Let's Talk Draft Picks

[mrhonline]

If the Hawks end up around the 5-7 range, I like Maxey's potential and fit.

[marco102]

@Peoriabird

I believe your draft Philosophy is more stats based and college production based?  You had a problem with Cam Reddish last year, just because he didn't shoot well and that overrode the other things that he did well in your opinion.  Mind you a lot of people called him a bust before even playing in the league. I never supported that. 

If that's your philosphy good deal. You may not see the talent in this draft.  There hasn't been a LeBron (a true all time great) since LeBron.  That's a pretty high expectation to have for any draft class. 

There are plenty of flawed players in this draft.  I not only look at their current production, but look at the way they CAN defend and CAN get their own shot, playmake and rebound.  I also think about the way that fits with the Hawks needs.

Due to the age of these players, they are not finished products so I'll never proclaim someone to be a bust or won't make it because of the bad habits the player currently have.  If you use that philosophy you'll miss out on a Giannis who had not so great production in the Greek league, but had the physical tools and athleticism that was off the charts. 

Of course there are plenty of players that never turn out well and the stats back that up.  The draft is  a crap shoot, but I use a combination of my eye test and review of stats to determine who I like in drafts sometimes regardless of who the Hawks have on the team. 

For example, if I believe  a point guard has more upside than anyone else in the draft and could be the second coming of Trae Young. I'd draft him in a heart beat.  You can also use these players in trade chips later or just have a deep behind team.  

Edited April 13, 2020 by marco102

[Peoriabird]

4 minutes ago, marco102 said:

@Peoriabird

I believe your draft Philosophy is more stats based and college production based?  You had a problem with Cam Reddish last year, just because he didn't shoot well and that overrode the other things that he did well in your opinion.  Mind you a lot of people called him a bust before even playing in the league. I never supported that. 

If that's your philosphy good deal. You may not see the talent in this draft.  There hasn't been a LeBron (a true all time great) since LeBron.  That's a pretty high expectation to have for any draft class. 

There are plenty of flawed players in this draft.  I not only look at their current production, but look at the way they CAN defend and CAN get their own shot, playmake and rebound.  I also think about the way that fits with the Hawks needs.

Due to the age of these players, they are not finished products so I'll never proclaim someone to be a bust or won't make it because of the bad habits the player currently have.  If you use that philosophy you'll miss out on a Giannis who had not so great production in the Greek league, but had the physical tools and athleticism that was off the charts. 

Of course there are plenty of players that never turn out well and the stats back that up.  The draft is  a crap shoot, but I use a combination of my eye test and review of stats to determine who I like in drafts. 

The question is why take a risk when you already have players on your roster that play the same position?  I'm willing to take a risk on Wiseman because we don't have anyone on our roster with his potential.  That's not the case with our wing positions.

[marco102]

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

The question is why take a risk when you already have players on your roster that play the same position?  I'm willing to take a risk on Wiseman because we don't have anyone on our roster with his potential.  That's not the case with our wing positions.

I can see why you believe that. 

My opinion that you draft the better prospect. In my opinon, Edwards and Ball are better prospect than Wiseman. That's why I'd draft them.

[bleachkit]

Take the BPA. No clue who that is.

[Lurker]

Remember, it's a rumor that we're not high on Wiseman as a club (now if this is true, you can question if whether its because "muh we don't like big men enough").

That makes things tricky, nonetheless (I think it's also been said we're not high on Edwards either, which may erase him).

All in all, it smells like a trade out if #1 or #2 is drawn and it lines up well for a trade.

[Peoriabird]

5 minutes ago, Lurker said:

All in all, it smells like a trade out if #1 or #2 is drawn and it lines up well for a trade.

You can trade out all you want but as a GM you still have to nail the pick and draft a guy that can play in this league.

[Spud2nique]

54 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Take the BPA. No clue who that is.

Insightful post.

[JayBirdHawk]

BPA per Schlenk.

Quote

“I think we’re committed to it,” Schlenk said. “Obviously our pick is going to be a top-10 pick, so obviously we’ll keep that, unless some great offer came our way, something we couldn’t turn down. 

But according to Schlenk, they’ll look for the best player available and not focus as much on fit. 

“We could be anywhere between 1 and 8,” Schlenk said. “Last year, we were going in at fifth and we end up at 8 because three teams jump in front of us, so a lot of that is just going to depend on where we end up picking. But we’re going to take who we feel like is the best player there. We’re not going to position it.

 

 

 

[Peoriabird]

With all that up in the air, though, the team still has to prepare for the draft and free agency, even if the dates (the draft is schedule for June 25, with free agency set to begin June 30) get pushed back

“I think we’re committed to it,” Schlenk said. “Obviously our pick is going to be a top-10 pick, so obviously we’ll keep that, unless some great offer came our way, something we couldn’t turn down. But as of right now, those dialogues aren’t taking place. And then the (pick No.) 52, to be completely frank, the pick doesn’t have a lot of value, so even if we wanted to move it, we wouldn’t really get anything for it, so we’ll keep that, and we’ll do the best we can with it.” 

A lot of the Hawks’ draft strategy will depend on how the lottery shakes out and where they end up picking (the 14 teams that don’t make the postseason are eligible for the lottery, which determines the order). 

But according to Schlenk, they’ll look for the best player available and not focus as much on fit. 

“We could be anywhere between 1 and 8,” Schlenk said. “Last year, we were going in at fifth and we end up at 8 because three teams jump in front of us, so a lot of that is just going to depend on where we end up picking. But we’re going to take who we feel like is the best player there. We’re not going to position it.

“When you start picking that high in the draft, I think it’s a mistake to draft on need, unless the talent is equal, but you look for the best talent when you start drafting that high.”

Regarding free agency, the Hawks’ front office is meeting via Zoom and going through different teams and players they have their eye on, assessing team and player options and doing their best to project and gauge the market. They were projecting to have around $50 million in cap space. However, the situation is fluid because of financial losses related to the coronavirus, which could bring about a big drop in the league’s salary cap. 

“We were projecting that to be around ($50 million). It could be around that much, it could be substantially less, depending on what happens with the rest of the season and playoffs,” Schlenk said. “But at the end of the day, we’ll have the most space. What we’d like to do, ideally, is add guys to our core that we feel like are still growing, maybe not 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds like we have, but maybe guys in their mid-20s who still have room to improve and are maybe coming off their first contract, or that we feel like would be good additions to our group, and try to increase our depth a little bit.”

“If there’s guys that we think are good fits, we might be out of the gates a little bit sooner,” Schlenk said. “I think the thing I’m always hesitant of is a lot of the times the first couple of contracts handed out might not be the best ones, the ones that look the best on paper.  I think it’s conceivable that we might make some offers before we have in the past, whether or not teams or I should say agents or players want to jump at the offers we make right away, or see if there’s something better out there, might prevent us more from signing someone right away, but I do anticipate us being a little more assertive in free agency. … It’s all going to come down to the cap."

[hawkster911]

Atlanta Hawks more assertive in Free Agency!

Who is Schlenk referring to regarding trading for a 25year old coming out of a 1st contract?  
 

Karl Anthony Towns

Porzingus

Booker

D. Mitchell 

Edited April 14, 2020 by hawkster911

[bleachkit]

13 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Insightful post.

Witty retort.

[Spud2nique]

Slam mag mock. They got us taking Obi at 4. Thoughts?

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/slams-2020-nba-mock-draft/

[Buzzard]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

Slam mag mock. They got us taking Obi at 4. Thoughts?

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/slams-2020-nba-mock-draft/

Not sold on him for Schlenk. Schlenk does draft older players; but he also takes players from major schools who have a pretty good high school resume. Toppin does not check those last two boxes.

I think he would need to have as great workout to win Schlenk over.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Buzzard

[kg01]

3 hours ago, Buzzard said:

Not sold on him for Schlenk. Schlenk does draft older players; but he also takes players from major schools who have a pretty good high school resume. Toppin does not check those last two boxes.

I think he would need to have as great workout to win Schlenk over.

Doesn't sound like there's gonna be any workouts, unless I'm reading the reports wrong.

[sturt]

On 4/13/2020 at 8:41 PM, Peoriabird said:

Schlenk: "unless the talent is equal"

Which begs the question, how equal is the talent this time around?

Given how varied the mock drafts are, at least to this point, seems pretty darn equal... not a lot of consensus who is better than whom within those slots where we might draft, even less so than last season.

So, of course, no one can claim to know how many tiers Schlenk's draft board currently contains, but then it should surprise no one if he's got 8 or 9 players all grouped into the first talent-level tier... and by the same token, it should surprise everyone if he has each of the first 8 or 9 players in their own individual talent-level tier.

I take the BPA talk from Jerry Jones and from Travis Schlenk... and their peers... with a grain of salt almost every NFL and NBA draft, and I especially will feel comfortable in my cynicism this year.

[TheFuzz]

On 4/14/2020 at 4:35 AM, hawkster911 said:

Atlanta Hawks more assertive in Free Agency!

Who is Schlenk referring to regarding trading for a 25year old coming out of a 1st contract?  
 

Karl Anthony Towns

Porzingus

Booker

D. Mitchell 

Bertans jumps out among the UFAs. I think he's 27 and can shoot the lights out.

Didn't see this thread earlier. I'm all aboard the Killian Hayes train, also like Edwards and Okungwu. Not as interested in Wiseman.

[TheFuzz]

53 minutes ago, sturt said:

Which begs the question, how equal is the talent this time around?

Given how varied the mock drafts are, at least to this point, seems pretty darn equal... not a lot of consensus who is better than whom within those slots where we might draft, even less so than last season.

So, of course, no one can claim to know how many tiers Schlenk's draft board currently contains, but then it should surprise no one if he's got 8 or 9 players all grouped into the first talent-level tier... and by the same token, it should surprise everyone if he has each of the first 8 or 9 players in their own individual talent-level tier.

I take the BPA talk from Jerry Jones and from Travis Schlenk... and their peers... with a grain of salt almost every NFL and NBA draft, and I especially will feel comfortable in my cynicism this year.

BPA is in the eye of the beholder, I'm sure Schlenk's board is way different than the mocks out there.

[sturt]

1 minute ago, TheFuzz said:

I'm sure Schlenk's board is way different than the mocks out there.

Hmmm. Well, I doubt Schlenk's board looks like any mock draft, because I doubt any GM's board is structured like a mock draft, as-if the talent differential from pick to pick to pick to pick, etc is sufficient to consider each player as demonstrably "better" than the one selected before him.

 

Please don't miss the point--which is, it's the fact that the mocks for now vary as much as they do that supports the greater likelihood that there are fewer, not more, talent tiers on any given GM's board.

 

Thus, I lean strongly toward the notion that Schlenk will ultimately make his choice based on what voids in his roster he feels he's best able to fill with the draft pick, as opposed to the likelihood of filling it with a free agent.

 

[TheFuzz]

1 minute ago, sturt said:

Hmmm. Well, I doubt Schlenk's board looks like any mock draft, because I doubt any GM's board is structured like a mock draft, as-if the talent differential from pick to pick to pick to pick, etc is sufficient to consider each player as demonstrably "better" than the one selected before him.

 

Please don't miss the point--which is, it's the fact that the mocks for now vary as much as they do that supports the greater likelihood that there are fewer, not more, talent tiers on any given GM's board.

 

Thus, I lean strongly toward the notion that Schlenk will ultimately make his choice based on what voids in his roster he feels he's best able to fill with the draft pick, as opposed to the likelihood of filling it with a free agent.

 

Your first paragraph is what I'm saying, I wasn't disagreeing with you, just clarifying.

I also mostly agree with your last paragraph, one reason I'd like to draft a guard who can play with Trae is I like the FA forwards more than the FA guards. Gimme Hayes and Bertans and it's a wrap.