Why the Hawks Can Win it All

[capstone21]

Can someone post the article?

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12300412/nba-nba-front-office-believes-atlanta-hawks-win-all

 

[benhillboy]

It's evident if you've watched almost every game, but their conversation should be interesting. I'm sure it will mention free throw shooting, fourth quarter scoring, minute distribution, defense against isolation players, and the low foul rate as it relates to past Champioship Squads. Vegas already placed this team through countless trackers and predictors and came up with this notion over a month ago. They can't pen an article like this without taking shots at Chicago and Cleveland too, I can't believe they do that until I see it.

I've never caught on to the George Karl fascination, though. I never heed anything he says. These ESPN Front Office folks gonna get fired for handing this report straight to the IT guy and not running this past the Disney website director first.

Where you at AHF? I really want to see this. This thread is gonna be going strong for a good minute: the People who watch the Hawks and know NBA Ball versus The Miserable Ones.

Edited February 9, 2015 by benhillboy

[capstone21]

The fact that Chad Ford is one of the people talking in the article and he has been notorious over the years of really being down on the Hawks ... I am actually intrigued to see what he says ... 

Edited February 9, 2015 by capstone21

[AHF]

The fact that Chad Ford is one of the people talking in the article and he has been notorious over the years of really being down on the Hawks ... I am actually intrigued to see what he says ... 

 

Chad Ford: The thing that stands out to me beyond all those names is if you look at their payroll, they're under the cap and they don't have a bad contract. Not one. They've got assets -- they own the Nets' pick this year, which means that they're probably going to end up with a lottery pick despite the fact they have the best record in the league. They're going to be $25 million under the cap next year. This team's not only set up to win now, they're set up to win in the future. They've been shrewd and opportunistic with signings, and they've drafted well, picking up Schröder, Mike Scott, Teague. They could've let Teague go in restricted free agency when the Bucks made a move for him, but they decided to re-sign him and Mike Muscala.

They didn't blow their money on a marquee free agent who wouldn't be a good fit there. It's a textbook example of how to build a competitive team. I honestly did not think the Hawks would be this good. I did not predict early in the season they would be playing like this, that they would be the best team in the Eastern Conference. I thought they would still be spinning their wheels as a good, but never great, basketball team. So kudos to them because I think they saw this more clearly, at least [more] than I did.

 

Ford: Going into the summer, they own the Nets' pick -- they own it flat out, no protection. But they're swapping, so the Hawks don't keep their own pick. But the Nets look like right now they'll have a pick around 10th, 11th, 12th, in the draft. Obviously, occasionally you can get lucky, but if the Nets won the lottery, the Hawks would get that pick. That's an amazing asset.

They do have some free agents. Right now they have about $42 million on the books; the cap is projected at about $67 million next year. That's $25 million in cap space. Their big free agent's going to be Millsap. He comes off the books next year, is an unrestricted free agent, so he could use a lot of their cap space if they decide to re-sign him. Carroll, Elton Brand,Pero Antić and John Jenkins come off the books. Teague is on a very good contract; he's making $8 million over the next two years. Horford has one more year at $12 million and then he becomes an UFA in summer 2016. Korver has about two years, roughly $11 million left on his contract -- very reasonable, considering what he's delivering. They're in really good shape.

[curtmcgirt]

Was the rest posted elsewhere?

[Guest]

Was the rest posted elsewhere?

I was wondering - Haven't seen 'why the Hawks can win it all'

[Wretch]

 

Chad Ford: The thing that stands out to me beyond all those names is if you look at their payroll, they're under the cap and they don't have a bad contract. Not one. They've got assets -- they own the Nets' pick this year, which means that they're probably going to end up with a lottery pick despite the fact they have the best record in the league. They're going to be $25 million under the cap next year. This team's not only set up to win now, they're set up to win in the future. They've been shrewd and opportunistic with signings, and they've drafted well, picking up Schröder, Mike Scott, Teague. They could've let Teague go in restricted free agency when the Bucks made a move for him, but they decided to re-sign him and Mike Muscala.

They didn't blow their money on a marquee free agent who wouldn't be a good fit there. It's a textbook example of how to build a competitive team. I honestly did not think the Hawks would be this good. I did not predict early in the season they would be playing like this, that they would be the best team in the Eastern Conference. I thought they would still be spinning their wheels as a good, but never great, basketball team. So kudos to them because I think they saw this more clearly, at least [more] than I did.

 

Ford: Going into the summer, they own the Nets' pick -- they own it flat out, no protection. But they're swapping, so the Hawks don't keep their own pick. But the Nets look like right now they'll have a pick around 10th, 11th, 12th, in the draft. Obviously, occasionally you can get lucky, but if the Nets won the lottery, the Hawks would get that pick. That's an amazing asset.

They do have some free agents. Right now they have about $42 million on the books; the cap is projected at about $67 million next year. That's $25 million in cap space. Their big free agent's going to be Millsap. He comes off the books next year, is an unrestricted free agent, so he could use a lot of their cap space if they decide to re-sign him. Carroll, Elton Brand,Pero Antić and John Jenkins come off the books. Teague is on a very good contract; he's making $8 million over the next two years. Horford has one more year at $12 million and then he becomes an UFA in summer 2016. Korver has about two years, roughly $11 million left on his contract -- very reasonable, considering what he's delivering. They're in really good shape.

 

 

When I read this, my brain automatically subbed every instance of "they" for "Danny Ferry."  

 

Y'know...I don't think I'll ever be able to eat enough crow to compensate for how badly I misjudged this man and his plan.  Though I still think people were a bit premature calling him the best Hawks GM ever BACK THEN, his body of work and this team's performance is certainly making a case for it now.  We are in uncharted Hawks territory.

 

Words can't describe how seriously dumbfounded I am at how this has all come together.  Like watching a magician do something absolutely impossible.  I know that everyone, to include the players, is shocked at this turnaround...but part of me wonders if Danny Ferry and Bud saw this all along.

[RandomFan]

When I read this, my brain automatically subbed every instance of "they" for "Danny Ferry."  

 

Y'know...I don't think I'll ever be able to eat enough crow to compensate for how badly I misjudged this man and his plan.  Though I still think people were a bit premature calling him the best Hawks GM ever BACK THEN, his body of work and this team's performance is certainly making a case for it now.  We are in uncharted Hawks territory.

 

Words can't describe how seriously dumbfounded I am at how this has all come together.  Like watching a magician do something absolutely impossible.  I know that everyone, to include the players, is shocked at this turnaround...but part of me wonders if Danny Ferry and Bud saw this all along.

I doubt they actually saw the pieces fitting together this well and the chemistry being as outstanding as it is. I think they had a solid plan about how they wanted to play ball, missed on some top tier free agents that they wanted, had good backup options in place when those plans fell through, and intended to put a solid product on the field that would be good enough to appeal to a superstar during the next free agency period. They accumulated good players on good contracts; players they could move if need be to accomodate a star, or trade for one.

 

They obviously knew what they were doing, and trying to build. I'm guessing they thought this would be a highly competitive team that people could look at and go, "hey, get that team a superstar and they will be ready for the bigtime." But I highly doubt they foresaw the team being THIS amazing with the players we've got.

 

I think most of us realize we probably don't need to add another star player to compete for a championship, but consider this: around this time last year most of us were lamenting the fact that no big name wanted to play for ATL, and we thought there was slim chance anyone ever would anytime soon. How times have changed, my friends? We're setup as a prime destination for any free agent now, if we were to want one of them (obviously assumes the ownership change is handled competently, which should be.)

[Wretch]

I doubt they actually saw the pieces fitting together this well and the chemistry being as outstanding as it is. I think they had a solid plan about how they wanted to play ball, missed on some top tier free agents that they wanted, had good backup options in place when those plans fell through, and intended to put a solid product on the field that would be good enough to appeal to a superstar during the next free agency period. They accumulated good players on good contracts; players they could move if need be to accomodate a star, or trade for one.

 

They obviously knew what they were doing, and trying to build. I'm guessing they thought this would be a highly competitive team that people could look at and go, "hey, get that team a superstar and they will be ready for the bigtime." But I highly doubt they foresaw the team being THIS amazing with the players we've got.

 

I think most of us realize we probably don't need to add another star player to compete for a championship, but consider this: around this time last year most of us were lamenting the fact that no big name wanted to play for ATL, and we thought there was slim chance anyone ever would anytime soon. How times have changed, my friends? We're setup as a prime destination for any free agent now, if we were to want one of them (obviously assumes the ownership change is handled competently, which should be.)

 

It's just amazing to me how well this team is put together (and how specifically the pieces were chosen).  I also keep thinking about Korver's comments when he chose to resign here. He said that he believed in Ferry and what he was trying to do, that he liked the style of basketball we'd be playing, and that we were going to surprise people (wish I could find the article).  I know that nobody thought we'd be THIS good, but it's clear what the plan was...

 

I've always maintained that we needed to put a contender on the floor to draw the marquee free agents...I just didn't believe this team could do it.  Man, how quickly things change.