Atlanta Hawks are hiding in plain sight for the summer of 2018

[hawkster911]

http://soaringdownsouth.com/2017/07/29/atlanta-hawks-summer-2018/

 

The Atlanta Hawks are in the midst of a full on tear down.

With Dwight Howard being sent to Charlotte and Paul Millsap finding residence in the Mile High City, Travis Schlenk and the Atlanta Hawks have clearly chosen young over old.

Yes our rebuild is obvious but I think Atlanta is hiding in plain sight for the summer of 2018.

Next season will probably be brutal. Trotting out a starting lineup of Dennis Schröder, Kent Bazemore, Taurean Prince, John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon doesn’t invoke fear in anyone.

But, Atlanta is equipped with 3 possible (almost guaranteed) first round draft picks in a top 3 protected Houston pick, lottery protected Minnesota pick and our own.

That is why the Hawks need to trade Kent Bazemore. This is much less of an indictment on Bazemore and more of an attack on his contract.

Baze was really fun in 2016 and 2017 up until the NBA playoffs. With an insane spike in cap space hit last summer it’s hard to attack the Hawks giving Kent such a large contract when others *ahem* the Los Angeles Lakers *ahem* made much worse moves.

But and its a big but, Kent might stop Atlanta from becoming a superstar destination.

As almost everyone knows by now, franchises and their GM’s are coming back down to Earth when it comes to the insane over spending of 2016’s off-season.

Contracts from that Christmas in July are really starting to hurt everyone who bet their house money on the spike. A projected 10 teams are going to be in the luxury tax for 2018 and even less are going to have cap space with 9.

The Atlanta Hawks are one of the lucky few with cap space, and finding a way for Bazemore and Plumlee to get of our books can make Atlanta a desired destination for upcoming.

Atlanta can afford one max contract without getting rid of anyone but the NBA has turned into a superteam league and even then I don’t know if Atlanta has enough luster to attract just one superstar.

We’re a big city with a fanbase that falls in love with success (hello Falcons), and is waiting for that savior or two.

Getting rid of these contracts leaves us championship caliber pieces in Schröder and Prince. Exciting rookies in Collins and Bembry and 3 possible first round picks, with the ability to sign 2(!!) max level superstars.

With players like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Paul George, Demarcus Cousins and Kevin Durant all becoming free agents next year, getting rid of Bazemore and others might make Atlanta a dark horse destination for the next superteam.

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by hawkster911

[KB21]

 

This young Hawks team will have to show something on the court before they are major players for big ticket free agents.

[bird_dirt]

"Just get rid of Baze and Plumblee!" As if it were just so simple for us to be contenders for FAs. Good luck trading them off without taking back worse crap.

I am pretty sure nearly every team has one or player's contracts they'd love to get rid of to make room to sign someone better.

I am curious abt which other teams will have space for signings, then see what advantages we might have over them.

But I don't see any of those players listed above coming here, unless it's in the twilight of their careers like MacGrady.

[sturt]

Barring any new significant changes, and being the glass-half-full unapologetic sunshine pumper that I am... I'm looking forward to Bud trotting out

 

PG - Schröder

SG - Bembry

SF - Prince

PF - Collins

C - Stone (yes... Stone)

 

as the primary five-man for the last 50 games of the season, and everyone going bonkers about how good this young team is in 's system, and becoming the talk of next off-season as the top up-and-comer FA destination.

[sturt]

5 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

"Just get rid of Baze and Plumblee!" As if it were just so simple for us to be contenders for FAs. Good luck trading them off without taking back worse crap.

Agreed... that was my first reaction too....

And yet, I do think it is at least conceivable if not plausible that, when you have some cap room you can rent out for a year, you might be able to find a trade where you take back two smaller bad contracts that are easier later on to move than the one big one.

[Peoriabird]

Its weird to me how people have made up their minds about this team before 1 practice...Give the guys a chance before wring this team off.  See what you have and then go from there.

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, KB21 said:

 

This young Hawks team will have to show something on the court before they are major players for big ticket free agents.

This idea that the Hawks are going to pick up all of these FA's next year is laughable. I feel bad for the people that are counting on that.

[sturt]

Thanks, @Hotlanta1981. Good to know you're feeling for me.

(hehe)

More seriously, I don't know if next off-season will be the off-season, but I would anticipate we'll pick up a key FA either next year or the one following... but the real progress is going to happen regardless based on how the young core progresses, and who we add to it, and related, how well the Hawks braintrust fill out the rest of the coaching staff so that these guys do, in fact, develop into substantial assets.

[DrReality]

A whole bunch of what ifs have to be met which is a big gamble.  

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, sturt said:

Thanks, @Hotlanta1981. Good to know you're feeling for me.

(hehe)

More seriously, I don't know if next off-season will be the off-season, but I would anticipate we'll pick up a key FA either next year or the one following... but the real progress is going to happen regardless based on how the young core progresses, and who we add to it, and related, how well the Hawks braintrust fill out the rest of the coaching staff so that these guys do, in fact, develop into substantial assets.

eh... We might get someone decent. 

But this idea that the other teams will be capped out and that will allow the Hawks to collect some top players... eh, I just wouldn't bet on it. Yes, the Hawks have made lots of bad choices, but they rarely have good luck either. The Hawks offered all the picks they had for Butler and George at the all star break and they got nothing. A few months later those guys could be had for a rack of basketballs.

[KB21]

5 hours ago, sturt said:

Barring any new significant changes, and being the glass-half-full unapologetic sunshine pumper that I am... I'm looking forward to Bud trotting out

 

PG - Schröder

SG - Bembry

SF - Prince

PF - Collins

C - Stone (yes... Stone)

 

as the primary five-man for the last 50 games of the season, and everyone going bonkers about how good this young team is in 's system, and becoming the talk of next off-season as the top up-and-comer FA destination.

If that's our line up over the last 50 games of the season, then the Hawks will definitely have the best odds at the #1 overall pick in the lottery.  I say that to not disparage the upside of some of these players, but if you are relying upon a group of five that has one guy with more than 2 years of experience, then you are going to lose and lose a lot.  

[RedDawg#8]

5 hours ago, KB21 said:

If that's our line up over the last 50 games of the season, then the Hawks will definitely have the best odds at the #1 overall pick in the lottery.  I say that to not disparage the upside of some of these players, but if you are relying upon a group of five that has one guy with more than 2 years of experience, then you are going to lose and lose a lot.  

Idk man. Without a single minute of basketball being played Im convinced that our best lineup is

Dennis

Bembry

Prince

Collins

Dedmon

with Ilyasova as your 6th man.

 

Ive seen all these guys play and those are your best basketball players on this roster at each position. 

And with those guys together executing Buds system I believe they could be a dark horse team in the East.

the only thing that could derail us is giving Baze minutes to match his contract. He isn't that good. He doesn't deserve it. Get rid of his goofy a$$ and his contract. Literally any 6-5 veteran we sign could replace his production given the minutes he receives. He is nothing special 

[sturt]

This is a developmental year. Couldn't care less about the W/L record. It's all, effectively, pre-season for 2018-19, or depending on how things go, perhaps 2019-20. Get these guys playing together and growing a chemistry.

[BigDog90]

On 7/29/2017 at 3:40 PM, KB21 said:

 

This young Hawks team will have to show something on the court before they are major players for big ticket free agents.

Hawks best bet is don't waste 

 

On 7/29/2017 at 3:51 PM, bird_dirt said:

"Just get rid of Baze and Plumblee!" As if it were just so simple for us to be contenders for FAs. Good luck trading them off without taking back worse crap.

I am pretty sure nearly every team has one or player's contracts they'd love to get rid of to make room to sign someone better.

I am curious abt which other teams will have space for signings, then see what advantages we might have over them.

But I don't see any of those players listed above coming here, unless it's in the twilight of their careers like MacGrady.

Hawks better off using their cap space to absorb bad contracts with picks. The cap isn't expected to rise much. A lot of teams will be in the tax looking to shred salary.

CLE, GS, POR, OKC, MIA, WAS, HOU are all in the tax right now.