Spud’s favorite 2023 prospect for Hawks

[Jody23]

17 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

With our cap situation as it currently stands, I think it's important to have low salaried players with potential like AJ and JJ.  Knowing how drafts go, there is usually a player or two that falls out of the lottery.. Hawks are at the ideal spot to take advantage.  

If the Hawks do trade the pick it will be at or after the draft. I don't see it happening before the draft.

The cap situation certainly isn't ideal and I agree the low salaried players are important.  I won't be surprised at all to see them try to get expiring deals for at least one of the front court guys.  With Quin having a substantial voice in personnel, I just think there's a chance he pushes to use the draft capital to try and acquire more immediate help for the roster.

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, Gray Mule said:

Our draft pick must depend somewhat on so many other things.

Agreed we are probably full at every position but now it’s time to see if we can/should upgrade through the draft in another young dude or flip the pick and go vet.

[Spud2nique]

34 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Hawks are at the ideal spot to take advantage.  

If the Hawks do trade the pick it will be at or after the draft. I don't see it happening before the draft.

I agree here, our position at 15 right now is a popular spot to be in for this draft. After the first 6 or 7 picks some players will shuffle and fall, this makes spots 12-18 ideal and a hot commodity in my view.

Keep the pick till we pick or at least see who’s available. We don’t wanna give that “Shelly promise” but in a diff way and just bounce out of the draft early, nah, good players there.

[Spud2nique]

11 minutes ago, Jody23 said:

I won't be surprised at all to see them try to get expiring deals for at least one of the front court guys.

Ya I can see this, CC most likely. OO is ready to start at center. He’s got next! 

[bird_dirt]

I’m still pulling for Rayan Rupert SG/SF. 
Young guy with crazy length, good tools, good defender, just needs some time in the weight room and some Quin polish to move from decent shooter to a very good option. Then I read this on DraftNet and knew it was destiny:
Sister Iliana Rupert plays in the WNBA for the Atlanta Dream

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/rayan-rupert/

[Jody23]

31 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Ya I can see this, CC most likely. OO is ready to start at center. He’s got next! 

Agreed, I can see CC being the likely option here as they can use the rationale of making room for OO.  The issue though is CC is still really good and highly respected.  Virtually giving him away because of cap reasons will not go over well with the other veterans remaining on the roster.

[Packfill]

Hawkins is a very intriguing player due to his offensive game but a defensive pairing with Trae would be a disaster for the Hawks.  At this point I think I would prefer Kobe Bufkin if I were to go with a shooting guard at 15, with the hope he turns into versatile third guard.

Really though, Cam Whitmore would be my guy for the the Hawks in this draft but I think he is gone long before 15.

I think it is more likely, however, the Hawks go for length and take a flier on Leonard Miller or Noah Clowney.

[AHF]

57 minutes ago, Jody23 said:

Agreed, I can see CC being the likely option here as they can use the rationale of making room for OO.  The issue though is CC is still really good and highly respected.  Virtually giving him away because of cap reasons will not go over well with the other veterans remaining on the roster.

I can't imagine we just give CC away.  The only situation where that would make sense is if we were clearing space for someone else but given our current cap situation I don't think that really works.  It would surprise me less if we got back 75 cents on the dollar in a deal that brings back value and creates more cap room for resigning OO, etc.

[BangHolman]

I got Lively to b/u Okongwu and Cap being traded this off-season.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, Jody23 said:

Agreed, I can see CC being the likely option here as they can use the rationale of making room for OO.  The issue though is CC is still really good and highly respected.  Virtually giving him away because of cap reasons will not go over well with the other veterans remaining on the roster.

I would hope we learned from the Huerter deal that giving away talent to cut salary and not adequately replacing the oncourt portion of it is a lose lose.

[BangHolman]

14 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I would hope we learned from the Huerter deal that giving away talent to cut salary and not adequately replacing the oncourt portion of it is a lose lose.

I don't think we give Cap away. I think we use him to improve the 3 in some way.

[Jody23]

24 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I would hope we learned from the Huerter deal that giving away talent to cut salary and not adequately replacing the oncourt portion of it is a lose lose.

We hope they've learned.  Time will tell.

[Final_quest]

20 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I would hope we learned from the Huerter deal that giving away talent to cut salary and not adequately replacing the oncourt portion of it is a lose lose.

Guys seriously.  This was not giving a player away.  A first round pick is fair value for Huerter.  His replacement was supposed to be a major talent upgrade, Dejounte. 

If we only saw Huerter's second half of the season and playoff run, we would be saying thank God we traded him away for a first round pick just in time.  Huerter started the season hot and Bogi was injured while we played the Holiday bros.  I know @AHF says we should have waited to trade him, but what if Huerter started the season cold or if Bogi came back healthy to start the season.  If you wait to trade Huerter you are risking a lot.  

We only have 4 first round picks in the next 5 years.  Getting one for Huerter was critical and they took the opportunity.  From a draft capital and cap management perspective it was a good move.  We replaced Huerter with Bey and Murray, but you guys have turned Huerter into a fantasy that he never was and probably won't become.  

[warcore]

On 5/17/2023 at 7:08 AM, Spud2nique said:

We don’t wanna give that “Shelly promise”

that ruined my entire summer that year. I was in denial.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, Final_quest said:

Guys seriously.  This was not giving a player away.  A first round pick is fair value for Huerter.  His replacement was supposed to be a major talent upgrade, Dejounte. 

If we only saw Huerter's second half of the season and playoff run, we would be saying thank God we traded him away for a first round pick just in time.  Huerter started the season hot and Bogi was injured while we played the Holiday bros.  I know @AHF says we should have waited to trade him, but what if Huerter started the season cold or if Bogi came back healthy to start the season.  If you wait to trade Huerter you are risking a lot.  

We only have 4 first round picks in the next 5 years.  Getting one for Huerter was critical and they took the opportunity.  From a draft capital and cap management perspective it was a good move.  We replaced Huerter with Bey and Murray, but you guys have turned Huerter into a fantasy that he never was and probably won't become.  

I am not debating the pick value - the pick has not played, JHoli was a disaster - so there was no immediate on court help from what we immediately got back.

I'm sorry worrying about picks so early after trading for DJ is not the mindset I like - to me it means you are unsure of the trade if you are already worried about recouping picks.  Put the best product on the floor and give it a chance to unfold.

We traded DJ for Gallo - not the same position but in terms of being on the court - we replaced Huerter and Gallo for DJ.

[macdaddy]

17 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I am not debating the pick value - the pick has not played, JHoli was a disaster - so there was no immediate on court help from what we immediately got back.

I'm sorry worrying about picks so early after trading for DJ is not the mindset I like - to me it means you are unsure of the trade if you are already worried about recouping picks.  Put the best product on the floor and give it a chance to unfold.

We traded DJ for Gallo - not the same position but in terms of being on the court - we replaced Huerter and Gallo for DJ.

exactly.  there was no rush from a LT perspective.  And Bogi missed the start of the season so there was no rush from a supposed glut of guards.  Everyone talks about Kev tailing off but the dude had a monster year shooting the ball.  He would have been #2 on the Hawks in 3p% and #1 guard in eFG% by a wide margin.  And we would have had him on the second unit.  He did that as a starter in Sac.  

[AHF]

19 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

exactly.  there was no rush from a LT perspective.  And Bogi missed the start of the season so there was no rush from a supposed glut of guards.  Everyone talks about Kev tailing off but the dude had a monster year shooting the ball.  He would have been #2 on the Hawks in 3p% and #1 guard in eFG% by a wide margin.  And we would have had him on the second unit.  He did that as a starter in Sac.  

As it played out, I think he would have started [played a huge role in the rotation] for the first part of the year and would have been in high demand as a trade target.  Tons of teams could have used someone like him.  Someone like LA would have been desperate for him with the way they started the year.  I still think waiting and trading him in-season would have been the best balance to strike.  Bogi might have had a setback and never played this season in which case he would have been critical to the team.

[macdaddy]

Just now, AHF said:

As it played out, I think he would have started for the first part of the year and would have been in high demand as a trade target.  Tons of teams could have used someone like him.  Someone like LA would have been desperate for him with the way they started the year.  I still think waiting and trading him in-season would have been the best balance to strike.  Bogi might have had a setback and never played this season in which case he would have been critical to the team.

Started at what position?  DJ and Hunter weren't going to the bench. 

[AHF]

8 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Started at what position?  DJ and Hunter weren't going to the bench. 

Sorry - 6th man not starter.  You are correct.  There were plenty of minutes and his shooting would have been a huge lift to the team over the other alternatives coming off the bench.  Given the lack of competition and the need for outside shooters, I think he could have been near 30 mpg if we aren't playing DJ and Hunter crazy minutes.  (I think a big reason DJ was playing almost 40 mpg to start the season and stayed as high as he did was a lack of quality alternatives.  SA should have needed him more than we did and he played significantly more minutes per game in Atlanta than in SA.)

[JayBirdHawk]

39 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Started at what position?  DJ and Hunter weren't going to the bench. 

 

26 minutes ago, AHF said:

Sorry - 6th man not starter.  You are correct. 

He would have played in lieu of Justin Holiday.