The Hawks have some decisions to make

[aali34]

Its looking like this team isn't going to make much noise in the playoffs this season. Maybe they turn it around and make a mid to late season push. But looking at how the team is now, there are a lot of things to address if they decide to blow the whole thing up. Luckily they have some good young talent in Schröder, Price, THJ, and Bembry.

I'm not going to talk about Korver's play and whether or not he should be starting because there is no debate.

- Which of the three wings in Bazemore,Sefolosha, and Korver should remain with the team in the future.

Bazemore is younger than Korver and Sefolosha, but has a lower ceiling than Prince,THJ, and Bembry and could also be a good trade asset.

Kyle and Thabo offer more veteran leadership, and are cheaper, but may regress (especially Kyle) as they go deeper into their thirties.

-What to do with this years pick

This years draft is stock loaded with perimeter players with high upside and only include three or four frontcourt(c/pf) players that could be potential starters.

We have the wings and the point guard locked up for the future, and Dwight Howard is on a short-term deal, which means sooner or later he will be replaced or have to come off the bench( don't think he would appreciate that).

Harry Giles may or may not be injury prone, and Ivan Rabb's talent may not translate well into the nba. If you don't feel comfortable with the player, do you trade the pick and other assets for a young talent in the nba that may need some grooming ?(similar to THJ)

- What to do about Paul Millsap.

This is the final year of his contract, and this team isn't showing that they can contend for a championship. Do they resign or let him walk? Or do they trade him at the deadline? Will he even want to come back if the season ends badly after the rumors of him being traded in the offseason.

If he does leave, where do they find a replacement. In the draft, or do they trade for some young players on teams that may not need them as much.

Power forward free agents -

Griffin, Ibaka, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson, Amir Johnson, Patrick Patterson, Randolph.

- IMO Bazemore gotta go mainly due to the players playing behind him and his level of play. Maybe not this year, but if Prince and Bembry come out off the jump next season and THJ either maintains or elevates his level of play, there will be a logjam at the wing position. Keep either Thabo or Korver.  Trade Millsap to a team in need of vet leadership or feels that he may be the piece that they are missing. If not, then let him walk, no need to go long term if this team doesn't win games. Get a hold of a young power forward with high upside via trade or the draft, and groom him behind a vet obtained in free agency.

I'm glad that the Hawks have a good developmental system in place, and thank goodness that Bembry and Prince have flashed some great talent.

But It's getting annoying finding diamonds in the ruff, fixing their jumpers and giving them large roles on the team. Get some talented players instead and elevate them to be GREAT, hopefully Prince and Bembry become an example of this. 

[Lurker]

I still feel that adjustments need to be tried first but if they don't work, move on and tank this season. 21 games is more than enough of a sample size to know that playing 4 out and 1 in spacing basketball is not going to work and is going to lead to the same story consistently. At least TRY something else.

If move on and tank...

Move Splitter/Korver together for a pick.
Trade Millsap for Dieng and Lavine.

Look to draft a lottery big man.

Summer 2017:

Consider Bazemore a sunk cost and try to get anything for him.

Consider Dwight a sunk cost and try to get anything.

Keep Sefolosha and bring in a veteran PG for veterans on the team.

 

Edited December 4, 2016 by Lurker

[JTB]

16 minutes ago, Lurker said:

I still feel that adjustments need to be tried first but if they don't work, move on and tank this season. 21 games is more than enough of a sample size to know that playing 4 out and 1 in spacing basketball is not going to work and is going to lead to the same story consistently. At least TRY something else.

If move on and tank...

Move Splitter/Korver together for a pick.
Trade Millsap for Dieng and Lavine.

Look to draft a lottery big man.

Summer 2017:

Consider Bazemore a sunk cost and try to get anything for him.

Consider Dwight a sunk cost and try to get anything.

Keep Sefolosha and bring in a veteran PG for veterans on the team.

 

Good post and like you said before tanking I would like to see Bud try something different first. I think that's what's driving everyone insane or most anyways. Bud keeps rolling the same lineup, same offense on the floor even after all these horrible loss.

he hasn't tried to change a dam thing yet which is baffling lol...how many times you have to lose by 30-35 to know you need to switch things up.

[DS17Fanboy]

Bud tried to be all edgy in that 2nd quarter against Detroit by benching all the starters, although the bench got us in that mess the first place. If I whas a player on the Hawks I would view that as a ´meh move, like a "I get what you are trying to tell us, but how will this solve a thing" type of situation. I'd like to say it is time to be a little more edgy and indeed give Prince and THJ some minutes as starters and see how it goes. But by now I'd rather trade Baze/Korver before their value goes down even further. Both are very tough sells right now though...so I guess they need to get going again and then ship them of.

I said in the off-season, this is a team that can go anywhere depending on how things click, while it is a roster perfectly set to hedge the bets for a controlled rebuild. So, I think right now we can only hope for them to play better, ship them of and tank.

And boy, also hurt to see Bebe f*** with us.

Edited December 4, 2016 by DS17Fanboy

[Resslemania]

Bring in some monsters in FA, and be real about who needs to be let go.  The team looks lost.

[macdaddy]

Start Tim and Prince.   Tim needs to start at 2 if for no other reason than to see if he's a long term solution there.   We have to let Thabo walk after this season and maybe Korver too unless he wants to sign an one year deal.   I'd start grooming Baze to be a 6th man right now.   If it's going to take $20+million to retain Sap then we can't do that unless there is some kind of amazing turnaround to this season.   Problem is we've gone from having too many PFs to not enough. 

[Thomas]

Not a Sam Hinkie groupie under any circumstance. The position we're in is ugly but we have three guys that should be groomed as our starters now and moving forward with Dennis, Tim and Prince and then Bembry can get on the floor and handle the ball pretty well and start developing behind Dennis and at backup SG. Think both rookies will be impact players in very different roles and hopefully as soon as possible. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Start Tim and Prince.   Tim needs to start at 2 if for no other reason than to see if he's a long term solution there.   We have to let Thabo walk after this season and maybe Korver too unless he wants to sign an one year deal.   I'd start grooming Baze to be a 6th man right now.   If it's going to take $20+million to retain Sap then we can't do that unless there is some kind of amazing turnaround to this season.   Problem is we've gone from having too many PFs to not enough. 

@macdaddy I'm laughing  at you thinking it $20+ mil to retain Sap...... it's  $30+ MILLION. Let that sink in.

(As a 10yr vet he's eligible for 30% of whatever the cap is).

[Sothron]

Millsap is going to get the supermax from someone. If he doesn't get back to old Sap soon then I hope it is not us.

It is funny, we have pieces we could trade while still keeping core pieces (Dennis, Dwight, Baze) in place and make good use of guys on the last year of their deals. Jury is still out on if THJR can start for us.

 

 

[macdaddy]

30 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

@macdaddy I'm laughing  at you thinking it $20+ mil to retain Sap...... it's  $30+ MILLION. Let that sink in.

(As a 10yr vet he's eligible for 30% of whatever the cap is).

I just don't know how we can even consider 30 million a year unless it's for one year.  I like Paul and all but geez.