Alex Len tell us what you *really* think please

[sturt]

From Hoops Rumors:
 

Quote

 

“One-hundred percent — I wanted to stay,” Len told Kirschner this week. “I like the coaching staff. I liked my teammates. Everyone was cool. It really had a family feel to it. Last year, you could see the trajectory was going up…This season didn’t work out as planned, so they had to make changes. It’s a business, so I understood they had to do it.”

In the trade with the Kings, the Hawks received Dewayne Dedmon who had left the team in free agency prior to the season. That, coupled with the team bringing in Clint Capela, left Len puzzled as to why they would trade him for another center.

“They didn’t want to pay [Dedmon] in the first place, so it didn’t make sense to me,” Len said. “If they wanted him, they could have just paid him. So they get him as a backup now and end up paying him anyway.”

The center admitted that he didn’t know what to expect when he was on his way to Sacramento. He called the experience of playing with the Kings this season a “pleasant surprise,” while adding that dynamics of the two franchises were different.

“There was a whole different mood and vibe around the team because we were going for the eighth spot,” Len said. “When I was (in Atlanta), it’s tough to play knowing you’re not making the playoffs. You go into the game, and guys are thinking about their points and themselves. (In Sacramento), it’s all about team and winning. Guys don’t care how many points they score; it’s all about winning. Everybody was playing a lot harder. We were playing all five guys on a string. It makes your job easier because everybody else is a lot better.”

 

 

That sure did take a sudden left turn, eh?

 

 

 

[bleachkit]

8 minutes ago, sturt said:

From Hoops Rumors:
 

 

That sure did take a sudden left turn, eh?

 

 

 

He's saying "guys", but my guess is he's probably talking about certain players, namely Trae. When a guy is taking that many shots and you're getting blown out every night, you know that might rub some teammates the wrong way. Hey, this year has been rough. It is what it is. I appreciate his candor. We aren't winning games, we aren't playing good team ball. Hopefully we can turn things around. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

29 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

He's saying "guys", but my guess is he's probably talking about certain players, namely Trae. When a guy is taking that many shots and you're getting blown out every night, you know that might rub some teammates the wrong way. Hey, this year has been rough. It is what it is. I appreciate his candor. We aren't winning games, we aren't playing good team ball. Hopefully we can turn things around. 

 

It's funny how the best player on the team always becomes the scapegoat and the target of role players.  Trae was the main reason why Len got the points he received anyway.  If he's taking shots at Trae, it's biting the hand that feeds him. 

38 assists from Trae this year went to Alex Len, who only shot 44.8% FG . . . mainly because when Trae passed him the ball for a 3 pointer, he only made 2 out of 19 shots ( 10.5% ).  In the Sacramento offense, he's not even allowed out on the perimeter.  I guess he likes it like that.  At least he's rebounding at a very high rate there.

[HawkItus]

Not sure he meant Trae.  Remember he played most of his games before the "vets" left.  He said last year was great and Trae was there.

[kg01]

Shut up, Alex!  Don'tchu know they closin' Waffle Houses out here!?  Get your priorities straight.

Speaking of priorities, sorry if I don't put a lotta stock into the Kings "winning" ways.

[macdaddy]

I think folks are reading way too much into it.   This year quickly became about individual development.  that's no secret.  Hell that's all we talked about around here.  When's Cam going to score 20, why isn't Heurter scoring more, hunter scoring more.  

I agree with him about Dedmon though.   That was a weird trade.  Dedmon is better in some ways and he looked great the first couple of games but quickly started looking like Sactown Dedmon.   If we're bringing in Capela anyway then Len is a perfectly good backup.

[bleachkit]

58 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I think folks are reading way too much into it.   This year quickly became about individual development.  that's no secret.  Hell that's all we talked about around here.  When's Cam going to score 20, why isn't Heurter scoring more, hunter scoring more.  

I agree with him about Dedmon though.   That was a weird trade.  Dedmon is better in some ways and he looked great the first couple of games but quickly started looking like Sactown Dedmon.   If we're bringing in Capela anyway then Len is a perfectly good backup.

The Dedmon trade was a stinker. I'd rather have saved that money for free agency. 

[macdaddy]

48 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

The Dedmon trade was a stinker. I'd rather have saved that money for free agency. 

Yeah.  I don't get trading for Capela and Dedmon.   Meanwhile we have no real backup PF or SF.  

[AHF]

3 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Yeah.  I don't get trading for Capela and Dedmon.   Meanwhile we have no real backup PF or SF.  

Really?  Seems obvious to me that the team didn't resign Dedmon because they viewed him as overpriced and thought Len could fill his shoes and Jones could be useful, etc.  Then they saw how terrible our centers were and started exploring trades.  They ruled some people out based on those trade discussions and then made both moves because TS felt it was essential to have a much better center rotation next season and that the available FAs weren't going to be as good a deal as the trade.  Capela's injury status is still up in the air but I loved that trade.  Dedmon is still overpriced but we can afford to eat some cap to have him next season.  We will need to pick up a backup PF in the offseason (which I assume TS determined was an easier spot to fill) and will need to see if we bring back our current backup SF in Bembry.  But I would also say that I expect us to fill the 96 minutes at SG and SF mostly with a mix of Huerter, Hunter and Reddish.  Both Huerter and Reddish can play SG.  Both Hunter and Reddish can play SF.  Makes it easy to mix and match.

[sturt]

5 hours ago, macdaddy said:

I agree with him about Dedmon though.   That was a weird trade. 

  

4 hours ago, bleachkit said:

The Dedmon trade was a stinker. I'd rather have saved that money for free agency. 

 

3 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Yeah.  I don't get trading for Capela and Dedmon. 

Hindsight 20/20, yes, you keep Len and prefer the cap space over one month of Dedmon who wasn't an appreciable improvement over Len as far as I could tell.

But time-machining back to that moment when Schlenk pulled the lever... it made sense because (a) there evidently (based on Pierce's comments) was some sentiment that the team may be gelling over the last two months of the season and turning a corner back toward winning > player development... and given that, (b) Len's 3 point shooting that emerged last season wasn't carrying over to this, so why not take a flyer on Dedmon since he's someone we know we like and who evidently had fallen into a bad situation in SAC.

Sucks, but then again, not in any big way, since Dedmon's 3rd year isn't guaranteed, so the trade mostly works out for us to paying $13m next season for renting a back-up center, plus what amounts to replacing our own two 2nd round picks we'd traded out for 2020 and 2021.

As for Capela, I see no downside for us at all as long as he's back on the court for opening night in October, and I'm unaware of any conjecture that he won't be... what am I missing?

[JayBirdHawk]

4 hours ago, bleachkit said:

The Dedmon trade was a stinker. I'd rather have saved that money for free agency. 

 

3 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Yeah.  I don't get trading for Capela and Dedmon.   Meanwhile we have no real backup PF or SF.  

Two words - Damian Jones.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Two words - Damian Jones.

but we'd still have Len.  It's not that big of a deal.  Like Dedmon but i see Len's point that if you didn't think he was worth it in the offseason then why is he worth it now on a team going nowhere for the rest of the season and you're bringing in a starting center anyway.   Plus we have Bruno looking for minutes at the 5.    

Like i said it's probably not a big deal but i hate seeing our two highest paid players be Capela and Dedmon at 30 million.   

[Thomas]

If both are healthy it was the same dif minus about nine million. But with us, Len was never really healthy so not that easy to judge. His back, hips and legs all kept him out or slowed him down for us. Glad he ended up in a better role for him and I guess with better health. For us, well its not my money and really I just like Ded anyway, minus all the fouling of course.  

[terrell]

7 hours ago, bleachkit said:

The Dedmon trade was a stinker. I'd rather have saved that money for free agency. 

But we'd still have Parker next year...Ugg

[terrell]

7 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Yeah.  I don't get trading for Capela and Dedmon.   Meanwhile we have no real backup PF or SF.  

Hopefully we fill those in FA..CRowder and Trez?

Trae/Cam/Hunter/Collins/Capela

KIllian Hayes/Huerter/Crowder/Trez/Dedmon

Goodwin/Bruno

Edited March 25, 2020 by terrell

[macdaddy]

I"m not a Crowder fan.  Seems like he's still riding a rep of being decent in Boston.  not a great 3 point shooter.  I want to get wings in here who are knock down shooters.  

[sturt]

17 hours ago, terrell said:

But we'd still have Parker next year...Ugg

Parker's second year was a mutual option, iirc.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, sturt said:

Parker's second year was a mutual option, iirc.

really?  is that even a thing?  i thought it was player option but i don't know.  I totally forgot he was even in the trade. 

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, sturt said:

Parker's second year was a mutual option, iirc.

Player Option.

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

I"m not a Crowder fan.  Seems like he's still riding a rep of being decent in Boston.  not a great 3 point shooter.  I want to get wings in here who are knock down shooters.  

The only thing I like about him is his toughness. 

[JayBirdHawk]

20 hours ago, macdaddy said:

but we'd still have Len.  It's not that big of a deal.  Like Dedmon but i see Len's point that if you didn't think he was worth it in the offseason then why is he worth it now on a team going nowhere for the rest of the season and you're bringing in a starting center anyway.   Plus we have Bruno looking for minutes at the 5.    

Like i said it's probably not a big deal but i hate seeing our two highest paid players be Capela and Dedmon at 30 million.   

TS expected a carry over from Len from the previous season. He didn't deliver. He lost his starting spot.

I suspect If Len had played up to his expectations, he would most likely still be here and we wouldn't have traded for Dedmon.

 

Edit: apparently Dedmon's voice was actually really missed in the Locker room.