AtLaS

We just need to start winning and all this goes away.  Just the way it is.

23 hours ago, NBASupes said:

The question is easy. 

Murray has proved during his starting run.

He's a better player than Trae

More impactful 

Better floor general

On a much cheaper contract and his teammates love him

But he also proved, he has little to no impact on carrying a team. 

Trae has ample ability to carry a team and he's hard af to deal with in a series when he can exploit you which Murray isn't capable of. 

Murray is like a better scoring ISO Joe without the hallmark size.

 

Because of this, I am keeping Trae every single time. 

Before I used to be, keep Trae, and maybe trade Murray. 

But now I am like, keep Trae unless you get Donovan Mitchell or Devin Booker or trade Murray for value so Murray definitely improved his value to me but the end result is still the same. 

I came here to say trade Trae for those same reasons.  But, the point of carrying a team in a playoff series is huge.  You need elite offensive players that can create buckets when pressure is high, defensive effort and intensity ramps up, and defense learns your moves in a long series.  If Murray is our best offensive player we have zero shot at winning anything deep in the playoffs, I don't care how good we are defensively. 

Trae has the ability to be that offensive engine, but he just needs to be more consistent.  He has some horrendous games where he single handedly loses us games sometimes with bricks and turnovers.  

The other part of me would love to see how good our defense would be with Murray playing the 1 (I love DJM as a 1) and another good wing that we receive in a Trae trade.  But the 1st issue remains, we will need an elite offensive player to create a bucket in tight playoff games.

Just look at last 10 NBA champions.  Nuggets (Jokic), Warriors (Curry), Bucks (Giannis), Lakers (Bron/AD), Raptors (Kawhi), Warriors, Warriors, Cavs, Warriors, Spurs.  You can't win without an elite offensive player.  

Now, the other challenge is building enough size, defense and shooting around Trae to GET him to that point in the playoffs.  I think with the right group around him that's possible, it's just going to be super hard to do.  Building around Murray is much easier if we can find an elite offensive player.

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Top 10 protected in 2026...then 2 2nds: 1 in 2026 and 1 in 2027

I've never understood why a team would agree to trade allowing a 1st to become a 2nd.  It should remain a protected 1st until it conveys.   

Trae was SO GOOD at ending opponent runs back in the day.  But now it seems like when the other team is on a run, his turnover rate accelerates.  Just such bad timing on his turnovers.

That's a bad play by Trae, they aren't giving you that BS in the playoffs.  Just don't do it.  It's clearly not a basketball play.  

Playing Trae the entire 1st quarter without subbing, after he just came back and clearly isn't 100% is not smart.  Yeah he should've played better but that's just too much to ask.  

We are done.  Too many injuries.

I've just always wanted to see Trae with a 5 that can stretch the floor.  I feel like we'd be unstoppable offensively.  Clint is such a major issue in this offense.  

I'm not opposed to Edey though b/c he would clearly be an offensive upgrade over Clint, but the lane will remain clogged for Trae drives.

5 minutes ago, KB21 said:

So, are you willing to change the offense to a slower paced post up style offense to cater to his offensive strengths?  Because I don't see where he's bringing elite offensive value in anything other than being able to post up.  

I want to cater to the players strengths and I want an efficient offense, period.  I could give a damn what our pace is.  Pace is not a determining factor in offensive efficiency at all.  

Some of the best teams in the league are some of the slowest paced.  You play to your personnel. 

Agreed that Edey will get torched defensively on the pick and roll.  That will be his biggest weakness.  But offensively he is a mismatch and would tremendously help us.  

The question is will his offense be good enough to cover up for his defensive issues?  That's a tough one and I don't know.  But in the mid to late first I would draft him all day long.  That's a risk worth taking.  

Part of me wants to lose to the Bulls in the playin, give us some lottery balls and a chance at a high pick.  But it would be fun to play the Celtics again, Hawks playoff games are fun to watch and against the Celtics the crowd would be nuts.  We would have absolutely zero pressure on us.

Trae really started lighting up the C's in last years playoffs and DJM has been killing them recently.  It would be fun.

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

Our biggest issue with Trae and Murray is off ball play. They are terrible together at it because Murray is a 1 and Trae is a negative off the ball. You put them with Edey gravity and you have easily the best offense in NBA history for the next 10 years. Easily. 

Edey value for us is 10x than even for Luka and Harden and 100x compared to everyone else. Edey legit makes Trae a MVP candidate and he removes Trae's offensive weakness. 

I like Edey, but this is a bit too optimistic IMO.  It's possible that you could be right, but a lot will depend on his work ethic and other things.  He won't have the same gravity in the NBA as he does at Purdue.

Murray is such a pest on D.  Especially when he plays PG.  

As a shooter (of course I was nowhere close to the level of an NBA player) it's the worst thing in the world when your shot isn't falling. 

I think what happened was he was injured and returned too early b/c he didn't want to miss out on all-NBA money. He was playing at 70% and predictably he didn't play as well as before.  Then once healthy it's still kind of in his head.  It's hard to get out of slumps.  Just takes time and one big game with your shot falling for that confidence to come back.    

We need a 5 that can stretch the floor so OO can play the 4 sometimes.  He's too small at the 5 against big C's so we can only play him there when other teams go small ball.  Now, if OO was a knockdown shooter than he would pose a problem for the big C's on the other end but he's still just not a respectable shooter.  Teams are cool with letting him take the open 3.  They'd rather help on Trae/DJ drives and leave him open.  

If I'm OO, I am working on my face up ballhandling and jumpshot ALL offseason until it's respectable.  He has improved and respect him for that, but he needs to continue.  He's just too small to be a starting 5.  

On 3/17/2024 at 12:32 PM, AHF said:

I don’t think anyone is trading a 2025 for a 2024 20-something pick.

I disagree.  There is always a player who slips, or just a random player that a team falls in love with and wants to get them.  The NCAA tournament hasn't even started yet, there will be some guys who are currently considered 2nd rounders who will move up into the first.  

You may be right, but I think there is a better shot than you seem to think. 

A late first in any draft is a crapshoot to a certain extent.

Fun game to watch, but I'm in the camp that this season is over so i would have preferred to lose this game. 

We definitely want it this year.  Sac is in the West and could easily miss the playoffs next year.  If Sabonis or Fox went down early in the season we'd be screwed. 

If it conveys this year and we don't want it, we can trade it for a low 2025 first.  I am sure there will be some team who likes a player in this draft that would be willing to trade a 2025 first.  

7 hours ago, Sothron said:

Our shot diet went from almost dead last in the NBA to the 4th best in the NBA this season. Trae is playing the best defense of his life under Quin. It isn't the coach's fault the owner is a POS cheap ass that won't pay for a real NBA roster. 

Didn't spend the MLE

Haven't used our massive trade exception via Collins trade

Traded Collins for nothing

Traded Heurter for nothing.

All to avoid the tax.  We have no depth because of this so anytime someone is hurt, whether it's JJ, Hunter, CC, OO, or Trae the team is playing scrubs like the Mathews twins. 

1 hour ago, BrazilianHawk said:

AJ is that bad. Or perhaps he's uncoachable. Who knows? Who even cares, anyway? 

We are playing Garrison Mathews over him, who is 27 and will probably be out of the league in 2 years.  We aren't winning a championship this year and unlikely to make the playoffs, why wouldn't you develop your 20 year old.  

Did you AJ play last year?  How is he that bad?  

Can someone remind me again why we are playing Garrison Mathews over AJ?

1000% agreed.  We need to tank.  This is our last chance to boost our team through the draft since SA owns our draft for the next few years.

I know it's not the greatest draft on paper, but who cares, there are always diamonds in the rough and it's our last chance for a while.  This team needs to add some talent on low salary that we can develop or use in a trade.  Getting into the play-in or (best case) getting 7 or 8 seed just to get smoked in the playoffs isn't going to help us.  

Now that Trae is out play Bufkin/AJ/Gueye please.