Thunderstorm woke me up at 3:30 AM
I don’t see him falling to the Spurs either. I think the guy with all-star potential that might fall is actually Kasparas Jakucionis.
Fair point College ball is much different than NBA but I’m just projecting that he will become a better athlete. The way he moves his feet says so to me.
Darn, did Trae say this recently that he wants to stay with the Hawks?
In the Spring of 2018, after hiding in NY for most of the season, Kawhi said he wanted to stay in SA. A few months later, he was gone, forcing his way out.
A lot of what players say is for PR purposes. If he has any interest in winning, he’ll request a trade. ATL, got nearly every break, every lucky bounce or heave shot. They far outperformed their net rating, and they still wound up on the bottom half of the play in.
He said today that he wants to stay with the Hawks and that he will never miss the playoffs again. Just words but I fully expect him to sign the super max. Our only hope seems to be the Hawks viewing it differently
The Grand Canyon sized gap between our perspectives on this are fun... I'm glad to see you back, looking forward to more of your scenarios.
They might. They are pretty much a treadmill team that doesn’t own a clean pick until 2028. That will be a MF expensive contract for a high usage player who hasn’t led his team in WS since 2022 and only twice in his career.
2025 Okungwu 7.2
2024 Capella 6.3
2023 Capella 7.2
So, Dallas has the 11th best odds for the number one pick. Will their reward for delivering the golden boy to the Lakers be a high or possibly No. 1 pick?
Let's get the conspiracy theories going gang!
I’ll go along if you can specifically explain how the lottery could be fixed.
The team I hate 2nd after the Lakers is Mavs, maybe because of 2006 and Jason Terry smug’s face, Carlisle’s whining. The only thing worse is Derek Fisher’s face. Anyway them getting Flagg would be crazy.
the way I see it the Spurs should look for high level role players. Meaning that if you are trying to contend it would make sense that you run a 8-man rotation in the playoffs. Your 6th and 7th man should basically be starting caliber players with the 8th man being a good rim protecting center. We need the Derrick White's and Al Horford's of the world. Not neccessarily on those positions, but that type of versatile high level skillset.
It also depends on what the inden y of this team should be. It seems like they are trying to build a team with positional size and multiple ball handlers that plays at a fast pace and runs in transition. I'm not worried about the Fox/Castle pairing. Fox should up his percentage just by getting better looks playing with Wemby and Castle has been progressing as a shooter already. They are not snipers, but should both have a respectable 3-point shot. Our starting forwards should be very good shooters though.
The fact that we have the best rim protector ever and still weren't able to build a top 10 defense shows you how abysmal our coaching staff is. That should've been the first priority, to give this team some type of defensive iden y. So with all that being said I view the roster as follows:
starters:
Fox
Castle
-
-
Wemby
bench:
-
Vassell
Champagnie
Barnes
-
if we are talking serious playoff team, this squad needs a starting SF and PF and a back up C. Back up PG not really since Castle can play those minutes at the 1 or Wesley gets spot minutes during the regular season. Sochan could be slotted in as a bench player, but he needs to have a role that he can excel in.
Whoever we draft at 8 should be a player who can be in the regular rotation right away. Players that I could see be an immediate contributor are Knueppel, Jakucionis, Maluach (I'm not expecting us to get into the top 4). If we are also using 14 Bryant and Fleming seem to be the best 3-and-D prospects who might be able to play bench minutes. I don't mind getting a player who needs some development in that range or trading the pick for a starter. 2nd round pick should absolutely be used on a back up big.
We should add one starting forward via FA/trade. John Collins remains the most realistic option to me and would be a great fit (him, Naz Reid and Aldama are the top 3). He averaged 19/8/2/1/1 and shot 40% on 3.7 attempts from 3. He can step out and shoot, can post up smaller players, is a good roll man, athletic above the rim player and good weakside shotblocker. Dude would look like an All-Star compared to that garbage we been having on our roster.
Alexander Walker and LaRavia might be available as wings, although it's kinda hard for me to see where we could open up some minutes with all those guards we already have. The back up C market is also very slim in the NBA right now, which is why I prefer drafting one. We need a good rim protetcor off the bench, cause once Wemby sits, teams attack the rim like it's a free lay up giveaway. Maybe Brook Lopez or Steven Adams might be veteran stop gaps for that position we could pry away.
If we are able to somehow fill these 3 positions then we are working with something and can upgrade accordingly.
Last edited by RC_Drunkford; 04-23-2025 at 03:48 PM.
what‘s wrong with you man? you claimed you don‘t know any mocks that have Fleming outside the top 15 and I named you a few.
I didn‘t doubt that there are mocks that rank him top 15.
btw. If you need nbadraft.net to back up your point, you should really start to overthink your opinion. the worst site in the history of draft sites. By far.
I think Alexander Walker is a sneaky good pickup as a backup 2/3... We don't consider him enough.
John Collins is a great option if he opts out. Not at all interested in paying the Ainge premium in a trade.
A backup big option might be Clint Capella. He’s a UFA this summer, and has a career double double average, including 7 straight years previous to this season. He’s a good shot blocker and led the NBA in overall rebounding in 2031, and twice in offensive boards. His career ORB%/DRB%/TRB% splits are 15.2/28.8/22.0. He’s a ing rebounding machine.
Capela is not a bad option, although I think his pick & roll defense fell off a cliff in ATL. Then again he played with Trae Young, so that might be the main reason why. I think we could get Collins for Keldon, Branham and 14.
Capella would definitely bring the rebounding we need and he’s a decent lob threat which would work nicely with players like castle.
Yeah, playing with Trae, he’d 100% have to be in drop coverage. That would make most bigs look bad.
I initially thought not staggering Fox-Paul was to give Castle primary ball handling reps, but Wesley over Branham gave me pause. Was is just because they needed another guard when Fox was shut down and are done with Branham or because they don't see Castle as a primary creator in the non Fox minutes?
If it's the latter, then obviously it means continuing to play smallish on the perimeter with Vassell playing more SF than SG and creates a need for a backup creator since Wesley is a replacement player.
Which brings me to Jakucionis. Could serve as Fox's understudy/apprentice throughout his initial contract and if all all goes well, eventually give them a succession plan so they don't feel obligated to extend the latter into his late-post prime years. Good theoretical fit with Castle too.
I don't see Lopez accepting a backup position, especially when teams like the Warriors/Lakers have a gaping hole in the middle.
Wesley is a good ball handler, but his vision is lacking. He’s not a PG, and was just soaking up some of Fox’s and the departed Tre’s minutes.
I thought that was your job, I just come up with half-baked theories on the lunatic fringe.
Nice post RC - Pretty much agree with you and definitely agree with you on the defense side of lack of coaching/execution. For me picking the right coach is they key to how far this team will be able to go in the playoffs and is going to be one of the most important decisions this organization has made in the last 20+ years.
For me going into first pick I would take Kon or Tre - For second first round pick I am changing up and kinda going back to Wolf as he is just a smart crafty player who can be used in a lot of ways. My other thought is that we might be going with another French player either Noa or Traore as they have upside but will need a year or two which I am fine with.
Also, like your thoughts of getting a seasoned PF as a starter and to pick up a big in the second round.
I thought that was my job?
You literally asked:
I answer you and you get your panties in a bunch.
one advantage to0 his comment is the Hawks are in the Eastern Conference. On the whole, the conference is a giant turd. So being in the East, the chances of his comment being true is so much better than if his team were in the West.
How much would Capela cost? Any rough ideas? Will his signing prevent signing of Naz Reid or John Collions?
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