The cobbled together, stuff we held on to during the playoffs mega super rumor and team direction thread.

[sturt]

DeRozan? Is he even on the market?

[Diesel]

2 minutes ago, sturt said:

DeRozan? Is he even on the market?

Nope.

[NBASupes]

27 minutes ago, sturt said:

DeRozan? Is he even on the market?

No

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, sturt said:

DeRozan? Is he even on the market?

No I was comparing the DD Lavine backcourt to the possibility of Trae/Lavine. But I think you got Diesel and Supes lol.

[RandomFan]

This is an interesting attempt on an analytical take for two parameters. Dissect away: 

https://synergysports.com/impacting-other-players-shot-quality/

As something to whet the appetite, here is one of the graphs depicting Trae in 2nd place getting teammates better looks for each of his 4 years in the league. 

[thecampster]

9 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

The nasty that you mentioned Randle brings is few and far between the times he keeps jacking shots up to the detriment of his team, he gives up on his team at times and calls out fans. 
 

I’m worried about him moving forward.

Tell you the truth, I’m not loving Lavine either. I know folks tend to say that I go with the flow of what we are doing as an organization but I’d be very careful with Lavine. The injuries, the volume, granted I feel I watched his game this past year and came away impressed that he didn’t have tunnel vision and seems to play more within the offense than he did before.

 

This is a very important offseason for us. I feel like I say that a lot but if we are going to change it up a bit going forward on some main pieces, this could be the year we kind of progress or stay idle.

100% transparency, I'm trying to remain agnostic as it relates to coveting players right now. I've set a June 15th timeframe for myself to start becoming invested.

I'm not saying yes or no to anyone.  As I said in the original post, this is all chatter right now. It's greater than speculation, not quite rumor. Teams are not yet close to showing their hands. Most of what they are saying, leaking is all posturing at this point.

Edited May 25, 2022 by thecampster

[sturt]

9 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Ya, we’d have a dynamic scoring backcourt that’s for sure.

 

9 hours ago, Diesel said:

Offense is really good. 

How much offense will he be called to use?

 

When your team is already at the top of most offensive production lists for the season just ended, it's flat-out befuddling why it's become so important to people to add to that, as-if that should be the focus of trying to improve.

 

If you're someone intent on adding offense, maybe you need to also be calling Doug Moe to see if he's up for another head coaching run... ???

[ShooterSays]

3 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

 

When your team is already at the top of most offensive production lists for the season just ended, it's flat-out befuddling why it's become so important to people to add to that, as-if that should be the focus of trying to improve.

Did you watch the Miami series? Our offense is a one-man show. And when the opposing defense takes Trae away with blitzes and double-teams, we have no one else who can create.

[Wretch]

10 hours ago, Diesel said:

Do we really want Ayton though?

Defense is meh.

Offense is really good. 

How much offense will he be called to use?

 

This is how I feel about Ayton.  I like him, but his fit depends on the other moves we make this offseason.  If we luck up and land Lavine, I'm a little weary of replacing a proven Capela for the max salaried Ayton.  Not that he can't be a great defender or that he isn't already a good defender, but there are questions and he is young.  Whereas we have already seen Clint take us to the ECF's...

With a pure shooter/penetrator on the wing, Capela's offensive shortcomings are much less of an issue.  Surely the lane will open up for DA, but I also question your last point if we add another prolific scorer.  How much usage could we expect from him with a Trae/Zach backcourt?  Would we see some of the same chemistry issues Phoenix saw this year? 

Not saying I'm 100% against an Ayton SnT, but I'd put a priority on defense and depth if we got Lavine.

[sturt]

1 hour ago, ShooterSays said:

Did you watch the Miami series? Our offense is a one-man show. And when the opposing defense takes Trae away with blitzes and double-teams, we have no one else who can create.

Not true.

We do have others who can create. Didn't get to the top offensively without anyone but Trae generating offense. That didn't happen. That's taking the MIA series and forgetting that that's a premium NBA defense, if not the best.

On the wing, BogBog, KVon, Dre all can create. They didn't in that series... at least except for some too-brief exceptions. Think each might've had one game where they played well offensively... wasn't enough.

And what got exposed offensively was the fact that we were playing without that fourth wing... we really went the rest of the season without any plausibly-consistent option behind Dre once we traded Cam... it was never sufficient to let the very last guy you brought on to the roster become Dre's backup.

And Gallo can create, both on the block and on the wing. Collins can create on the block.

All of those assets were big in last playoffs' big run... and none of them consistently distinguished themselves vs. MIA... nor did Trae. Also glaring when you compare 2021... LouWill was a factor... and arguably, that contrast has been underappreciated.

 

In the playoffs, the rule is and always has been... defense wins championships. It's ubiquitously understood that reffing in the playoffs gives defenses the advantage. It just does. But even worse for us, we were playing with an injured version of JC, and for the first games, without any version at all of our defensive base, Capela.

What did anyone think would happen?

Looking at that picture in a silo... which was more likely... that our offense would be comparable to MIA's offense?... or that our defense would be comparable to MIA's defense?

Think most would agree... we were capable of generating offense at MIA's level.

We were not barely capable of generating MIA's level of defense.

 

 

The bigger picture, looking at not just the playoff series but from Game 1 to Game 89... this team's roster must improve in that area. Defense. Ressler said it flat out, and I take it as a good sign that the owner is on-board.

 

 

Nooooowwww... understand that we're almost certainly losing Gallo and his offense. Have to replace that. But while you're replacing that, improve the defense too.

 

 

[kg01]

41 minutes ago, Wretch said:

This is how I feel about Ayton.  I like him, but his fit depends on the other moves we make this offseason.  If we luck up and land Lavine, I'm a little weary of replacing a proven Capela for the max salaried Ayton.  Not that he can't be a great defender or that he isn't already a good defender, but there are questions and he is young.  Whereas we have already seen Clint take us to the ECF's...

With a pure shooter/penetrator on the wing, Capela's offensive shortcomings are much less of an issue.  Surely the lane will open up for DA, but I also question your last point if we add another prolific scorer.  How much usage could we expect from him with a Trae/Zach backcourt?  Would we see some of the same chemistry issues Phoenix saw this year? 

Not saying I'm 100% against an Ayton SnT, but I'd put a priority on defense and depth if we got Lavine.

This is all fair.  I wonder if the plan(ish) would be to stagger them so 2 of the 3 have time together without the other.  That makes more sense and probably would help alleviate the fact that those two guards would eat up a lotta production.

Than have all 3 close certain games and be pretty potent offensively?

I dunno, I'm notta coach.

[MarylandHawk]

I think this offseason TS has to be aggressive and determine exactly what it will take to put together a true contender. Once he identifies that, he has to shake the trees to get what he wants. I think he has 3 ways to get there.

1.  Offer top dollar to free agents. 
2.  Consider SNT for up and coming stars           
3. Consolidation trade of our younger valuable pieces for a megastar player who is already under contract. 
 

We have the ability to do all three.  TS is excellent at identifying talent and fit but he has been “allowing” the market to work and get best value.  He will need to “dictate” the market this year.  In follow on responses I will state what I think needs to happen in each of the three categories above.  What do you think we need to do in each of the categories above to create a contender?

 

[Peoriabird]

1 hour ago, sturt said:

Not true.

We do have others who can create. Didn't get to the top offensively without anyone but Trae generating offense. That didn't happen. That's taking the MIA series and forgetting that that's a premium NBA defense, if not the best.

On the wing, BogBog, KVon, Dre all can create. They didn't in that series... at least except for some too-brief exceptions. Think each might've had one game where they played well offensively... wasn't enough.

And what got exposed offensively was the fact that we were playing without that fourth wing... we really went the rest of the season without any plausibly-consistent option behind Dre once we traded Cam... it was never sufficient to let the very last guy you brought on to the roster become Dre's backup.

And Gallo can create, both on the block and on the wing. Collins can create on the block.

All of those assets were big in last playoffs' big run... and none of them consistently distinguished themselves vs. MIA... nor did Trae. Also glaring when you compare 2021... LouWill was a factor... and arguably, that contrast has been underappreciated.

 

In the playoffs, the rule is and always has been... defense wins championships. It's ubiquitously understood that reffing in the playoffs gives defenses the advantage. It just does. But even worse for us, we were playing with an injured version of JC, and for the first games, without any version at all of our defensive base, Capela.

What did anyone think would happen?

Looking at that picture in a silo... which was more likely... that our offense would be comparable to MIA's offense?... or that our defense would be comparable to MIA's defense?

Think most would agree... we were capable of generating offense at MIA's level.

We were not barely capable of generating MIA's level of defense.

 

 

The bigger picture, looking at not just the playoff series but from Game 1 to Game 89... this team's roster must improve in that area. Defense. Ressler said it flat out, and I take it as a good sign that the owner is on-board.

 

 

Nooooowwww... understand that we're almost certainly losing Gallo and his offense. Have to replace that. But while you're replacing that, improve the defense too.

 

 

Defense leads to easy offense! We have some of the best transition athletes in the league but you would never know it because we rarely get the opportunity to show case it seeing that the Hawks are bottom 5 in blocks and steals per game

[macdaddy]

Honestly I'm not going to freak out if all we pull off is getting Lavine for Bogi.   Pull in a couple good vets who can play 3/4 and let's roll.  

[JayBirdHawk]

24 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Offer top dollar to free agents. 

Hawks don't have capspace to offer top dollar.

Salary cap is $122 million.

Luxury Tax is $149 million.

Hawks have $136.1 in guaranteed salary.

Hawks have the Mid Level Exception of $10.2 million.

[Peoriabird]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Hawks don't have capspace to offer top dollar.

Salary cap is $122 million.

Luxury Tax is $149 million.

Hawks have $136.1 in guaranteed salary.

Hawks have the Mid Level Exception of $10.2 million.

For some reason, a lot of posters really don't understand the CBA/salary cap.

[MarylandHawk]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Hawks don't have capspace to offer top dollar.

Salary cap is $122 million.

Luxury Tax is $149 million.

Hawks have $136.1 in guaranteed salary.

Hawks have the Mid Level Exception of $10.2 million.

Cutting Gallo ($15 M) and letting other free agents walk will generate some funds. Also, may have to go into luxury tax this year. I know it still may not be what others can offer, but we may have a better team around the potential free agent that might make him choose us. 

[macdaddy]

6 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Hawks don't have capspace to offer top dollar.

Salary cap is $122 million.

Luxury Tax is $149 million.

Hawks have $136.1 in guaranteed salary.

Hawks have the Mid Level Exception of $10.2 million.

That's what SNT's are for right?    We see capped out teams sign free agents all the time.  

[JayBirdHawk]

2 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

For some reason, a lot of poster really don't understand the CBA/salary cap.

I used to be one, and it really used to frustrate me why teams were making moves and we seemed stuck. So I took Hawksfanatic crash course. 

[MarylandHawk]

4 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

For some reason, a lot of poster really don't understand the CBA/salary cap.

The nba cap is a soft cap. A thousand ways to manipulate it. The trick is identifying what constitutes a competitive team.