Official Game Thread: Raptors at Hawks (6 PM Tip!)

[lethalweapon3]

“Hawks gave up over 70 points to just one guy? Ha! My franchise would never!”

 

Masai Ujiri is figuring out one can only control what one can control.

When Ujiri swung for the fences in dealing away DeMar DeRozan, and later Jonas Valanciunas, he retrieved Kawhi Leonard and Marc Gasol, setting the stage for an epic run to the NBA championship. A half-decade later, Ujiri has begun flushing out the Toronto Raptors’ prime players in hopes of a run toward the opposite direction, and he’s finding that this kind of remodel is not so easy.

Bend Knee for Wemby isn’t the theme for this year’s NBA Draft, the array of incoming rookies seemingly much weaker at the tippy-top. Still, draft-power serves as useful leverage for trades and rebuilding, an objective the Raps have made clear by acquiring the Pacers’ unprotected first-rounder and the Pistons’ probable #31 pick in respective deals for Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby over the past 30 days.

The sticking point for Toronto involves their injured starting center. Ujiri double-dipped with the Spurs by acquiring Jakob Poeltl ahead of last year’s Trade Deadline. Poeltl was supposed to stabilize the frontcourt around Siakam, Anunoby and sophomore Scottie Barnes, turning coach Nick Nurse’s sub-.500 club into a veritable first-round threat.

The plan seemed like it would work, as Toronto surged to pull even in the standings with the Atlanta Hawks at 41-41. But they lost the 8/9 tiebreaker to Atlanta, then got screamed out of the must-win Play-In by DeRozan’s Chicago Bulls.

This past offseason, Ujiri shifted from Nurse to a rookie coach, in Darko Rajakovic. He bid adieu to free agent Fred Van Vleet, and committed the Raps to Poeltl with a four-year, $80 million deal. Poeltl has been solid as an around-the-rim finisher, but Ujiri’s hands were tied to retain him, since the first-rounder he offered San Antonio was “only” Top-6 protected.

Masai wanted to wait and see if the collection of players he brought into this season could become playoff competitors. But a 3-10 December that featured a blowout home loss to the Hawks, and ended with defeat in Detroit, sounded the alarm in the Raps’ front office that it was time for some Home Improvement.

Now, Toronto “only” needs to find a way to stick where they are at #6 in the tank standings, maybe even dip past Portland and Charlotte if they’re game, to secure this summer’s lottery pick. Easier said than done.

The incoming haul for Anunoby and Siakam hasn’t been too bad, individually. Canadian R.J. Barrett has supplanted Barnes (20.2 PPG for the season; 17.8 PPG, 24.4 3FG% in past 10 games) as the team’s lead scorer (21.0 PPG, 7.1 RPG w/ TOR), although he’d score more with better free throw shooting (64.3 FT%). Immanuel Quickley has been the playmaking guard (6.1 APG, 1.4 TOs/game w/ TOR) who’s also the perimeter Plan B bailout guy at the ends of shot clocks.

Plus-18 just a few weeks ago here in Atlanta as a Pacer, Bruce Brown’s plan was to be used by the Raps as sparingly as possible until he could be flipped at the Deadline. But injuries to Poeltl (doubtful, sprained ankle, DNP last 9 games) and two-way backup big Jontay Porter (eye abrasion suffered in Friday’s loss vs. LAC, probable for today), plus Quickley (out, contused thigh), left Coach Darko with little choice but to put all his sizable veteran hands (Yes, Thaddeus Young. You, too, Garrett Temple) on deck.

The blend hasn’t been good enough for a team that has won just once (Miami, what are you doing?) in their past nine games. That ought to be good news for Ujiri, who could use his high-lotto pick as part of a collection of picks to move up further, or to dangle, with his current younger cast of players, in front of a team willing to maybe offer up The Next Kawhi.

Unfortunately for Masai, his team can out-suck teams like Bricklyn and Atlanta (like TOR, four straight Ls; 18-27, 2.0 games ahead of TOR) only so much.

Landry Fields, meanwhile, isn’t biting his nails so much. Unlike the Nets, whose 2024 first-rounder ships to Houston for the James Harden rental, Atlanta’s pick this year remains under team control. The Hawks used last week’s loss in Sacramento, and the evil scheme to tenderize both the Dubs and the Mavs for the Kings’ benefit, to turn Sacramento’s fortunes around and better ensure their lotto-protected draft-pick conveyance to Atlanta won’t get tied up in messy Play-In scenarios.

If things continue working in Fields’ direction, his Hawks can not only pass the Raptors in the tank standings but also the 2024 draft power rankings, Atlanta doing their part to ensure Toronto can only package their low-firsts and high-second picks this summer. His team’s “rookies” for next season, including A.J. Griffin in the mix with Kobe Bufkin and Mo Gueye, are already in tow, so bringing in two more won’t be essential.

The Hawks really haven’t had a satisfying wire-to-wire victory since snapping a five-game skid with a bounce-back 125-104 win in Canada on December 15. Like Toronto, Atlanta didn’t enter this season thinking they’d need to be players at draft time. But going forward, Fields understands he’s tasked with rebuilding the team around Trae Young, and he must do a better job at that than Ujiri is in buttressing Barnes.

“I don’t know if I should call this a rebuild, or a reset, or however we want to put it,” Ujiri remarked at a press conference following the Siakam deal to Indiana. “But a normal rebuild with other teams takes five or six years… Do we have the patience for three to five years building our team?” How long that takes may hinge upon Toronto’s ability to keep their own pick (although my hunch is the Spurs would rather hold out for a year or two, matching it up with picks gained from the Dejounte Murray and DeRozan-to-Chicago deals).

Fields may get further help driving down Tank Terrace, today (6 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, TSN in T-Dot), with the aid of a player not even under his control, one of the vets that Ujiri needs to showcase in the run-up to the Deadline.

If there’s a player, somewhere out there, who once rocked a Hawks draft cap and wouldn’t mind showing the crowd at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena how much they’ve been missing out, as the next guy the Hawks’ so-called defenders can’t bleeping stop, well, today is your day.

Sorry, Cam Reddish, you’ll have to wait your turn on Tuesday. With Quickley on the mend, and Brown’s playing time needing to be curbed, it is Dennis Schröder’s time to write his own boxscore. Don’t listen to those Wayans Brothers, Schröder. Just get out there and be a Menace!

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[kg01]

Aw, yeah.  The Mediocre Bowl.

Non-standard tip time alert tho!  Know what that means? 

If mediocre was a game, we'd be MVP...

Nobody get the reference?  Where's @MaceCase when you need somebody to get a northeast rap reference?  Rest in power, King Ma$e. 

Ok, Ill give it away.  It means a Big L for da Hawks.

[lethalweapon3]

"Don't Call me Dee" Jontay Porter had been starting in recent games in Poeltl's extended absence, but his eye abrasion came earlier last week in the home loss to The Fighting Vince Williamses of Memphis. He came off the bench in Friday's 127-107 loss versus the Clips but had to exit due to the injury five minutes in.

Even with Chris Boucher, the Raptors find themselves very thin upfront if Poeltl is a no-go and Porter is Popeyed at best. I'd fire up the Bat Signal for some Brunoball today, but Mr. Fernando is Out with back spasms.

I keep forgetting the Raps have another Porter on the bench, and apparently Coach Darko has forgotten him, too. Otto had been out since early December with a sprained knee but has been available the past week-plus. 

This is just Toronto's second away-game in their past six contests. In their last two road games, they got played by the Jazz in a 32-point loss at SLC on January 12, then cut up by Precious Achiuwa and Anunoby's Knicks, 126-100 in NYC eight days ago, This is a Jaywalker's Row of opponents during this six-game road swing for the Raps, with OKC being the sole standout on a trip that includes Chicago, Houston, N'awlins and Charlotte.

Keepin' it 400, Quin slipped to 10th place in Active Head Coach wins. All Doc Rivers had to do, to make that happen, was go Brute on ex-Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin. Et tu?

In the No One Cares Department, the Hawks' next 140-point outing (of their own) would tie Richie Guerin's 1969-1970 club for the most games by an Atlanta club exceeding that point tally in a season (5, two of them in OT). Back when 140 points meant certain victory, those Hawks went 5-0. One of those wins was the famous Phantom Buzzer Game, a game so nice the Hawks won it twice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Buzzer_Game

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Why Burger King should bring back The Duke of Doubt. My Column:

(On the good side for TOR, Jontay Porter has been upgraded to Available.) 

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

4 hours ago, kg01 said:

Aw, yeah.  The Mediocre Bowl.

Non-standard tip time alert tho!  Know what that means? 

If mediocre was a game, we'd be MVP...

Nobody get the reference?  Where's @MaceCase when you need somebody to get a northeast rap reference?  Rest in power, King Ma$e. 

Ok, Ill give it away.  It means a Big L for da Hawks.

Toronto missing a plethora of players, also a Hawks L.

[Spud2nique]

Thanks lw3 yet again for the write up and getting us prepped! 
 

2k got Hawks by 11 

Go Hawks! 
 

Go Lions (bubble guts ) 

[benhillboy]

This is a must-win for the Hawks if there ever was one for obvious reasons:  Raptors are significantly hobbled and immediately behind the Hawks in the standings.  Not so obvious is the Hawks will he moderate to heavy underdogs in their next 6 games

[GameTime]

[JayBirdHawk]

Sniff sniff sniff....something smells 

 

 

[givemesome1ce1]

12 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Sniff sniff sniff....something smells 

 

 

DEJOUNTE MURRAY IS GONE! THE TRADE IS ALMOST DONE!! LETS GET IT!!! TRAE AND JALEN DUO TIME!!

 

Edited January 28 by givemesome1ce1

[Chrimturn]

11 minutes ago, givemesome1ce1 said:

DEJOUNTE MURRAY IS GONE! THE TRADE IS ALMOST DONE!! LETS GET IT!!! TRAE AND JALEN DUO TIME!!

 

 

[thecampster]

Patty Mills is my spirit animal!

[JayBirdHawk]

3 minutes ago, thecampster said:

Patty Mills is my spirit animal!

 

 

[Jody23]

Hopefully this comes in time, Jalen getting stronger and more assertive.

[Nash]

Lol Bey. Returned to his normal 0% from 3. But just keep shooting as coach likes you

[Vol4ever]

Patty needs to play more.  

[JayBirdHawk]

10-18 vs 2-14 from 3 ....that's a 24 point differential.

[terrell]

Yawn

Anybody but JJ should be on the table....

Trae young career 43 fg and 35 3pt percentage

This year 42 fg and 36 3pt percentage.

Can we build our team and offense around a guy that shoots 19 to 20 times a game with those shooting splits?

The passing is elite even though the turnovers take a little away on the passing front also.

This is not even considering the defense.....

Edited January 29 by terrell

[Vol4ever]

we need to use the TPE and get Drummond.  He would definitely add defense and offense around the basket.  

[Chrimturn]

3’s:  

TOR 10-18, 55.6%

ATL 2-14, 14.3%