Bankingitbig

2 minutes ago, sturt said:

Still.

Not to yammer on about it, but I mean, does anyone really think fans haven't considered it a possibility all along? Anyone?

I see a young guy in his first gig in the big chair getting asked over and over again in interviews, and I think he just let himself say too much, I really do. There was no upside to saying what he said. Not a huge deal, because in fact we do anticipate that everyone already strongly assumed what he said anyhow... but God help us that he mentally ascends to some regret here, so that he's more disciplined from here on out.

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.

13 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Ok..other than LeBron and Durant, who are the Super stars in this league?

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.

1 minute ago, TheFuzz said:

First off, love everything Schlenk is saying. I like the idea of staying flexible but competitive while accumulating assets, like Ferry did. Best of both worlds!

But, I gotta be honest ... I'm definitely getting some weird Bud vibes from Schlong (is that his name?) and Ressler. I thought y'all were reaching at first, but now I might join you in the good ol' reach around after all. Those quotes make it seem like Bud might not be on the same page with the rest of them right now.

P.S. I didn't get enough sleep last night.

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).

2 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Geez isn't that just another knock on bud since he was making basketball decisions the last few months?   Plus that definitely reads 'this is my way to not re sign sap and not look like a jerk for saying it was my #1 priority'

I wonder what the chances are the Bud is thinking about resigning?  

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)...

11 minutes ago, sturt said:

Are we now embarking on the more traditional owner-GM-coach hierarchy, and/or what nuances are different from that traditional hierarchy, and/or what nuances are different from the decision-making structure previously used?

 

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.

3 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Any mention of Sap?   I hope we can work some deal.  It may help that all the GS guys are talking about taking some discounts.   Sap knows the Hawks aren't going to win crap he we give him a full max.   

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.

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.

16 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Lol, this is far from true. Most were flops. His drafts got better with Quinn

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.

24 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Thought I heard it would be next week.

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.

1 hour ago, Peoriabird said:

You sure you don't want to up the bet to $40 mil per year like that other poster? Lol!

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.

4 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

He didnt get the max 2 years ago or 4 years ago so what has changed except he was a better player before

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.

11 minutes ago, KB21 said:

Maybe, but they aren't always taken with the #1 pick.   Think about three of the last 4 #1 overall picks.  Only Karl Anthony Towns has developed into an All Star level player. 

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.