Travis Schlenk agrees to multi-year contract

[AHF]

21 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

He doesn’t give a ton of credit? I’m sorry you tell Diesel to look at the Suns and Twolves and other current crap franchises who have been stuck in this “standard” process of rebuilding. If you want to argue that Schlenk gets an A- instead of an A+ that’s fine. As a fan base, we can’t get spoiled and take things for granted. So far, so great.

I think we stick the landing. Score:

10.00

His point would probably be that we are still in the mix with the Suns and Twolves and haven't made it to a consistent playoff team yet so wait for us to actually do that and show we aren't a perennial lottery team under TS.  I think it is not too early to praise Schlenk for what he has done building a core of Trae, JC, Huert, Hunter and Cam with promising future picks and some potential players like Bembry, Len and Fernando with the potential to join that core.  (Didn't need to list them again, I just love typing their names out).

[Gray Mule]

Diesel is correct.  We, the Hawks, haven't done anything yet.  A 29 win season isn't anywhere close to being a NBA champion.  We've still got a long way to go.

We do know, however, how good out young veteran players have been already.  We are excited about our three draft picks made this summer.  The building that we are working on is far from complete.  It is beginning to take shape.  We think that it is looking mighty fine.

Can we, the Hawks, make the jump THIS SEASON from 29 wins to the playoffs?  If there were a lot of strong teams in the east, all fighting for the first place position, no, we wouldn't make the playoffs.

The thing is, there are not 8 strong teams.  The Hawks are expecting to be as good as all but three or four of the eastern teams.  Do we expect to win big in the playoffs?  No.  Just think, if we end up as #8, the #1 team would be our opponent in round one.  End of dream.

We can make the playoffs.  Atlanta will be a very young, exciting team.  Free agents may at last, desire to come and play here.  Wouldn't that be a huge change!  Making the playoffs is just the next step in a long and winding journey.

Diesel, we may be two or three years away from being that team that people will talk about having a good chance of going all the way.  We've started the journey and somewhere, out there in the future, is our destination.

[NBASupes]

 

[NBASupes]

For me, teams who can be dynasties 

1. Lakers- Now to 2021

2. Warriors - Now to 2024

3. Hawks - 2020 - 2034

4. Kings - 2019 - 2027

5t. Grizzlies- 2022 - 2033

5t. Pelicans- 2021 - 2032

[Spud2nique]

4 hours ago, NBASupes said:

For me, teams who can be dynasties 

1. Lakers- Now to 2021

2. Warriors - Now to 2024

3. Hawks - 2020 - 2034

4. Kings - 2019 - 2027

5t. Grizzlies- 2022 - 2033

5t. Pelicans- 2021 - 2032

1. Rockets - Now to 2021

2. Bucks  -Now to(Greek leaves)

3. Sixers Now to 2030

4. Nuggets Now to 2026

5. Hawks -2020-3000 and beyond

6. Grizzlies 2022 to 2029

7.  Pelicans 2021-2028

8. Kings 2020-2027

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

42 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

1. Rockets - Now to 2021

2. Bucks  -Now to(Greek leaves)

3. Sixers Now to 2030

4. Nuggets Now to 2026

5. Hawks -2020-3000 and beyond

6. Grizzlies 2022 to 2029

7.  Pelicans 2021-2028

8. Kings 2020-2027

 

 

[Diesel]

On 8/26/2019 at 4:12 PM, AHF said:

He is already in the thick of the real GMing.  Making the most of your draft picks is the single most important thing you can do as a GM in almost every rebuilding scenario.  You squander too many of those picks and  you either extend the rebuild or quickly put a cap on  your ceiling.

That's true and ambiguous at the same time.   You don't know whether your draft picks are any good for at least 3 yrs.  There was a parade of people who thought that Marvin Williams was the next James Worthy after we drafted him and even up until his 2nd contract was inked.   However, we're giving Travis Credit.

Doncic vs. Trae will be his measuring stick forever. 

 

Yet... I still can challenge your statement about drafting.

1.  What was the cornerstone player that Ferry Drafted?  I mean he was the GM that took us to the ECF...  Who was his best Draft pick?

2  The Lakers 2 peat was led by Kobe - drafted by the Hornets and Shaq - Drafted by the Magic. 

In fact, there are a few teams that have won championships without home grown talent.   It leads to the statement that smart trades are just as important as drafting and can sub for drafting. 

 

 

[Diesel]

On 8/26/2019 at 5:44 PM, Thomas said:

Might want to take a look at the roster and the contracts again cat. TS has been seriously GMing.

All I see is a firesale and Babcockish player acquisition. 

Let's talk about your favorite move.  What was the point of trading Dwight and Keeping Plumlee for an extra year if we were going to be bad anyway.  That's a firesale booboo.

Coulda had Luka.  Will we regret it?  I want to say no... but it's a strong possibility that we will.  Another Booboo.

Real GMing is when he has to actually go out and acquire long term stars. 

You can't find a team that won anything of importance with young draftpicks and no acquired stars.  I mean, maybe you believe that Vince Carter is that guy.   We'd be championship material with our team and 2009 Vince.   But 2019 Vince... Maybe not. 

 

 

 

[High5]

56 minutes ago, Diesel said:

All I see is a firesale and Babcockish player acquisition. 

Let's talk about your favorite move.  What was the point of trading Dwight and Keeping Plumlee for an extra year if we were going to be bad anyway.  That's a firesale booboo.

Coulda had Luka.  Will we regret it?  I want to say no... but it's a strong possibility that we will.  Another Booboo.

Real GMing is when he has to actually go out and acquire long term stars. 

You can't find a team that won anything of importance with young draftpicks and no acquired stars.  I mean, maybe you believe that Vince Carter is that guy.   We'd be championship material with our team and 2009 Vince.   But 2019 Vince... Maybe not. 

 

 

 

How are you still hung up on Dwight? He's been on like 7 different teams since we traded him. 

[AHF]

2 hours ago, Diesel said:

That's true and ambiguous at the same time.   You don't know whether your draft picks are any good for at least 3 yrs.  There was a parade of people who thought that Marvin Williams was the next James Worthy after we drafted him and even up until his 2nd contract was inked.   However, we're giving Travis Credit.

Doncic vs. Trae will be his measuring stick forever. 

 

Yet... I still can challenge your statement about drafting.

1.  What was the cornerstone player that Ferry Drafted?  I mean he was the GM that took us to the ECF...  Who was his best Draft pick?

2  The Lakers 2 peat was led by Kobe - drafted by the Hornets and Shaq - Drafted by the Magic. 

In fact, there are a few teams that have won championships without home grown talent.   It leads to the statement that smart trades are just as important as drafting and can sub for drafting. 

 

 

WTF do people pretend that the Lakers didn’t draft Kobe.  This is like pretending that we didn’t draft Trae.  Just asinine.

On LA, you can rebuilt differently there than you can here with the ability to attract stars.  (But that said, I’m pretty sure all their rings involved guys they drafted who won MVP awards).

I’m also not masochistic enough to bother explaining that building a team that doesn’t win a game outside the first or second round of the playoffs is not remotely a dynasty.

[Diesel]

4 hours ago, High5 said:

How are you still hung up on Dwight? He's been on like 7 different teams since we traded him. 

It's not about Howard.  It's about the bad trade that netted us for 1 extra yr of Plumlee.

[Diesel]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

WTF do people pretend that the Lakers didn’t draft Kobe.  This is like pretending that we didn’t draft Trae.  Just asinine.

On LA, you can rebuilt differently there than you can here with the ability to attract stars.  (But that said, I’m pretty sure all their rings involved guys they drafted who won MVP awards).

I’m also not masochistic enough to bother explaining that building a team that doesn’t win a game outside the first or second round of the playoffs is not remotely a dynasty.

Well, if the Lakers would have Drafted Kobe, they would have had Kobe and Vlade.  That happens... NO Shaq.  You ignore the beauty and significance of the trade.   Draft day or no. 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

7 hours ago, Diesel said:

Well, if the Lakers would have Drafted Kobe, they would have had Kobe and Vlade.  That happens... NO Shaq.  You ignore the beauty and significance of the trade.   Draft day or no. 

 

 

But they could not have drafted Kobe without trading up since they were picking #24.  They didn't even trade that pick in the Bryant deal, they kept it and drafted Derrick Fisher.

Moving Vlade's contract was also important for West to create cap room to sign O'neal.

 

[Spud2nique]

Kobe was a primadonna that said he would only play for the Lakers from day ☝. Why do people want to forget this? All the stuff out there now says that the Lakers made the trade for the 13th pick not knowing they were gonna take Kobe...

BULL$HIT. 

Look, Kobe was another Steve Francis in demanding where he wanted to play before Francis did it. Francis just got scrutinized for it and Kobe’s story changed throughout the years.

[Diesel]

On 8/30/2019 at 10:17 AM, Spud2nique said:

Kobe was a primadonna that said he would only play for the Lakers from day ☝. Why do people want to forget this? All the stuff out there now says that the Lakers made the trade for the 13th pick not knowing they were gonna take Kobe...

BULL$HIT. 

Look, Kobe was another Steve Francis in demanding where he wanted to play before Francis did it. Francis just got scrutinized for it and Kobe’s story changed throughout the years.

As was John Elway.   But the Lakers didn't have to go after Kobe.   

[Thomas]

And we are moving forward now....

[JayBirdHawk]

Grading Every NBA General Manager's Moves from the Past 3 Seasons

Grade: A-

Quote

Notable Transactions:

Traded No. 3 overall pick in 2018 (Luka Doncic) to Dallas Mavericks for No. 5 overall pick (Trae Young) and 2019 first-round pick (Cam Reddish) in 2018

Drafted De'Andre Hunter No. 4 overall in 2019

Drafted John Collins No. 19 overall in 2017

Traded for center Clint Capela in 2020

The former assistant GM of the Golden State Warriors, Travis Schlenk has begun molding the Atlanta Hawks into a mini-version of his former champion teams.

Trae Young has flashes of Stephen Curry in his game with his incredible range and tight handles, and shooting guard Kevin Huerter has a similar 6'7", 190-pound frame to that of Klay Thompson (6'6", 215 lbs).

Collins was a brilliant pick outside the lottery in 2017 and is already averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game and shooting 40.1 percent from three, with a hefty contract extension likely coming.

We've yet to see Capela play a game since a trade from the Houston Rockets, but Hunter and Reddish look like quality starters at least.

Schlenk will ultimately be judged on his passing on Doncic in favor of Young and the draft pick that became Reddish. While Doncic is the greater talent, Young is already an All-Star starter in his second year.

There's a lot of young talent on this team, but the Luka swap and a poor 20-47 overall record this season hurt his grade a little.

We can add getting value for Taurean Prince and TS's owing up to his mistake and bringing back Dedmon to help on the court and in the locker room.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2893641-grading-every-nba-general-managers-moves-from-the-past-3-seasons

 

[Vol4ever]

On 8/23/2019 at 4:04 AM, Diesel said:

Whenever you talk about GMs, you have several things that you have to consider.  

1.  Trades/FAcy

2.  Drafts

3.  Team Success. 

4.   Ownership. 

5.  Head Coaches

 

Babcock was GM and he made terrible draft picks, terrible trades/FAcy, but he was able to have great coaches.  Fratello, Lenny were two of the best.   He ended his career picking terrible head coaches like Weiss, Kruger, and that other guy.  All in all though, Babcock worked under very good Ownership who didn't mind spending money and because of that he was able to keep a winning team on the floor.   2.5 stars.

 

 Knight was a terrible drafter.  He brought us hits like Shelden  Acie, and Marvin.   However, Knight succeeded in trades/FAcy.   IsoJoe, Harrington, etc were examples of Good trades. Knight only had 1 coach to work with during his time as GM.  Woody is no Goody.  Knight was the first GM to bring a plan.   Babcock never had a plan, his plan was to find good players and not let stars get old.  Knights plan was Interchangable, long, and athletic.   The thing that nobody says about Knight but is crucial to his evaluation is that he GM'd during the most unstable ownership time.  When Belkin and the ASG split... Knight had to GM through a fight.  He always had a limit that he couldn't spend over.  He also couldn't make personnel moves without all parties agreeing.  All in all with all those things working against him, and also not being able to fire Woody is no Goody or making a major trade at the end of his career, he still got to see his Hawks go farther than they had previously gone.  3.5 stars. 

Ferry had a short run but here's what we know... Good to very Good on the trades/FAcy.  Not so good on drafts. Ferry excelled in his coach choice.  Bud is by far the best coach the franchise ever had.  Bud actually makes some of Ferry's choices look better.  Ferry worked during uncertain Ownership and it was the ownership that got him tossed.  He was able to take the best that Knight left and convert it into something great.  Ownership gave him far more freedom than they gave night and because of that, he was able to do some very good things.   4.0 stars.

 

BudCott.  Probably the worst decision anybody could make was to give Bud say in GM moves.  Bud shouldn't function that way.  BudCott had to work with Ferry's mess of contracts.   i.e. all contracts ending at the same damn time.   In a league where players have the power and money flowed, a championship team that was built by Ferry had to be dismantled piece by piece because of greed.  2.7 stars.  

Travis.   Who knows how this will turn out.   It's too early. Here's what we do know... He has very good ownership who lets him do whatever he wants.  Pierce is his only coach.   However, his legacy will be cemented by Trae.  If Luka becomes a star for the ages, nobody will remember Trae.  Trae will become the new Robert Tractor Trailer and Travis will be the new Bob Weinhauer. So there is a lot of incomplete with Travis.  He has done what all GMs do... Firesale and work with the money and draft picks.   ??? Stars... Incomplete. 

 

Hey Diesel ol Stan Kasten was pretty good back in the day.  

[JayBirdHawk]

Analyzing Travis Schlenk’s best decisions as Hawks general manager

 

Quote

Trading Dwight Howard to Charlotte

Schlenk’s first move as the Hawks’ GM was to trade the much-maligned Howard and a 2017 second-round pick to Charlotte for Marco Belinelli, Miles Plumlee and a 2017 second-round pick, which turned into Tyler Dorsey..... Howard was certainly talented but could never avoid the unnecessary drama that seemed to fracture locker rooms he roamed....Howard was productive for the Hawks in his one season, averaging more than 13 points and nearly 13 rebounds per game, ....him as one of the veteran voices in a young locker room could have been detrimental to what the Hawks were trying to accomplish.

 

Selecting John Collins and Kevin Huerter at No. 19 

Here were the four picks before Schlenk made Collins his first draft selection for the Hawks: T.J. Leaf at 18, D.J. Wilson at 17, Justin Patton at 16 and Justin Jackson at 15. Needless to say, Schlenk nailed this pick.

Collins has turned into one of the game’s best young power forwards .... finding an All-Star-level talent at No. 19 in the draft isn’t easy. Schlenk then did it again the following draft by selecting Huerter, who has turned into a reliable shooter and playmaker for the Hawks, with the 19th pick.  It would be unrealistic to ask any general manager to find long-term starters — and foundational pieces — at that point in the draft, especially in back-to-back years, but Schlenk did just that with Collins and Huerter.

 

Trading Taurean Prince 

The Hawks were not interested in giving Prince a new contract.....So, trading him was the best option for Schlenk because it allowed him to not lose Prince for nothing in return. Prince’s trade value last offseason likely was as high as it’s going to be for the rest of his career. 

 

Trading Dennis Schröder

Bill Simmons had a conniption online when the Hawks traded Dennis Schröder to Oklahoma City for Carmelo Anthony and a 2022 lottery-protected first-round pick. Simmons graded the Hawks’ summer an “F-minus-minus-minus-minus” after the trade....What Simmons might have failed to realize is Schröder wanted out of Atlanta. He requested a trade because, as he said early last year, he wanted to go to a “winning-mentality organization” ....players I spoke with who played with Schröder in Atlanta, they weren’t particularly fond of him in the locker room, and some of those players repeatedly called him selfish. The camaraderie within the locker room significantly improved without Schröder on the roster.

 

Believing in Dewayne Dedmon and Alex Len 

Dedmon and Len were middling centers who were afterthoughts when Atlanta signed them in free agency.....Dedmon completely revitalized his career in his first two seasons with Atlanta and became one of the best stretch-fives practically out of nowhere....In his second year, expectations were probably too high for Len as he was penciled in to be the starting center....Len was performing at a practically unplayable level as the Hawks’ starter at the beginning of the season before moving back to the bench. As a reserve, Len was quite good. Although it’s not saying much, he was clearly the best true center on the roster. 

 

Trading Allen Crabbe 

Crabbe wasn’t the main attraction in the Prince deal, but Crabbe’s role with the Hawks this season looked like it would be an important one ....They would need his 3-point shooting because the Hawks didn’t have many shooters on the roster....But Crabbe’s shooting deteriorated, he shot 32 percent from 3 with the Hawks. The problem with Crabbe is if he isn’t shooting 3s, he doesn’t offer much else on the floor....So the fact that Schlenk was able to get something for Crabbe at the trade deadline was somewhat surprising.

BONUS: Hiring Chelsea Lane away from Golden State 

Lane was one of the most important behind-the-scenes members of the Warriors’ organization as head performance therapist and is still widely considered one of the best at what she does across the NBA.....Losing Lane was considered a “big loss” for the Warriors because of how trusted she was inside their locker room.....Lane is now beloved by the Hawks. Young explained her importance as succinctly as he could this season when he said: “She’s a magician.”

 

https://theathletic.com/1883346/2020/06/22/analyzing-travis-schlenks-best-decisions-as-hawks-general-manager/

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Quote

The capital given up to acquire De’Andre Hunter 

This is not an indictment on Hunter as a player, but the decision to give up picks Nos. 8, 17 and 35 and Cleveland’s 2020 first-round pick (now two second-round picks) and absorb Solomon Hill’s contract for Hunter and a 2019 second-round pick that was used to acquire Bruno Fernando and a top-45 protected 2023 pick seems too rich.

Normally, you’d want your selection at No. 4 to have a good chance at becoming a superstar one day, and I don’t see that happening with Hunter, at least as of right now. If this team is going to continue to revolve around Trae Young, which is almost guaranteed unless he asks to be traded one day, Hunter is likely relegated to being a role player. That’s fine — not every player is going to be a star — but when you trade two first-round picks and an early second-round pick and take on a salary dump, you generally would want more than a good role player in return.

Let’s put it this way: If the Hawks had kept their three first-round picks, so Nos. 8, 10 and 17, how would things look different for the future of this team if it grabbed Jaxson Hayes at No. 8, Cam Reddish at No. 10 and Brandon Clarke or Kevin Porter Jr. at No. 17? Or how about Reddish at No. 8, P.J. Washington at No. 10 and Goga Bitadze at No. 17? In either option, the Hawks wouldn’t have Fernando on the roster because there wouldn’t be a need to grab a center.

 

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Giving Jabari Parker a player option 

Before the Hawks traded Omari Spellman, they signed Parker to a two-year, $13 million deal with the second year being a $6.5 million player option.

Signing Parker  wasn’t necessarily a bad decision by Schlenk. The Hawks had given up on Omari Spellman,  — perhaps a modest one but still an upgrade.

 

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Thinking Evan Turner was a viable backup point guard option

The Kent Bazemore for Turner swap was a weird one when it was announced. The rationale for the trade was Turner was going to be Young’s backup, and the Hawks were doing Bazemore a favor for trading him to his No. 1 preferred destination after his trade request.

While it was a nice gesture for the Hawks to satisfy Bazemore’s wishes because he was going to find himself buried on the wing depth chart as the rookies and second-year players played the majority of the minutes, they didn’t get a quality player in return.

Thinking Turner was going to be a fine backup point guard option seemed doomed from the moment we learned that was the team’s plan.

Worse move EVER!!!

 

Quote

Not going into this past season with a quality starting center 

The three centers on the Hawks’ roster going into this season were: Alex Len, Damian Jones and Fernando. Len hadn’t proven that he could be highly effective playing more than 20 minutes per game, Jones had only played 49 games in three seasons with Golden State, and Fernando was a very raw second-round pick out of Maryland. The possibility for disaster was certainly more realistic than you’d want it to be.

Len ended up winning the starting job out of training camp but was putrid in the nine games he started at the beginning of the season. He played much better coming off the bench, but the problem was Jones and Fernando were not adequate options to start, especially while Collins sat out for 25 games because of his suspension.

 

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Trading for Jeremy Lin 

How the Hawks received almost nothing value-wise from Brooklyn for absorbing Lin’s $13.8 million salary is mind-boggling. The deal was effectively a three-team trade with Brooklyn and Denver. The Nets absorbed two contract dumps from the Nuggets and got a top-12 protected pick. The Hawks could have done that deal with the Nuggets themselves and then sign a minimum guard. Instead, the Hawks received a 2023 second-round pick swap with the Nets and their 2025 second-round pick.

I hated this so much. Should have done the Denver deal for Faried and get the future 1st.

 

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Trading for Dewayne Dedmon 

This trade caught me completely off guard when it happened. I wasn’t expecting it — and from talking with Schlenk afterward — it didn’t sound like he expected it when he woke up that day. The night before, Schlenk had acquired Capela from Houston, so the center position seemed settled. The rest of the season didn’t matter by then because the Hawks weren’t making the playoffs; they could just continue playing Len, who was still dealing with a minor injury at the time, Jones and Fernando, plus they could use Collins at center, too.

So, when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Atlanta had acquired Dedmon and two second-round picks for Len and Parker, I was surprised. Last offseason, the Hawks made it known behind the scenes that they weren’t interested in signing Dedmon to a long-term contract. But now they have him under contract for next season at just more than $13 million and the season after for the same price, although his salary in Year 3 only comes with $1 million guaranteed.

I understand the Hawks valued having Dedmon’s presence in the locker room, but I’m not sure his voice is worth that much.

I disagree - for this young team it was important. Ded's expiring may actually come in handy next offseason.

 

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Bonus: Trading for Chandler Parsons 

Hang the jersey in State Farm Arena’s rafters for the Florida great.