Travis Schlenk: "Maybe I should lower my expectations for this team"

[Atlantaholic]

22 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I'm starting to believe that we got to be the dumbest fan base in the league.   Honestly..

JC - #2 scorer.

Bogi - #3 scorer.

Cam - #3b scorer...

All out.

Gallo was starting.   Mays is playing from the G-League.   We have been forced to play TLC this season.  Lance Stephenson was a hawk and he played minutes. 

So based on what we have done with this situation... Everybody is jumping out the window and calling for trades for a team that was 2 wins away from the finals last year. 

Why is it dumb?

What about continuity?

What about talent level?

Oh I forgot, the coach and the top assistant were out too. 

And this is what we want to base decisions to make a trade on...?

I haven't even mentioned Hunter...our second best defender has been out for several weeks.  Some of you would have been in GS trying to trade away Steph when Klay went down.  At least Green.  I mean, they looked bad. But look at them now. 

Patience. 

There's definitely some truth to this for sure. I think the only caveat I would say is that the team wasn't exactly playing defense before all of the injuries started piling on, and yes, we've been missing a ton of key guys, though so have a lot of other teams. Having said all that I'm all for being patient. The only trade I would make would be one where we clearly get the better player(s) in return... I would not be opposed to dealing a pick or two at this stage of our team building to make that happen. 

[Watchman]

4 minutes ago, Diesel said:

And you're no doctor.  Obviously. 

There's nothing reoccuring about any of those injuries so there's no need to think that because they were injured that means that they won't play. 

Hell, Jordan missed 64 games in 1985...  Maybe the Bulls should have given up on Him. 

Nique missed 40 games in 1991 and 11 games in 1992.  It was definitely time to move him right?

Great logic Watchman...

Obviously you're no doctor either. Missing a whole year to a serious injury is not the same as constantly being out with continuous unrelated lesser injuries.  You let me know when we can string together more than twenty five games with only occasional brief minor injuries, OK?

[Diesel]

1 minute ago, Atlantaholic said:

There's definitely some truth to this for sure. I think the only caveat I would say is that the team wasn't exactly playing defense before all of the injuries started piling on, and yes, we've been missing a ton of key guys, though so have a lot of other teams. Having said all that I'm all for being patient. The only trade I would make would be one where we clearly get the better player(s) in return... I would not be opposed to dealing a pick or two at this stage of our team building to make that happen. 

See Holic we can agree.. But let me take out the strawman.

Teams that has been As Injured (because I don't think that there's anybody who has had more players to sit than us) have not done well at all. 

Our fanbase somehow expects us to still be as good as we were last year with as many losses as we have suffered?  It's crazy. 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

7 minutes ago, Watchman said:

Chaundee is better than TLC.  Malcolm Hill is better than Lou. We played better with G-Leaguers than with roster players.

 

I made fun of Chandee's name, but I like his confidence and his effort.  Plus he's bigger than TLC, which is exactly what we need on this team.   I'd take him and Iwundu over TLC.

The problem with the Hawks are our most flavorful commodity . . . our wings.   We're trying to keep all of them, but we're going to end up losing at least 2.  And to be honest, we probably SHOULD lose 2 of them, and have the other 2 be tough minded veteran players who can defend and provide timely offense.  Hunter, Cam, Bogi, and Huerter are just too soft.  All 4 can be good offensively, but they're just too soft.  Dre is the toughest out of the bunch, but even he is highly inconsistent.

 

I say they'll have 3 weeks to prove themselves, before Schlenk starts making executive decisions.

 

[Diesel]

1 minute ago, Watchman said:

Obviously you're no doctor either. Missing a whole year to a serious injury is not the same as constantly being out with continuous unrelated lesser injuries.  You let me know when we can string together more than twenty five games with only occasional brief minor injuries, OK?

In other words, there was more reason to give up on Jordan and Nique... Right?

I mean according to your logic.. Jordan and Nique were MORE Injured... so there was a Bigger risk with them... so of course they should have been traded away. 

My point Watch..

You have to consider the injury itself. 

If a guy has to miss a game because of a bone bruise and then a twisted ankle... that's no reason to give up on him. 

Our situation has sucked with their injuries... especially being injured at the same time.  But nothing about their injuries suggest that it will reoccur.   If that was the case.. if they were Brandon Roy or Sam Bowie, I would agree with you.   But that is not the case. 

[Diesel]

2 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

I made fun of Chandee's name, but I like his confidence and his effort.  Plus he's bigger than TLC, which is exactly what we need on this team.   I'd take him and Iwundu over TLC.

The problem with the Hawks are our most flavorful commodity . . . our wings.   We're trying to keep all of them, but we're going to end up losing at least 2.  And to be honest, we probably SHOULD lose 2 of them, and have the other 2 be tough minded veteran players who can defend and provide timely offense.  Hunter, Cam, Bogi, and Huerter are just too soft.  All 4 can be good offensively, but they're just too soft.  Dre is the toughest out of the bunch, but even he is highly inconsistent.

 

I say they'll have 3 weeks to prove themselves, before Schlenk starts making executive decisions.

 

If we're winning, I don't care about the cap... and neither should Travis.   It's only when we're losing that this becomes an issue.   Right now, we're not winning but again, we're not playing our best players either. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

9 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Off topic:

 

I hate gambling.  Bet MGM is giving me the option of taking $2K right now on a 7-team parlay . . or I can see if I can win my final 2 games to get $11K.  They'll offer cash out options, if you're getting close to winning it all.  And that amount could rise or lower, depending on what is going on in the game.

If LSU finds some offense in the 2nd half, I'm going to lose it all.   But I could take the $2K right now.

 

 

What you say, blue haired lady?

 

 

OK  . . . smh.

If it rises to $5K, I'll cash out

 

 

Taking the under in the LSU / K-State game . . instead of just taking K-State by a gazillion, was the absolute wrong play.  I didn't know that LSU had all of these players missing.  This should've been an easy win.   Now, I got to sweat to see if K-State doesn't score 14 more points.

Oh well, that's the way it goes.

(( back to the thread topic ))

 

The saving grace last year, is that the team immediately started to play better when we got Bogi back.  Let's see if we get that kind of bounce back once we get all of our guys back at the end of the week.   Laker game is a national TV game.  Surely we can get most of our lineup back by then.

[Watchman]

1 minute ago, Diesel said:

In other words, there was more reason to give up on Jordan and Nique... Right?

I mean according to your logic.. Jordan and Nique were MORE Injured... so there was a Bigger risk with them... so of course they should have been traded away. 

My point Watch..

You have to consider the injury itself. 

If a guy has to miss a game because of a bone bruise and then a twisted ankle... that's no reason to give up on him. 

Our situation has sucked with their injuries... especially being injured at the same time.  But nothing about their injuries suggest that it will reoccur.   If that was the case.. if they were Brandon Roy or Sam Bowie, I would agree with you.   But that is not the case. 

Either you are just obstinate or genuinely clueless.  I personally would rather have someone miss one full season than be out all of the time, and never be able to depend on them.

[NBASupes]

17 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I will say this..  We celebrated being more consistent defensively moving from LP to Nate last year.   I think that consistency came with playing guys like Snell and Solo.   We joke about their ineffectiveness on the floor but they do bring something. 

I don't know where you find that vet voice that can help the defense.  I thought yesterday about Patrick Beverley... but I don't know. 

I've talked about it in the Cam Reddish podcast. Playing defense at a NBA level.is extremely hard 

[Wretch]

36 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I'd love to see what we look like when everybody is healthy.   But  Fans want to make moves based on what happens when we are the most injured team in the NBA...

Wow.

 

30 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I'm starting to believe that we got to be the dumbest fan base in the league.   Honestly..

JC - #2 scorer.

Bogi - #3 scorer.

Cam - #3b scorer...

All out.

Gallo was starting.   Mays is playing from the G-League.   We have been forced to play TLC this season.  Lance Stephenson was a hawk and he played minutes. 

So based on what we have done with this situation... Everybody is jumping out the window and calling for trades for a team that was 2 wins away from the finals last year. 

Why is it dumb?

What about continuity?

What about talent level?

Oh I forgot, the coach and the top assistant were out too. 

And this is what we want to base decisions to make a trade on...?

I haven't even mentioned Hunter...our second best defender has been out for several weeks.  Some of you would have been in GS trying to trade away Steph when Klay went down.  At least Green.  I mean, they looked bad. But look at them now. 

Patience. 

Let me be clear....

- I don't want to trade core assets.  I don't want to shake up the team.  I am very much anti-trade right now.  That being said...

- We will eventually need a #2 scorer, but JC is not the guy.  JC is not it now and I would not put money on it ever happening.  He's not that kind of player.  I love what he does and he's one of the last guys I want to see dealt.  I envision him as a solid #3 in our future contending dreams.  This isn't a thing that I'm going to argue about though.  So you'll just have to get at me in a few years if I'm wrong.

- There were problems/room for improvement with this roster that were clear during our magnificent run in the playoffs.  I would address those issues REGARDLESS of where we are sitting at record-wise.  Toughness, a back up playmaker, and reliable scoring outside of Trae being the big holes.  I'd make some deals to address toughness and reliable scoring.  Hence my guy Grant.  I'd like to see him starting and giving Hunter more room to grow.

- I've grown tired of Bogi and his streakiness, don't @me.

We're not there yet dude and there's enough of a pattern of our faults to warrant some shuffling.  Not necessarily major shuffling, which again I don't want to see.

[Diesel]

5 minutes ago, Watchman said:

Either you are just obstinate or genuinely clueless.  I personally would rather have someone miss one full season than be out all of the time, and never be able to depend on them.

You must be a mystic.

How would you have known that Jordan or Nique's injury would be 1 season.  Hindsight is great Watch.  knowing what the answers on the exam is going to be always makes the test easier.   However, what happens when you don't know the answers?   Obviously.. you give up.   That's your problem. 

[Spud2nique]

33 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

LP used to talk about making offenses feel us on D. Like we play too bitchmade. Look at NY or PHI. They are in your chest. They put pressure on you in many ways. Us, we play defense like bitches outside of Hunter. With Clint plays like a bitch if it's not help side shit. JC still is soft. Gallo, Charmin. Cam attention span is bad. Kev is food on the perimeter if he has to guard decent scorers. Trae literally the RS WOAT defensively. So much is wrong with this squad, the talent is there but we are still figuring shit out. 

Thanks, like I didn’t know we were lil bitches that I needed you to tell me. Look, we are as soft as a baby’s butt AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR BOY CAM!!! 

[Diesel]

4 minutes ago, Wretch said:

Let me be clear....

- I don't want to trade core assets.  I don't want to shake up the team.  I am very much anti-trade right now.  That being said...

- We will eventually need a #2 scorer, but JC is not the guy.  JC is not it now and I would not put money on it ever happening.  He's not that kind of player.  I love what he does and he's one of the last guys I want to see dealt.  I envision him as a solid #3 in our future contending dreams.  This isn't a thing that I'm going to argue about though.  So you'll just have to get at me in a few years if I'm wrong.

- There were problems/room for improvement with this roster that were clear during our magnificent run in the playoffs.  I would address those issues REGARDLESS of where we are sitting at record-wise.  Toughness, a back up playmaker, and reliable scoring outside of Trae being the big holes.  I'd make some deals to address toughness and reliable scoring.  Hence my guy Grant.  I'd like to see him starting and giving Hunter more room to grow.

- I've grown tired of Bogi and his streakiness, don't @me.

We're not there yet dude and there's enough of a pattern of our faults to warrant some shuffling.  Not necessarily major shuffling, which again I don't want to see.

I don't disagree with you.  And it has been my thinking that Cam or Hunter may stepup and be that number 2.  However, we'll never know if we do fall into the trap of trade everybody because we're in a panick. 

Here's the thing...

I would trade Cam and Hunter with Bogi for PG13... but there's a reason for that.  It makes us better.   However, listening to guys jump up and down about trading for guys that doesn't make us any better... guys that we believe will step their game up when they come here.   Guys who are not even allstar material is more evidence that there's a lot of people who shouldn't be listened to...

[Spud2nique]

47 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Patience. 

I’m down for patience but our players don’t seem to have that hunger or urgency, can we at least get some kind of a team meeting to call out some folks or get it straightened out?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 minutes ago, Diesel said:

If we're winning, I don't care about the cap... and neither should Travis.   It's only when we're losing that this becomes an issue.   Right now, we're not winning but again, we're not playing our best players either. 

 

Diesel, the problem is that these issues were popping up even before everyone started to drop like flies.  We had the 7 game win streak around Thanksgiving.  Outside of that, we've sucked.

Remember, before everyone went down, we were having big time trouble closing out 4th quarters ( just like we were having under LP last season ). The problems with this team just didn't pop up over the holidays.

We have an identity problem.  Who are the Hawks?  What do we want to be?  What does Nate want us to be? 

If Nate wants us to be this up tempo team, he needs to play Cam and Trae a lot more together.  If Nate wants us to be this lockdown defensive team, he can't play Lou Williams or Gallo in the big forward/center positions.

I think Nate and Travis is waiting on Hunter's return, to see if he can make everything alright.  If he can't, all hell might break loose with that lineup.

 

[Spud2nique]

32 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Those guys are hungry

Hunger is important but so is some talent. A hungry Chaundee Brown vs a hungry Covington isn’t fair.

[Diesel]

1 minute ago, Spud2nique said:

I’m down for patience but our players don’t seem to have that hunger or urgency, can we at least get some kind of a team meeting to call out some folks or get it straightened out?

Nothing good ever happens with a team meeting.   Let's just watch what happens in the next few games.   To have your leader (Trae) pissed is a bigger kick in the pants than a team meeting would be 

[NBASupes]

4 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Thanks, like I didn’t know we were lil bitches that I needed you to tell me. Look, we are as soft as a baby’s butt AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR BOY CAM!!! 

Cam isn't soft. 

[NBASupes]

Just now, Spud2nique said:

Hunger is important but so is some talent. A hungry Chaundee Brown vs a hungry Covington isn’t fair.

I would hope he's hungry in Atlanta because he's full in Portland

[terrell]

11 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I've talked about it in the Cam Reddish podcast. Playing defense at a NBA level.is extremely hard 

Whatever the problem is, the solution is definitely not more Lou and Gallo................