AtLaS

I'm loving the immediate sprint towards the basket when receiving the pass on the perimeter.  Great job by Saddiq, JJ has done it a few times too and we've gotten layups.  It's hard to defend.

I been telling y'all all offseason how good JJ is.  Dude has unlimited potential.

We are shooting 10% from 3 as a team and still on pace for 100+ points.  This is an easy win if we could just shoot like 25%.

How did Hunter not get that rebound.  That is horrible.

We need a top 15 defense.  

We need to shoot better from 3.  Primarily Trae needs to return to 2021-22 efficiency.

We do those things and we can easily make a top 4 seed.  If not we will be about .500 again IMO

20 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

JJ needs to actually set the screen though, lol.

It's on Trae too.  JJ can't move too much or it's a moving screen.  The key to a successful screen is the runner has to run very close to the screener, like Trae needs to almost touch JJ's shoulder.  It's kind of on both of them though, JJ ran down too far, and Trae ran up too high making it easy for his defender to  dodge the screens.

It's preseason though so I won't get too worried about it, Quin can fix that with one film review.  

Most don't even have Trae in the top 20 players anymore so he can't be overrated.  

If we get a top 4 seed, 50+ wins and a decent showing in the playoffs he will move back up.  

Not being considered for a top passer though is the only disrespect.  He's a top 3 passer in the NBA.

JJ such a good passer.  Really sees the floor, that is pretty rare.

2 hours ago, JeffS17 said:

No one is suggesting you don't need good shooters to contend.  Anyone can look at the Raptors from last year and see that.  But, you've misrepresented my argument and then provided a counter-argument to something I never said.  What I said is you don't need 4 above average 3P shooters in the starting lineup to compete.  3 is fine.  It's also not a genuine approach to look at a player and deem them a shooter or not -- Siakam is serviceable from beyond the arc -- as I stated before, to a degree that you cannot leave him wide open or sag off him.  Capela would be the only player that would not provide spacing in the lineup, and he is the primary roll man anyways, so the floor would be maximally spaced.

I think that's where we disagree.  Trae wasn't an above average 3pt shooter last year.  Murray isn't an above average 3pt shooter.  Hunter is maybe average at best.  

If you look at our 3pt% rankings against the league, Hunter is the 113th best by %, Murray is 118th, Bey is 99th, Trae is 130th.  That's horrible.  

Only Bogi is in the top 30 (he's 29th) and you can't start Bogi with Trae/DJM.  

Then you add Capela who is absolutely useless outside of 5 feet.  

The lane will be clogged and teams will force us to make open 3s, which we don't consistently do well.  Better shooting teams will beat us, period.  

Now, if we had Curry/Klay at the 1 and 2, then you can get away with only having 3 of 5 shooters.

If we had Myles Turner or KAT at the 5 instead of Capela, then we could add Siakam to this roster just fine.  But we don't.  The fit is bad unless many other subsequent moves are made, IMO.

8 hours ago, Final_quest said:

If Siakam doesn't work because he "can't shoot", how is Jalen supposed to be the answer?

Jalen is making $3m this year and we don't have to give up anything to play him.  He's also 21 years old.  

For Siakam we have to sell the farm and pay him 50m+ next offseason to keep him since he will be a UFA.  

If we trade for Siakam we need to trade for Miles Turner next.

Why is this conversation coming back up?  You can't win with Siakam in this lineup unless major changes are made to the roster.  You have to have 3pt shooting at 4 of 5 starting positions in the modern NBA.  We are also going to have to pay him 50M+ next year which will be a horrible contract, and we would have given up a lot of young pieces to do that.

I've said 100x I actually love Siakam as a player, he just won't fit with THIS roster.  He'd be great for the Warriors or Celtics.  We already have shooting issues, it will get worse with him on this roster.

We need to be focused on KAT or Embiid or someone who can address those needs.

15 hours ago, kg01 said:

I wouldn't take JoeLLLL for free.  Definition of an empty calories player.  He's closer to Ben Simmons as a playoff performer than he is to Trae.  And Trae has a no-show series on his resume. 

The dude has led his team to a top 3-4 seed for like 6 straight years.  He's not an empty calories player at all.  Sure, he hasn't been out of the 2nd round yet, but a lot of guys haven't.  Jokic didn't either until this year, unless you want to count the bubble but they were smoked by LAL in the next round.  He and Jokic had virtually the exact same resume until this year.  But now Jokic is just so much better.  

The reality is every NBA player is considered soft or "empty stats" or not a winner UNTIL they win.  

Regardless if the price for him is too steep it's probably not worth the risk.  If we can keep the core in tact and add Embiid I'd probably go for it though.  We are a championship team with him and Trae IMO.

20 minutes ago, AHF said:

I expect him to show up and half-a** it to let them know he isn't going to miss a paycheck but he is also not going to really try.  Similar to him tanking it in Houston to force the trade to Brooklyn.  

It's going to be a lot more controversial this time.  For one, he's already done this before.  Second, that Houston team had no other stars or key leaders of the team at that time.  Embiid is the star on Philly, wouldn't be surprised if something went down between those 2. I just can't see them letting him dog it, if I'm an MVP caliber player who is trying to win a championship I'm not playing with a half-ass, unmotivated Harden.  But that's probably what Harden wants, for Philly to tell him to stay home then he still gets paid and doesn't have to play.  

I think this is going to do much more harm than good for Harden, wouldn't be surprised if he gets the Melo or Starbury treatment after this.  At the very least he's going to take a huge paycut next year.  Dude is going to be humbled bigtime.

I've been saying this for years.  Max salaries ensures that the very best players in the league are underpaid.  Jokic/Giannis/LeBron are making the same money as guys Bradley Beal/Lamelo Ball/Paul George, etc.  And since there is a salary cap, it is a massive advantage for the teams that have a top 5 player.

If you remove the max salary and allow the top players to get market price as in all other sports, league parity will improve dramatically IMO.  

5 hours ago, Hawkish said:

I understand.  The theory of KAT’s offensive skillset could fit.  His pending $50+M salary for a non-leader, generally soft player does not.

With this new CBA and salary cap, EVERY decent player is going to be making this.  Siakam is already making 37 million and is a UFA next season, what do you think he's going to get paid?  I guarantee it will be close to 50 million, if not more.

KAT is a way better fit, stretches the D, a legit big who can rebound, post up, and shoot lights out.  Trading for Siakam ensures we are playing small ball and will be a horrible shooting/spacing team.  

Pretty much every player is considered soft before they win a championship.  KAT is no different.  

23 hours ago, Final_quest said:

They are at least trying to be fair.  Some of these lists rank guys like Lamelo, Garland, and Brunson ahead of Trae.  

100%. A LOT of ppl have these 3 above Trae.  I've also seen Kyrie, Holiday, Fox, Harden, Hali, Murray ranked above him.  

Trae has been getting crapped on since the Miami series last year.  As if it completely erased everything he did in the year prior.  He was awful in that series, but some of the rankings have just been terrible.  

This ranking is fair to me.  I can see Fox and Hali having arguments.  Hali was ridiculously efficient last year, but now that he got the big contract he will get a lot more scrutiny.  He better start winning now.

Check out dude's passing from 3-4 minutes on the second video.  VERY few players have that type of passing ability/anticipation.  Trae is one of them.  

Trade Bey or Bufkin.  We need to keep AJ and JJ.

1 hour ago, thecampster said:

So I just keep going back to the 15 game sample after the all-star break. His Per36 during that time equates to 15.5p/9.9r/4.7a/1.9s/1.9b on 52.9% shooting/30.4% 3pt shooting.  If that is really what we'd be looking at with him, I can't imagine trading that away.

 

This all happened at age 21 in his first chance at legitimate playing time, and right after getting Quin.   On day 1 I remember a Quin interview where he was like we need to get this guy involved, he's too gifted to not be playing.  JJ responded immediately.  He also adds rim protection and plays passing lanes and is a good rebounder and can guard 5 positions, all things we will need if OO is starting.

JC is now gone so that opens up a lot more playing time.  

JJ also dominated in the summer league and g-league, was a 5 star recruit and only fell b/c of the situation at Duke.  He was a STEAL.

36 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

You think Jalen will be able to do this at any point in his career?

If so, that's great.

 

 

I'm totally fine trading Bufkin if they want to.  But AJ/JJ is tough.

I was the one who compared JJ's potential to Lamar Odom.  But of course there is no guarantee.  Quin really likes him, immediately began using him and he began to contribute almost immediately after he arrived.  Quin gave him confidence and the dude looks ready to breakout this year IMO.  Sure, he doesn't have a great jumper yet but he is a freak.

We are fortunate to be in a great spot with many young guys who were drafted late and have good trade value.  We nailed the JJ/AJ picks.  OO has developed well and I think is ready to be a starter.  OO was pretty high but JJ/AJ were not, we NAILED those.

Now it's the risk factor of giving up a young guy with potential for a finished product making huge money.  There is a very good chance that none of our young guys become as good as Siakam, but of course there also is a chance they will.  There is also the risk that we give them up too early before another star becomes available for trade that may be a better fit.

I love Siakam as a player, I'm just concerned about our shooting with him logging 35 minutes with this roster.  

If you look at Toronto's championship team, they had Lowry, Green, Kawhi, Gasol starting with Siakam and Vanvleet who was unconscious that year off the bench.  They had great shooters at every position around him.  We don't.  

Your post does make sense and makes me feel better about the trade, but I'd still rather go for KAT.  I'll be happy if we got Siakam though.  There is always risk, you have to give up something with potential to get something.

I thought Collins would continue to get better as well and he didn't.  A few years from now if the young guys don't get any better we will have regretted not making a trade.  The question is THIS the trade we should make.

37 minutes ago, Hawkish said:

2 1sts and Jalen Johnson is too steep for a guy that doesn’t want to be here and is entirely too expensive.

Agreed.  I love Siakam as a player, but he's just not a great fit with this team.  We don't need another below average shooter logging 35 min/game.  We won't win in the playoffs.  And we will have to pay him ~50M/year.  I'm also super high on JJ and we are going to give away 2 more 1sts?  

I have a feeling something similar to this deal is going to happen, and I will cheer for the team 100%, just not sure it's a great idea.  

I would do this for KAT.  Dude is a legit big and is lights out from 3 and would pair OO incredibly well.  We'd have the #1 offense in the league by far.

Siakam gives us so much more than JC, but am just worried about the team 3pt shooting.  Trae isn't a great 3pt shooter, neither is Murray, nor Siakam, nor OO.  With all those guys getting big minutes I just feel like teams are going to pack it in on us and force us to make threes.  Much like this past season, we will be very inconsistent with shooting.  When we hit we will win, when we don't we won't.  

All that said, hopefully he is good enough of an upgrade over JC that all this won't matter.  And hopefully Trae gets his 3pt shot back and DJM works enough on his 3pt shooting to continue being a threat.  

And no way CC can play with this squad IMO.  But then if we lose CC our rebounding is going down the drain, and who the heck backs up OO?

We also have to extend Siakam and he's probably going to get BIG money, which is why i don't see any reason to prioritize him over KAT.  They are both going to have huge contracts.

Lots of risk here especially if we give up a young prospect, but probably worth it.
 

39 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

Siakam deal seems like it's going to go through.  Feels too much like the Murray deal from last year.  If it doesn't, I still have heavy doubts we actually pursue KAT.  It just does not logically follow for what Landry has repeatedly emphasized for what he wants out of players on this squad.  We can talk about KAT and his superstar offense ad nauseum, but he does not have "Hawks DNA", he barely defends one position, much less 2-3, and his contract in conjuction with his injury history/risk are too high.  Landry has been cooking too hard since he took over to take such a wild risk.  I'd be shocked.

KAT's contract is crazy, but at least he's a BIG and a lights out 3pt shooter that won't hurt our spacing.  

And, Siakam is an FA next offseason so we're going to have to resign him to a huge contract anyway.  It won't be far away from KAT's IMO.