Packfill

The Hawks need to make a trade to fix this roster.  Trade deadline was an opportunity to do that.  Now they need to get something done this summer.

I am very skeptical as to whether there is a real plan in place or not to turn this team into a winner.

Just now, Diesel said:

I think it's a bevy of things that must be considered.

1. Injuries.

Without the Injuries, we'd be over .500 in my opinion.   JJ missing what 9 games and Hunter missing 19 and Clint missing about 4.. is what has us where we are.   We are a very tight team.  We are really tight because we don't have good depth.  Every judgement of this team is us when we lose missing starters.   Last night, we were down 2 starters.   Had they played, we may have won that game.   The same is true against the Clipps.   That's the problem... we have just played 2 of the best 3 teams in the league and we were right there and we were missing starters and had key players on minute restrictions.   The context is never given though.. it goes down as a loss.   They say Boston is the best defensive team in the Land..  We scored on them easily in the 1st half.  We missed DJ in the second half after Trae was injured. 

1. New System

We have to learn Quin's system and then we have to trust it.   That's going to take time.   You see it on the court.   We just don't have the trust.   We sometimes still revert back to whatever Nate had us doing.   The good news is that there's less reversion. 

1. BBIQ

Some of our players just lack it.   I'm not pointing fingers yet but we have some players that Need Trae to run a heliocentric offense for them to be important.  And some who are just clueless on defense. 

Once we deal with this correctly.. through minor trades..and time and healthy.. we will be top 4 in the East. 

I appreciate the optimism but I personally don't think the path is that easy.  This team is so dreadful defensively that it is hard to envision progressing without meaningful changes on the roster - and the team has limited resources to make those meaningful changes.  CC is on the decline already, Bogi is getting to that age where he could decline at any time (not to mention his injury history).  Hunter's injury history is what it is and I can't see it getting better as he ages.  The fact that AJ and Kobe can't get any burn on this team is not a good sign.  

Plus the whole point of signing Quinn last year was to jump start things this season.  That has not worked out.  

I hope I am wrong.

21 minutes ago, ABH said:

I LIKE OUT CORE !! WE GOT THIS

I am getting less optimistic about this "core."  This team had that one nice run when Nate took over but has otherwise been mediocre at best since..  They pushed a lot of chips onto the table with the DJM trade and don't have much to show for that - and they have already tried a coaching change.

I am of the view currently that they need to shake things up.  I hope to be proven wrong on that but the results speak for themselves.

3 minutes ago, AHF said:

I'm really more interested in whether people think OKC may make more moves right now.  Hayward is an expiring contract and UFA.  They can absolutely keep him if they want at a much lower price than his current salary.  I was more interested in the idea of whether they are done now or open to using one or more of the many assets they have to add to the team for a run this season.

I think OKC has a clear need mor front court depth.  CC may not be the right fit for them but if I am the Hawks I would definitely explore something.  

3 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

Jones-Murphy or Zion or Ingram.. that’s all we want from Pels

I think Daniels is someone to target too - not as the sole piece for DJM obviously but a young player with good defensive and playmaking  potential.  If he can get his shot figured out he could really be something.

This Hawks team has a bad habit of playing down to its competition.  That said, these are exactly the type of games the team should be winning to help create some momentum - if not for this season then optimism for next season.

2 minutes ago, Hawkish said:

Do we want Zion beyond ticket sales?  He is exciting for sure.  But isn’t availability the best ability?

 

Itis for sure but if you are a team like the Hawks without an obvious path to championship contention sometimes you need to take some risks to get to that next level.  Zion would be a huge risk to be sure.

Maybe this is a precursor to Detroit trading Bojan.

3 minutes ago, warcore said:

not necessarily. Jazz know that it's one of the first picks of the 2nd round // basically a late first on a cheaper/nonguaranteed contract 

 

Pretty poor return for the Jazz.  

Also, I don't see Cleveland trading Okoro now without getting value back even if he is too expensive to resign - he is averaging 24+ minutes a night on a team that has only lost twice this year!  

Maybe sign Snell?

2 hours ago, Phunkabilly said:

@theheroatl, I might have to smack some sense into ya, lol.  The main piece you would be getting there (at least from a usage perspective) is Lavine, who doesn't play a lick of defense and would absolutely cripple our financial flexibility for the foreseeable future.  The dude is already not performing up to his salary and will likely only get worse in future years. 

I'd be fine with PWill as a buy-low candidate, but am not willing to pay a premium for him.  He's decent on the defensive side, but his offense leaves a lot to be desired, although I would be interested in seeing if Trae could help elevate him on that side of the ball.  But add in the fact that he's looking to be PAID this upcoming offseason, so I wouldn't count on him to help us beyond this year.  If anything, the Hawks should have learned not to overpay role players who haven't really shown much so far.

I do like Caruso, and he would be the main guy of interest to me here.

From a player-to-player value perspective, in comparing performance to price, here's how I roughly see the comparison:

DJ >>>> Lavine
Bey = PWill
Bogi = Caruso

If you truly wanted to do a offense-for-defense swap, I would just make it Bey + Bogi for PWill + Caruso.  I think that's pretty close on value and makes much more sense if helping our defense is the goal.  Including Lavine just absolutely kills it for me.

While I 100% agree that acquiring Lavine is a bad move for the Hawks I cannot see any reason why Chicago would want to swap Caruso and Williams for Bogi and Bey since that trade does not solve any needs for them.  

Just being devils advocate.

5 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

1) use Bogi as a trading asset to bring in better fitting player(s)

2) use Bey's expiring contract to bring in a better fitting player that may be on a longer term deal 

3) use the dang TPE

Those options exist for sure, but obviously trading Bogi, Bey or any other rotation player means also needing to replace their minutes.  So if you trade Bogi for a center that is great for the center rotation but means someone needs to step into those minutes at guard (though you would hope the two recent first round picks the Hawks have on their roster would be able to do that).

A general lack of effort and team work on defense.  

Only 11 games so the sample size is very small - though the volume over those 11 games is quite high - but 30.6% on 3pt attempts for Kobe seems low.  Maybe they are force feeding him being a volume scorer and primary ball handler so that is impacting efficiency, and in a more limited role he could be a more efficient scorer.

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

Luka is starting to remind me of Melo. Individual accolades. Not much team success, ever really.

If that is true of Luka it is true of Trae as well. 
 

Both have had one run to the conference championship and not a lot else. Both need some more playoff success to validate their stats in my opinion. 

25 minutes ago, AHF said:

This feels like one of those where maybe we win if we have Dre and Luka only goes for 50 points or something.  The total lack of depth on the wing is hard to stomach with this team.  
Why would you single spool that spot knowing Dre’s injury history?  You had Bey and Matthews next in line as the primary wing defenders?  Really?

You would think with Kylie out it would be easy to tilt the entire defense to stop Luka.  Mavs as a team shot over 60% from the field. Evan bad defenders that play with effort could stop that from happening - the Hawks aren’t putting a team of rookies on the floor. 

3 hours ago, EazyRoc said:

Sorry if this topic has already been started but I’m just curious as to what’s going on with my Hawks.

I get they’ve been struggling this season but if I see one more post about Trae or DJ in a potential trade I am going to scream.

We finally get our superstar out of the draft after having god awful luck and are now going to blow it up ?

So what’s the deal guys ?

Hawks don’t have anything to blow up.  They have already imploded. Mavs shot over 60% from the field tonight. That should not happen in the NBA unless you are tanking.

2 hours ago, Sothron said:

I'd do that. Send AJ for Grimes since Quin won't play him. Now we have a SG and SF that play defense and can hit threes.

Yuck.  Trae surrounded by role players that lack upside is a good way to lock this squad into a play-in team for the next couple years.  

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

Just seems to me like Nola is the place that needs DJ and has things to trade to us.  

Nola might want DJ but they don't need him, particularly if doing so destroys their wing depth.

2 hours ago, Nash said:

Guess how Nuggets won it all last year. They're defense at 1, 3 and 5 is probably the worst in the league, at 4 is limited and at 2 is good

They won because they have one of the three best basketball players currently on the planet and a guy who plays like prime Steph Curry in the playoffs.

That is their starting point, which is not bad!

6 minutes ago, terrell said:

Exactly what we need here..

Another your turn, my turn guy who stinks at Defense.........

Bring him home.. 

In some respects it does seem like a terrible pairing with Trae.  

Hawks need a culture setter.

2 hours ago, Wurider05 said:

Maybe I am just being a homer1, but I think that we should play out the rest of the season with the current roster. I still think that we can make a run with the team as constructed. 

I am less optimistic than you but am 100% behind being opportunistic.  I do think the team needs to make some moves if it wants to progress past play-in hopeful.