My approach seems like the obvious one. What am I missing?

[Plainview1981]

Just now, NBASupes said:

You are dead ass wrong on Horford and Bud will prove so. 

 And how is he going to do that?

[Plainview1981]

3 minutes ago, thescout5 said:

Remember how bad the Hawks got beat on the boards vs the Cavs.Keeping Sap and Horf together is a recipe for the same thing in the future.

Horford defends and sets a mean screen. That's all you need! Give him the max!

[Plainview1981]

16 minutes ago, Thomas said:

This year no one had what it takes to overcome LeBron. We had at least two games won if Baze or Korver could hit anything in the last two minutes. They didn't. The last two years we have been closer than we have ever been in Atlanta including when we had our HOFer  Nique. Thats a fact not a random post. That is not treadmill or mediocre, that is us competing against the best player in the East when some of the fans want us to restart and wait and compete three or more years from now when LeBron is not at his best.   

Cleveland never feared the Hawks. They know they can beat this team when it comes down to it and they'll do it next year also. Especially if Horford, Sap and a reckless Dennis playing 35 MPG is all we have to throw at them.

[Thomas]

4 minutes ago, thescout5 said:

Remember how bad the Hawks got beat on the boards vs the Cavs.Keeping Sap and Horf together is a recipe for the same thing in the future.

A good point about rebounding against a strong rebounding team but we won the rebounding battle in three of those Cavs games. I did watch those games. Just the same, someone needs to convince Bud that good minutes from Humph every night (not as a desperate measure in the playoffs) coming off the bench will win games where it counts. A few wins in the playoffs means more than a few wins during the regular season. Humph as part of the rotation should not be a big cost. Could and should be part of our rotation next year.   

[Guard]

5 minutes ago, Thomas said:

This year no one had what it takes to overcome LeBron. We had at least two games won if Baze or Korver could hit anything in the last two minutes. They didn't. The last two years we have been closer than we have ever been in Atlanta including when we had our HOFer  Nique. Thats a fact not a random post. That is not treadmill or mediocre, that is us competing against the best player in the East when some of the fans want us to restart and wait and compete three or more years from now when LeBron is not at his best.   

If this team had a championship level  roster or one with championship level potential, I'd agree with you. They don't.

"Battling" and "competing" really doesn't mean anything in the NBA without true difference makers. Teams with elite talent  paired with well rounded rosters always end up  with the trophy at the end. Shoot, the teams that do beat a Lebron James led team in the playoffs usually are built in a similar way. That isn't a coincidence.

Until Atlanta builds a true contender, things will remain the same. That's the nature of the NBA.  And let's be real man, the bolded isn't saying much.

[Thomas]

I didn't bold anything and never have. Competing big time now and next year and everyone after is what I hope for with our Hawks whether LeBron is the brick wall or not. In the past it was Bird and crew. Before that it Havlicek and crew. During that time it was Clyde, Bradley and their crew in New York. Scraping what we do have will do worse so I rather compete as best we can and am happy we have ownership now that I feel cares more than  just looking at the bottom line.  

[Diesel]

1 hour ago, ATLiott said:

Good response. 
For me it's less what we do with the cap space  (I doubt Durant or Derozan will come here) and more to do with getting a potential superstar in the draft. 

We don't do well in FA because top notch free agents don't come to Atlanta because there are no superstars to join. 

With Sap, Denis, Kyle, and top 5 rookie X, the team will still win 40 games.  Bud's system will get you 40 and into the playoffs.  Ideally, Rookie X blossoms in year 2.  In year 3, other big names want to come play with him.

But since you asked, I'll try my hand:

Spend the cap space this year on Allen Crabbe SF , and Marreese Speights C.  Crabbe will likely sign for a lot less than Baze, and Speights can shoot and can provide some physicality this team is missing.

Schröder, (Hield), Crabbe, Sap, Speights

That's an athletic starting 5 to say the least.

Let's look at this:

Crabbe is RFA.. Portland is not letting him go. 

Speights??  Really.   We give up Horf for Speights?  I would have liked it better if you said that we could somehow trade for Robin Lopez before the end of the night.   Speights wants to be Horford. 

I doubt two Meaningless first rounders can move you up into the top 9.   Sad.. right.  A 12 and a 21 can't get you to an 8.  That's because in this draft.. everything after 3 is a question mark and everything after 9 is the exact same. 

 

 

[Guard]

11 minutes ago, Thomas said:

I didn't bold anything and never have. Competing big time now and next year and everyone after is what I hope for with our Hawks whether LeBron is the brick wall or not. In the past it was Bird and crew. Before that it Havlicek and crew. During that time it was Clyde, Bradley and their crew in New York. Scraping what we do have will do worse so I rather compete as best we can and am happy we have ownership now that I feel cares more than  just looking at the bottom line.  

You simply have better patience than I do. Continuing to watch teams win championships built a certain way while watching Atlanta do the opposite is driving me crazy. I don't know how much I can take the wheel spinning anymore. They've been doing it for way too long.

Anyway, good discussion.

[Watchman]

1 hour ago, ATLiott said:

Good response. 
For me it's less what we do with the cap space  (I doubt Durant or Derozan will come here) and more to do with getting a potential superstar in the draft. 

We don't do well in FA because top notch free agents don't come to Atlanta because there are no superstars to join. 

With Sap, Denis, Kyle, and top 5 rookie X, the team will still win 40 games.  Bud's system will get you 40 and into the playoffs.  Ideally, Rookie X blossoms in year 2.  In year 3, other big names want to come play with him.

But since you asked, I'll try my hand:

Spend the cap space this year on Allen Crabbe SF , and Marreese Speights C.  Crabbe will likely sign for a lot less than Baze, and Speights can shoot and can provide some physicality this team is missing.

Schröder, (Hield), Crabbe, Sap, Speights

That's an athletic starting 5 to say the least.

Speights is one of the most roly poly athletes I ever saw.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Watchman

[Thomas]

Just now, Guard said:

You simply have better patience than I do. Continuing to watch teams win championships built a certain way while watching Atlanta do the opposite is driving me crazy. I don't know how much I can take the wheel spinning anymore. They've been doing it for way too long.

Anyway, good discussion.

Agreed about the discussion. Maybe my patience resembles being soft but I have followed our guys since Bells was our center and a pretty old Hazard was our point in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. I am a homer. Everyone can probably imagine this team we have had the past two years is much more skilled and fun to watch. But still, there is that LeBron character. Much, much more than thorn for us and every other team as well.   

[thescout5]

I don't have the figures in front of me but it seemed like the Cavs had many more second chances to score than the Hawks .Tristan Thompson was a man child vs our Sap/Horford duo on boards.

[thescout5]

46 minutes ago, Thomas said:

A good point about rebounding against a strong rebounding team but we won the rebounding battle in three of those Cavs games. I did watch those games. Just the same, someone needs to convince Bud that good minutes from Humph every night (not as a desperate measure in the playoffs) coming off the bench will win games where it counts. A few wins in the playoffs means more than a few wins during the regular season. Humph as part of the rotation should not be a big cost. Could and should be part of our rotation next year.   

I agree about Hump why Bud didn't play him till it was to late is the million dollar question.Bud always reacts late in playoff game situations.

[Thomas]

1 minute ago, thescout5 said:

I don't have the figures in front of me but it seemed like the Cavs had many more second chances to score than the Hawks .Tristan Thompson was a man child vs our Sap/Horford duo on boards.

I do agree about Thompson. I really thought they overpaid to keep him but he really extends the offensive possessions and they got the trophy. 

[Alex]

1 minute ago, Thomas said:

I do agree about Thompson. I really thought they overpaid to keep him but he really extends the offensive possessions and they got the trophy. 

They absolutely overpaid for him, but when the NBA caters to your team you can do those things.

 

[Thomas]

Just now, thescout5 said:

I agree about Hump why Bud didn't play him till it was to late is the million dollar question.Bud always reacts late in playoff game situations.

I truly love our coaching staff but we do have that ugly beast of stubbornness in the last two minutes of numerous games and Bud can make Larry Drew look brilliant calling inbound plays after timeouts. Still sticking to this brand of roundball whether Pops is an ass or not because its really fun to watch and I think we can get there from here.  

[Thomas]

9 minutes ago, Alex said:

They absolutely overpaid for him, but when the NBA caters to your team you can do those things.

 

Yeah, LeBron needed some offensive rebounds and other guys had to hit a crazy amount of threes and he got both. Thompson is like a designated rebounder as in Love or J.R. are designated three point shooters when LeBron needed them. Stuff happens in the NBA. Stern is not even around anymore yet it seems like he is. This could be a reality ghost show about David Stern. 

[thescout5]

No question this is what style the Nba has moved to but the Hawks don't have the outside shooters or ability to score in the paint when you need a bucket.

[Thomas]

Do agree because our playoff problems this past year were more about just hitting a perimeter shot at all late in a game. Korver failed except for the third game when he came off the bench but he was still lost on D all minutes played. My hopes for THJ would be considered astronomical by some but our coaching staff already has made a good bit of progress a lot of us thought not really possible at all so we will see with him. Anyway tonight is a big part of it all and it is really exciting as sh*t. So many possibilities, more so because of our staff.      

[pimp]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

A good point about rebounding against a strong rebounding team but we won the rebounding battle in three of those Cavs games. I did watch those games. Just the same, someone needs to convince Bud that good minutes from Humph every night (not as a desperate measure in the playoffs) coming off the bench will win games where it counts. A few wins in the playoffs means more than a few wins during the regular season. Humph as part of the rotation should not be a big cost. Could and should be part of our rotation next year.   

They can't get defensive rebounds when it really counts. The 4th quarter and crunchtime.
Hump is not out there in crunchtime , and we kept giving the Cavs 2nd and 3rd chances to score.

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

A good point about rebounding against a strong rebounding team but we won the rebounding battle in three of those Cavs games. I did watch those games. Just the same, someone needs to convince Bud that good minutes from Humph every night (not as a desperate measure in the playoffs) coming off the bench will win games where it counts. A few wins in the playoffs means more than a few wins during the regular season. Humph as part of the rotation should not be a big cost. Could and should be part of our rotation next year.   

No we didn't.  

We were outrebounded in each of games 2 & 3 by a combined 30 rebounds.

We won the rebounding battles in games 1 & 4 (the two we almost won) by a combined 5 rebounds.