent radio interview that he wanted to provide a better line of communication to the fans and to be more honest with them, so that the fans better understand the direction of the team. I think that is much better than what we had previously, as I honestly was confused by the direction the front office was going last offseason with moves that signaled more rebuilding in nature followed by other moves that were more "win now" mode. That said, I definitely don't want him speaking publically about strategic moves and players that we are targeting. But I think it's ok to level set the fans, so that they fully understand the ramifications of what resigning Millsap could mean from a salary cap perspective.

LeBron, Durant, Leonard, Westbrook, Harden, Curry, Davis, Paul, George Players that are close: Giannis, Cousins, Butler This is obviously just my own opinion. I think you could win a championship with those guys as your best players depending on what pieces you have around them. That said, I still think there are tiers to it with LeBron, Durant and Leonard at Tier 1. Westbrook, Harden and Curry Tier 2, Davis, Paul and George Tier 3 and Giannis, Cousins and Butler Tier 4.

If you were Utah, then would take Kent Bazemore with 3-years $54M still left on his contract or would you rather keep Joe Johnson who has 1 year left for $10.5M?

It takes a lot more to trade up into the lottery than that package. Just ask Boston when they wanted to draft Justise Winslow.

I don't think the Warriors will have any problem keeping Klay Thompson with Durant and Curry. Iguodala is going to be the odd man out in that situation if anything. I also don't see why they would trade Klay Thompson as he is almost a perfect fit next to Curry, Durant and Green. Then factor in the fact that they are currently contenders and likely don't want to mess up their roster for potential future assets and I just don't see any way that we could possibly put together a decent enough trade package.

Biggest thing to me is the Schröder-Hardaway-Sefolosha-Millsap-Howard lineup (#4) putting up a net differential of +0.26, but if you swap Sefolosha for Prince (lineup #12) it goes to -0.11. Somehow the Sefolosha lineup put up 1.24 OffRtg vs. 1.06 for the Prince lineup. Makes me question even more why Sefolosha didn't see playing time in the playoffs. Also, curious why the offense improves so much more with him instead of Prince because Sefolosha isn't good offensively. The only thing I can think is that Sefolosha is much more active in terms of movement and cutting, whereas Prince will just stand in the corner.

My amateur opinion that can't be proven at all. Last offseason was a cluster****. No one really knew who was truly in charge at the front office, which probably had a part in the mishandling of Horford's negotiations. Ressler and Koonin pushed to get Howard as a way to bring a "superstar" to Atlanta that they can market around. The cluster**** continues during the season with Wilcox and Bud not seeing eye-to-eye on what to do with Millsap and Ressler is forced to make the final decision. Ressler realizes this isn't working and also realizes that Howard was likely a mistake. Starts over with the hiring of Schlenk. I think he is now giving the keys to Schlenk with the exception of the luxury tax. Schlenk will have the final say, but wants to work with the coaches and all of the front office to make decisions and make sure they are on the same page. I think Ressler's comment about having the final decision on Millsap was him just going with what Bud wanted (not Wilcox) and having to be the ultimate decision maker because those two didn't agree, but now it's up to Schlenk. I don't think Ressler really wants to be making any basketball personnel decisions. Honestly, the man is a billionaire that is still a Chairman and CEO of a very large private equity company. He is still a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. He lives in Los Angeles. He doesn't have time to be making any roster decisions and likely doesn't want to going forward.

Yea that's exactly how I felt after listening to the radio interview. Thought there was nothing there, but the more Schlenk keeps saying how he and Bud are partners - the more I get the feeling that Bud wasn't too happy with losing his Pres. of Basketball Operations title and that they don't see eye-to-eye on things (ie. Millsap possibly).

My notes: First order of business - get with the front office mentioned Sund, Treloar and Peterson (not Wilcox poor guy) and hash out a plan. Are you a Best Player Available guy - A little bit of both. Early on he tends to be a BPA drafter and then later on with late picks he goes more for need. Taurean Prince - He thinks the Hawks did a great job with him. Said they were scouting him for #30 last year and the Hawks surprised people by taking him so early, but now all GMs around the league acknowledge that Taurean at the pick was a great choice. Ceiling for Taurean - Radio host mentioned that he asked Taurean if he thinks he will be an allstar and Prince said "Most definitely". He also asked THJ if he thinks Prince will be an allstar and he said "Definitely". Schlenk said character is going to be real important for us and Taurean is top notch character wise. Being player friendly - Treat the families with first class. Make the families feel apart of the Hawks family. Taking a step back to take two steps forward - Certainly an option you can go. You can remain competitive and continue to develop your younger assets while accumulating more assets. Have the flexibility to then acquire an allstar when a team like OKC can't afford someone like Harden. He said he IS NOT A PROPONENT OF BLOWING IT UP. Hawks fans - Fans want a clear message and they want to know what the plan is going forward. He said the plan is to remain competitive, develop young assets, remain flexible and accumulate assets. Will be better at communicating to fans what the plan is. More important this free agency: THJ or Millsap? - Didn't answer, but said that both are important. Thoughts on Schröder - He improved his shooting and his midrange greatly this year. Thinks he is very underrated defensively because he doesn't get steals, but thinks he is a ball hawk. Thinks his deal is very economical. Players that are "untouchable" in trades - That word is really hard. If CLE calls and says they are tired of LeBron, then he isn't going to reply saying someone is untouchable. He doesn't like that word. Day one priority - Let Bud know that we are in this together and are partners. They won't do well unless they both work together. He isn't successful unless Bud is. He has no doubt that they will have a strong working relationship going forward. Final say on roster - It is going to be a collaboration. Doesn't help to bring a guy in that Bud doesn't want. Ultimately the "buck" stops with him, but he will definitely be partners with Bud. What he learned from Jerry West - Learned to be direct and honest with people. What he learned from Bob Myers - His ability to develop relationships. Myers came in as an agent and understood the importance of relationships. Relationships matter. Dwight Howard's season - He has texted with Dwight, but hasn't had the opportunity to talk with him. Thinks Dwight was a huge part of the Hawks' defense last year. Still a very big physical presence. Those guys are hard to find and "we have him here to be that rock of our defense."

How do you feel if you're Wilcox? Seemed to me that Wilcox has been in favor of rebuilding/retooling the roster for awhile and wasn't able to because of Bud (and possibly Ressler). But let's be real - no one was ever truly a fan of his (poor guy)...

Well that's a plus! Though doesn't exactly scream to me that Schlenk has complete control of the roster.

The reporters were kind of weak with their questions... Definitely wished someone would have asked Ressler straight up how much input he will have in personnel decisions and if Schlenk will have final say.

He was asked about Sap (see my earlier post about it). I didn't want to add my personal opinion to my earlier post, but I definitely didn't view Schlenk's answer as a ringing endorsement for resigning Paul.

This was streamed on the Atlanta Hawks Facebook page and I believe you can also rewatch it there. On Coach Bud - Schlenk thinks he is one of the best coaches in the league. Said it is a partnership between them and he is here to help. Thinks they will have a very strong working relationship. Also said they have similar philosophies in terms of ball movement, spacing and passing. On Millsap - Avoided the question (obviously). Said free agency comes every year and that these decisions get made every year. Said Paul is probably the best player on the team, then quickly clarified to say he is the best player. Then said he needs to get together with the coaching staff and the group to determine a plan going forward, but that Paul will be a priority for it. On Draft - Likes the amount of picks they have going forward and said it is more swings to get something right. Someone asked about identifying franchise players in the draft. Schlenk said it is hard to identify that at #19 and #31 and that he doesn't want to use that term, but that he and his staff have identified players that they like. On luxury tax - Schlenk doesn't believe in paying the tax if you're a borderline playoff team. If you're close to contention and a move makes you closer, but puts you in the luxury tax, then he is for it. Ressler commented that he agrees.

I am going to pass on Iguodala. I don't want another player way passed his prime (ie. Howard). Our offense needs some work, especially our shooting, and I don't see him improving it. I also think he will be a bit overpaid just due to his name and reputation. That said, I do think he would be a decent mentor for Prince to learn from. I don't think he would necessarily steal minutes from Prince either and would actually be a good opportunity for Prince to play some 4 with Iggy at the 3. His playmaking ability would also be a big plus.

I think some people are going to be surprised by the interest Muscala gets this offseason. His 3P% is one of the best for a Center. His defense isn't close to being as bad as some make it out to be on this forum. He can pass the ball and dribble well enough, while also being able to run the floor.

Sorry to bring this back up, as I am a bit late to the party. It has been reported that Dimitroff and Smith didn't see eye-to-eye in how to build the Falcons, but that Dimitroff conceded to Smith. Also, Pioli coming in as Assistant GM in 2014 helped Dimitroff, as Pioli's strength was in evaluating linemen which is Dimitroff's weakness. Team system is much more important in the NFL as well. It's easier to draft only for guys that fit your system when you have 7 rounds and 50+ players on a team. You can't really do that in the NBA, as talent generally trumps system since there are only 5 players on the court at a time (compared to 22 in the NFL if you count offense + defense).

This whole tanking/rebuild discussion is misplaced to me. Rebuilding/tanking would have been trading Millsap, Horford, Korver along with Teague last year prior to the deadline or at least trading Millsap in the offseason without signing Howard & Baze. We didn't do that. We sat on our hands and now have some awful decisions in front of us. Choosing to let Millsap walk, to me, is making the smarter of the awful decisions. We can try and trade Howard/Baze, but I don't think we will get much of a return for them that would be classified as a rebuild. Going with the young guys (Schröder, Prince and possibly THJ if the $ is reasonable) is just a smart decision to me given the paths we have in front of us. I don't see it as a rebuild, but rather as the best path forward that we have given the circumstances. I also don't think Bud will ever tank, nor will Schröder. I guess I just don't understand. When people say they are opposed to "rebuilding", does that mean they want us to sign Millsap to a 5-year deal north of $30M/year?

I think not having a cap smoothing last year was a big detriment to the league. Silver knew this and tried to have the cap smoothed, but couldn't get the NBAPA onboard. If there wasn't such a large spike in the cap, then you likely wouldn't have GSW with Durant. You would be looking at great parity in the West with GSW, OKC, HOU, SA, LAC and even UTA all as potential contenders. Sure, the East would still be dominated by CLE, but that's more because the teams in the East just aren't where they need to be right now competitively (compared to CLE and the top tier in the West). I am not a fan of players ring chasing and joining forces like LeBron and Bosh did with Wade in MIA. But they were only able to win 2 rings together out of 4 years. It isn't like they were super dominant. Perhaps not having max salaries would prevent this, but I definitely think there should still be a salary cap as I don't want to see a situation similar to baseball where the Yankees can just outbid everyone.

Yea I think it's supposed to be Friday, June 2nd. I think technically he doesn't start with the Hawks organization until June 1st, but I think that is more just a formality as he is likely already hard at work.

I'd rather have THJ at $15m per year, than Millsap at ~$35M per year for 4-5 years. I think THJ has more room to grow in terms of his playmaking and shot selection. Also, I think he can improve his ability to drive and draw more fouls.

I think Millsap gets a non-Bird rights max or at least fairly close to it. That would be ~$152.4mm/4years, so ~$38mm per year.

He got offered the max two years ago......

https://www.957thegame.com/blogs/mornings-w-joe-lo-dibs/exclusive-travis-schlenk-thanks-fans-he-exits-golden-state Here is an interview he did earlier this morning with the local SF radio station. Sounds like a really nice, down to earth guy that works hard (quick judgments). He credited ownership as a reasoning to why he chose to come here. Said he already gave his resignation to the Warriors and he won't even be attending the Finals because there is too much work to do with Atlanta. I have seen him talk multiple times about avoiding bad contracts and he does so again in this interview. Seems like that is something he is VERY cautious about and I think we could be taking a pass on Millsap because of him with Ressler backing away from his words and saying it was Schlenk's decision.

C'mon that's the most misleading sample size.... If you look before the 2013 NBA draft, then you have to go all the way until the 2007 draft for the #1 pick to not be an allstar (Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, John Wall, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose). Guess who that was: Greg Oden with Durant and Horford picked immediately after. Also, I don't think you are really giving enough time for the "development" phase to take place.