The most questionable moves Travis Schlenk has made as Hawks’ GM由JabariIverson 发表在翻译团招工部 https://bbs.hupu.com/fyt-store
Travis Schlenk celebrated his third anniversary as the Hawks’ general manager last month and enters one of the most unique offseasons that we’ve seen in NBA history. It’s also an important one for the Hawks as they look to accelerate their rebuild and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Atlanta is one of the most interesting teams to keep track of once the offseason begins because it’ll have the most cap space in the league, a potential No. 1 overall pick in the draft and some big roster decisions, such as John Collins’ contract extension and whether it should consider consolidation trades to start turning promise into known commodities.
Before the offseason officially starts for the Hawks, we’re going to look back over Schlenk’s best and most-questionable decisions as the team’s GM. Below are what we consider his most questionable moves to date. On Monday, I wrote about his best moves.
Let’s get to it.
The capital given up to acquire De’Andre Hunter
This is not an indictment on Hunter as a player, but the decision to give up picks Nos. 8, 17 and 35 and Cleveland’s 2020 first-round pick (now two second-round picks) and absorb Solomon Hill’s contract for Hunter and a 2019 second-round pick that was used to acquire Bruno Fernando and a top-45 protected 2023 pick seems too rich.
Normally, you’d want your selection at No. 4 to have a good chance at becoming a superstar one day, and I don’t see that happening with Hunter, at least as of right now. If this team is going to continue to revolve around Trae Young, which is almost guaranteed unless he asks to be traded one day, Hunter is likely relegated to being a role player. That’s fine — not every player is going to be a star — but when you trade two first-round picks and an early second-round pick and take on a salary dump, you generally would want more than a good role player in return.
Let’s put it this way: If the Hawks had kept their three first-round picks, so Nos. 8, 10 and 17, how would things look different for the future of this team if it grabbed Jaxson Hayes at No. 8, Cam Reddish at No. 10 and Brandon Clarke or Kevin Porter Jr. at No. 17? Or how about Reddish at No. 8, P.J. Washington at No. 10 and Goga Bitadze at No. 17? In either option, the Hawks wouldn’t have Fernando on the roster because there wouldn’t be a need to grab a center because Hayes or Bitadze would take his place.
The point is, Schlenk gave up a massive haul for a player who might just end up being a solid role player, and if that’s the case, having multiple cracks at potentially finding a star is a better option.
Giving Jabari Parker a player option
Before the Hawks traded Omari Spellman, they signed Parker to a two-year, $13 million deal with the second year being a $6.5 million player option.
Signing Parker wasn’t necessarily a bad decision by Schlenk. The Hawks had given up on Omari Spellman, who likely was going to play some backup power forward, after he showed up to Summer League out of shape. Replacing him with Parker, who is plainly better than Spellman, was an upgrade — perhaps a modest one but still an upgrade.
But the most surprising detail about Parker’s contract with the Hawks was his player option. Parker was effective with the Washington Wizards before hitting free agency. He was elite at the rim, finishing 71 percent of his shots for Washington. Parker was effective in creating for others, especially in the Wizards’ transition offense, which is how the Hawks get a lot of their buckets in Pierce’s system. But, by no means, was Parker worthy of receiving a player option.
Parker was an OK replacement for Collins during his suspension, but Parker still was a massive liability defensively, which he has been for his career. He then injured his shoulder, causing him to miss significant time, and Schlenk admitted that it became apparent that Parker was likely going to opt into his player option this offseason.
Having Parker on the roster for next season wouldn’t make much sense. Hunter likely will play more backup power forward minutes than he did this season plus there’s always the potential of signing someone who would have been better than Parker, and there are plenty of players who would fall into that category, this offseason. So, Parker would have just been taking up a spot on the roster when he doesn’t fit on a team that is now looking to advance in its rebuild.
Thinking Evan Turner was a viable backup point guard option
The Kent Bazemore for Turner swap was a weird one when it was announced. The rationale for the trade was Turner was going to be Young’s backup, and the Hawks were doing Bazemore a favor for trading him to his No. 1 preferred destination after his trade request.
While it was a nice gesture for the Hawks to satisfy Bazemore’s wishes because he was going to find himself buried on the wing depth chart as the rookies and second-year players played the majority of the minutes, they didn’t get a quality player in return.
Thinking Turner was going to be a fine backup point guard option seemed doomed from the moment we learned that was the team’s plan. In Portland the year prior, the Blazers were significantly worse with Turner at point guard than they were when he played the two or three. In the limited minutes Turner did play for the Hawks, only 14 percent of his minutes were at point guard, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Turner was mostly ineffective in the limited minutes he did play for the Hawks and provided close to zero value for the team. He played in just 19 games and was a healthy scratch in nearly half of the Hawks’ 67 games this season as the team focused more on playing the younger players.
Not going into this past season with a quality starting center
The three centers on the Hawks’ roster going into this season were: Alex Len, Damian Jones and Fernando. Len hadn’t proven that he could be highly effective playing more than 20 minutes per game, Jones had only played 49 games in three seasons with Golden State, and Fernando was a very raw second-round pick out of Maryland. The possibility for disaster was certainly more realistic than you’d want it to be.
Len ended up winning the starting job out of training camp but was putrid in the nine games he started at the beginning of the season. He played much better coming off the bench, but the problem was Jones and Fernando were not adequate options to start, especially while Collins sat out for 25 games because of his suspension.
When the Hawks traded Spellman for Jones and a future second-round pick, there was some optimism initially that Jones was going to end up becoming the starting center because they viewed him as a lethal pick-and-roll threat who would thrive playing with Young. Rolling to the rim is Jones’ best NBA skill, but unfortunately for Jones and the Hawks, they quickly learned that it was his only NBA-level skill.
Fernando showed flashes at points, but it was clear that he wasn’t ready to play as many meaningful minutes as he ended up playing this season. Because of Collins’ suspension, injuries and an it-can’t-be-worse feeling about the group, Fernando was thrust into a position he just wasn’t ready for. Because of the additions of Clint Capela and Dewayne Dedmon and Collins’ ability to play small-ball five, I wonder how Fernando will see regular playing time next season if everyone stays healthy.
The production the Hawks ended up getting from the combination of the centers of Schlenk’s choosing made for one of the worst units in all of the NBA and was a hindrance on most nights to compete at a high level.
Trading for Jeremy Lin
How the Hawks received almost nothing value-wise from Brooklyn for absorbing Lin’s $13.8 million salary is mind-boggling. The deal was effectively a three-team trade with Brooklyn and Denver. The Nets absorbed two contract dumps from the Nuggets and got a top-12 protected pick. The Hawks could have done that deal with the Nuggets themselves and then sign a minimum guard. Instead, the Hawks received a 2023 second-round pick swap with the Nets and their 2025 second-round pick.
Lin played 51 games in the 2018-19 season before he was bought out after the trade deadline passed. The Hawks were trying to trade him, but there was no interest. It worked out for Lin, however, because Toronto ended up signing him, and he got a championship ring.
Lin also was a great mentor to Young in his rookie season, but from a roster-building standpoint, the value on this trade was not with the Hawks when it should have been.
Trading for Dewayne Dedmon
This trade caught me completely off guard when it happened. I wasn’t expecting it — and from talking with Schlenk afterward — it didn’t sound like he expected it when he woke up that day. The night before, Schlenk had acquired Capela from Houston, so the center position seemed settled. The rest of the season didn’t matter by then because the Hawks weren’t making the playoffs; they could just continue playing Len, who was still dealing with a minor injury at the time, Jones and Fernando, plus they could use Collins at center, too.
So, when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Atlanta had acquired Dedmon and two second-round picks for Len and Parker, I was surprised. Last offseason, the Hawks made it known behind the scenes that they weren’t interested in signing Dedmon to a long-term contract. But now they have him under contract for next season at just more than $13 million and the season after for the same price, although his salary in Year 3 only comes with $1 million guaranteed.
I understand the Hawks valued having Dedmon’s presence in the locker room, but I’m not sure his voice is worth that much. The center position is oversaturated, and they could have found a fine backup option for much less than what they’re paying now and kept their cap space heading into the offseason — or they could have used that space to make a bigger move.
Plus, the picks the Hawks received in this deal are projected to be in the 50s. They didn’t need to cut into their cap space to receive two picks in the 50s. If they truly coveted these picks, they likely could have just bought a late-second round pick on draft night or in the days leading up to the draft. Maybe Schlenk views these picks as trade chips down the road, but the value of picks in the 50s is small.
Because Dedmon’s salary only has that $1 million guarantee, perhaps Schlenk will try to trade him around the deadline next season and we can revisit this trade, but I just don’t see the value in making this deal.
Bonus: Trading for Chandler Parsons
Hang the jersey in State Farm Arena’s rafters for the Florida great.
Travis Schlenk celebrated his third anniversary as the Hawks’ general manager last month and enters one of the most unique offseasons that we’ve seen in NBA history. It’s also an important one for the Hawks as they look to accelerate their rebuild and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Atlanta is one of the most interesting teams to keep track of once the offseason begins because it’ll have the most cap space in the league, a potential No. 1 overall pick in the draft and some big roster decisions, such as John Collins’ contract extension and whether it should consider consolidation trades to start turning promise into known commodities.
Before the offseason officially starts for the Hawks, we’re going to look back over Schlenk’s best and most-questionable decisions as the team’s GM. Below are what we consider his most questionable moves to date. On Monday, I wrote about his best moves.
Let’s get to it.
The capital given up to acquire De’Andre Hunter
This is not an indictment on Hunter as a player, but the decision to give up picks Nos. 8, 17 and 35 and Cleveland’s 2020 first-round pick (now two second-round picks) and absorb Solomon Hill’s contract for Hunter and a 2019 second-round pick that was used to acquire Bruno Fernando and a top-45 protected 2023 pick seems too rich.
Normally, you’d want your selection at No. 4 to have a good chance at becoming a superstar one day, and I don’t see that happening with Hunter, at least as of right now. If this team is going to continue to revolve around Trae Young, which is almost guaranteed unless he asks to be traded one day, Hunter is likely relegated to being a role player. That’s fine — not every player is going to be a star — but when you trade two first-round picks and an early second-round pick and take on a salary dump, you generally would want more than a good role player in return.
Let’s put it this way: If the Hawks had kept their three first-round picks, so Nos. 8, 10 and 17, how would things look different for the future of this team if it grabbed Jaxson Hayes at No. 8, Cam Reddish at No. 10 and Brandon Clarke or Kevin Porter Jr. at No. 17? Or how about Reddish at No. 8, P.J. Washington at No. 10 and Goga Bitadze at No. 17? In either option, the Hawks wouldn’t have Fernando on the roster because there wouldn’t be a need to grab a center because Hayes or Bitadze would take his place.
The point is, Schlenk gave up a massive haul for a player who might just end up being a solid role player, and if that’s the case, having multiple cracks at potentially finding a star is a better option.
Giving Jabari Parker a player option
Before the Hawks traded Omari Spellman, they signed Parker to a two-year, $13 million deal with the second year being a $6.5 million player option.
Signing Parker wasn’t necessarily a bad decision by Schlenk. The Hawks had given up on Omari Spellman, who likely was going to play some backup power forward, after he showed up to Summer League out of shape. Replacing him with Parker, who is plainly better than Spellman, was an upgrade — perhaps a modest one but still an upgrade.
But the most surprising detail about Parker’s contract with the Hawks was his player option. Parker was effective with the Washington Wizards before hitting free agency. He was elite at the rim, finishing 71 percent of his shots for Washington. Parker was effective in creating for others, especially in the Wizards’ transition offense, which is how the Hawks get a lot of their buckets in Pierce’s system. But, by no means, was Parker worthy of receiving a player option.
Parker was an OK replacement for Collins during his suspension, but Parker still was a massive liability defensively, which he has been for his career. He then injured his shoulder, causing him to miss significant time, and Schlenk admitted that it became apparent that Parker was likely going to opt into his player option this offseason.
Having Parker on the roster for next season wouldn’t make much sense. Hunter likely will play more backup power forward minutes than he did this season plus there’s always the potential of signing someone who would have been better than Parker, and there are plenty of players who would fall into that category, this offseason. So, Parker would have just been taking up a spot on the roster when he doesn’t fit on a team that is now looking to advance in its rebuild.
Thinking Evan Turner was a viable backup point guard option
The Kent Bazemore for Turner swap was a weird one when it was announced. The rationale for the trade was Turner was going to be Young’s backup, and the Hawks were doing Bazemore a favor for trading him to his No. 1 preferred destination after his trade request.
While it was a nice gesture for the Hawks to satisfy Bazemore’s wishes because he was going to find himself buried on the wing depth chart as the rookies and second-year players played the majority of the minutes, they didn’t get a quality player in return.
Thinking Turner was going to be a fine backup point guard option seemed doomed from the moment we learned that was the team’s plan. In Portland the year prior, the Blazers were significantly worse with Turner at point guard than they were when he played the two or three. In the limited minutes Turner did play for the Hawks, only 14 percent of his minutes were at point guard, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Turner was mostly ineffective in the limited minutes he did play for the Hawks and provided close to zero value for the team. He played in just 19 games and was a healthy scratch in nearly half of the Hawks’ 67 games this season as the team focused more on playing the younger players.
Not going into this past season with a quality starting center
The three centers on the Hawks’ roster going into this season were: Alex Len, Damian Jones and Fernando. Len hadn’t proven that he could be highly effective playing more than 20 minutes per game, Jones had only played 49 games in three seasons with Golden State, and Fernando was a very raw second-round pick out of Maryland. The possibility for disaster was certainly more realistic than you’d want it to be.
Len ended up winning the starting job out of training camp but was putrid in the nine games he started at the beginning of the season. He played much better coming off the bench, but the problem was Jones and Fernando were not adequate options to start, especially while Collins sat out for 25 games because of his suspension.
When the Hawks traded Spellman for Jones and a future second-round pick, there was some optimism initially that Jones was going to end up becoming the starting center because they viewed him as a lethal pick-and-roll threat who would thrive playing with Young. Rolling to the rim is Jones’ best NBA skill, but unfortunately for Jones and the Hawks, they quickly learned that it was his only NBA-level skill.
Fernando showed flashes at points, but it was clear that he wasn’t ready to play as many meaningful minutes as he ended up playing this season. Because of Collins’ suspension, injuries and an it-can’t-be-worse feeling about the group, Fernando was thrust into a position he just wasn’t ready for. Because of the additions of Clint Capela and Dewayne Dedmon and Collins’ ability to play small-ball five, I wonder how Fernando will see regular playing time next season if everyone stays healthy.
The production the Hawks ended up getting from the combination of the centers of Schlenk’s choosing made for one of the worst units in all of the NBA and was a hindrance on most nights to compete at a high level.
Trading for Jeremy Lin
How the Hawks received almost nothing value-wise from Brooklyn for absorbing Lin’s $13.8 million salary is mind-boggling. The deal was effectively a three-team trade with Brooklyn and Denver. The Nets absorbed two contract dumps from the Nuggets and got a top-12 protected pick. The Hawks could have done that deal with the Nuggets themselves and then sign a minimum guard. Instead, the Hawks received a 2023 second-round pick swap with the Nets and their 2025 second-round pick.
Lin played 51 games in the 2018-19 season before he was bought out after the trade deadline passed. The Hawks were trying to trade him, but there was no interest. It worked out for Lin, however, because Toronto ended up signing him, and he got a championship ring.
Lin also was a great mentor to Young in his rookie season, but from a roster-building standpoint, the value on this trade was not with the Hawks when it should have been.
Trading for Dewayne Dedmon
This trade caught me completely off guard when it happened. I wasn’t expecting it — and from talking with Schlenk afterward — it didn’t sound like he expected it when he woke up that day. The night before, Schlenk had acquired Capela from Houston, so the center position seemed settled. The rest of the season didn’t matter by then because the Hawks weren’t making the playoffs; they could just continue playing Len, who was still dealing with a minor injury at the time, Jones and Fernando, plus they could use Collins at center, too.
So, when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that Atlanta had acquired Dedmon and two second-round picks for Len and Parker, I was surprised. Last offseason, the Hawks made it known behind the scenes that they weren’t interested in signing Dedmon to a long-term contract. But now they have him under contract for next season at just more than $13 million and the season after for the same price, although his salary in Year 3 only comes with $1 million guaranteed.
I understand the Hawks valued having Dedmon’s presence in the locker room, but I’m not sure his voice is worth that much. The center position is oversaturated, and they could have found a fine backup option for much less than what they’re paying now and kept their cap space heading into the offseason — or they could have used that space to make a bigger move.
Plus, the picks the Hawks received in this deal are projected to be in the 50s. They didn’t need to cut into their cap space to receive two picks in the 50s. If they truly coveted these picks, they likely could have just bought a late-second round pick on draft night or in the days leading up to the draft. Maybe Schlenk views these picks as trade chips down the road, but the value of picks in the 50s is small.
Because Dedmon’s salary only has that $1 million guarantee, perhaps Schlenk will try to trade him around the deadline next season and we can revisit this trade, but I just don’t see the value in making this deal.
Bonus: Trading for Chandler Parsons
Hang the jersey in State Farm Arena’s rafters for the Florida great.
推荐
评论 (2)
收藏
分享
举报
只看楼主