Though this is the team whose last four first round picks before Wemby were
Josh Primo
Jeremy Sochan
Malakai Branham
Blake Wesley
All completely useless
Poor DJ…left thinking he was going to make the Hawks contenders. Signed a team friendly contract to show loyalty only to be put on the trading block a few months later. Hawks are doing him dirty imo.
Though this is the team whose last four first round picks before Wemby were
Josh Primo
Jeremy Sochan
Malakai Branham
Blake Wesley
All completely useless
Setting aside his at ude issues, my problems are two:
1. He can't really throw lob passes. I wanted the Spurs to get him a lob target for years like a John Collins, but once he was with the Hawks he still couldn't throw lobs as well as he would need to with Wemby. I guess once that skill never develops by a certain age it's gone forever like with how Parker couldn't throw lobs worth a damn in all-star games.
2. He is a bad defender nowadays. Listen to any episode of Locked on Hawks where there's a season so far wrap up with a guest and there's always teeth grinding and heavy sighs over what a terrible defender he is and just how big a mistake the powers that be made in their evaluation of him.
Side note: ATL didn't miss on drafting Jalen Johnson. Passing on Sengun and Murphy is bad, but they could have had Johnson instead of old Cement Shoes Boner Shorts that they wasted a lotto pick on
Spurs aren’t trading for DJ guys. Especially after he trashed the organization on his way out. Dude will never be a Spur again tbh.
Good point, but It gets harder to up a pick the higher up it is. I think Sochanstill has a shot at developing into a solid piece on a championship caliber team. Who knows what Primo can be if used properly and I was among his biggest detractors. I think Branham is next to useless defensively.
But again, a pick in the top 3 or 5 is much harder to blow than one at 16, 19, etc. And **that** is my point that THOSE ATLANTA picks are likely to be closer to that range than being just outside the lottery.
There are 4 other guys on the floor with next to zero NBA skills and not much of an NBA future at present, who won't share the ball with Victor. It's not a stretch to think someone like Murray wouldn't want to just setup Victor to be a mega star while he himself remains relegated to a journeyman.
He‘s better than our entire roster minus Wemby. Of course I‘d want him back
The list of replacements is long. I‘d take Jim Boylen over Pop. Literally any coach who‘s smart enough to start a PG
“Just set up Victor”
we wouldn’t be bringing him here to be brevin knight
his scoring would be welcomed
I'm on the fence with this one. On one hand, Murray would do to the Spurs what he does to the Hawks, makes them better but not enough to be a contender. The Spurs would be out of the lottery, make the play-in and not the playoffs, so lower draft picks and the team would not improved. But he is relatively cheap for a 20-point player. On the other hand, Wemby is frustrated and I don't know how long he can deal with so many losses. Draft doesn't guarantee to have a top3 pick and the top3 doesn't guarantee to have an all-star and the Spurs still have picks from other teams.
He didn’t make the hawks better. They were an ECF team that slipped a little, they mortgaged the future to get him, and they’re now a lottery team.
That ECF appearance was a fluke. This happens every so often, when a team makes an unexpected run to the conference finals and starts getting the "wow they have a bright future" storylines only to heavily regress. The 2022 Mavs, 2021 Hawks, and 2019 Blazers are prime examples.
I'm not a DJ Sniffer, but is it possible the decline of the Hawks has far more to do with Trae Young being the centerpiece.
DJs defense falling off a cliff, that is weird.
Lack of effort? Injury he is coving up / nursing?
Lotta Marvin Bagleys and Derrick Williams types getting picked high in the draft too though. Don't have too much faith in Brian Wright after going from RC making great picks like Derrick White, Dejounte Murray, and Keldon Johnson to Wright completely whiffing on the 21 and 22 drafts and then not getting the job done to trade for a PG in the 23 draft.
im not liking what ive seen, but its way too early to write off 2022 as a complete whiff. jalen johnson, taken in the 2021 draft, did absolutely nothing for 2 years and now suddenly in year 3 looks like a legit nba starter
the 3 guys we took in 2022 are all still 20 year olds
i have the least hope in branham though
Murray's defense was never that good. Dude stole Green's All-D selection that year. Even Anderson would've been more deserving. He's been living off that selection ever since.
It was a fluke, and I said that they had slipped, but they were still a playoff team. They currently aren’t. Dejounte did not improve them. Facts.
the ECF team also had a productive john collins who could play good D and was a capable shooter as well as an athletic scorer. his game died basically upon signing his new contract. his shooting has somewhat rebounded, but he's not the same scorer in utah without a good PG feeding him good looks the way Trae used to
Someone mentioned trading Pop.
I like it. I think that would get the most for the least.
They were still a playoff team with a reduced John Collins, right up until he left. The point I was arguing was ‘did Dejounte improve the Hawks.’, and I still say no.
Yeah, Branham has little fire. Too passive but we'll see. If Wesley can stop getting his shot annihilated at the rim, I have some weak hope for him. He's aggressive. Plays defense. And can get into the paint (the location of his chronic trauma). His jumper is better than Tre's, which is a low bar but that's where we are. So... let's start Blake, I guess is my point. Keep trying players. It's his actual position. That's a positive.
nah, but i also think the fit is dubious with Trae not really moving off-ball, and dejounte having to defend bigger guards than he's had to in the past
Jim Boylen?....Ok, name a few. I'm all ears.
Exactly. You want someone here who doesn't have their own idea of all star trajectory. There's only one basketball. I'd take him over anyone else on the team now, but I think some here want a "pass to Victor" guy, including me. I want to see what Victor can do, I know what Murray can do.
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