Trade Deadline After Thoughts (What Should We Do Next?)

[Final_quest]

I feel like the trade deadline recap deserves it's own thread.  That was a crazy roller coaster.  We go from buyers to sellers to everything in between.  Then no transactions to show for it and I'm left wondering a few things:

1. What is the plan?
2. What should be the plan?
3. What really happened the past couple months?

I really don't care to get into an emotional tangent about how Landry Fields and Tony suck.  It sounds like there is an offer for Murray that has to wait until the summer and that is plan A.  It also seems like most of our other players have a low return on the trade market.  Can't get a good offer because their salary is >>>> value.  Not saying that Landry as a GM can't work the market a little better.  But our actual reality is that our biggest salaries we either want to keep (ie Trae) or they don't attract anything in return.  

Without ranting I'd like to hear people describe what they think we should do next.  Realistically what do you want them to do?  

We need a POA defender(s).  We need better frontcourt depth.  Gonna need to throw Bufkin, AJ, our two 2024 picks plus our TPE, or some other salaried players, at some veteran guys who can bolster us.  Plus if there really is a deal for Murray to bring back a player of his caliber in return.  Find some value on the free agent market, better guys for $4M or less. 

Got to reshape this roster.  It wasn't easy last summer, and won't be easy this summer.    

[theheroatl]

What I would do probably is a lot different than what we actually will see which is a major problem.

Edited February 10 by theheroatl

[Gray Mule]

AS THEHEROATL just said, what I want to happen and what actually happens will be a lot different.

I really want to see our young Skyhawks given the opportunity to play in the NBA with the Hawks.  M. Gueye has moved up from unavailable to questionable. Development takes time.  We should be about this business now.  This way we have a better idea about what we should do next summer.

Hawks probably need to release some of our 15 on the current roster to do this.  So be it.  Decide who you want to be around when next summer arrives.  

 

[Final_quest]

31 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

What I would do probably is a lot different than what we actually will see which is a major problem.

What do you think the FO will do and what would you do instead?

[NBASupes]

1. Build a contender 

2. Make smart decisions

3. Not afraid of the LT is something Tony and Landry will have to prove 

[cam1218]

Personally, part of the plan should be to get Kobe and AJ some type of playing time. I think we really need to see what we have going into the offseason at our guard position if we are trading DJM. I’d like to see OO remain starting out of curiosity how he plays in that role. Most teams are probably looking at CC as a bench player, I’d like to see how he could have an impact there and wouldn’t mind him closing out games if needed.

Hopefully Hunter can stay healthy and Bey can go back to the bench. Not a knock on him, but a bench with Bogi/Bey/CC sounds worlds better than what we have seen most of the year. Hunter’s health has and will be a concern for us not just for his size and scoring, but we are so thin at that position.

I mentioned in another thread we are pretty much guaranteed a top 10 seed (no celebrating here by any means). We have been playing better lately, hopefully it is a sign of things to come and not just a lucky stretch. Keep improving and end the season with a clearer idea of who should and should not be here next year.

[Diesel]

Truthfully, the answer is in the draft. 

We have painted ourselves in this circle.   A lot depends on how we finish.  IF we can finish strong and make the playoffs and Quin's offense comes to fruition, we can convince DJ to remain and find some help in the draft. 

I doubt we keep Bey.  I think we will move Clint. So we have to find some bigs this year.  No more guards. 

Big Z looks good to me.  Filipowski may be a choice also. 

I think in the near future...   A Big/Gueye Frontcourt will be something. 

 

 

[Diesel]

4 hours ago, Final_quest said:

What do you think the FO will do and what would you do instead?

• Talk   
• not Talk 

[JayBirdHawk]

Whatever we do next, should be with an eye to prepare for next season. 

Start OO and play the kids.

Size, defense, athleticism and toughness in the offseason.

[Diesel]

27 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Whatever we do next, should be with an eye to prepare for next season. 

Start OO and play the kids.

Size, defense, athleticism and toughness in the offseason.

I think this is really an after the break decision.   We can still make a run and there are teams that are going to slide.   Before you know it, we can move into 6th place if we catch fire.   But if we come to the break limping, then we can start to talk about how to look for the future. 

 

[Vol4ever]

Since no trades were made and I can understand somewhat in regards to Murray, we go to the next chapter.  

It's obvious as others have said we need physicality and bulk in the frontcourt.    We are way to small up front.   We need athletes.   

We have the TPE, but haven't or we apparently will not use it.  Only thing that I can draw from this is they don't wand to spend the $$$.  There are players bought out we can use but Landry basically is saying we are doing nothing.  

Makes no sense.   

[Final_quest]

19 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Whatever we do next, should be with an eye to prepare for next season. 

Start OO and play the kids.

Size, defense, athleticism and toughness in the offseason.

Unless we have an injury I think it will be tough to find minutes for Kobe and AJ.  

The fully healthy roster hasn’t played together enough for them to become their best.  I expect them to treat the last 30 games almost as if they are starting the season over.  Let’s see what this cast can do with Jalen and Hunter healthy.  What if they can win 60%+?
 

It doesn’t seem like they are gonna pull what Dallas did last year, and tank to finish the season.  It seems like they want to give this roster another shot to have a better idea of where the gaps are.  

[Final_quest]

2 hours ago, Vol4ever said:

Since no trades were made and I can understand somewhat in regards to Murray, we go to the next chapter.  

It's obvious as others have said we need physicality and bulk in the frontcourt.    We are way to small up front.   We need athletes.   

We have the TPE, but haven't or we apparently will not use it.  Only thing that I can draw from this is they don't wand to spend the $$$.  There are players bought out we can use but Landry basically is saying we are doing nothing.  

Makes no sense.   

POA defense is our other big flaw, maybe bigger need than our front court size/depth.

I don’t think we need to use the TPE for the buy out market.  Should be easy to cut Matthews and add someone else?

[Diesel]

8 hours ago, Final_quest said:

POA defense is our other big flaw, maybe bigger need than our front court size/depth.

I don’t think we need to use the TPE for the buy out market.  Should be easy to cut Matthews and add someone else?

POA defense is such an overused buzz word.   The POA defense is nothing without an equally good team defense.  Sounds good to say that we need a POA defender.   However, what we need is to have a better team defense.  That means, we have to have player buy in because good team defense requires effort.   I mean Hunter is supposed to be a good POA defender.   Bufkin looks like a good POA defense.   But none of that means nothing if Trae, OO and JJ are just letting their men score at will.   Right now, we're trying to find a better balance from a defense that the players can buy into and do well.   Think about what Nate had during the run... Snell and JC and CC.   Good defenders, none POA defenders  but he used them in a defense that enhanced what they could do. 

 

[gurpilo]

Since no trades were made I would try to give the roster a chance.

Clearly roster is not balanced and we need some upgrades.

There are some players that have been cut and could be great additions to the roster.

Backup PG: Cory Joseph, Kilian Hayes

Backup shooter: Joe Harris

Backup PF: Marcus Morris, Thadeus Young, Otro Porter

Backup Center: Robin López, Metu

 

Any of those player might be signed for vet min and could replace nicely Mills, W. Matthews, G. matthews, Bruno...

 

[AHF]

21 hours ago, Final_quest said:

I don’t think we need to use the TPE for the buy out market.  Should be easy to cut Matthews and add someone else?

Yeah, unless I'm mistaken the TPE literally can't be used for the buy out market.  We have to use our cap space for that.  The TPE is solely used for trades.

[JeffS17]

I generally like players that have elite qualities (i.e Trae passing, JJ rare athleticism/passing/size combo) or players that have big impact and contribute to winning (i.e Bey rebounding/hustle) .  I also believe the formula for contending is: high end talent with cost-effective role players.  And the team fit and chemistry need to make the team better than the sum of the pieces.  Right now, we only really have Trae as high end talent, while hoping JJ continues to develop into an all-star caliber player.  Our other players are not cost-effective, outside of rookie scale guys, and our fit is not good.  Thoughts by player below:

• Trae - obvious keeper on the roster, franchise cornerstone, elite playmaker and offensive engine, very good scorer, improving on defense
• Murray - need to trade this offseason due to his overlap with Trae.  Ideally, for an upgrade at center or PF.
• Bey - I'd like to keep Bey going forward as either our starting SF or a high-minutes, first off the bench, type of guy.  Key here is we hard ball contract negotiations -- we should let the market dictate his contract and match if needed.
• Hunter - ideally, he's packaged with Murray for an upgrade in the front court in the offseason.  This would allow JJ to play SF minutes, where I think he can thrive.  I do not think we should trade Hunter unless it's for an upgrade.  He's a good starter, but his injury problems are the biggest concern.  And you need high end talent to stay healthy to compete.  If we end up getting another star (read: another max contract), we cannot afford to have $22M in street clothes come April every year
• Jalen - keep him, not much to say here
• Clint - I think we need to trade/offload Clint.  Depending on other trades, we need to move him for an upgrade at center or for bench 3/4 depth
• Okongwu - keeper unless we have to move him for a star level guy.  Ideally paired with a stretch 5, but if his 3 ball continues to develop, he is an incredibly valuable piece that will be easy to slot into a lot of lineups
• Bogi - love Bogi, truly, but we need to move him while his value is high.  We have a log jam at his position once Kobe starts getting more minutes
• Kobe - obvious keeper with Murray on the block
• AJ - ideally we trade him for a solid backup guard
• Rest of bench - upgrades are nice here but I'm not spending draft capital to upgrade anyone 9-15 until we have a solid core in place that fits.  If we can get better players to sign here in FA or using the MLE, awesome.

So generally, I think we're in a tough spot but we have options to navigate through it the next 1-2 years.  Patience as Quin and his staff continue to develop our guys is key right no matter what path we take, as we're missing draft assets and don't have a ton of positive value contracts on the team... outside rookie deals, probably just Trae/Murray and maybe OO.

My ideal vision for this roster, in order of what I want (i.e what I think will lead to our success), not in order by probability is below:

1. Trade Murray and Hunter or Murray and Capela for a front court upgrade in the offseason (Zion, Ingram, KAT, etc).  We go into the luxury tax in 2024-2025 to retain Bey in this scenario.  And use the MLE aggressively after the trade executes.
    
2. Hold Murray in the offseason, clear Capela off the books to free OO to start, retain Bey through extension if the contract is reasonable, and upgrade the overall team/bench fit via trades (Bogi, AJ, Mat[t]hews, potentially Hunter/Bey, etc) or FA/MLE.  In this scenario, the hope is we can continue to improve and be more and more competitive so that JJ's extension is a trigger that makes sense to go into the tax for.  We'd likely trade Murray still, but only when we get an offer we're happy with (lots of time left on his deal).  This is a likely best option depending on trade availabilities this offseason. 
    
3. Trade Trae and soft re-build around Murray/JJ.  I don't see this as particularly realistic, but it might be an option we have to consider at some point.  SA is an obvious trade partner, to get our picks back (plus some hopefully).  If it's not SA, we would need an all-star level player back, preferably a wing or front court guy that has creation ability.

[warcore]

28 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

Bogi - love Bogi, truly, but we need to move him while his value is high.  We have a log jam at his position once Kobe starts getting more minutes

yep

[JeffS17]

Just now, warcore said:

yep

And Bogi's contract, because of the way it was structured to peel him away from Sacramento, is actually very positive for us right now.  It's declining and projected to be <10% of the cap space in the final year.  With a club option too, which is a great tool for teams.  Bogi will be a really nice piece to trade or keep (if we consolidate guard depth via other trades)