My take on Danny "treadmill" Ferry

[Sothron]

He isn't saying he came up with the term.He is saying he started it on here by describing what Ferry was doing (or might do) as getting on the treadmill for middle of the pack teams. Kind of like the first person to describe Josh as a bricklayer on this site didn't invent the term but was the first here to apply it to our Hawk in the context of our discussions on the Squawk.

^

No one before me had accurately described our status as perennial playoff fodder in a succinct one word phrase in "treadmill" before I did recently. I did not say I invented the term.

[vdunkndunk]

Does "treadmill" refer to the process of taking a capped-out playoff team and, in one year, turning it into a flexible playoff team that will have $15 million in cap space next year?

[AHF]

Does "treadmill" refer to the process of taking a capped-out playoff team and, in one year, turning it into a flexible playoff team that will have $15 million in cap space next year?

It refers to putting yourself in a position where the franchise is a fringe playoff team that can't contend for a championship (or even conference finals) and doesn't appear to have the assets to acquire a superstar so that it is likely to be in the same position next year that it is in today. Kind of like we expect to be roughly the same team this season that we were last season (first or second round playoff exit) with no hope of a championship or top lottery pick in a draft with multiple franchise prospects. That strikes me as accurate but I think Ferry needs more time to play out his development vision for this team.

[taz]

I'd love to see what you guys think about UGA football then. They've been a treadmill team for 13 years+ now!

[NBASupes]

It refers to putting yourself in a position where the franchise is a fringe playoff team that can't contend for a championship (or even conference finals) and doesn't appear to have the assets to acquire a superstar so that it is likely to be in the same position next year that it is in today. Kind of like we expect to be roughly the same team this season that we were last season (first or second round playoff exit) with no hope of a championship or top lottery pick in a draft with multiple franchise prospects. That strikes me as accurate but I think Ferry needs more time to play out his development vision for this team.

This.

[AHF]

I'd love to see what you guys think about UGA football then. They've been a treadmill team for 13 years+ now!

There is definitely some frustration with that as a UGA football fan, but I put UGA on a different level. They have been a single game or lucky bounce away from being in the championship game multiple times in recent year. They finished the season ranked #3 in 2002 and ranked #2 in 2007. Last season, they were a single play away from being in the national championship game.

That is contending for a championship in a way that the Hawks haven't either. The Hawks comparison is finishing the season ranked #10 and below.

[NineOhTheRino]

We say tanking doesn't work but we forget it did work. The Hawks passed on a sure HOF player. They passed on the type of player that any FA would give a nut to play beside.The system worked! The Hawks failed.

[NBASupes]

We say tanking doesn't work but we forget it did work. The Hawks passed on a sure HOF player. They passed on the type of player that any FA would give a nut to play beside.The system worked! The Hawks failed.

Diesel, Buzzard, and others... Come in here this minute and reply to this post. This should change your views on tanking.

Edited July 17, 2013 by nbasupes40retired

[AHF]

Diesel, Buzzard, and others... Come in here this minute and reply to this post. This should change your views on tanking.

Tanking is not a perfect solution. Reasonable minds can differ on whether and how to build through the lottery.

[Buzzard]

Diesel, Buzzard, and others... Come in here this minute and reply to this post. This should change your views on tanking.

NineOhTheRino, on 17 Jul 2013 - 11:46 AM, said:

Diesel, Buzzard, and others... Come in here this minute and reply to this post. This should change your views on tanking.

To funny and to easy. We were in the lottery in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 with two picks. You are going to talk about the one time we had a shot at a HOF player as if there is some sort of guarantee it will happen again the firs time we jump back into tank/lottery mode. If it was such a sure thing, we would have gotten the same shot all four years and twice in 2007.

Luck people; that is why they call it a lottery and not a sure thing!

[Peoriabird]

We say tanking doesn't work but we forget it did work. The Hawks passed on a sure HOF player. They passed on the type of player that any FA would give a nut to play beside.The system worked! The Hawks failed.

What HOF players are you referring to and how many rings do they have combined?

[MrMeltdown]

I think people overrated last summer when most of you guys made outrageous claims like Ferry deserves a statue and I think they are reacting too negatively with this summers underwhelming transactions. Ferry is simply trying to put his stamp on the team and franchise. I don't like the way he moves because it seems too wishy-washy. Seems to want people to put too much energy and faith into hoping for things that this franchise has not seen in quite sometime. Pulling off a big time trade is more likely than drafting or signing a free agent for this franchise. We had several expirings last year and did nothing with them in the trade market. Joe and Josh are both gone with no real return on the court. Maybe one of the rookies pans out and makes the Joe trade look better on the court but the whole cap space, flexibility theory is currently leaving us with incomplete rosters and no real improvement on the floor.

I really am starting to agree with the tank crew but I am not ready to throw Ferry under the bus and he never deserved a statue.

[TonyCade]

Here is the problem with a full on tank. If you tank no good free agent will come to your city. So you will have to rely solely on young draftees. Heres the problem. You can pick top 5 guys in the draft every year but each one needs at least 2 years to develop. So if youre lucky enough to get them all decent at the same time, sweet! But what happens 99% of the time is you draft a guy high and then lose lose lose throughout his whole contract and he leaves or you trade him. Then it becomes a revolving door for your draftees to leave because you arent winning a championship on any of these guys rookie deals. You would have yo get lucky to keep 2 of them and hope after 5+ years enough talent has stuck around to get you somewhere.This is why teams like Washington, toronto, charlotte, milwaukee, minnesotta, etc. are always losing teams. They cant win in time that they have the rookie conteacts so guys leave or get traded.Lamarcus aldridge, kevin love, and john wall will be the next ones to leave.

This is the point I always make about us drafting Deron Williams or Chris Paul. Neither one is playing for the team that drafted them and those teams never won big. Even Dwight and Lebron left the teams that drafted them. Super teams are made, not drafted.

[AHF]

This is the point I always make about us drafting Deron Williams or Chris Paul. Neither one is playing for the team that drafted them and those teams never won big. Even Dwight and Lebron left the teams that drafted them. Super teams are made, not drafted.

Like the Spurs and Bulls!