Why not gamble on greatness?

[Admin]

I don't think we can afford to gamble with 60 million tied up in 6 roster spots and needing 7 players with the remaining 10 million. We need guys who we absolutely know will make the roster and can fill needs this coming season.

[Guest]

I don't think we can afford to gamble with 60 million tied up in 6 roster spots and needing 7 players with the remaining 10 million. We need guys who we absolutely know will make the roster and can fill needs this coming season.

This, that way we won't have too many old VetMins with old legs. We have instead young legs who are ready to contibute.

[ATL_BALLER]

I don't think we can afford to gamble with 60 million tied up in 6 roster spots and needing 7 players with the remaining 10 million. We need guys who we absolutely know will make the roster and can fill needs this coming season.

To me, that's just putting a band-aid on a much deeper problem. You're catering to this current group and predicament when, IMO, we need to be thinking beyond the flawed core to the long-term health of this franchise.Realistically, I see what you're saying, though - that is a lot of roster space to fill - but among the inevitable vet mins, I'd like to have one or two young talents with considerable upside.

[warcore]

The Hawks never think about the next step. Smoove needs to be traded before it's too late to get anything of value for him. Perry Jones OR Arnette Moultrie could have replaced areas of his game after we trade him.Jenkins? He was probably the 4th best option available draft wise but why not just resign Willie Green for the vetmin if we want a backup 2? Willie can at least play defense.Now we just have too many holes. Even Ezeli would have made me happier.

[KB21]

This is the typical, "Boy, this guy sure looks good. Let's ignore his production," argument.

http://wagesofwins.com/2012/06/18/the-10-most-overrated-2012-draft-prospects-part-2/

This is the top 5 of the 10 most overrated players in the draft. The two most discussed prospects in this thread as options the Hawks should have taken are on this list.

5. Tony Wroten

I don’t have Wroten on this list just because I’m a Husky-hating Coug fan. He’s here because his production was abysmal. Sure, Wroten is super athletic. Indeed, he wins in all the athlete categories: he’s good at rebounding, creating turnovers, and blocking shots. But when you take into account his dismal shooting (and it’s really, really bad), his inability to pass, and his extremely high turnover rates, Wroten doesn’t look like a guy I’d want to take in the first round. His effective field goal percentage was 45% (much lower than the average point guard’s 49%), his 3-point percentage was 16% (SIXTEEN PERCENT!), and he only managed to make 58% of his free throws (that’s Shaq territory). Also, his 0.99 assist/turnover ratio was substantially lower than the 1.8 posted by the average point guard in this year’s draft class. Not exactly what you want from your first round point guard.

Who Should You Take Instead? Scott Machado or Jesse Sanders.

4. Perry Jones

Before Baylor fans start sending me hate mail, let me start by saying that Quincy Acy is actually quite productive. Ok, now that that’s out of the way, Perry Jones is pretty bad. But, boy does he look like he’s good. Chad Ford praises Jones by saying he “runs the floor like a deer.” That sounds a lot like an aesthetic positive to me. I don’t care if a guy runs the floor like a rhinoceros if he can produce wins. But Jones runs like a deer and is not particularly good at shooting, rebounding, or creating possessions on defense. Yes, he’s super athletic and long. But to reiterate something I said in the comments of Part 1, there is no evidence that athletic guys or guys with great size improve more than their small, non-athletic counterparts early in their careers. The bottom line is that production in college is the best indicator of production in the NBA (not perfect, but the best). I’ll pass on Jones.

Who Should You Take Instead? Tyler Zeller.

I'm scratching my head on why the Hawks should have drafted one of two players who will likely not contribute at all on their teams this year because they are so deficient in key areas and should have passed on a guy that has an elite NBA skill right now.

[Admin]

To me, that's just putting a band-aid on a much deeper problem. You're catering to this current group and predicament when, IMO, we need to be thinking beyond the flawed core to the long-term health of this franchise.Realistically, I see what you're saying, though - that is a lot of roster space to fill - but among the inevitable vet mins, I'd like to have one or two young talents with considerable upside.

Trust me I get what you're saying and I was pissed that we missed out on Melo and not thrilled that we didn't take a chance on Wroten, but I fully understand why they wanted to get some reliable young legs who can shoot since we haven't had any quality young shooters off the bench in longer than I can remember.

[Admin]

The Hawks never think about the next step. Smoove needs to be traded before it's too late to get anything of value for him. Perry Jones OR Arnette Moultrie could have replaced areas of his game after we trade him.Jenkins? He was probably the 4th best option available draft wise but why not just resign Willie Green for the vetmin if we want a backup 2? Willie can at least play defense.Now we just have too many holes. Even Ezeli would have made me happier.

Willie isn't even remotely in Jenkins range as far as shooting goes. This guy is probably the best pure shooter we've had since... ?

[GameTime]

Trust me I get what you're saying and I was pissed that we missed out on Melo and not thrilled that we didn't take a chance on Wroten, but I fully understand why they wanted to get some reliable young legs who can shoot since we haven't had any quality young shooters off the bench in longer than I can remember.

Who cares if the shooter is young or not as long as they can shoot? Jenkins is shooting specialist nothing more, nothing less. Not a defender, passer, or rebounder. Just a shooter.

[GameTime]

Willie isn't even remotely in Jenkins range as far as shooting goes. This guy is probably the best pure shooter we've had since... ?

[ftown]

Sorry, didn't realize Josh commanded a double team. In fact, his perimeter shots are usually (and willingly) uncontested.

haha i was just thinking thatclassic :PGo Hawks!

[Admin]

Who cares if the shooter is young or not as long as they can shoot? Jenkins is shooting specialist nothing more, nothing less. Not a defender, passer, or rebounder. Just a shooter.

Who cares if he's young? Do you remember the end of the season when T-Mac, Willie, Pargo, Vlad, etc. all missed time because their old bodies kept breaking down?

We don't know that he can't be a passer and even he said that he's more of a passer and an athlete than he showed in school because he wasn't asked to do that.

?? I have no idea who that is

[AHF]

We are a 50 win team with established players and 2.5 Allstars...we need to get guys who can contribute now and have a high chance of being effective, not take on projects in the hopes that they are good in 5 yearsIt's not sexy, but this is a pick the spurs would make in the late 1st round and is why they win consistently without a ton of sexy players

Let's see if that is what they did. We'll start from the time they drafted Tim Duncan and focus on the players that they picked who panned out:Manu Ginobili - Drafted 1999, first contributed 2002-03: 3 year waitTony Parker - Immediate contributionLuis Scola - Drafted 2002, first contributed 2007-08 (traded): 5 year wait2003 first round pick LeAndro Barbosa - traded for a future pick used to acquire Nazr Mohammed: 2 year waitBeno Udrih - 2005 pick - Immediate contributionTiago Splitter - 2007 pick, first contributed 2010-11: 3 year waitLooks like a lot of waiting by the model franchise to get value out of those picks.

[mattlanta]

I remember when we gambled on greatness and drafted Marvin Williams. :(