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Originally Posted by GTO2.0
Atlanta setting themselves up to be the Utah of the East, imo - which honestly is a good goal.
I mean, this is where I was at this point last year:
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Originally Posted by TJ Eckleburg12
Do the Hawks have a path forward to relevance, or am I getting high on my own supply with all this time off from seeing them?
Getting past the franchise-shattering decision to pass on Luka (ugh), we have Trae, who can score and create, but will always be limited defensively.
So we bring in Capela for rim protection, who can run with tempo, to pair with another bouncy young big in John Collins.
We draft De'Andre Hunter, who was old coming out but was probably the most NBA-ready wing defender in that draft.
I'm not really sold on Huerter as Klay 2.0, but he and Reddish have shown occasional flashes. Is there any reason for optimism that they could develop into useful role players, or maybe more?
So I still haven't forgiven the franchise for choosing Trae over Luka, but if you're going to build around Trae, it seems like all the roster moves and team construction after that soul-sucking decision attempts to maximize and build around Trae's strengths, while covering for his limitations.
If you need 2 or 3 superstars to win a title, the hardest step is going from 0 to 1. Does anyone think that can be Trae, or anyone else on the roster?
Let's play "fun with posts from last year's thread!"
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Originally Posted by All-InMcLovin
Can they be a 5th-6th seed? Yes.
Do you consider that relevant? I have no idea.
+10000 TZ points for correctly picking the Hawks' playoff seed
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Originally Posted by fidstar-poker
Can't imagine that the Hawks are that relevant any time soon. They may sneak into the 7th/8th seed in the next two or three seasons. But in the East that's not relevant.
For the next few years, 76ers, Bucks, Celtics, Nets, Toronto and Heat are definitely going to be better.
Can't see Trae being the best player on a championship team.
Booooooooooo
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Originally Posted by tarheels2222
Unfortunately, they gave that up when they traded Luka before he ever stepped on the court.
All I see is a noted playoff CHOKER, vs a team constructed around strengths that fits together
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Originally Posted by tchaz
Obviously anyone not taking Luka is a fireable error. Doesn't matter what the rest of the roster is.
Imo, the only possible path the Hawks have right now is (i) quite long and (ii) through Collins. Trae has to get traded and build the team around Collins .. for 2024/2025.
That's a very uncertain path, because I'm not convinced Collins will be a key-stone of a highly competitive team .. but that's your best bet right now. (Same as Frank is for the Knicks.)
* When I say "build the team around" I definitely do not expect Collins to be the MVP of the team/conference/league .. just that that player is the anchor.
People can say what they want about Trae, I (now) like that he's been doubted every step of the way, including by me.
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Originally Posted by GeoffRas22
I think people itt are selling the Hawks short. Trae/Huerter/Reddish/Hunter/Collins/Capela is a solid 6 that brings versatility in lineup construction and is incredibly young. We probably know what Capela is, but the other 5 all have paths to improvement on both ends. Trae's defensive ceiling is low, but he's literally been one of the worst defenders in the league his first two seasons. He can get better.
The Hawks are never going to be an elite team in the classic way with two superstars and role players. But I do see a path to being a 2014 Pacers/2015 Hawks/2016-2018 Raptors/2019 Blazers-like team. And as the league balances out (which it feels well on the path to), that type of team has as good a chance as its ever had.
+INFINITY TZ points, this is basically exactly what's happened
...And since it's only fair, if we're looking at hot sports takes from 18+ months ago,
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Originally Posted by TJ Eckleburg12
Yeah... so basically not relevant unless something major changes
It irks me that Trae's 99th percentile career outcome would be "almost-Damian Lillard with worse defense"
This was known on draft day. And we'd be ecstatic if he even turned out that good.
And as much as I enjoy rooting for Dame, if he's your best player, you're never getting out of the 2nd round of the West.
I think I was right AND I was wrong here.
Maybe/maybe not Trae reaches his ceiling, but I think the Hawks' roster fits better than any of Dame's Portland teams did