They should serve as a cautionary tale for us this offseason. Rather than being patient with their build, the Hawks added 4 veterans (Rondo, Gallinari, Dunn and Bogdanovic) for $53 million that have contributed nothing toward their 15 wins (10th in the standings) this season. The last thing we need to do is follow suit, thinking we're a few PRICEY veterans away from sustained competitiveness. The improvement this team needs to make, must come from our youth or through youth we add via trade.
That being said, we have an opportunity to capitalize on the Hawks misery. They are now entering the phase of their rebuild where they have to extend the young players that are actually apart of their core. John Collins, their 2nd best player, is about to become a restricted free agent and bound to command a massive amount of money in an otherwise underwhelming free agent class. With the Hawks already committed to +$100 million next season, they'll have to unload some or all of those players to make it possible to keep Collins.
This gives us an opportunity to pillage them for draft picks. Even if they do keep Collins, they won't be locks to make the playoffs, which could allow us to potentially add another team's lottery pick(s) to our war chest moving forward. I wouldn't mind taking that Gallinari contract for some combination of (a) lightly protected pick(s) and pick swaps. They could be extremely valuable in expediting our rebuild OR as trade ammo for the next available star (e.g. Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons, Karl Anthony Towns). Just food for thought.
GM Travis Schlenk has come under some fire due to the Hawks slow start. Although Pierce lost some support in the locker room, he became the fall guy. Now the spotlight is squarely on Schlenk. He is responsible for signing Gallo to that contract as well as Bargs, Dunn and Rondo. No way will he trade Gallo as that may be him admitting it was a bad signing ( jury is still out). He will give Nate every opportunity to turn the Hawks season around. Keep in mind, 10 teams will make the playoffs/tournament....The Hawks will be one of the ten.
Nate McMillan is a really good coach. He’s gonna turn them around. And they will probably be a playoff team by the end of the yr. If anyone is to capitalize it would need to happen now before he rights the ship.
Weren't the Hawks the preseason's darling of the pundits?
Uptown wrote:GM Travis Schlenk has come under some fire due to the Hawks slow start. Although Pierce lost some support in the locker room, he became the fall guy. Now the spotlight is squarely on Schlenk. He is responsible for signing Gallo to that contract as well as Bargs, Dunn and Rondo. No way will he trade Gallo as that may be him admitting it was a bad signing ( jury is still out). He will give Nate every opportunity to turn the Hawks season around. Keep in mind, 10 teams will make the playoffs/tournament....The Hawks will be one of the ten.
An error only becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it. And in these social/economic circumstances, paying the luxury tax for a lottery team (which the Hawks will be if they re-sign Collins) is enough of a mistake to be a fireable offense. If he fails to do that before the beginning of next season, he'll be on the unemployment line with Pierce.
BTW, the Hawks are actually 11th now. And with the Wizards surging (7-3 in the last 10 games), it is very well possible the Hawks fall to 12th and miss the play-in tournament altogether.
KnickDanger wrote:Weren't the Hawks the preseason's darling of the pundits?
Things change, especially when you're 11th in your conference.
newyorknewyork wrote:Nate McMillan is a really good coach. He’s gonna turn them around. And they will probably be a playoff team by the end of the yr. If anyone is to capitalize it would need to happen now before he rights the ship.
The Hawks actually play well when healthy. The problem is they are not healthy. So there isn't much left to actually turn around.
NardDogNation wrote:Uptown wrote:GM Travis Schlenk has come under some fire due to the Hawks slow start. Although Pierce lost some support in the locker room, he became the fall guy. Now the spotlight is squarely on Schlenk. He is responsible for signing Gallo to that contract as well as Bargs, Dunn and Rondo. No way will he trade Gallo as that may be him admitting it was a bad signing ( jury is still out). He will give Nate every opportunity to turn the Hawks season around. Keep in mind, 10 teams will make the playoffs/tournament....The Hawks will be one of the ten.
An error only becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it. And in these social/economic circumstances, paying the luxury tax for a lottery team (which the Hawks will be if they re-sign Collins) is enough of a mistake to be a fireable offense. If he fails to do that before the beginning of next season, he'll be on the unemployment line with Pierce.
BTW, the Hawks are actually 11th now. And with the Wizards surging (7-3 in the last 10 games), it is very well possible the Hawks fall to 12th and miss the play-in tournament altogether.
Yeah, he is screwed either way. Unless ownership steps in, as was the case with Mills, I can see Schlenk doubling down.
NardDogNation wrote:Uptown wrote:GM Travis Schlenk has come under some fire due to the Hawks slow start. Although Pierce lost some support in the locker room, he became the fall guy. Now the spotlight is squarely on Schlenk. He is responsible for signing Gallo to that contract as well as Bargs, Dunn and Rondo. No way will he trade Gallo as that may be him admitting it was a bad signing ( jury is still out). He will give Nate every opportunity to turn the Hawks season around. Keep in mind, 10 teams will make the playoffs/tournament....The Hawks will be one of the ten.
An error only becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it. And in these social/economic circumstances, paying the luxury tax for a lottery team (which the Hawks will be if they re-sign Collins) is enough of a mistake to be a fireable offense. If he fails to do that before the beginning of next season, he'll be on the unemployment line with Pierce.
BTW, the Hawks are actually 11th now. And with the Wizards surging (7-3 in the last 10 games), it is very well possible the Hawks fall to 12th and miss the play-in tournament altogether.
It's possible...Hawks just won 2 in a row since McMillian has taken over. It's still early, but since Nate has taken over, John Collins's minutes has gone down. He was benched the entire 4th quarter against the Heat and only played 27 minutes tonight, while Gallo played 39 minutes. Like I said, its still early and maybe I'm reading too much into it, as are many Hawks fans down here, but I will keep my eyes on it.
6-10 will be a game of musical chairs in the East, us included.
Rondo was suppose to bring all kinds of mentoring influence to the locker room.
You don’t get “Playoff rondo’ for a long season. You get something different.
Rare they get free agents and perhaps Schleck made an asset gather to see what he could do and if not make a trade or two. Trae and Collins are not meshing and thats on Pierce.
Really its on the GM ultimately.
The optics of Trae/Redish for Luka is not good and won’t be better unil they make the playoffs and some noise.
They want Randle? That would help them short term. It would be for Collins and thats just a start.
IF they desperate and we can clean them good then I’d listen.
Same for any other team. Overwhelm Perry and maybe. I really like Randle but it’s not about moving him, its about what we’d get in return. Since that is not clear or I can’t value trades properly I won’t go there.
Nalod wrote:They want Randle? That would help them short term. It would be for Collins and thats just a start.
IF they desperate and we can clean them good then I’d listen.
Same for any other team. Overwhelm Perry and maybe. I really like Randle but it’s not about moving him, its about what we’d get in return. Since that is not clear or I can’t value trades properly I won’t go there.
Well this is a clear thing. As it was said in the 90s, any player can be traded unless his name is Jordan.
You want to take on $20MM for Gallo? I've never understood this. He was inactive for a large chunk of this season, he brings next to nothing defensively for a Thibs team, and what pile of steaming Knick flotsam are you expecting the Hawks to accept for him and this treasure trove of draft picks from what appears to be at least a borderline playoff team?
Unless we're getting Collins, which we're not, pass.
I was really with you when you referenced the Hawks as a cautionary tale...
But
I stopped being with you when you said we could get their pieces that contribute nothing for draft picks
NO THANK YOU
SupremeCommander wrote:I was really with you when you referenced the Hawks as a cautionary tale...
But
I stopped being with you when you said we could get their pieces that contribute nothing for draft picksNO THANK YOU
I believe he was talking about taking on those players plus their draft pick(s) to do so.
Paying big money for both Gallo and Bogdan never made any sense. Duplicating skillsets and both overpaid. I was a fan of one or the other, but bringing in both seems like a bad use of funds. Usually if teams go on a shopping spree signing a bunch of good but not great players to big contracts i don't think it works that well. Obviously you rather have Bullock and Burks for cheap.
The coach just got Fired, some injuries and chemistry issues from adding a few key pieces.
Thibs has proven how much coaching plays a role in winning, and how much a coaching staff plays a role in developing (vets and the youths). I don't think 30+ games is enough time to deem their moves a failure.
Knixkik wrote:Paying big money for both Gallo and Bogdan never made any sense. Duplicating skillsets and both overpaid. I was a fan of one or the other, but bringing in both seems like a bad use of funds. Usually if teams go on a shopping spree signing a bunch of good but not great players to big contracts i don't think it works that well. Obviously you rather have Bullock and Burks for cheap.
Not only Gallo and Bogdan but how about Dunn and 34 going on 35 yo Rondo. Dunn hasn't played and Rondo was just itching to get hurt
Wouldn't have taken much to suggest that of the 3 - Gallo, Rondo, Dunn - at least 2 of them would be hurt. Turned out all 3
That is correct. FA should be focused on resigning vets who played well and 1 wildcard signing on a reasonable deal.
KnickDanger wrote:SupremeCommander wrote:I was really with you when you referenced the Hawks as a cautionary tale...
But
I stopped being with you when you said we could get their pieces that contribute nothing for draft picksNO THANK YOU
I believe he was talking about taking on those players plus their draft pick(s) to do so.
this makes me feel better - but if the Knicks make the playoffs and the roof blows off MSG like Randle just referenced... I believe we can get better value for our capspace than absorbing a disappointment. so I still feel the same way but less strongly
SupremeCommander wrote:KnickDanger wrote:SupremeCommander wrote:I was really with you when you referenced the Hawks as a cautionary tale...
But
I stopped being with you when you said we could get their pieces that contribute nothing for draft picksNO THANK YOU
I believe he was talking about taking on those players plus their draft pick(s) to do so.
this makes me feel better - but if the Knicks make the playoffs and the roof blows off MSG like Randle just referenced... I believe we can get better value for our capspace than absorbing a disappointment. so I still feel the same way but less strongly
Yeah -- we have picks going forward and cap flexibility -- in the first time since forever. Short of a real game changer, and I mean real, I am very against compromising those strengths.
"Keep an eye on the Sparoooow..."
Would be worried Gallo would start missing games, not long after the ink is dry, on a trade.
