What's The Consensus?

[sillent]

In Your Opinion who are the 1 - 3 weakest players on our current Hawks team and why?

For me it would be Baze and Plumlee but not as much as most would considered. Baze mainly for his clumsiness on the court and his hero ball antics at times as well as his contract. Plumlee mainly because he can't hit the three at least as far as I/we know now. Both are still very serviceable players on almost any team but especially ours with their new floor spacing/ playmaking teammates. The team surrounding these 2 can make both of them impressively better in my opinion. So as far as weakness it's a wash because Baze's energy, defense and intangibles can be a plus. Plumlee's size, athleticism, rebounding and defense can be a plus as well on our current squad.

Are The Weaker Players serviceable? 

Yes

Who would be your top 5 starters on our squad and why?

I would start off with Jeremy Lin, Kent Baze(if not traded), Taurean Prince, John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon. All of these players are vets or rising stars so they won't embarrass us initially when facing other starters in the league.

Who would be your top 3 -5 reserves?

I would have Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, Deandre Bembry, Omari Spellman and Alex Len coming in as the bench squad. That looks like another starting team if they develop properly and become what we expect or more.

In total how many serviceable/watchable players would you say we currently have on our squad?

I didn't even mention Tyler Dorsey and Justin Anderson but they could also be one of the 1st players coming off the bench. Jaylen Adams will be a nice addition too for half the season.  

Are we a deep team/if so what are your expectations for next year?

In my opinion we are about 13/14 deep of legit talent and if we can quickly gain some chemistry we might be the sleeper of the year. I'm predicting 39 wins even before looking at the actual schedule. Although we may lose some games we were suppose to win because of youth I think we will win some games we were supposed to lose because of talent and depth. If this is the case this probably will go down as the quickest rebuild in history! With most of our players having no where to go but up we are only going to continue to get better even if we keep our 7 core young guys intact. The extra draft picks will just be bonuses to bolster our team.

Knowing Schlenk no matter where our pick is he is not going to choose anybody that anyone of us knows or was paying attention to and we will be disappointed atleast at 1st regardless. I'd rather him make those choices knowing our team is already and up and coming squad and whether we add on key pieces or not we develop enough to be a deep up and coming squad that can definitely challenge for throne in the East.

WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK???

 

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Baze isn't one of the weaknesses of the Hawks although he should the next in line for the chopping block.

 

C -  Dedmon

PF - Collins

SF - Prince

SG - Bazemore

PG - Young

6th - Lin who could find his way into the starting lineup if healthy and Baze is traded

[Gray Mule]

All I've heard is how much talent all the other NBA teams when compared to the Hawks.  Seems that they are all going to whip our donkey this season so bad that we will be lucky each and every time we come close.

Our entire team seems to be made up of G league players and a GM and rookie coach determined to lose.

Bull Feathers !  I have been far more optimistic than most every one here.  I agree with Sillent.  We're going to be better than some think and it will be a surprise to them.

[benhillboy]

I really like the roster.  Like you I always thought Plumlee is a very serviceable end-of-bench Big.  His dunking prowess is underrated (5 more than Dedmon in 624 less minutes.)  As far as Baze, he’ll be able to play like his IQ suggests he should when off the ball more.  Hopefully a healthy Bembry will further lessen his load on defense.

I’ve always been a Lin fan.  Glad Trae isn’t getting thrown into the fire.

Loved watching Ded and Bap together late last season.  Their combination of running the floor and PNR skills will give fronts fits if Johnny’s 3 point improvement is true.

My pessimism is all based on Pierce.  Early impressions, just not feeling the guy.  I miss Bud’s ornery ass, no shame.

[JayBirdHawk]

I won't rate the rookies since they haven't played.

Baze is not our weakess player, he's just overpaid.

Plumlee - yes, weakest. 

Of the young guys Bembry - injuries and his lack of shooting is concerning.

Len for his career is just a servicable big having been picked at #5.

Lin - until he plays a game, I'm reserving judgement - 37 games played in the last 162.

[Sothron]

Plumless is the only worthless player on our roster. As much as I dislike Acie Law 2.0 he has the chance to be great (hopefully).

[sillent]

So far

Most of us can't pick 3 weak players on our squad.....

We all agree we are young and in lack of disagreeing we are deep.....

We all will be eager to watch a couple if not all of our players progress and be better this year.....

WHY THE DOOM & GLOOM? 

I guess that's a question for the tankers. Will coach Lloyd Pierce really be that bad?

I AGREE WE ARE CURRENTLY FAR FROM THE TOP TEAMS EAST OR WEST BUT MAINLY BECAUSE OF OUR UNKNOWNS

How long will it take us to gel and get good chemistry? 

How long will it take for our young players to prove they belong?   

How long will it take coach Pierce to employment his strategies and what will they look like on court?

When will coach Pierce get his 1st win/ 10th win & so on?

NONE OF THESE QUESTIONS CAN TRULY BE ANSWERED AS OF YET BUT WE DO KNOW WE HAVE ALOT OF POTENTIAL & TALENT ON THIS CURRENT TEAM. THE FASTER WE PUT IT ALL TOGETHER THE BETTER WE'LL BE. I'M NOT ONE TO STUNT GROWTH & POTENTIAL SO I'M ROOTING FOR US TO DO OUR BEST! WHATEVER THAT MAY BE.

 

[GrimeyKidd]

I agee we can't judge because we have way too many unknowns. We havent seen Pierce's actual scheme so we don't know how it fits. Our roster depth is competely different almost and we dont know how they will play. What I do know is that Prince and Collins will be A LOT better than last season. They might be our "stars" this season 

[Packfill]

I am sorry, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but predicting 39 wins for this team is laughable.  This team is constructed, by design, to finish with a record similar to last season.  Given the stage of roster construction, winning 39 games would probably be bad for the long-term health of the franchise given the reduction in draft capital.

[KB21]

47 minutes ago, Packfill said:

I am sorry, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but predicting 39 wins for this team is laughable.  This team is constructed, by design, to finish with a record similar to last season.  Given the stage of roster construction, winning 39 games would probably be bad for the long-term health of the franchise given the reduction in draft capital.

Winning 39 games absolutely would not be bad for the long term health of the franchise.  It will be better for it than winning 20 games.  

If this team were to win 39 games this year, it would mean two things.  One, Trae Young and John Collins are definitely a modern day Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire.  Two, Trae Young will have developed faster than any rookie has ever developed in the history of the NBA.  In both cases, there is no negative outcome.  What makes this scenario better for the long term health of the franchise is that now you will be bringing three rookies into a situation where the team is looking to win rather than one where the team is still focused on losing for draft positioning.  

[KB21]

Now, to the topic of the thread, this team's weakness is the inexperience level of a majority of the players and the lack of high level veteran talent.  Until that experience gap is bridged or until there is a precedent where teams that are as young as this Hawks team is actually win games, this team is going to be at the top of the lottery.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

 

14 minutes ago, KB21 said:

Winning 39 games absolutely would not be bad for the long term health of the franchise.  It will be better for it than winning 20 games.  

If this team were to win 39 games this year, it would mean two things.  One, Trae Young and John Collins are definitely a modern day Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire.  Two, Trae Young will have developed faster than any rookie has ever developed in the history of the NBA.  In both cases, there is no negative outcome.  What makes this scenario better for the long term health of the franchise is that now you will be bringing three rookies into a situation where the team is looking to win rather than one where the team is still focused on losing for draft positioning.  

If this team won 39 games, people would swear up and down that we're about to win the East next season.

Also, the Hawks showing that kind of improvement MIGHT be able to attract a very good free agent to join the kids, if he thought they had potential, and if he wanted to be in ATL.

[KB21]

6 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

If this team won 39 games, people would swear up and down that we're about to win the East next season.

Also, the Hawks showing that kind of improvement MIGHT be able to attract a very good free agent to join the kids, if he thought they had potential, and if he wanted to be in ATL.

There is really no situation where winning is bad for the long term health of your franchise.

[EazyRoc]

If this team wins 39 games, that means one (more like 2) of our young players have emerged as young stars. I wouldn’t be mad at that at all, but I don’t see it happening. 

[REHawksFan]

I'm generally optimistic on the team, but I'm not sure I can get to 39 wins until I see more of the rookies.  The only real weak players I see are Plumlee and Bembry but I don't think either are going to be relied upon as major contributors.  And I freely admit a lot of my doubt about Bembry results from his injuries and lack of production thus far.  

With that said, the tough thing to predict about this squad, to me, is that the guys they really NEED to be successful and to rely on to win a lot of games are the youngest on the team.  They NEED Trae and Collins to be elite if they are going to win a lot of games.  But they are 1st and 2nd year players.  While I think Collins is ready to break out, I really have no idea about Trae and how quickly he will see real success.  Will it be in his first year?  I don't know.  

At the end of the day, I'm really happy with the way the team is constructed right now and I think the potential is there to really surprise a lot of folks in their predictions.  It will just come down to how quickly the young guys get acclimated to the NBA and start to see success.  

I dream of the scenario where the Hawks somehow win 30-35 games this year on the backs of Trae, Collins, and Prince, are the talk of the NBA all year, AND have $50 Million in Cap Space to spend next summer.     

[Final_quest]

I hope we see a lot of potential showcased to get us excited, but even if our young players are talented it won’t translate to wins.

I love the optimism, but the OP thought last year’s team was going to be a winner, too.  The difference for me is that I want to watch the games this year.  I think Trae will be an interesting watch.  

 

[AHF]

14 hours ago, KB21 said:

There is really no situation where winning is bad for the long term health of your franchise.

It was objectively bad when it led to us drafting Josh Childress and missing out on Dwight Howard.  Losing to  get LeBron was objectively good for the Cavs, etc.  It was objectively good for the Spurs when they lost enough games to get Duncan.  Just continuing on with Robinson / Elliot would have been a much worse past 20 years for the franchise.

It is much more nuanced than simply "losing is always bad and winning is always good."

[MaceCase]

The optimistic view is that if the team wins 39 games that it’s on the backs of the young players developing when it could also just be the expiring vets amongst others playing their way into their next contracts.

[AHF]

2 hours ago, MaceCase said:

The optimistic view is that if the team wins 39 games that it’s on the backs of the young players developing when it could also just be the expiring vets amongst others playing their way into their next contracts.

This.  If Lin has an explosive season instead of Young busting out that means mmmmmuuuuuuch less to our future.  Same if Dedmon breaks out and then signs elsewhere in the offseason.  Bob Sura did nothing good for this franchise and should never be repeated.  Young and Collins having big years that lead to more wins than expected is great.

[sillent]

On 7/24/2018 at 7:04 PM, Packfill said:

I am sorry, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but predicting 39 wins for this team is laughable.  This team is constructed, by design, to finish with a record similar to last season.  Given the stage of roster construction, winning 39 games would probably be bad for the long-term health of the franchise given the reduction in draft capital.

I left multiple bold questions so this could be explained in detail. I'm seeing opinions with no answers or explanations to my particular question. I appreciate honest opinions but I left questions to get a better understanding of the overall consensus. From the statement above I can't even tell if #PACKFILL even knows most of the players on our current roster. Nor do I know if this is from true feelings/belief or consensus from the media.

Why Is It Laughable?

Who Is That Bad Or Should I Say How Many Bad Players Do We Have For Our Team To Be So Terribly Constructed?

From my understanding we have a nice amount of young talent that people will be routing for individually. In my opinion it's not an individual game nor do I think a particular individual is going to put us over the top. I expect this team to exceed expectations because of what I see them capable of collectively.

Not too many individuals can put a team over the top alone it's usually the right role players with collection of stars (or atleast people playing like it for that year). Our 60 win team is a good example. We couldn't point out a superstar but collectively we looked great from starters to bench and got 4 all stars out of the effort. Pero/Baze/ Shelvin Mack/ Mike Scott/ John Jenkins/ Elton Brand/ Thabo individually don't put fear in most opponents hearts nor do they scream star. There was no major upgrade from the prior year other than Horford coming back from injury. The magic came from how we played and developed together. Actually looking at that team gives me even more hope now and in the future for our newly constructed team. Most of the players on our 60 win team especially the bench had obvious flaws. The only flaw you can say about most of our current players is defense. That's on coach Pierce and I have a feeling he will put their collective efforts together so even that won't look so bad.