Z Train
First things first: the Hawks are going to stink this year. And probably next year. And probably a few years after that, and potentially may never be good ever again like the Knicks or Nets. That’s an exaggeration. We’ll never be the Knicks or the Nets. I’m inevitably going to be a bandwagon NBA fan yet again as my Hawks rebuild. But I’m weirdly OK with the stink.
After hiring new GM, Travis Schlenk, formerly of the Warriors, the Hawks are finally making moves corresponding to the modern NBA. As much as it pains me to admit it, it did not matter one bit that we were a perennial playoff team for a decade. It literally did not matter. While it dragged Atlanta fans to the arena for playoff games, inevitably getting swept by LeBron just doesn’t cut it. It’s useless to be a team without a couple of superstars in today’s NBA, let alone just one or two All-Stars. What do Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague, Dwight Howard all have in common? Simple: They’re star-level NBA talent at the height of their careers, but will never in a million years be good enough to have their roles on a championship-caliber team. Everyone seemingly knew this all along except for the Hawks’ front office (and also me until about two years ago). The NBA is not a team sport. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back. The NBA is not a team sport. It masquerades as a team sport, but it’s a sport driven by starpower and talent. As a publicized former locker room glue guy, you cannot underestimate the effect of a good locker room culture. You see this with the veterans young teams bring in, recent examples being Iguodala, Livingston and Barbosa to the 2014 Warriors. Shaq, Zo, Gary Payton and White Chocolate to D Wade’s Heat. And the Kings’ 2017 experiment we’re in the middle of. But winning is always the best locker room medicine, especially with the NBA diva personalities we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. So while the “team” attitude is always necessary, it pales in comparison to the need for stars. This isn’t the NFL, where a team culture can just be a playoff machine (ignore the Spurs, they have superstars, they’re just not dickhead divas). NBA Champions must have stars.
Let’s look back at the champions since the turn of the millennium:
Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers The New Bad Boy Pistons The Everlasting Spurs The Boston Three Party Kobe and Pau’s Lakers D Wade’s Heat (+ Shaq, or + LBJ/Bosh) Dirk’s Mavs LeBron and Kyrie’s Cavs The Warriors with every superstar we’ve heard of in the last two years not named LeBron James ONLY ONE TEAM STICKS OUT. It’s obviously the Pistons, who’s stingy team defense and big-shot ability outweighed their lack of superstardom (even though the retrospective lineups of Billups/Hamilton/Prince/Wallace/Wallace/McDyess/Hunter are still filthy). Of all the rest of the teams, there’s only one team (Dirk’s Mavs) that only had ONE real superstar. The rest had AT LEAST two top-15 players, oftentimes the 3rd player being an arguable top 30 guy (Derek Fisher, Paul Pierce, Manu Ginobili/Tony Parker, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, Draymond Green/Klay Thompson). I say all that for this point: a lot of pieces have to fall in place for a magical title season, but the Hawks were going absolutely nowhere and everybody knew it. Even with the 60-win season with one of the most in-form, complete rosters we’ve seen in the last few years, we got demolished in the Eastern Conference Finals (Dellavedova injuring our entire team was obviously a factor, but the outcome likely would have just been a 6-game series). We’re seeing this with the Boston Celtics now. They signed the two best free agents available in the last two years (other than KD), have a plethora of top-level picks and young talent AND EVERYONE IS STILL MAD. They know lineups featuring Thomas, Hayward and Horford will never win a title, but they’re stuck and have to try. It’s so hard to become good in the NBA, and the start-over process is just so lengthy, that they have to try with this core that they know will flop. That was the Hawks for the last ten freaking years. Schlenk came in and cleared motherfuckin’ house. In a seemingly weird trade, he picked up overpaid veterans and moved down in the draft to offload Dwight Howard. This trade seems really weird, but I think it shows three clear things:
While the trade was very clearly NOT ideal, we get rid of Howard's complaining (feels like Groundhog Day), Belinelli for one year isn’t going to destroy the world, and I like Plumlee’s game. He will work hard on the glass (although my head will explode probably in the near future from the cap space he takes up) and free up important minutes to develop our younger players which leads to my next point: I like the young core. Letting Millsap go and getting at least something in return is nice, we get a late LAC 1st rounder which I don’t hate, and Diamond Stone. Stone was one of those guys who everybody thought would be amazing coming out of high school and never really developed in college. I still like acquiring him, because now he can get some NBA minutes, make some mistakes, and develop, rather than ride the pine on the Clippers. He’s a cheap, short contract (1 more year) and we have control of his rookie contract in case he ends up making major strides this season.
I also really like the core we have in place from the last few drafts. It’s not star-studded, it’s not going to ever top the young cores of the Sixers or Lakers, but it’s solid and a launching pad moving forward.
At 23, Dennis Schroder is locked up to be the starting point guard for a while, and has shown potential to be a top-tier player with a good contract if he continues to improve. We just resigned a quality bench shooter and passable defender, Mike Muscala, who can play the 4 or 5 and knows his role and Budenholzer’s schemes very well. We just locked up Dewayne Dedmon (only 27), a high energy, bouncy player to start at the 5, protect the rim, and be a solid trade piece on a good contract if he performs. If you pay attention to the Summer League, DeAndre Bembry, Taurean Prince and John Collins (our last three first round picks) are tearing it up. They’re all high-flying athletes developing their NBA touch. Prince was a quality starter on the NBA stage at the end of last year, and Bembry is already a great defender and solid playmaker developing his 3-point shot. Everybody says Collins is a “polished low-post player” with “great instincts and hands”, developing ball-handling, NBA defense and trust in his jump shot. That’s why I like the new direction. We weren’t going anywhere, we have a talented young core, and now it’s time to tank and try to get some superstar level talent in the draft somewhere. Will we be as bad as the Lakers or the Nets? No. Could we honestly pull the 8-seed in the frighteningly weak East? Yeah (frowny face). But at least we have a direction. We’ve seen top level talent go in the later stages of the lottery in recent memory (Steph Curry, Kemba Walker, Kawhi, Paul George, Eric Bledsoe, probably Dennis Smith this year), and I’d rather get a late lottery pick than our annual 19th. Now the big question: Do I think these guys can win a championship one day? Not on their own. But with the next few seasons, it will be very interesting as Schlenk, Budenholzer and the new look Hawks embark on our unique version of the Process. Now if only we can dump Kent Bazemore somehow.
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