Chris Kirschner: Hawks quiet in free agency but already nailed off season

[JTB]

Before you read this I just want to point out that @NBASupes may be right about some of the stuff he’s been saying regarding our starting unit despite Lloyd Pierce recent comments about Collins definitely being a sure 4 like he stated some weeks ago......according to this article and because I know that Kirschner really has connections with the hawks organization he stated that Collins long term position is not yet a sure thing therefore @NBASupes comments about Reddish at the 3 and Hunter at the 4, Collins at center is a real possible future starting unit....also supes was spot on that the hawks see Spellman as a 5 according to Kirschner (which I will admit I thought he was more of a 4 but whatever works is fine with me)

HOWEVER ......I @JTB would like to also make note that my prediction  about Bruno Fernando and how it’s possible he starts at some point in the season ! For a reminder i predicted that Bruno will be a starter or matchup starter depending on the opponent  by his second or third month in the nba similar to Huerter this past season and I feel even more confident about that possibility after reading that Kirschner said Bruno was seen as a first rd talent by the hawks and his defense on the other hand is seen as immediate help....My prediction regarding Bruno as starter was solely because of defense! I said that Bruno would take Lens minutes cause LP would fall in love with his defensive upside by month 2. Again sticking with my prediction.

 

 

Here’s Chris article! It’s a great read and answers a ton of questions! At least it did for me.

[JTB]

ATHLETIC:

Quote

Travis Schlenk warned Hawks fans that the team, like last year, likely was not going to be among the first few teams to spend its money once free agency opened at 6 p.m. Sunday. Some fans either forgot or just chose not to listen.

.....

Schlenk broke it down to me like this shortly after Cam Reddish’s introductory news conference when we started talking about free agency: There are some teams that put most of their focus on the draft, and there are some teams that really don’t care about the draft and only focus on free agency. Atlanta is in the former category.

I know some fans are slightly disappointed with being one of the few teams that have been nonexistent in free agency so far, but this has been the plan for several months now. Schlenk wanted to wait for the market to settle first and then see which players have slipped through the cracks. That’s what happened last year when he signed Alex Len to a two-year deal worth $4.5 million per year. He turned out to be a bargain and had the best year of his career to date and now likely looks like the team’s starting center heading into training camp.

...

Collins’ long-term position hasn’t been solidified, but we might see him play more center this season with De’Andre Hunter being capable of playing the four. Spellman is still a mystery as to what type of player he can be, but there are numerous believers inside the organization of his game and what he can bring if he figures out the off-court stuff that comes with being a professional. If he can remain in shape, which was a struggle this past season, he gives the Hawks someone who can space the floor, which is ideally what the team wants out of its center. Fernando is likely the Kevin Huerter of this season, meaning we don’t know what Fernando is going to provide immediately, and it might take time for him to fully showcase himself. But the Hawks saw Fernando as a first-round talent and believe he’s going to provide solid rim protection and max effort on the defensive end of the floor immediately, which is something that lacked across the roster this past season.

...

This summer was about acquiring more young talent and adding them to Young, Collins and Huerter. The Hawks accomplished their goal. They have one of the best young, exciting cores in the league and will have more than $60 million in expiring contracts come off the books at the end of this season and room potentially to sign two max-level players. The crop of 2020 free agents isn’t good, but the team certainly could use its cap space to acquire star-level talent through trades if it wanted to.

...

I know it would have made for more excitement and drama if the Hawks were one of the several teams immediately out of the gates spending lots of money, but what the Hawks are doing in terms of roster construction is going to require lots of patience from fans.

The payoff for waiting will come eventually.

 

Edited down to a few select highlights from the piece for discussion.  Please only post excerpts of pay articles and always a link to the article when there is any substantial quote.

https://theathletic.com/1060091/2019/07/02/kirschner-hawks-quiet-in-free-agency-but-they-already-have-nailed-their-offseason/

[hazer]

Trae/Kev/Cam/Dre/John lineup will be exciting as hell to watch.

PG/SG/SG/PF/PF

[sturt]

5 hours ago, JTB said:

because I know that Kirschner really has connections with the hawks organization

Please elaborate.

I appreciate the kid's enthusiasm to do a good job, I really do.

But so far, he seems to like to hype himself more than he actually delivers.

Help me overcome my skepticism that he's not just a kid employed as a beat writer for an internet media outlet that probably pays its writers based on clicks... essentially, a commission-based thing where he's part sportswriter and part commissioned salesperson... and thus, predisposed to make his sources appear to be as inner-circle as possible.

 

[NBASupes]

18 minutes ago, sturt said:

Please elaborate.

I appreciate the kid's enthusiasm to do a good job, I really do.

But so far, he seems to like to hype himself more than he actually delivers.

Help me overcome my skepticism that he's not just a kid employed as a beat writer for an internet media outlet that probably pays its writers based on clicks... essentially, a commission-based thing where he's part sportswriter and part commissioned salesperson... and thus, predisposed to make his sources appear to be as inner-circle as possible.

 

He has some decent contact. Especially on the thought process around the org. A lot of my Hawks info is from my guy outside of the org with the league office. 

My tends to be accurate because agents and teams talk. Chris should be more accurate honestly.

[sturt]

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

He has some decent contact. Especially on the thought process around the org.

No offense... to you or to JTB... but that's not much more reassuring than JTB's comment.

Please elaborate.

Give me some factoids that would be reassuring/supportive of the assertion.

[NBASupes]

Just now, sturt said:

No offense... to you or to JTB... but that's not much more reassuring than JTB's comment.

Please elaborate.

Give me some factoids that would be reassuring/supportive of the assertion.

He basically has guys in the front office who tells him what's going on. Plus LP and TS isn't shy with information 

[Spud2nique]

50 minutes ago, hazer said:

Trae/Kev/Cam/Dre/John lineup will be exciting as hell to watch.

PG/SG/SG/PF/PF

I’ve been dominating with this lineup in 2k! I’ve taken down Garland and the Cavs..Zion and the Pels..currently giving it to Coby White and the Bulls. 

I love this Fkin lineup.

Sometimes I run Crabbe with the starters and then run Huerter as the 1 in the 2nd unit with Turner, Bembry, Spellman and ur boy Bruno.

Yes sirrr!

[sturt]

2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He basically has guys in the front office who tells him what's going on.

 

 

 

Feels like...

 

And you know this because? He told you he did?

Or the guys themselves told you he told him? And those guys' positions are... scouts?.... coaches?.... secretaries?

(I'm not being sarcastic, btw. I'm just asking honest questions. I know I used to get some inside intel on my alma mater when the AD's secretary attended church where I did, and she'd spill beans on this or that.)

[NBASupes]

31 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

 

 

Feels like...

 

And you know this because? He told you he did?

Or the guys themselves told you he told him? And those guys' positions are... scouts?.... coaches?.... secretaries?

(I'm not being sarcastic, btw. I'm just asking honest questions. I know I used to get some inside intel on my alma mater when the AD's secretary attended church where I did, and she'd spill beans on this or that.)

It's a collective. Even some players on the roster from what I've heard. I don't know who exactly.

[sturt]

5 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

from what I've heard

 

No kidding, if you don't want to speak to it, that's fine. Just say so.

Same question still remains... where are you getting your information about the nature of his contacts that persuades you that skepticism is misplaced?

[Vol4ever]

I think Schlenk is close to the vest and doesn't share a lot of info. 

[kg01]

On 7/3/2019 at 6:13 PM, sturt said:

 

No kidding, if you don't want to speak to it, that's fine. Just say so.

Same question still remains... where are you getting your information about the nature of his contacts that persuades you that skepticism is misplaced?

I see you've expanded the anti-kirschner crusade to now include supes and jtb.

Smdh

Everybody's skeptical.  This crusade doesn't make you special.  It's just that the rest of us take it all with a grain of salt and a decent understanding that no one is gonna give up sources ... or they'll no longer have sources.

[sturt]

Really?

Not so sure the "grain of salt" thing is all that supportable, given how common it is for Kirschner to be quoted as-if his words are gospel.

I don't see it as you see it. To the contrary, there's very little skepticism... even strangely so, given that the position the young man occupies is a hybrid salesman/sportswriting position.

"Crusade?"

Only as much as you might be accused as mounting a "crusade" to ignore normal questions that normal people would seem to normally ask before buying-in.

And to the most important point...

You obfuscate.

That I ask someone for (a) what is reassuring to them that allows them to tamp down their own skepticism is not the same thing as (b) "giving up sources."

There's room between those two.

My skepticism is healthy. I've acknowledged very recently when he got something right. I've also taken issue with him when he has seemed to play loose with what he "reported" based on sources versus publishing opinion, and not distinguishing between the two. I have an undergrad degree in journalism, so pardon me that I get a little testy when reporters cross lines... I happen to know first-hand they should know better because though I'm not in that profession, I sat in the same classes they did.

Kirschner's enthusiasm is great. I wish we could bottle it up and force feed it down C-Viv's throat. He asks good, relevant, sensible questions. But for now, he's in a probation period with regard to the rest. And he's not going to just slide that "sources say" thing past me, for one, until we have some decent track record... at least a few months' work... from which to assess those sources.

Edit: That is... short of JTB or Supes or someone else with their own track record here giving some factoids/reason that better diminishes the need for skepticism.

 

Show me where I'm wrong. In any of that.

 

[HawkItus]

I will say this,  Jeff Schultz former AJC reporter and Journalist has definite connections to the Hawks.  He is a co-worker on the Atlanta Athletic piece and has I'm sure connected him with some of his sources.

[sturt]

Let's assume for the moment that Schultz did that. Not a huge leap there, though it's also not a given since journalists do tend to prefer to get credit when it's their sources that break news. But/so, let's say that's what happened.

Okay.

Schultz was a columnist, right?

Are you aware that Schultz ever broke a single Hawks news story in the Schlenk era?

In any era?

Set me straight.

Maybe I'm wrong, and I don't live there, and never took the AJC.... but as far as I ever knew, he was just the opinion guy, and so, the most he would ever do is to conduct an interview with the current coach or the current GM.

So... given that.... as far as would make any sense, Schultz' "sources" would be pretty much limited to whoever arranged one of those interviews with Bud.... someone's secretary.

 

And it's getting a little silly here that some people are so concerned to figure out some way to debunk any reason for skepticism, given the whole of the situation.

[kg01]

We get it.  We all get it.  Your flimsy point has been made.

[sturt]

My "flimsy" point isn't so easily disparaged unless you actually provide some counter to it beyond a flimsy unsubstantiated GIF, my friend.

 

(Really beginning to wonder what the real relationship is between a few people here and Kirschner. Strange.)

 

[kg01]

6 minutes ago, sturt said:

(Really beginning to wonder what the real relationship is between a few people here and Kirschner. Strange.)

 

Trust me.  A lot of us are thinking the same.

Sheesh

[sturt]

"A lot?"

hehe

Your circle is that large?

That you want to make it seem large is its own commentary on how impotent you feel in trying to somehow excuse Kirschner from normal skepticism.

My reasoning is out there for anyone to dispute and counter.

You, meanwhile, have not much more to offer on the topic than personal jabs at me for even raising issue... nothing of any actual substance.

"Please stop?"... "Sheesh?".... those are my words.