Smoke and then the fire....

[HawkItus]

 

 

Schultz: Hawks have done Trae Young, team a disservice with lack of moves

By Jeff Schultz 30m ago 2 

Amid the losing, the reported discord in the locker room, the “hot seat” coaching rumors, the decision by John Collins to ingest something he should not have and the absurd amount of responsibility that has been placed on the shoulders of 21-year-old Trae Young, Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk was pre-scheduled this week for a monthly conference call with team owners and board members and a pregame meeting with season ticket holders.

Great timing.

“It just so happened that both fell when all this was going on,” he said.

To his credit, he didn’t claim to have a dentist appointment and try to slip out the back door. His message for the ownership group, in fact, was the equivalent of a general manager throwing himself on a grenade.

“I made some stupid mistakes,” he said. “I’ll admit to that. Some of the decisions haven’t worked out. Write that. That’s what I told them. When you look at our roster, and if I could go back and change one thing, it’s that we don’t have anybody with a voice.”

The Hawks are not good. This is not a surprise. They’re two years into a rebuild. They’re painfully young. Only with every possible domino tipping over and touching the next one for 82 games should they have been expected to make it to the playoffs.

But they should not be this bad.

Nobody should be this bad.

They have lost six straight and 23 of 27. In Thursday’s 111-106 loss to Utah, they played with a stronger pulse than they had of late, but it was not enough to overcome fouls, missed layups and a breakaway dunk/layup attempt by Kevin Huerter on which he somehow missed even the rim.

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Young has poured in 30, 42 and 30 points, respectively, in the past three games. He is averaging 28.4 points and 8.5 assists, playing more than 35 minutes per game. But he’s frustrated. He should be.

The philosophy to build through the draft and grow slow should not have precluded the front office from providing adequate veteran leadership. The Hawks have failed in that area. Young players have the ability to do things. Older players know how to work through things.

Consider Thursday’s shuffled lineup: Young, Huerter, Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter, Bruno Fernando. That’s three rookies and two second-year pros. That’s a 20-year-old, three 21-year-olds and an old man of 22, Fernando, who’s actually a rookie.

Youth is great for excitement and athleticism. Youth is not great when you get punched in the face and don’t know how to punch back.

The danger in being this bad is the Hawks run the risk of: 1) Losing some of the excitement they generated from the past two drafts and impressive arena renovation; and/or 2) Losing appeal to free agents after the season who may concluded the organization is not as close to competing as it once believed.

We’ll never know how much better the Hawks’ record would be if Collins hadn’t been suspended for 25 games and Huerter had stayed healthy. But the glaring roster weaknesses were bound to be a problem either way. The Kent Bazemore-for-Evan Turner trade hasn’t worked out. The loss of Dewayne Dedmon hurt. Other veterans haven’t performed to expectations. Vince Carter is an athletic wonder at 42, but he’s playing way too many minutes, and he never really has been the type to jump on a table and lead a team meeting.

Some of this came to a head following a loss in Brooklyn two weeks ago. Young, frustrated by the lack of roster support and perceived lack of effort at times by teammates, said some things in the locker room he probably shouldn’t have, and it didn’t go over well, The Athletic learned.

But he’s 21 years old, and he’s being asked to be the leader of an undermanned team. What do the Hawks expect?

“You take these guys who are 19, 20, 21 years old, and you’re asking them to be the leader of guys who are 30 years old and have been in the league for 10 years, and that’s hard,” Schlenk said. “You’re asking them to be the face of the franchise. But he’s had a lot of growth obviously on the court from this time last year to where he is now, and we’ve also seen a lot of growth off the court.”

Schlenk pointed to a recent game against the Los Angeles Lakers when Reddish missed a potential tying shot late.

“Trae was the first one to go over and give Cam a pat on the back. That’s what leadership is,” Schlenk said.

Young doesn’t shy away from the leadership role, even if the circumstances aren’t ideal.

“I’m learning it’s more than just taking care of my responsibilities,” he said. “It’s making sure everybody on this team is responsible for their actions. Just looking out for everybody. … I’ve always been this way. I’ve always thought about others first.”

Schlenk is trying to get the Hawks some help, but it’s not really trading season, yet. Most teams are focused on improving their roster to make the playoffs, not dumping veterans with big contracts. So the Hawks’ best hope, for now, is that an upcoming easier schedule — the Hawks have played the third most difficult schedule to this point — and Collins’ scheduled return Monday in Cleveland will improve things.

Until then, head coach Lloyd Pierce will try to hold things together. There was a report the other day that Pierce was on the “hot seat.” It makes no sense. Pierce has made mistakes. In Miami two weeks ago, he admitted to a brain lapse when he didn’t call a time out late in the game to put Young back into the game before an offensive possession. But Pierce is a young, talented coach learning on the job. Red Auerbach in his prime couldn’t fix this team.

“Lloyd is fine. Lloyd is not on the hot seat,” Schlenk said.

“I think more people are worried about me than I am,” Pierce said. “I took this job because I came from Philly, and I came from Philly where the situation pales in comparison to this. If Trae’s frustrated, guess what, I’m frustrated, too.”

As for frustration in the locker room, Pierce said of his players: ”If they’re happy, we’ve got bigger problems.”

Owner Tony Ressler is not taking thing well. He has referenced his competitiveness and lack of patience in the past, and as Schlenk said, “That’s why he’s been unbelievably successful. He keeps the pressure on you and doesn’t let you become complacent.”

The two communicate daily — in person, by phone or text.

“Every day. Certainly during games,” Schlenk said.

Young was dejected after the Utah game. The fffort improved, particularly on defense, but the result didn’t. The Hawks got into foul trouble. They hit only 8-of-23 shots in the fourth quarter. Young missed a number of runners in the lane.

“You’ve always got to try to find the positive,” he said. “We played hard. We competed. It just sucks because we had opportunities. I had so many good looks and shots weren’t going in. It sucks.”

Get the kid some help.

(Photo of Trae Young: Jason Getz / USA To

[JayBirdHawk]

Add John Collins as part of the 'disservice' as well.

I'm sure he was expected to take on more of a leadership role.

TS accepted his part in it.

They're all in it together!

I don't see fire though!  

[High5]

1) Does no one proofread? I quickly read through it once and had two typos jump out at me.

2) I feel like Schultz is making some assumptions here and passing them on as fact:

"Young, frustrated by the lack of roster support and perceived lack of effort at times by teammates, said some things in the locker room he probably shouldn’t have, and it didn’t go over well"

Trae's frustration was reported, but we don't know exactly what he was frustrated about, what he said, or how it went over.

"Schlenk is trying to get the Hawks some help, but it’s not really trading season, yet."

When did Schlenk say he was trying to trade for help? Someone posted a small recap from the Q&A where Schlenk apparently said he plans to address center in the draft and/or free agency and he's looking to bring Brandon Goodwin up soon. Also that our expiring contracts are our most valuable trade pieces (that he's willing to part with I assume) but they will be hard to move. 

"Owner Tony Ressler is not taking things well."

Based on what? A past reference to competitiveness and impatience? I suppose Schlenk reiterated the point, but Ressler keeping the pressure on Schlenk doesn't necessarily mean he's not taking things well. 

 

Maybe I'm wrong, it's just obnoxious how everyone is all too excited to report on whatever drama they can find/manufacture from our low point. That's the way the media works, though. I thought the article was fine otherwise.

[macdaddy]

Schultz is not a basketball guy imo.  He and Bradley show up to write about the Hawks when everything is going poorly and say "we all knew this roster sucked".   And they go months and months without mentioned the hawks otherwise.   

This start sucks, there are a lot of reasons for it, Travis made a few mistakes but he gambled on having Huerter and Collins and that the vets would fill in limited roles.  That was a mistake.  I've never seen an error free rebuild though.  Baze and Prince had to go.  the decision not to pay Dedmon was a good one.  It's the long game. 

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, High5 said:

1) Does no one proofread? I quickly read through it once and had two typos jump out at me.

2) I feel like Schultz is making some assumptions here and passing them on as fact:

1. Saw them immediately. 

2. Yep, and they don't follow the Hawks.

 

2 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Schultz is not a basketball guy imo.  He and Bradley show up to write about the Hawks when everything is going poorly and say "we all knew this roster sucked".   And they go months and months without mentioned the hawks otherwise.   

My thoughts exactly.

[kg01]

1 hour ago, High5 said:

1) Does no one proofread? I quickly read through it once and had two typos jump out at me.

2) I feel like Schultz is making some assumptions here and passing them on as fact:

"Young, frustrated by the lack of roster support and perceived lack of effort at times by teammates, said some things in the locker room he probably shouldn’t have, and it didn’t go over well"

Trae's frustration was reported, but we don't know exactly what he was frustrated about, what he said, or how it went over.

"Schlenk is trying to get the Hawks some help, but it’s not really trading season, yet."

When did Schlenk say he was trying to trade for help? Someone posted a small recap from the Q&A where Schlenk apparently said he plans to address center in the draft and/or free agency and he's looking to bring Brandon Goodwin up soon. Also that our expiring contracts are our most valuable trade pieces (that he's willing to part with I assume) but they will be hard to move. 

"Owner Tony Ressler is not taking things well."

Based on what? A past reference to competitiveness and impatience? I suppose Schlenk reiterated the point, but Ressler keeping the pressure on Schlenk doesn't necessarily mean he's not taking things well. 

 

Maybe I'm wrong, it's just obnoxious how everyone is all too excited to report on whatever drama they can find/manufacture from our low point. That's the way the media works, though. I thought the article was fine otherwise.

Thank you.  Sadly, this is what "journalism" has come to.  Just produce content, worry about the "facts" later when no one's paying attention anymore.

What's worse is this all stems from the same erroneous "report" from last week.  Ridiculous.

[bleachkit]

I thought the article was fair. If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen.

[macdaddy]

To me it's not whether it's fair or not.  It's was there any news or insight?  I think there was zero.  Like you're standing out front of your burning house and the neighbor comes over and says 'your house is on fire'.

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

He and Bradley show up to write about the Hawks when everything is going poorly and say "we all knew this roster sucked".   And they go months and months without mentioned the hawks otherwise. 

Get outta here??? People actually do that? It’s the first I’ve heard of such a thing.  

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, macdaddy said:

To me it's not whether it's fair or not.  It's was there any news or insight?  I think there was zero.  Like you're standing out front of your burning house and the neighbor comes over and says 'your house is on fire'.

But would Bird get a sheshier sheshed?  

[JayBirdHawk]

6 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

To me it's not whether it's fair or not.  It's was there any news or insight?  I think there was zero.  Like you're standing out front of your burning house and the neighbor comes over and says 'your house is on fire'.

 

3 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

But would Bird get a sheshier sheshed?  

[macdaddy]

8 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

But would Bird get a sheshier sheshed?  

That's wonderful news.

[Thomas]

19 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Get outta here??? People actually do that? It’s the first I’ve heard of such a thing.  

Think maybe you have been taking the red pill instead of the blue one guy. Your sarcasm doesn't always show up in text so it gave me the phony opening/post/response opportunity here. Thanks.

[HawkItus]

Been in Atlanta long enough to know when something is thought to be not a thing.......it becomes a thing.  i.e. JJ contract, DF, Horf, Dennis, Bud etc.

[kg01]

2 hours ago, macdaddy said:

To me it's not whether it's fair or not.  It's was there any news or insight?  I think there was zero.  Like you're standing out front of your burning house and the neighbor comes over and says 'your house is on fire'.

"But, in all fairness, your house was on fire.  Blah, blah, blah ..." - bleach-head

[NBASupes]

Interesting from TS that he acknowledges everything and as expected doesn't want to make any moves based on the market which I figured from the people I spoke to. The Hawks will likely be active on the trade market as well if they can find the right deal. 

Prepare for a Baynes/Wiseman/Bruno or Baynes/Okongwu/Bruno

[Vol4ever]

Say what you want but Schultz has access to the Hawks.  Some folks have the butthurt because of what has happened this year.  Schultz is dead on in his assessment of the franchise.  No doubt the Turner trade was bad, it's obvious.   Not resigning  dedmon may have been worse.  Dedmon like most players want to win and see a rebuild that keeps them from winning when they are vets.  Tony is not happy and neither is Trae.  

[JayBirdHawk]

36 minutes ago, Vol4ever said:

Say what you want but Schultz has access to the Hawks.  Some folks have the butthurt because of what has happened this year.  Schultz is dead on in his assessment of the franchise.  No doubt the Turner trade was bad, it's obvious.   Not resigning  dedmon may have been worse.  Dedmon like most players want to win and see a rebuild that keeps them from winning when they are vets.  Tony is not happy and neither is Trae.  

Except...Chris Haynes from Yahoo reported pretty much this info 2 days ago. TS and Pierce's radio interviews on local radio earlier in the week relayed much of this info.

So he's not reporting anything new. He's regurgitating stuff and piling on and stating the obvious. That's my issue.

[bleachkit]

51 minutes ago, Vol4ever said:

Say what you want but Schultz has access to the Hawks.  Some folks have the butthurt because of what has happened this year.  Schultz is dead on in his assessment of the franchise.  No doubt the Turner trade was bad, it's obvious.   Not resigning  dedmon may have been worse.  Dedmon like most players want to win and see a rebuild that keeps them from winning when they are vets.  Tony is not happy and neither is Trae.  

We could be 0-29 and there will still be those here that somehow rationalize it, and become obstinate and defiant in the face of outside criticism. 

[Vol4ever]

19 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Except...Chris Haynes from Yahoo reported pretty much this info 2 days ago. TS and Pierce's radio interviews on local radio earlier in the week relayed much of this info.

So he's not reporting anything new. He's regurgitating stuff and piling on and stating the obvious. That's my issue.

So you have a problem with him as a writer posting the truth?