Hawks locker room is not healthy after "quiet" trade deadline

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, JTB said:

 

I think you and @bleachkit are missing the point. It’s not that local media wrote an article that referenced race ….it’s that they wrote articles referencing the defense particularly on Hunter, Capela, JC, Trae and not other players from the team….more than likely I would bet that some of this comes from Chris Kirschner as his articles are the most detailed and better than any of the AJC writers. Chris is making a name for himself even if Trae does see him as a negative media outlet in ATL and his articles actually carry nationwide if it’s juicy enough.

I don’t recall every article but there’s things said about the defense of these particular players good and bad…. If I can find the articles I will be happy to share with you two but you will notice Bogi, gallo, Huerter aren’t really mentioned when defense is brought up for the hawk…. Check “The Athletic”….
 

Also  the word “racism” should probably be scrapped but @Sothron is just telling us what he heard word for word or close enough. The question these players truly have is why are they in the media in particular for the hawks defensive woes and not the whole team or coaching staff ?

 

 

oh and as far as these players paying attention to message boards , forums, social media, etc… @Wretch response was perfect because that’s how it is today with this generation.

So you are saying Kirschner only mentions Black players when it comes to defensive lapses? Um no. You are normally a pretty good poster, I'm not sure why you are making up things out of whole cloth to rationalize the unfounded and absurd racializing of Hawks coverage. 

[kg01]

I do have a question for your ... insiders ...

In light of .... all this and the suggestion that the board played a part in .... whatever 'this' is, do y'all feel any modicum of culpability?

Not 'culpability' in the sense that you literally caused it.  But 'culpability' as in a strange butterfly effect sort of way.

Genuine question.  The stuff and rumors posted here get carried off by lurkers who post it as factoids all over the interwebs.  As someone mentioned earlier, via social media(sic), we're much closer to these dudes than ever before.  It's not a stretch to suggest the conversations we've had, for entertainment purposes, have contributed to the deterioration at some level.

Now, hold on ... hold on ...

No, I'm not saying you're "at fault".  Clearly these dudes, young or old, are professionals who shouldn't even be on sites like these.  And shouldn't be listening to folks who bring them 'stuff' from sites like these so the fault is with them.

... I'm just asking the question.

Ok, flame away.  My body's ready, boys (TWSS)

(And, yes, that first gif was a bit of a peace offering to soften the blow.)

[TheNorthCydeRises]

@NBASupes hasn't chimed in on this topic yet.

DON'T DO IT SUPES!!  

If you have a nuke . . . don't you dare drop it.

They read us, and we want them to like each other.

[bleachkit]

7 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

@NBASupes hasn't chimed in on this topic yet.

DON'T DO IT SUPES!!  

If you have a nuke . . . don't you dare drop it.

They read us, and we want them to like each other.

Supes is still mourning the loss of Cam, give him time.

[marco102]

Just now, bleachkit said:

Supes is still mourning the loss of Cam, give him time.

That was unnecessary. 

[shakes]

58 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Not that I ignored the rest.... I mean I totally read all that ... stuff, wretch.  Totally.

But I wanted to highlight the bolded passage in particular.  I've never once thought of players' race outside other people bringing it up.  And there's really no need for us to.  I hope we can abstain from it.

and I only brought it up as an attention getter for my thread.   And here we are still talking about it.   That's some next level marketing right there.  I should be hired by CNN to write headlines for Yahoo's home page.

[thecampster]

48 minutes ago, kg01 said:

I do have a question for your ... insiders ...

 

Not 'culpability' in the sense that you literally caused it.  But 'culpability' as in a strange butterfly effect sort of way.

Genuine question.  1)  The stuff and rumors posted here get carried off by lurkers who post it as factoids all over the interwebs.  As someone mentioned earlier, via social media(sic), we're much closer to these dudes than ever before.  It's not a stretch to suggest the conversations we've had, for entertainment purposes, have contributed to the deterioration at some level.

 

No, I'm not saying you're "at fault".  2)  Clearly these dudes, young or old, are professionals who shouldn't even be on sites like these.  And shouldn't be listening to folks who bring them 'stuff' from sites like these so the fault is with them.

1) Diesel's Trade of the Day used to get posted as genuine rumors on others sites....or are our memories as short as our patience?

 

2) I think the knee jerk reactions to what @Sothron reported aren't really taking into full scope the world these guys live in.  They all got people. They have agents, the agents have social media staff. Most of the players have a social media guy (even if its cousin Ricky in his basement). They have family and friends.  It would be fair to say that for every player, there is a bubble of at least 20 people who could come in contact with things and show them stuff on the regular. Since its typically positive, they do it freely but if something negative is there, they instinctually would show them from pure shock.

 

and now a Lorenzen Wright ordering pizza story (RIP).  I've told stories before of when delivering pizzas to Sugar Loaf Country Club many years ago (side note, pizza delivery is a great side gig to afford the toys your wife won't let you buy).  One of the coolest guys I ever delivered to was Lo Wright. He had a number of family members who lived there including a handicapped relative from Bama. The night I had to bring the pizzas down to his game area he was playing cards with Bimbo Coles, Alan Henderson and others. In the house that night was no less than 20 people running around.  Lo had people taking care of his day to day stuff and by the way, no matter how much he ordered, the guy never tipped less than $10, even if he only ordered a medium pizza for himself.  He had way too much good in him.

 

Lo cared what people thought about him, even the pizza guy.

 

I'm not dialed in to player stuff as much as @Sothron but I 100% believe they care, they're dialed in. Their image is part of their earning potential. The agent has a guy and that guy's whole job is media spin. So either directly or indirectly, they're dialed in all over the net.

[RedDawg#8]

Sounds like our guys are spending a little too much time worried about what is being said about them, and not enough time working on the finer points and details of their profession.

They are young, sure. But todays young people are more equipped than ever to deal with the outside noise across the internet. If they are getting butthurt about the "criticism" they see and hear from fans like us, then we have a bigger problem.

Trae, if you're reading; no, you aren't the only guy not playing defense. That is fair. But you are exponentially by far the center of attention on this team. Your game warrants the spotlight, your audacity invites attention. You are held to a different level of scrutiny than anyone else. Your identity is synonymous with the team's. Doris said it best on air Sunday. The moment Steph committed, not to being an elite defender, but to giving full effort on defense, the Warriors took a leap. He refused to be picked on and singled out by opponents. It's been years since anyone has gotten away with gameplanning to just attack Steph. He is not a good defender, but he makes it so that it is futile to single him out.

That is where you have to be. Damn anyone else and what they look like. If you handle your business and refuse to be a weak link, this team will go to another level. Kev wont have an excuse anymore, Bogi wont have an excuse. Guys will hold themselves accountable or be held accountable because the Alpha is setting the tone.

Dont ever compare yourself to your teammates when it comes to criticism. You are numero uno for a reason, so own the extra attention. Good and bad.

[JTB]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

So you are saying Kirschner only mentions Black players when it comes to defensive lapses? Um no. You are normally a pretty good poster, I'm not sure why you are making up things out of whole cloth to rationalize the unfounded and absurd racializing of Hawks coverage. 

Lol no I’m not saying that …..I’m saying that Kirschner typically focuses on our supposedly good defenders Capela, Hunter, JC, Cam (when we had him here) and they happened to be black but also has the defensive reputation associated with them. He also focuses on Traes defense mainly because he’s the franchise star.

He may have mentioned Gallo, Bogi, Huerter defense in some of his articles but he’s not focused in on those players defense in any of his articles. 
 

So I’m saying that a young mind especially those young minds in this generation mag in that hawks locker room may take that to levels they shouldn’t and associate racism with the fact that writers aren’t keying in on the white players defense like they are the black players BUT the true reason why they are more focused on the black players is because the black players are or were associated with supposedly being a good defender.

 

Reality is that defense expectations for Bogi, Huerter, Gallo were and still are low due to their reputation of not being defenders. BUT Hunter, Cam, Capela, Wright, and now JC ….these guys have an expectancy to be good on defense and when they are not it’s more noticeable due to the reputation they hold.

 

I mean this whole thing could be flipped the other way as well honestly but when it comes to shooting. Gallo, Huerter, Bogi are expected to be our best shooters outside of Trae and when they are missing shots…fans tend to get on them harder more so than they would Hunter, Wright, Cam (when we had him)…because of reputation of those white guys being good shooters not because their white but because that’s the reputation they’ve carried in their basketball careers.

[JTB]

29 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Sounds like our guys are spending a little too much time worried about what is being said about them, and not enough time working on the finer points and details of their profession.

They are young, sure. But todays young people are more equipped than ever to deal with the outside noise across the internet. If they are getting butthurt about the "criticism" they see and hear from fans like us, then we have a bigger problem.

Trae, if you're reading; no, you aren't the only guy not playing defense. That is fair. But you are exponentially by far the center of attention on this team. Your game warrants the spotlight, your audacity invites attention. You are held to a different level of scrutiny than anyone else. Your identity is synonymous with the team's. Doris said it best on air Sunday. The moment Steph committed, not to being an elite defender, but to giving full effort on defense, the Warriors took a leap. He refused to be picked on and singled out by opponents. It's been years since anyone has gotten away with gameplanning to just attack Steph. He is not a good defender, but he makes it so that it is futile to single him out.

That is where you have to be. Damn anyone else and what they look like. If you handle your business and refuse to be a weak link, this team will go to another level. Kev wont have an excuse anymore, Bogi wont have an excuse. Guys will hold themselves accountable or be held accountable because the Alpha is setting the tone.

Dont ever compare yourself to your teammates when it comes to criticism. You are numero uno for a reason, so own the extra attention. Good and bad.

This is a excellent post. I wish Trae could truly read this!….not that a fan’s opinion matters but all of this is true. 

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, JTB said:

Lol no I’m not saying that …..I’m saying that Kirschner typically focuses on our supposedly good defenders Capela, Hunter, JC, Cam (when we had him here) and they happened to be black but also has the defensive reputation associated with them. He also focuses on Traes defense mainly because he’s the franchise star.

He may have mentioned Gallo, Bogi, Huerter defense in some of his articles but he’s not focused in on those players defense in any of his articles. 
 

So I’m saying that a young mind especially those young minds in this generation mag in that hawks locker room may take that to levels they shouldn’t and associate racism with the fact that writers aren’t keying in on the white players defense like they are the black players BUT the true reason why they are more focused on the black players is because the black players are or were associated with supposedly being a good defender.

 

Reality is that defense expectations for Bogi, Huerter, Gallo were and still are low due to their reputation of not being defenders. BUT Hunter, Cam, Capela, Wright, and now JC ….these guys have an expectancy to be good on defense and when they are not it’s more noticeable due to the reputation they hold.

 

I mean this whole thing could be flipped the other way as well honestly but when it comes to shooting. Gallo, Huerter, Bogi are expected to be our best shooters outside of Trae and when they are missing shots…fans tend to get on them harder more so than they would Hunter, Wright, Cam (when we had him)…because of reputation of those white guys being good shooters not because their white but because that’s the reputation they’ve carried in their basketball careers.

Its probably not the "team", it's probably just Trae. It's probably not "Hawks media" , it's probably just Kirshner. Trae despises Kirshner, and he maybe said some not so nice things about him. I highly doubt Dre, an extremely chill and introverted guy made these claims, and Capela just sat down with Kirshner. Also, Capela is European and is really good friends with Bogi. So I think this mostly a Trae/Kirshner deal. Trae gets the most heat for his defense, and he is known to be prickly when it comes to criticism. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by bleachkit

[marco102]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Its probably not the "team", it's probably just Trae. It's probably not "Hawks media" , it's probably just Kirshner. Trae despises Kirshner, and he maybe said some not so nice things about him. I highly doubt Dre, an extremely chill and introverted guy made these claims, and Capela just sat down with Kirshner. Also, Capela is European and is really good friends with Bogi. So I think this mostly a Trae/Kirshner deal. Trae gets the most heat for his defense, and he is known to be prickly when it comes to criticism. 

You're really reaching here.  

[bleachkit]

49 minutes ago, marco102 said:

You're really reaching here.  

Not a reach at all, I think I'm right on the money.

[shakes]

5 hours ago, thecampster said:

1) Diesel's Trade of the Day used to get posted as genuine rumors on others sites....or are our memories as short as our patience?

 

2) I think the knee jerk reactions to what @Sothron reported aren't really taking into full scope the world these guys live in.  They all got people. They have agents, the agents have social media staff. Most of the players have a social media guy (even if its cousin Ricky in his basement). They have family and friends.  It would be fair to say that for every player, there is a bubble of at least 20 people who could come in contact with things and show them stuff on the regular. Since its typically positive, they do it freely but if something negative is there, they instinctually would show them from pure shock.

 

and now a Lorenzen Wright ordering pizza story (RIP).  I've told stories before of when delivering pizzas to Sugar Loaf Country Club many years ago (side note, pizza delivery is a great side gig to afford the toys your wife won't let you buy).  One of the coolest guys I ever delivered to was Lo Wright. He had a number of family members who lived there including a handicapped relative from Bama. The night I had to bring the pizzas down to his game area he was playing cards with Bimbo Coles, Alan Henderson and others. In the house that night was no less than 20 people running around.  Lo had people taking care of his day to day stuff and by the way, no matter how much he ordered, the guy never tipped less than $10, even if he only ordered a medium pizza for himself.  He had way too much good in him.

 

Lo cared what people thought about him, even the pizza guy.

 

I'm not dialed in to player stuff as much as @Sothron but I 100% believe they care, they're dialed in. Their image is part of their earning potential. The agent has a guy and that guy's whole job is media spin. So either directly or indirectly, they're dialed in all over the net.

I used to deliver pizzas to Will Perdue when i worked at Domino’s back in the day.  Small pepperoni every time.  $1 tip.   Your story is a little better.

Did work at a place that regularly delivered to MJ, but I was never lucky enough to draw that ticket.  He was a very good tipper.

[bleachkit]

10 hours ago, shakes said:

I used to deliver pizzas to Will Perdue when i worked at Domino’s back in the day.  Small pepperoni every time.  $1 tip.   Your story is a little better.

Did work at a place that regularly delivered to MJ, but I was never lucky enough to draw that ticket.  He was a very good tipper.

I never understand why a millionaire would be a bad tipper. Some people are just cheap selfish sons of b******. 

[thecampster]

21 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

Just imagine this scene:

*Trae Young arriving back home to his mansion on his Lambo, fresh off signing a mega max extension that will make him 100s of millions of dollars, voted starter to the All Star team...

Traes wife "What's wrong boo, you look down"

Trae *brooding: Nah it's nothing...

Wife: C'mon Trae don't be like that, I can tell when something's eating you up.

Trae: *sigh, nah hon really it's nothin... Just well... ya know Terrell from Hawksquawk.net?

Wife: Oh God, not him again... what did he do this time?

Trae: Well, he says I dribble too much, too much Iso not enough ball movement this and that...and worst of all he says i don't give enough effort on defense.... DEFENSE! After all i'm asked to do offensively, can you f***in believe that?

Wife *looks shocked

Trae: Yea I know such BS... Can't believe everyone is on my ass and giving Huerter a pass becuase he's white. 

Wife *pouring Dom Perignon on Trae's solid gold bathtub: It's ok baby I know what you need, you just lay back and relax for your Domy bubble bath, that'll wash away all the mean things that one single Hawksquawk poster says about you.

Trae: I love you boo.

Wife: I know baby. 

 

 

I'm just going to leave this right here:

 

[MarylandHawk]

On 2/15/2022 at 11:15 PM, JTB said:

DAMN!

I knew something was up. That was a lot to take in. Lots of thoughts running through my mind after reading that so I will keep my points short as possible from a fan perspective.

 

1)  While I believe most true NBA stars are cocky, it kinda hurts to hear that our only superstar since Nique….Trae Young is cocky in the locker room spitting out his stats to his own teammates. As a big fan of the hawks and my favorite player being Ice Trae that part really upsets me that he throws his elite offensive weight around the locker room!….he’s a generational offensive talent but he’s not going to get far on any team if he’s cocky inside the locker room towards his own team….UNLESS we don’t know the full story and this is a self defense reasoning from Trae then I kinda understand why he’s doing it I guess. He’s young and excited still and it just hasn’t clicked yet that his stats will not generate wins alone.

 

2)   I should stay away from this one but I can’t. Ok I will admit it ….Many including myself has always given white players a pass on defense due to the widely false narrative that white players can’t defend. But I’m mature and grown now. I know This isn’t true at all and we’ve seen players like Divencio and the kid from Chicago (can’t think of his name ) defend at a very high level …

Typically in the NBA and NFL we see more black athleticism  then we do white athleticism throughout all these years, so unfortunately it’s apart of the narrative and its hunted both sports for a long time! That’s why Cooper Kupp on the LA Rams stick out so much. We aren’t use to a white WR being a top 3 WR in the nfl…we are use to white WRs being like a Wes Welker…again it’s the narrative of these sports that we’ve heard for so long that were never true.….

If JC, Hunter, Capela are truly mad at this and even Trae…..I do see why they’d be upset because ALL players should be held accountable. I’ve been preaching this for at least the last 2 months but you can’t blame the defensive woes on one person on this team that’s just crazy.

 

3)  I knew former players and writers read the squawk and hawks Reddit….I say that to say hey I’m honored if you’re a former player, coach, beat writer, FO member or current player, coach, beat writer, FO member  reading my comments ….that’s dope! 

 

4)  Back to Trae…i love that Trae takes that Kobe approach and screams get me some damn help!… I know some will find that negative but shit also staying quiet don’t get you any help….did not work for Joe Johnson, Horford, Millsap…so personally I think it’s good he ask for help and demands it! Good! Keep the front office on their toes…it took the hawks decades to get another star and Trae knows it so I’m not surprised he has a little power. Sucks we aren’t more of a historic franchise cause if we were say the lakers or Boston that shit wouldn’t work but hey this is the ATL home of very few stars in our franchise from an NBA perspective…..with that said he need to chill on showing his power towards his teammates! That will backfire in a heartbeat! He don’t want the harden reputation. He wants to be known as winner but doing that towards your team won’t get that done.

 

5)  Trae, Collins, Bogi have arrogant strong personalities …this wasn’t shocking honestly but we see it with Trae more because he’s public with it on the court which I think is dope (the kid is entertaining…don’t care if you don’t like it). I don’t mind arrogant players…my favorite player of all time Kobe Bean Bryant was arrogant and I loved it. But what I don’t like is when you’re arrogant and naive. Trae in my opinion is not naive about his lack of defense he knows that dark cloud has been over his head probably since his HIgh School days and he ain’t crazy, he knows he need to improve on that end…but Bogi and JC are arrogant and naive in my opinion  …Bogi and JC are not as good as they think they are offensively and if they were there wouldn’t be any need of an additional scorer/playmaker but there is because those two are limited offensively.

 

6)  EGOs….it’s good to check Egos and not run away from it.  I believe if Smart or Draymond was on this team Trae would feed off of that even if he barked with him a lot during practice. One thing I can’t stand in this generation are those with no thick skin and thinking they have to like everyone they work with! Sometimes you don’t have a choice and sometimes it’s best you work with someone you don’t necessarily like.

You can’t have a player with an ego like Traes and expect things to go well all the time especially if there’s no pusher on the other side. Curry, Klay, & Draymond all have egos but they use it to challenge each other and put their differences aside when it’s game time. 

Schlenk cannot make everything comfortable for Trae or any of the other players. We need a Marcus Smart type player in the locker room that demand respect and results just as much as Trae does.

 

Just win baby. 

[Dynamo]

The Hawks will either win as a team or lose as a team. 
The choice is up to the players.

 

[volman]

Dude literally brought up racism. Sigh. 
 

Used to like soth but now. Wow. 

[JTB]

10 hours ago, volman said:

Dude literally brought up racism. Sigh. 
 

Used to like soth but now. Wow. 

You do realize Soth did not bring up racism right ? …he’s repeating what was told.