Dinner for Schmucks

[HawkItus]

Schultz: Tony Ressler has learned from mistakes, says he was ‘schmuck in the room’ for two years

 

Quote

 

“Let’s cut the bullshit — I didn’t know what I was doing,” Ressler said. “I can blame someone else, I can blame you, I can blame my wife. But there was only one schmuck in the room, and that was me.”

Ressler purchased the Hawks in April of 2015, as a 60-win Atlanta team was beginning the playoffs. Former general manager Danny Ferry was in purgatory at the time, and the basketball operations were being run by Mike Budenholzer, the NBA’s coach of the year, and assistant general manager Wes Wilcox. Ressler did the easy and seemingly most logical thing after the playoffs: He cut ties with the polarizing Ferry, promoted Budenholzer to team president and elevated Wilcox.

Boom goes the dynamite.

“It was a recipe for disaster,” he said. “Total dysfunction.”

Budenholzer and Wilcox constantly disagreed on direction and personnel decisions. They signed Dwight Howard. They let Al Horford walk. Budenholzer was determined to try to win today but was totally lost as a big picture guy. Wilcox had player personnel skills but lacked the temperament to lead people. The Hawks went from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals to exiting the playoffs in the second round a year later, then the first round a year after that.

Ressler correctly decided to remove Budenholzer as team president in 2017 and hired general manager Travis Schlenk. Budenholzer convinced Ressler, and maybe himself, that he would be satisfied to be just a coach again. He lied to both Ressler and himself. Budenholzer asked out after the season, then said no to a job in Phoenix that he was offered.

Ressler and Schlenk fumed as the saga played out publicly while the Hawks were trying to acquire trade compensation for their lame duck coach. Budenholzer eventually went to Milwaukee for nothing. The Hawks signed former Philadelphia assistant Lloyd Pierce as their new coach. But last year was a wasted year in the rebuild from a developmental standpoint, and that’s on Budenholzer.

Ressler said he wasn’t surprised by Budeholzer’s decision at the end, nor will he speculate as to his state of mind during the season.

“Bud was not the right coach for us,” he said. “He was desperate to coach a superstar. I don’t know where Bud’s head was; you’ll have to ask him. But I do think when some people have a very short life as the decision-maker, and they no longer have it, sometimes they miss it. I know this: Getting a Lloyd Pierce, a coach with his attributes who works hard and wants to help young guys get better, is exactly what I wanted and exactly what Travis wanted.”

 

 

 

[macdaddy]

Wow.  The old "I was the Schmuck but look at all the bad things Bud did" defense.   They didn't have the guts and didn't want to spend the money to fire him.   They shouldn't be surprised they lost control of the situation.  

[Peoriabird]

18 minutes ago, HawkItus said:

Schultz: Tony Ressler has learned from mistakes, says he was ‘schmuck in the room’ for two years

 

 

Excellent article!!!!

[nathan2331]

This sounds plausible. If this draft class continues to produce, it should boost everyone's confidence in Schlenk. Hopefully by next offseason Ressler will be hands-off and will allow management to make decisions. At this point I'm not worried about the draft but more about how we're going to compete in free agency. That's what would put this rebuild over the edge.

 

If we can sign a guy or two like Boston was able to, we'll be contenders. What we really need is an all-star caliber center or SG, which might be the hardest positions to fill. SG we can most likely draft, but center would definitely have to be filled via trade or free agency.

[Peoriabird]

10 minutes ago, nathan2331 said:

What we really need is an all-star caliber center or SG, which might be the hardest positions to fill.

Point guard is the hardest position to fill whereas competent centers are more plentiful.

[nathan2331]

Point guard is the hardest position to fill whereas competent centers are more plentiful.

No it's not. PG is the deepest position in the NBA. We just gave away a flawed but competent one.

[Sothron]

Unless you have a truly amazing center like KAT or Jokic I think guys like Alex Len and Dedmon that play defense, board and are there for screens and roll to the basket are fine. We need a lock down perimeter defender IMO that can just slow down the opponent.

[mcleitsy]

Just now, Sothron said:

Unless you have a truly amazing center like KAT or Jokic I think guys like Alex Len and Dedmon that play defense, board and are there for screens and roll to the basket are fine. We need a lock down perimeter defender IMO that can just slow down the opponent.

I think priorities change depending on how the rooks shake out. Spellman could be good, Kev could be good, Young will likely be good, and we all know Collins is good. I think Prince is high usage, and would be a great 6th man. I don't see him being part of the starters after the next season or two. 

[nathan2331]

Unless you have a truly amazing center like KAT or Jokic I think guys like Alex Len and Dedmon that play defense, board and are there for screens and roll to the basket are fine. We need a lock down perimeter defender IMO that can just slow down the opponent.

That's true, and I like Len and Dedmon for what they provide. But with the foundation of our team still being on rookie contracts, we need to spend some money soon before our players hit free agency. SG and Center imo would be our best options. If DeMarcus Cousins bounces back I think we should go for him. We'll have money but limited options to spend it.

[hazer]

https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/10/22/18008930/tony-ressler-atlanta-hawks-rumor-trae-young-nba-draft-luka-doncic

Ressler flat out denies Trae was his call, with an emphatic f-bomb ? 

[Sothron]

2 minutes ago, hazer said:

https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/10/22/18008930/tony-ressler-atlanta-hawks-rumor-trae-young-nba-draft-luka-doncic

Ressler flat out denies Trae was his call, with an emphatic f-bomb ? 

I've said it several times. My one Hawks source has said the Travis wanted Young and if we had the #1 pick he would have tried to move down a couple spots to still take him or if no trade just take him #1.

[macdaddy]

5 minutes ago, hazer said:

https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2018/10/22/18008930/tony-ressler-atlanta-hawks-rumor-trae-young-nba-draft-luka-doncic

Ressler flat out denies Trae was his call, with an emphatic f-bomb ? 

That's not true.   He says if the rumor is that he wanted Trae for marketing reasons then that's a lie.  That's different than saying he didn't want him. 

[sillent]

Glad it all worked out for the best. We are younger, better (talent wise) and actually have a coach that can and will grow with our players. I'm glad we didn't keep Al actually that and rebounding was one of the best assets brought by Dwight. Korver and Millsap were getting old. Teague wasn't selfish/aggressive enough at times and Dennis was too aggressive and selfish at times. With our new team I'm seeing less and less of these bad/flawed qualities in our players. They are talented, unselfish and no push  overs from top to bottom. Sometimes you gotta do wrong to get right. Those early mistakes can now and later in the future be seen as blessings in disguise.

[JayBirdHawk]

11 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

That's not true.   He says if the rumor is that he wanted Trae for marketing reasons then that's a lie.  That's different than saying he didn't want him. 

That's what I got from that - the marketing aspect of taking Trae over Luka.

[NBASupes]

Bud is a clown but I am glad Tony is realizing what ASG never did. That when his sh!t stinks. It hurts everybody

[NBASupes]

33 minutes ago, nathan2331 said:

41 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Point guard is the hardest position to fill whereas competent centers are more plentiful.

 

No it's not. PG is the deepest position in the NBA. We just gave away a flawed but competent one.

Great ones aren't plentiful 

[Peoriabird]

6 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Great ones aren't plentiful 

You don't need a great center to win championships.  Point guard is another matter.

[sillent]

40 minutes ago, Sothron said:

Unless you have a truly amazing center like KAT or Jokic I think guys like Alex Len and Dedmon that play defense, board and are there for screens and roll to the basket are fine. We need a lock down perimeter defender IMO that can just slow down the opponent.

Sounds like you said we need a Justin Anderson, Bembry, Prince, Baze, Huerter type of player. Maybe I heard that wrong though. I do agree Dedmon and Len are pluses as well as Collins and Spellman.

[nathan2331]

Great ones aren't plentiful 

Great players in any position aren't plentiful. Schröder was flawed, but he played at a high level in his biggest games. I wouldn't be mad at a Dedmon/Len platoon for the next couple years, but we bring in someone via trade or free agency. That's been the difference between Boston and the Sixers even though the Sixers drafted bigger stars. Philly hasn't signed anyone major and Boston got Horford and Hayward along with Kyrie.

[hazer]

28 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

That's not true.   He says if the rumor is that he wanted Trae for marketing reasons then that's a lie.  That's different than saying he didn't want him. 

I wasn’t implying “he didn’t want him” and Schlenk did, that’s not the point I was making.