How to pick a bust... (or, how would you like your crow sir?)

[Wretch]

Preface: After years of general managing ineptitude, I had been conditioned to believe that we had hired yet another moron in the front office.  Having watched GM's build superstar driven teams from scratch for decades, I was hopeful when Schlenk took over that we'd finally embrace the idea of a rebuild...but without epic stupidity of Billy Knight (who remains my most disliked Hawks GM, yes even moreso than Babcock). 

Alas, we get our first lottery pick in umpteen years...and are on the cusp of our first legitimate rebuild...and I'm dreaming of the potential stars we might draft...and lo and behold, right there for the taking, gifted by the basketball gods, was one of the most surefire prospects I had ever seen.  In my house, we were hugging, and yelling, and pumping fists when Sacramento passed on Luka Doncic.

...and then we picked him and traded him.

This is live footage of me staying up and punching air all night:

Spoiler

 

...and this was my reaction to drafting Trae Young the following morning at 7am:

Quote

How to pick a bust...

Let me preface this by saying that I actually like Trae Young. His quickness and the range on his jumper is legit. I'm not afraid of his size (I had the same arguments for Chris Paul 13 years ago). More importantly, he's a Hawk now and all those other prospects are the enemy. So I wish him nothing but the best. This post isn't about Trae...it's about how you shoot yourself in the face trying to get cute in the draft.

Seriously, how many times is a guy "James Worthy with a jumpshot" or "Baby Jordan" or "The next LeBron James" or "KD 2.0?" And how many times does that player actually become THAT player? In my 30 year experience, it almost never happens. What I've seen in the draft is consensus guys/generational talent going on to become great NBA players and sleepers who slide and eventually blossom. These players always set a standard and like lemmings, GMs are always lining up trying to find the next iteration of them. But it's never the second coming of Jesus Shuttlesworth that they find (little OG reference there :lol:).

You don't put the blinders on and chase one idea - such as an all 6'8" team or one player because you think he's the next Tim Duncan. You take the 6'8" kid who has been leading a professional team for years, who can shoot the ball and finish in the lane. He's the guy that'll set the standard and have GM's scrambling to find the next one. You take Luka. That's the guy to pick. You don't pass on that guy because you have the blinders on and all you see is Steph Curry 2.0. :noway: That is how you pick a bust and it haunts you for years to come.

Not saying Trae will bust, because again...I do like him. However, from all the pre-draft mocks and rumors, it seems like our GM was locked in on him and nobody else. If he pans out and we end up with a good lottery pick next year, I'll breathe a sigh of relief. It's not a total loss. Though, the ATL Sports Fan in me just expects the worst and this is a surefire way to stir up the curse.

Link to my madness - https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1717655

[JeffS17]

That old thread is a fascinating look back in time.  I think the general theme of it was no one really trusted Schlenk's long-term vision and severely disrespected his reasoning for picking Trae.  Schlenk never said Trae would be the next Steph Curry but everyone is acting like that's why we picked him -- that was mostly media comparisons and noise. 

Also, Curry comparisons suck in general.  Curry is ELITE at two things, shooting efficiency and off-ball movement.  Trae is much better at breaking down defenses with the ball in his hand and has better vision.  They both will have to learn to be effective defenders given their size, but they're really not comparable players... except the fact they're both undersized PGs that play with a chip on their shoulder.

And I think this is ultimately the quality Schlenk was looking for.  A franchise guy with something to prove, not a prima donna media darling.  This is all hindsight now of course but I do think Schlenk is trying to mimic some of what made the Warriors great, just not player/personnel comps that people always try to force.  He's building a different team from the ground up with a bunch of guys that have the mentality you need to win a championship -- guys that don't externalize failure to the referees or teammates or whatever else, they all focus on what they can control, what they can improve.  That's what you need, and we have that in all of our players, and their personalities/chemistry off the court seems to fit as well.  I don't think it some grand puppet master but the way he's went about the rebuild has been really effective and I think he deserves all the credit in the world.  

[AHF]

Trae crow is the tastiest kind!

[Wretch]

13 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

That old thread is a fascinating look back in time.  I think the general theme of it was no one really trusted Schlenk's long-term vision and severely disrespected his reasoning for picking Trae.  Schlenk never said Trae would be the next Steph Curry but everyone is acting like that's why we picked him -- that was mostly media comparisons and noise. 

Also, Curry comparisons suck in general.  Curry is ELITE at two things, shooting efficiency and off-ball movement.  Trae is much better at breaking down defenses with the ball in his hand and has better vision.  They both will have to learn to be effective defenders given their size, but they're really not comparable players... except the fact they're both undersized PGs that play with a chip on their shoulder.

And I think this is ultimately the quality Schlenk was looking for.  A franchise guy with something to prove, not a prima donna media darling.  This is all hindsight now of course but I do think Schlenk is trying to mimic some of what made the Warriors great, just not player/personnel comps that people always try to force.  He's building a different team from the ground up with a bunch of guys that have the mentality you need to win a championship -- guys that don't externalize failure to the referees or teammates or whatever else, they all focus on what they can control, what they can improve.  That's what you need, and we have that in all of our players, and their personalities/chemistry off the court seems to fit as well.  I don't think it some grand puppet master but the way he's went about the rebuild has been really effective and I think he deserves all the credit in the world.  

Yeah. It was apparent midway through his rookie season that the comparisons were just wrong. Two totally different players who are each REALLY good at something different.

For me, it wasn't really about Trae as much as it was about giving up Luka. It's so hard to find star talent, even with high picks...and we HAD it and gambled it away. Or so I thought.

For me this is Travis Schlenk crow for sure though.

[Spud2nique]

Boy, I was kind of immature then getting after that rockets guy in the thread my bad.

[AHF]

23 minutes ago, Wretch said:

Yeah. It was apparent midway through his rookie season that the comparisons were just wrong. Two totally different players who are each REALLY good at something different.

For me, it wasn't really about Trae as much as it was about giving up Luka. It's so hard to find star talent, even with high picks...and we HAD it and gambled it away. Or so I thought.

For me this is Travis Schlenk crow for sure though.

You may have missed me, Sothron and others taking this crow eating lap previously so you are in good company on this.  Trae's passing ability is what converted a lot of us pretty quickly on Trae even before his shot came around.  But I know I wasn't happy about the trade on draft night fearing that Trae had tremendous upside and downside while Luka came with a much, much higher floor and could have them in the playoffs leaving us with a very unappealing pick in return.  The trade worked out very well for us.  Mmmm.....Trae crow....

[kg01]

Hey guys ... only look at wretch's posts in that thread, mmkay?  No one else's.  Juuust wretch ...

2 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Boy, I was kind of immature then getting after that rockets guy in the thread my bad.

Haha, we tag-teamed that dude. 

Good times, good times ...

Edited July 9, 2021 by kg01

[kg01]

Here's another gem @Spud2nique ...

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1815034&hilit=Trae+young+bust&start=40

I'm really proud of my exchange with the hater from Oklahoma who's gf was obviously taken by Trae.

[Spud2nique]

7 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Here's another gem @Spud2nique ...

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1815034&hilit=Trae+young+bust&start=40

I'm really proud of my exchange with the hater from Oklahoma who's gf was obviously taken by Trae.

Page 5. He said the only thing that will wake you up (about Trae) is time.  

And it didn’t take very long either I must say.

[NBASupes]

I am about to up one of the greatest threads in history. The 2018 draft thread that was the most passionate thread in our fandom history 

[kg01]

Oh shiiiiii ...

Edited July 9, 2021 by kg01

[JayBirdHawk]

Yeah...sooo....about my hottakes....nothing to see here. .

I was pissed at the trade especially when the rumor was #3 and Baze for #5 Matthews (since Matthews had 1 year left vs Baze's 2).....it got a little more pallatable when the 1st was added.