Live Presser: Schlenk and Lloyd

[Thomas]

Guess I am still not over trading for Turner yet. Could have been worse of course, could have signed Dwight again. Really do hope Turner's minutes are minimal just the same.

[AHF]

On 9/28/2019 at 6:44 PM, JTB said:

Turner isn't  a bad playmaker though and i see it the other way around especially for a guy like Reddish! On down the line Reddish in particular will have the ball in his hands plenty more than likely but this gives him a good opportunity to learn to play off ball as if he ever starts like most hawk fans expect him to he won't have the ball in his hands nearly as much as Trae and rightfully so.

Trae is too talented of a passer to force too much off ball play on him Im now realizing so its important all these young pieces learn how to play off ball with him in my opinion. 

I don't think playing with Turner who teams will give a ton of space to on the perimeter to try to invite him to shoot and limit his passing lanes will teach them much about what it is like to play with Trae.  They present such different profiles and spacing.  

Turner will also present a radically different situation defensively relative to playing with Trae.  

Just not a lot of transferrable, translatable action from that scenario, I think.  Instead, I'm just hoping he can fit in with a second team where the ballhandling responsibilities are spread around between Turner, Huerter, and Cam so those two wings get some development.  I also worry about Bembry because I don't know how  you could play Bembry and Turner at the same time and neither will be starting. 

[Thomas]

Yeah, I like Bembry's defense a lot but him and Turner on the floor at the same time would be a bad +/- situation for us. Hard to score for sure. Not understanding the thought of Turner at the four either because between JC, Parker and Hunter how will any minutes for Turner be available. Furthermore just do not see the point. He can handle the ball ok and play defense ok on the perimeter but can't shoot so don't see how him playing power could help. Like others have said, at the end of the day from the trade am glad Baze will get some minutes and that should keep him satisfied in Portland. 

[AHF]

41 minutes ago, Thomas said:

Yeah, I like Bembry's defense a lot but him and Turner on the floor at the same time would be a bad +/- situation for us. Hard to score for sure. Not understanding the thought of Turner at the four either because between JC, Parker and Hunter how will any minutes for Turner be available. Furthermore just do not see the point. He can handle the ball ok and play defense ok on the perimeter but can't shoot so don't see how him playing power could help. Like others have said, at the end of the day from the trade am glad Baze will get some minutes and that should keep him satisfied in Portland. 

One potential advantage to having Turner play some 4 would be putting more perimeter shooting on the floor with him.  When he is on the floor and playing the 1, you have the 2-4 slots to fill.  When he is at the 4, you have the 1-3 slots to fill.  Whether he can defend a 1 or 4 is going to be matchup dependent (he can't handle every 1 or every 4 but will be able handle some of both very effectively on D) so I don't mind the idea of this.

[Thomas]

4 hours ago, AHF said:

One potential advantage to having Turner play some 4 would be putting more perimeter shooting on the floor with him.  When he is on the floor and playing the 1, you have the 2-4 slots to fill.  When he is at the 4, you have the 1-3 slots to fill.  Whether he can defend a 1 or 4 is going to be matchup dependent (he can't handle every 1 or every 4 but will be able handle some of both very effectively on D) so I don't mind the idea of this.

When Cam is 100% am expecting only Hunter at the four as our third option. Not a slower version of LP's Turner in Philly which was already slow seven or eight years ago and had the same issue. No scoring efficiency. Hunter can defend, handle, pass and oh yeah, he can score in a number of ways. Anyway if Evan sees the four spot am assuming its because of injuries or readiness elsewhere such as Cam's health progress for the three allowing Hunter to move around or Crabbe taking a long time to hit the floor at the two which could affect Cam at the three spot minutes. Think Hunter at four with Cam at three and Huerter at two for some minutes would enforce what I am thinking. Scoring not an issue there. We will see though. Guess I am still bitching but do hope for the best from all involved.

[JTB]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:53 AM, AHF said:

I don't think playing with Turner who teams will give a ton of space to on the perimeter to try to invite him to shoot and limit his passing lanes will teach them much about what it is like to play with Trae.  They present such different profiles and spacing.  

Turner will also present a radically different situation defensively relative to playing with Trae.  

Just not a lot of transferrable, translatable action from that scenario, I think.  Instead, I'm just hoping he can fit in with a second team where the ballhandling responsibilities are spread around between Turner, Huerter, and Cam so those two wings get some development.  I also worry about Bembry because I don't know how  you could play Bembry and Turner at the same time and neither will be starting. 

Damn that’s a good response especially that part you threw in about how turner and trae present different spacing.

smh...I wanted to come back just argue lol but I can’t argue with logic.

good post! ...only thing I will say is I hope LP won’t play turner and be bembry at the same time. That’s going to cause a lot of chaos around here.

[Gray Mule]

Right now, discussing who will play with who, I suppose that we have to be in the "wait and see" mode.  Two things that last year's Hawk team had going bad for them was poor defense as a team and untimely turnovers, as a team.

Want to kill a promising rally?  Turn the ball over a time or two, then foul the shooter and watch as he sinks his free throws.  Suddenly, Hawks are behind by 10 instead of 5 and driving for the tie.

Hawks will face this again this season, but hopefully not as often as we did last season.  With so many youth and so much to learn.  Two of our worst players who were subject to many turnovers were Bazemore and Prince.  They were trying to move the team and only resulted in being a turnover.

Can our rookies, Hunter and Reddish improve on this stat?  We hope so.

Less than one week until we get to see our "new Hawks!"

[Thomas]

Think pretty soon Cam takes minutes away from both Turner and Bembry. Guess we could include Crabbe in that category as well but not sure of his health or how many minutes would be available anyway. Bembry and Crabbe are strictly specialists at this point and Cam can cover all aspects on the floor. Could be a ball handling battle between Bembry and Cam early but by the end of the year believe that battle is over.

[AHF]

2 hours ago, Thomas said:

Think pretty soon Cam takes minutes away from both Turner and Bembry. Guess we could include Crabbe in that category as well but not sure of his health or how many minutes would be available anyway. Bembry and Crabbe are strictly specialists at this point and Cam can cover all aspects on the floor. Could be a ball handling battle between Bembry and Cam early but by the end of the year believe that battle is over.

I expect Cam to play basically as many minutes as he can physically handle as long as LP sees them as productive minutes for development.  Minutes for Turner and Bembry are a much lower priority.  Both will be getting their minutes significantly cut from their peak years this season.  I'm having trouble seeing Bembry getting much time as a primary ballhandler with this year's roster.

[JayBirdHawk]

Podcast with Travis Schlenk and Carl Dukes local radio host 92.9 The Game.

 

Some insight on the Luka/Trae trade, Cam and Hunter and much more.

[JayBirdHawk]

Tony Ressler Interview.

 

Snippets-

Quote

In what could be the defining move of the Hawks’ organization for the next decade and beyond, Tony Ressler says he and the front office would make the same decision today if presented with the opportunity. That decision would be, of course, to draft and trade Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Trae Young and a top-five protected pick in the 2019 NBA Draft that turned into Cam Reddish.

There were numerous conversations prior to last year’s draft and whether they should go ahead with such a decision, and Ressler was admittedly nervous.

“I have to be honest, but I didn’t think Luka would be this good,” Ressler said prior to Saturday’s game. “I didn’t think Trae was going to be this good. They are both better than I expected. I think they’re both really special players and have a shot to be for a really long time if they stay focused. 

That’s in line with what general manager Travis Schlenk has said for more than a year now. Schlenk repeatedly has said the Hawks saw an opportunity to turn one lottery pick into two, and that was the genesis behind making the deal last June.
In the four years that Ressler has owned the Hawks, each move made has been to build into a championship-contending organization one day. The first step of that plan was to develop first-class resources for the players. That doesn’t necessarily turn an organization into one competing for championships every year, but it shows devotion from the ownership group to get better at every level on and off the court.

The Hawks are now working on the next phase of their plan.

“The third step, we don’t know when and we want to do it intelligently, but is spending the money that it will take to add greatness to what we hope is existing greatness. That is how you become a contender.”
Ressler said this offseason was as peaceful as it could have been because he has learned from his past mistakes. The Hawks have a plan in place, and they followed it.
Of course, most fans are inherently impatient when the organization you cheer for doesn’t have much on-court success, as the Hawks have had now for the past three seasons. Ressler says he would know this more than anyone.
The Hawks feel they have the makings of a long-term core now with Young as the centerpiece, John Collins, Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter, Reddish and Bruno Fernando. It’s too early to say whether this core will be in place for the next decade, but the six of the players are 22 or younger, and Ressler has been encouraged with what he has seen from them.
“We’re trying to create some really, really top-flight talent in-house through the draft process that we can then supplement, if needed, to get to true greatness,” Ressler said. “To get to true greatness and become a contender, you don’t do it entirely through the draft.”

Ressler wouldn’t say what his timeline is for when he expects more on-court success, other than to say that, yes, he has a plan but doesn’t want to give a precise timeline because he believes it makes an organization run poorly when you’re chasing a certain date.

“We’re trying to take a step back and really build a team that is built for success for a long period of time. You do that most effectively by drafting really good young players, developing them and keeping them and then sending a message around the NBA that we are emphatically trying to do that. We are building a first-tier franchise with our facilities, our people, with the way we treat our players, with the way we run the organization, with the money we spend and whatever it is and we think we are doing that.”sler wants more wins this season and, at the same time, more growth in the six players who are 22 or younger. He said it’ll be a disappointment if they finish with fewer than 29 victories.