Looks like a complete rebuild for Portland’s NBA team. Aldridge has bolted for San Antonio, Wes Matthews is going to Dallas (torn Achilles and all), center Robin Lopez is going east, Batum is headed for Florida. Starters all, abandoning ship. The only real loss is Aldridge, as Myers Leonard is a far better center than Lopez will ever be, and C.J. McCollum has more energy and quickness than any of them. Batum has been lackluster, and you never know if the player or the slacker is going to show up in any given game.
I’m happy it’s done, so the team can rebuild into one that is an actual contender in the playoffs, instead of a bunch of guys standing around watching the action. This leaves Damian Lillard, who needs to get over himself.
and they will still be better than the Hawks. I’m the only person in America, apparently, that thinks last year was a fluke. The Hawks were exposed in the playoffs and did nothing to get better. I’m so sick of hearing “trust Budz, trust the system”
At least the Blazers have a history of not sucking.
Oh, and Dame just got 125 mil, he ain’t gonna be getting over himself any time soon.
You’re not alone. I certainly thought the Hawks overachieved in the regular season and not many were surprised that the Cavs dismantled them in the playoffs. I know they’re excited about re-signing Millsap, and that’s great, but they lose Carroll and hope to replace his production with Tim Hardaway, Jr. That seems overly optimistic.
Millsap still had a nagging shoulder injury, Korver eventually went out with his ankle, Carroll hyperextended his knee and still tried to play through it. Our 6th man, Thabo, was gone from injuries from the night club incident.
Also, Hardaway won’t be a starter - he will be battling with Bazemore to be 2nd in line for Korver’s backup. Teague-Korver-Millsap-Horford-Splitter will be the starting 5.
Exposed? Yeah, injuries will do that.
We did much to get better. Horford is now playing his natural position and we have an actual center - we’re finally big up front. We added depth. And you’re crazy if you don’t think another offseason won’t do wonders for Bazemore, Schroeder, and Muscala. Schroeder could be a starter for some teams.
Not to hijack someone else’s thread but something tells me you’re not an objective source on the Atlanta Hawks.
I am a Hawks fan and have been for more than thirty years. I don’t live in Atlanta or even Ga anymore. Still, I try to objective.
Horford is a solid player. Very good, not great. Milsap also very good, not great. Korver is one-dimensional. Great shooter, sure and works very well in this system but there’s a reason he’s on his 3rd~4th team. Teague is the Hawks best player and I like him a lot but again, not elite.
They lost their best defender and probably most versatile guy, I know Milsap is better offensively.
Everyone else are just guys. Even Schroeder, way too many T/Os.
I’d be ecstatic if the Hawks prove to be for real, but history isn’t on their side. Every team in the division did something to get better. Even Charlotte, though I’m not stupid enough to consider them worthy of mention.
Atlanta should have tried to get a difference maker.
The loss of Matthews was back in March when he blew out his Achilles. He’ll never come back in anything resembling his old form. Yeah, it sucks to lose pre-injury Matthews, but that guy doesn’t exist any more.
I’m sorry to see Lopez go because he was a fun guy and his attitude and spirit lifted the rest of the team. He doesn’t put up the numbers, but the Blazers struggled a little more when he was out with an injury (especially when they lost Freeland as well). But I think Chefguy is right - Leonard will make everyone forget Lopez within a year.
Batum was just plain frustrating. Stretches of brilliance, then long stretches of WTF. I won’t miss him.
And Carroll was on his what? 4th? 5th team with us? Turned his career around, eh?
He’s worth every bit of the $8 million a year we pay him. I think of starting PG’s, he ranks 24th in pay. I can think of only a handful of guys better than him.
Thabo and Mike Scott are more than “just guys”; the rest I’ll give you.
Per 36 minutes, he averaged half a turn over more than Teague; less than John Wall, for comparison’s sake.
Wait, was the season before last not real? Pushing Indiana to 7 games as the 8th seed?
How did Washington get better? Letting Pierce go so Otto can come off the bench? What’d Miami do? Bosh is coming back so they can, hopefully, nail the 8th seed this year?
We’re probably not going to win 60 games next year but 50-55 and the division is not unreasonable. We weren’t exposed in the NBA playoffs, nothing is wrong with our system. You can’t expect 2/5ths of your starters to carry a team past a juggernaut like Cleveland.
A healthy Hawks team had no problem handling the NBA’s best. Things just went sour in February when the injuries started and never really got back. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
I agree about Matthews’ best days being behind him, and about Batum being less than the sum of his parts. And I’ve always liked Leonard! But I do think you underestimate, seeing them every night, how consistently good the Blazers’ starting 5 was when they were just OK. Warts and all, these are pretty big losses. They were a really good team in large part because they were a really solid, balanced team.
Wesley Matthews at 80% of what he was the past two years is a good player. Nic Batum, limited by injuries and all over the map in terms of production, was a good player, even in the worst season of his career – there’s not a team in the league that wouldn’t miss 10/7/5 with 43% three point shooting, and that was Batum post-break. Injured Robin Lopez was a good player. Leonard is tantalizing, but just because he’s athletic and whacks 3s doesn’t mean you don’t still lose the game when the other team gets 6 open layups boring old Lopez would have contested. I think it’s easy, when you’ve had arguably – at least at times – the best starting 5 in the league the last two years, to underappreciate what you’re losing when you lose the worst 3 of those 5, but in terms of wins and losses, solid players like that disappearing all at once is going to have an effect.
I’m sorry, but they are the definition of “just guys.” Sef is a decent defender, but neither of those guys has ever averaged double figures in pts/gm. You could argue that Hardaway, Jr. is more important than either of those guys.
Of course they’ll have to rebuild the cohesion of the former starters. Batum had a great passing game. He just quit showing up in the latter part of the season. Lopez couldn’t hit his own ass with both hands, even under the basket. Those baby hooks should be a center’s bread and butter, and he missed most of them. Good shot blocker, I’ll grant you, and a personality that was fun, but he doesn’t have the all-around game that Leonard is capable of. I think Leonard has the potential to be one of the greats. He’s young and needs to build more confidence, but in the playoffs he really shone. The medical jury is still out on Matthews. Very few players ever come back from that injury. His spark, hustle and muscle will be missed.
It will be interesting to see how Aldridge and Duncan get along and play together. Aldridge isn’t a great ball handler, but with both of them in the game racking up points, they could be difficult to stop.
The Blazers signed Kanter to an offer sheet. OKC says they’re going to match but we’ll see. He really started playing well once he got out of Utah.
I hate to sound like I’m piling on the Hawks because they’re my team.
If Splitter starts, which I find doubtful, Milsap will have to play SF. That’s not going to work out well. His old man’s game is not suited for the 3, he’ll also have to defend guys that are quicker and more athletic than he is. He’ll still have an advantage scoring but his rebounding is going to suffer.
Al’s game is also going to suffer, I don’t see him matching up well with the new style PF’s in the league.
The Hawks defense worked because Demarre did the grunt work and everyone else was free to cheat a bit.
Wasn’t hating on Korver but he’s 34 and has never been known as versatile. DeMarre was also a journeyman but he’s also always been a solid two-way player. I’m glad he got his money but the Hawks are going to miss him a lot more than most people think.
I remember thinking the Blazers would be a juggernaut back when they had B-Roy and Oden. I was hoping they’d put the Lakers in their place. Then everyone collectively blew out their knees, even the coach iirc. Walton, Bowie…the curse continues. They’re like the anti-Phoenix Suns.
If you scaled their performance to that of the starter, the aforementioned “Per 36” metric, Thabo averages nearly a double-double a game and Mike Scott averages nearly 20 points. They are high impact, quality bench players.
Hardaway Jr. was acquired because he gives immediate production and Bud thinks that he could thrive in his system. He was not acquired to take Demarre’s spot or start (he was a starter for the Knicks because they are the Knicks). A rookie at the 15th spot would have taken a year or two to give that; the Hawks are in win now mode.
Did you watch any Hawks games outside the playoffs?
If we’re going to be multiplying people’s numbers and then generously exaggerating the results, we’re going to end up with a lot of players who sound a lot better than they are.
Mike Scott: 17 points per 36; actually played 17 MPG. The difference between 20 per 36 and 17 per 36 is the difference between a top 30 scorer and probably a top 100 scorer.
Right, and there’s nothing wrong being just a guy. It doesn’t mean you’re bad. To me those guys can eat up minutes without being a huge liability to their team.
Back to the Blazers: Frazier and McCollum have teamed up with Damian Lillard as a mentor, which can only be good. All three are young players, with both the newbies being lighting fast, excellent ball handlers, and good shooters. One of the other acquisitions is 6’9" Noah Vonleh, who has a 7’4" wingspan and hands that span over 11". Replacing Aldridge is a tough assignment, but the guy can’t help but be a better dribbler. I don’t look for a deep playoff team this year, but they haven’t been real contenders for some time.