Atlanta Hawks go quiet at NBA Trade Deadline; Dejounte Murray, Clint Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic stay

Atlanta Hawks go quiet at NBA Trade Deadline; Dejounte Murray, Clint Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic stay

On today’s show the deadline came and went and the Hawks did absolutely nothing on this Thursday afternoon into the evening and I’ll touch on what transpired and what didn’t transpire in that entire sequence the context around it where the Hawks go from here and probably the frustrations that a lot of

Fans are having we’ll get into all of that and more right now you are locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Applause] day Hello friends welcome to episode 1649 of loton hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Thursday evening and Today’s Show is brought to you by priz piix eest most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports the place to go is

Price.com lnba and use code lnba when you get there for first time deposit match up to $0000 also I encourage you as I always do to make us your first listen each and every day on this podcast and check us out and subscribe to the show anywhere you get your

Podcasts Apple Spotify we’re also on YouTube on the video side overcast Etc and again anywhere you get your podcasts and Today’s Show is a little bit of a different one A little bit challenging in some respects because no game to cover nobody have questions to answer the Hawks did nothing on this Thursday

Of course it is deadline day in the NBA the deadline was 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time occasionally a deal will leak out after 3:00 so I had to kind of Hold Steady make some calls Etc I had some day job responsibilities today so it was a little bit tough to gauge everything um

Wasn’t given the all clear by the Hawks they actually did nothing until almost 4:00 but in the end the Hawks did not make a single transaction they are one of only five teams in the NBA to not make a trade of any kind between the start of the season and the deadline and

Yeah I’ll just open with this I understand the frustration here I pride myself on being levelheaded and evenhanded and giving you the context that is really the ethos of the show in a lot of ways I cover the team professionally I’m not going to go on

The rants that some fans might and I get that I’m I’m removed from it but I’m I’m in the locker room I’m around the team I’m asking questions that’s not my job but all that said I’m usually that way and I get it but I will say this I understand the

Frustration for a team that has underachieved the way the Hawks have the last couple of years and for all the buzz and all the rumors and all the you know stuff out there in the last couple of weeks even for the Hawks to do absolutely nothing not even not even a

Minor move I thought at the very least the Hawks would probably do something small if not if not something big at the deadline and uh in the end they just kind of held tight so I’ll kind of go through all of that I will it’s probably

Going to be a little bit of a uneven show in some respects I don’t have the same kind of outline that I normally would I’ll talk about what didn’t happen maybe why it didn’t happen the context around it I’ll talk about the roster and where the Hawks go from here MoneyWise

Playerwise Etc at the end of the show I’ll talk about the latest news beyond the deadline as well as a as a quick look ahead at the Hawks playing basketball on Friday which is going to be happening by the way they should play a game on Friday in Philadelphia but

First I’ll say this standing Pat at the deadline in a vacuum so in a vacuum is is the important part there is not crazy at all to do sometimes there are deals that are not going to come available for you nothing’s going to make sense for

You that that just sort of be available to you at that point in time I’m not defending what the Hawks did here or what they didn’t do here I will just say this and this is where I put my analyst media hat back on it’s really

Hard to do this when you don’t know what’s been offered and on the outside looking in yeah there’s stuff that I hear that I either share or don’t share depending on what it is and sometimes I hear stuff and I can criticize it there’s been all kinds of reporting out

There I’ve shared some about you know go going back a few years to the Hawks turning down a deal and by by the Hawks I mean Tony russler turning down a deal for Paul Milsap or Tony Tony wrestler reportedly and I think probably happened sort of declining a deal for John

Collins involving Harrison Barn a couple years ago that stuff gets out there eventually but I’ll say this with firm conviction we never know I never know all the stuff that’s been offered what could have been offered for the Hawks all that stuff so keep that in mind but

It is very possible to stand Pat and had that be the right decision in some situations with that said it’s harder for the Hawks to sell that it’s harder for the Hawks with the way that that look sort of looks be given because of kind of their questionable recent

History of management of their roster and players and contracts holding on holding on to guys for too long we don’t know that’s what’s going on here with regard to Murray and capella and Hunter etc etc but you don’t have to go very far to find some examples of the Hawks

Holding on to guys too long or not managing their Assets in the best possible way I won’t go through all the history but John Collins is the most prominent example of course they had him on the trade block essentially every six months for three years and they did

Their part to kill his trade value and at the very end they instead of just kicking the again on the road over and over and over again as they did they ended up selling him and trading him for nothing they also signed Cella to an extension that they didn’t have to sign

Him to and that would only really make sense if they were planning on trading him shortly into the extension but now they didn’t do that they gave y Hunter an extension a year ahead of time that they didn’t have to do and while neither hunter or capella are on totally

Disastrous contracts they’re not on big value deals either in general the Hawks being so open for business quote unquote this cycle might have led to to some of the Market challenges as well because sometimes teams around the league know that the Hawks are up against it financially right now and in the future

And they’re trying to retool things that’s very much out there that they’re trying to build around Trey and jayen that’s obviously a good foundation in behalf but if teams know that you’re trying to do that actively it’s tough sometimes to be in a position of strength when you have a pretty

Inexperienced front office and you are kind of again well known to be kind of open for business it’s hard to kind of do that and I guess through that lens it’s better to draw a line in the sand and say we’re not going to sell guys for

For nothing or sell guys for less than they’re worth in trade and I totally get that that makes a lot of sense but more than anything I think the Hawks need a plan and they have to stick to it long term maybe they have one now we just

Don’t know it yet and they’re keeping their clars Coast to the best again I said a second ago but the number one most consistent thing that the Hawks have been saying and leaking and kind of whispering behind the scenes they’re trying to build around Trey young and

Jaylen Johnson and that part of the plan I endorse Trey young is their best player Joe Johnson is their best young player that makes a lot of sense but there has to be cohesion in the plan long term so we we’ll get to all all different stuff on this podcast but

First we got to start with with Deonte Murray who was the biggest name really on the whole trade market across the league after seak and anovi were traded by Toronto no one who is a better player than de jontan Murray was traded at the deadline no one not one player who is as

Good as he is right now was moved in the last couple days I’ll say this I am not surprised that they did not trade Deon at least coming into the last couple of days by the time I got to the last week or or so into February my dejonte trade meter was

Falling and falling to the point where it was below 5050 coming into today I’ll say that there was a time in January probably four or five weeks ago where I was getting calls and texts about a potentially imminent deal and it would have felt pretty surprising to me at

That moment that the Hawks would keep would keep him for the next four weeks and Beyond but the market just never got there for Deon like again I thought I was going to be doing an emergency podcast four weeks ago on this front it was it was really loud there was saying

This and Chris S saying this that like they were that he was likely to be traded like not even just hedging it like likely to be moved moved and moved and all that stuff obviously there is spin involved in everything that is made public this time of year keep that in

Mind you never want to believe what any side when it comes to Media leaks or Team official statements always have your guard off is what I would say this time of year um but W who’s the leading Insider said the following I’m going to quote this now that the Hawks quote did

Not see enough in the market just to justify trade Deon Murray and also that it might get Revisited again but there just wasn’t enough in the marketplace for them to make that trade for Deon Murray end quote so someone as good as Murray you don’t just trade a guy to

Trade a guy I said it before but it really is especially true for someone like Murray who yes the entire time I’ve been covering the djon trade rumors i’ I’ve never once said the Hawks have to trade Deon Murray or anything close to that because and part of this is that he

He’s really good like yes he’s a flawed basketball player he’s not perfect I don’t think he’s a great fit in Atlanta necessarily perfect anyway but he’s really good and B there is there was no guarantee ever that they were going to have their asking price met for Deonte

Murray last night on this show I said the big questions were basically whether the Hawks were going to have their asking price drop for Murray and by the way that price was two first- round picks and a player or something of the equivalence of that or on the other side

If a team that was not going to meet that price before suddenly decided to get more desperate and meet that price from what I can gather that didn’t happen on Thursday the Lakers never had two picks to offer the Hawks wanted Austin Reeves because they have two

Picks to offer and the Lakers working to do that the closest that I think any deal actually got to happening around this entire cycle was about a month ago when it was D’Angelo Russell the 2029 first round pick and some other stuff Jon Hino Etc that got close and never

Got there we’ll come back to the Pelicans in a second with regard to Ana Kong but there was some noise last couple days about the Pelicans I don’t think they wanted to move herb Jones from what I can gather um there were ways to have that deal be done but a

Deal did not happen there I think Orlando or Brooklyn could have got in all the way on Jon that never actually happened all the way through to getting a deal done and the Hawks seemingly again just chose to hold the line on their price with Murray and bring him

Back for the future this is kind of separate but it’s also sort of a disservice to make the trade Pursuits as public as they were in the last month two months and then turn around and not pull the trigger again I just said and I

And I do mean this they didn’t need to sell low on joh Murray and trade him for very little so I’m not saying that that in itself was a bad decision but something people around the league were baffled around with John Collins previously and that it’s happening again

With Deon it became so public in the last six weeks seven weeks eight weeks that he was so available and that really both sides Deon side as a player agent and then the hawk side were so open to a new situation like TOA to trading basically that when a deal doesn’t

Happen it’s a little bit strange because usually a player like who has clutch behind him and is a former Allstar all that stuff when when that guy is out there in rumors this long he often gets traded and part of that again is that Murray was in the mix to and while he

Never demanded a trade that I know of it was very much understood that he was very open to being moved like if not eager certainly open to being moved and his reps are operating through that lens as well the entire time so it wasn’t just one-sided where the Hawks were just

Dangling him out there and Aon wanted know part of it there were at least times in the last month or six weeks that all sides both sides wanted to move on from this relationship but then you get the leak from Quint Cider at least I’m not sure if it’s from Quint cider

But Mark s reported that Quinn wanted to keep Deon then you get some of the late injury report editions um that J had in the last couple of days and the messaging kind of got very mixed across the way so in the end I actually agree

That with someone as good as dejonte you don’t just trade that guy to trade that guy for no reason especially when he signed long term it’s a good contract it’s four more years of control at least three more years because he has a player option at the end of it but anyway

That’s a good contract I like the extension it made a lot of sense for the Hawks especially um there are other considerations in play like how is lock room going to respond to this and how are the Dynamics behind the scenes that we just don’t know and probably will

Never know but as long as they believe that dejonte is able to kind of come back in the fold Buy in play his best not be a distraction all that stuff and there’s no reason not to think that in the outside right now um that I have no

I have no problem at all not trading him would there would there have been a price to trade him for me absolutely there would have been he’s not Untouchable he shouldn’t have been Untouchable but I’ll just say that like I have no problem with it as long as all

Sides are on the same page that he’s able to come back in be invested play hard Etc and I think he will do that so there you go and before I to get to a break and talk about other stuff besides de Jon the choice to keep him near through

The season and through the summer is happening that’s obviously he can’t go anywhere till the summer at this point I immediately started getting questions from people around the league agents other teams media folks Etc about the Hawks trading him again this summer like it’s not goingon to go away it’s

Different than Collins because Murray is a little bit of a high profile player than Collins was because Murray been an All-Star team Etc but it’s very similar like you can’t just keep putting a guy in the market over and over and over again either you make the decision now

To keep him and you want to invest long term or this summer it’s gonna come up again there was so much tea spilled on the situation and how publicly available he was in the last couple weeks I think we’ll get another round of that in five months they’ll trade him or they won’t

We’ll see but the Hawks have done most their bigger stuff historically obviously pre this regime for the most part but still the same owner who makes a lot of decisions Tony’s very very involved in this process Travis linkx is gone but Landry was there Etc most of

The big meal moves the Hawks have made have been in the summer and that the summer’s coming up there are suitors for deante who have more assets to offer in the summer I.E the Lakers not just the Lakers but certainly they are one of the teams and generally speaking it’s easier

To move a guy like the Jon in the summer around the draft around free agency Etc so of course the Hawks could find their footing down the stretch and they could start believing in the back Peri again one of the messaging things I want to always flag right now as being true from

What I heard is that the Hawks kind of don’t believe that that the long-term backport is TR and dejon and if you believe that as the Hawks you have to revisit it obviously they could change your mind if TR and deante start playing great together and if everything clicks

Into place that could all happen but um I think only time will tell about whether they actually start believing that stuff again but I think right now the Hawks generally do not believe that it’s going to work long term as the very very highest level that was heavily out

There behind the scenes so anyway they paid a lot for deante a lot of the reports and the buzz out there was that the Hawks were trying to get some of that back because they traded so much and I get it even at the time I said

They paid too much and they did they were a little bit desperate and that showed and there’s been the reporting out there about the behind the scenes about how Travis didn’t want the deal to be done and ownership did and all that stuff that’s been reported is old news

But it does matter in some respects but anyway they paid a lot they know he’s a really good player and he very much is J Murray is very good and they can trade him the summer if they want to um I think D situation is much different than

That of capella or hunter in particular but I do actually think that at the end of the day the Hawks were making him very available but they just drew a line in the sand that they said we’re not going to trade him for below this package or style or whatever each team

And no one met their price and in the end that’s why he’s still in Atlanta so we’ll see obviously he’s questionable to be play on Friday we’ll see if he buys in and sort of plays his best basketball the rest of the season but he’s around

He’ll be on the team through at least a draft and then we’ll have much more coming up up on that obviously I’ll have more on the trade or non-trade deadline I suppose later on in the podcast but first a one from our sponsors on today’s show today’s show is brought to you by

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Let’s move on other guys who did not move I’ll lead this by saying something that is not just one about one player in in particular but also about the team situation I mentioned it before about kind of having the Hawks hands tied a little bit because the whole league

Knows that they have some money questions in the future and it will surprise me greatly if the Hawks pay the luxury tax next season I’m not going to do the long version of this but through that lens I believe that is likely they’re going to have to at least in

Their words have to quote unquote giant quotation marks there make another cost cutting move this summer two two years ago it was Kevin hder in a deal where yes they got a first round pick but it was a lot of it was about cutting costs last year John Collins was exclusively

About cutting costs and while I’m going to save the Deep later on the Hawks are up against it for for the next year on on the tax with 10 guys on the team and with nothing alloted to to Sid Bay I thought they might cut some money now to

Save some of that and and potentially Elevate some of that problem and look maybe Tony wrestler and Company will turn over a new Leaf but he’s never paid the tax so far they openly ducked it the last two years I will not be sweat otherwise they was very obviously what

They were doing across the league everybody knows it and there’s no reason in my mind to believe that they won’t do it again so we’ll see that could change I’m not guaranteeing it but that obviously could involve shedding money through bogy or capella or hunter or

Deante or whoever going in the next year and we’ll see what happens on that but that’s sort of important background context not only for Deon but just for all the moves the Hawks didn’t make along the way is that they’re they’re kind of looming into this financial

Reality of some fear for next year now click aella is still on the team so for today’s show I will I want to say this I I’ll put this to the side a lot of the discussions about Clint’s onc Court impact for this discussion because I

Think a lot of it is off the rails obviously if you listen to the podcast regularly you will know that I’m a little bit higher on Clint than most are and it’s not least most R Atlanta are I think I’m kind of in line with where The

League is on Clint which is basically like he’s a solish starting center but nothing spectacular beyond that not the same guy he used to be etc etc so I all that said I think and I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again now I think it’s pretty wild that he is still

On the team right now now I said the same thing this summer as well and the conversation about whether he’s a useful player is different than what I’m talking about right now it is pretty mind-blowing to me that the Hawks are going to now complete four full seasons

Four full seasons the entirety of a Kong rookie contract with capella and aong Wu on the team together after taking aong Wu with the sixth pick in the draft if you told me the night they drafted a Kong Wu that both of them would still be

On the team in Four Seasons I would have laughed at you truly I would have and yes they’re playing some together this year a little bit together that’s a good thing in general for this team but they barely have over the course of four years have both centers and sometimes

It’s just crazy to think about the fact that the Hawks have both of these guys still and when they brought in Clint it was a godsend they didn’t have anyone like Clint previously the center spot was a huge problem for a while before that he was really good he is a underrated

Reason why they were so good in 2021 Etc but then they drafted a center in a Kong he had some injury stuff early on but he’s been fairly good over across four years and going back to the as Asset Management conversation earlier early on the podcast the Hawks waited too long to

Trade C capella and he was especially hard to move during this season because and that’s by the way a lot of a reason why I even I noted capella guy advocated for them them to trade him this last summer because Clint is useful but it’s hard to

Move a center making starter money at the deadline when most of the teams that are trying to buy have centers it is what it is um so I won’t do the whole sha every step of the way the last four years but the Hawks have operated this

Mindset where they don’t want to take a step back and they don’t want to trade Clint as a result of that aong has not forced their hand that is important to note I know he’s been playing really well lately but throughout the four-year process big picture he’s not forced them

To make this move that’s notable too but as far as the deadline is concerned it came down to having no word to send him that made sense you could look across the league and teams that were actively buying didn’t really need centers Memphis was my spot for him and then jaw

Went down so they had no reason to go ahead and do that they’re kind of tanking at this point in time etc etc so it is what it is but they’ll almost assuredly be looking at trading Clint this summer again and my big picture takeway is that like you can talk about

This one spot or even this summer is one spot or last year as one spot accumulatively and yes part of it was schlink the schlink era um Tony’s been there the whole time but to go four years with with capella and cono on the team for four full

Seasons is wild especially when like it’ be one thing if the Hawks had been winning 50 games obviously they made the one Conference Finals run but the last two years to have this this highly paid Center Duo and still be this team is it’s uh it’s not great let’s just say

That um everybody else is similar what I said about Jon earlier and that the urgency level and the market just didn’t align so there were three guys that I heard the Hawks were basically actively not wanting to trade well there are two guys who are they view as Untouchable

And that’s Trey and Tre try and jallen put those guys to the side there were three other guys that I’ve heard the last couple of weeks especially this week even that bogie aong wo and kobby buffkin they don’t want to trade now they weren’t totally off the table but

They don’t want to trade those guys um Aang Wu was of course linked to the Pelicans in the last couple of days but just to put it very clearly the Pelicans wanting aong Wu does not mean the Hawks want to trade him separate things the pans wanted a k I’ve heard that why

Wouldn’t they the the pel has been trying to find a versatile Center to pair of a Zion for a long time of course they want a k why wouldn’t they want a k but I think the Hawks would trade him for the right price but it would be a

Very large price and I’m not saying that’s the reason they mer deal fell apart but certainly the Hawks were not in a rush of any kind to trade a Kong Wu and that’s part of why they didn’t want to do that I think if it had been Clint

And Deon going to norin in a package it’ been a lot easier to take for the Hawks than it would have been for Murray and a Kong Wu in a package Hunter missed almost half the season and right now his contract is underwater I think it’s not terribly underwater if he’s playing but

It’s not a great contract and I think that’s why he’s still here sadique Bay I’m not sure about how they feel about him right now they clearly didn’t actively want to move him or they would have but he’s had kind of a weird season the shooting’s been a little bit rough

TBD on sadik but like he was out there not a ton um everybody else was available and nobody got moved so like Bogi yeah teams wanted him but the Hawks didn’t want to trade him buffkin still a rookie it is what it is but the other

Guys like you know they could have moved Patty Mills and tried to upgrade if they were going to buy they could have turned Patty Mills in a second round pick into somebody better than Patty Mills that could have happened but they didn’t do that either so they didn’t buy they

Didn’t sell they just held in one place so I won’t go down the entire list but there you go um roster wise right now for one thing the Hawks still have a full roster 15 guys plus three guys on two-way deals so if they want to do anything at all people are already

Asking about buyout guys Etc they have to create a roster spot first and you can’t trade anybody so you have to wave someone to do anything else there are some guys who are intriguing on the buyout Market the Hawks could at least consider pursuing most buyout guys are

Not going to want to sign with a 22 in 2019 some of them will but maybe they probably not um you know their names like Daniel house and Killian Hayes and old friend and galinari like there are names I’m sure that list will grow in the future um the Hawks go shopping

There and by the way they do have a about n and a half 10 million under the tax line and the ml to offer so if they wanted to get into a bidding war with somebody they could sign one of these guys I don’t know if they’re going to or

If they want to and again no roster spot available so there isn’t like a super obvious guy to cut for the Hawks there are some candidates um well number one tent Forest is kind of in a weird situation I said this on on the show yesterday but Trent is only one game

Short of his 50 game maximum on a two-way contract and they’re probably going to have to choose like very soon whether to wave Trent who I like but either wave him or replace him on the big league club sorry replace somebody else with him because there is not a lot

Of utility on on a two-way player that you can’t use in the big leagues which is what Trent’s about to become if he’s active on Friday that’s the last game he can be active on a twoa deal so that’s a that’s a question it’s not an urgent

Thing like I know casual fans don’t really care about this but there you go Patty Mills could be traded he at one point this year was like the pretty obvious guy to be not traded I should say sorry waved at one point this year

He was kind of the obvious guy to be wav but he’s been playing pretty regularly in recent days so TBD there West Matthews is the other old guy on one-year deal but he’s played at times and they also expressly signed West Matthews for his leadership and Veteran

And the fact that he can guard some wings so who knows um I can’t imagine them waving Bruno I can’t imagine them waving Garrison Matthews or anybody else so uh if they want to do something else they’re going to have to wave someone and TBD on that so uh I’ll leave it

There for now but there isn’t like an obvious Next Step they could again sign someone to the buyout Market but nothing is uh imminent there that I can see at this point in time all right I’ll have some more on the future as far as the

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Picks all right and to the rest of the season so here is the thing let’s looming over all this the Hawks are probably going to make the play in this year at least right now they’re the 10 seers that record this podcast and the closest team behind them is the Nets who

Got worse at the deadline behind them is the Raptors who got worse at the at the deadline or at least before it and I can’t tell you whether making the playoffs this year was any part of the calculus for the Hawks when talking about making trades or not making trades

But ESPN currently has as a 70% chance to make the plan at least and that honestly sounds low to me I think it’s higher than that as long as Trey is healthy and they’re trying to win so if the Hawks are playing the way they had

Played in the last six games they’d be better than they are right now for sure um they’re only six and a half games out of the 60 right now like that’s still a lot of games but they’re like you know I think they’re better than this they’ve

Always been better than this and we’ll see where they go questions that I’ve been getting about like the rotations what’s going to look like obviously it’s the same team right now so I wouldn’t expect drastic changes and people are asking me about the young guys and I swear to God the true answer

Is I don’t know I could lie to you but I don’t know if it was me I’d be looking to play kobby buffkin more Dom the stretch he by the way he just missed both ends of a back toback in the g- league with an ankle injury the Hawks

Have not said anything else about so hopefully that’s not a bad ankle injury but he has been out the last couple days that is notable but still when he’s healthy I think it’s time to try him some I think also with AJ Griffin um it’s time to play him at the NBA level

Or play him in College Park either one of those would be fine with me right now you could have sold me that they were trying to kind of maybe hide AJ out of sight until the deadline if he wanted to uh if maybe maybe they were going to

Trade him but they didn’t trade him and he needs to play basketball AJ’s 20 years old he’s been deeply buried in in the dogghouse or whatever the rotation level of that is and I think it would be good idea for him to play in the G

League if not in the NBA right now he’s not he’s just not playing basketball enough um also if it’s me there’s no way that capella is playing before the All-Star break he might have been already out before that but there’s no reason to rush him back at all right now

That’s four more games play a kongu a lot in that stretch and I think there’ll be plenty of nice when a kongu plays more than capella the rest of the season or something in the future one thing that I will say though is that they’re not going to stop playing capella if

Clint gets hurt sure or if he’s still hurt or whatever if he’s healthy they’re not going to stop playing him I’ve seen people call for that it’s kind of a silly notion um if you want to say that you want a kongu to start I won’t argue

With you um I think there’s stuff in there always like Dynamics in play like Clint a veteran he’s a very respected voice in that locker room room I I know the fans don’t care about that I’m not even arguing about that right now one thing I am going to tell you is that

He’s going to play I I can’t imagine a scenario where they just don’t play click aell that would make no sense at all if he’s healthy so there you go I mentioned Force before that’s one that’s an immediate decision that they have to make in the near future you could argue

As well that like instead of playing Garrison Matthews or Wes Matthews you might want to play some Seth Lundy or AJ Griffin we’ll see um big picture I think the Hawks are going to try to win games down the stretch you don’t stand Pat to not try to win games I don’t think

And by the way they’re too good to tank right now people have been saying that they want to tank right now I get the thinking because personally the play doesn’t really excite me either and I understand that but right now the bottom of the league is so bad that they can’t

Really get anywhere close to the bottom of the league and I think that if they’re at reasonable Health they’re a playoff level team and I think that prioritizing long-term development does make sense like playing the young guys some would make sense but you still have Trey you still have deante you still

Have aong Wu and Jaylen and capella and Hunter and B like and bogy they have eight guys who are like real NBA players and they can’t just stop playing so it is what it is um they also have their first round pick of their own this year

But also they might have two it’s one big shrug on this but I’m pretty confident that you knowless unless I hear something different they’re going to try to win the rest of the year Quinn doesn’t like to I don’t think Quinn’s in in the mood to try to tank right now and

Um they’re too they’re again they’re this guy sound crazy they are too good to tank at this late stage of the season so playing is my best guess and they are if they got hot they could be right in the mix for this s or8 c it wouldn’t it

Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest um before we get out of here and I can go longer but I I should stop because there’s plenty more to talk about in the future um one bit of positive news Trey young got invited and selected to play in the Three-Point Contest and skills

Challenge in Indianapolis so he went from not being in the All-Star Game and probably I’m presumably not going to Indianapolis at all to being in the game in the skills Challenge and Three-Point Contest so TR be busy that weekend and by the way he is the only rep from the

Hawks that is involved no one in the rookie sophomore game unsurprisingly because nobody’s play play this year and no Allstars no three-point shooting it’s just the trade show on Saturday and Sunday and finally the Hawks play a basketball game on Friday in Philadelphia and at the moment this is

Actually gonna sound crazy the Hawks are fourpoint favorites on the road in Philadelphia that is a surprising thing to say out loud but there is a reason for it obviously if you’re following the league Philly has been good this year but they’ve lost seven in the last eight

And Joel embiid is out so they’re obviously not the same team without Joel embiid they’re one one and seven the last eight games and they’re ALS it’s not just in BD either they’re also missing dethy mton who’s starting shooting guard Robert Covington Nick patum so they’re down four their top

Seven or eight guys they did trade for Buddy heal today I don’t know if that means he actually he’ll be be able to play on Friday or not usually it’s not like the next G the next day that a guy will be able to play so I would guess

That maybe not but we’ll see and if nothing else he he’ll be raw in terms of not not practicing with him so yes the Hawks are missing capella still he’ll be out for a little while longer Deon is listed as questionable with the back tightness that com out of the game

On Wednesday Hunter is probable but yeah I mean the Hawks being a road favorite in Philly is is surprising um they they just still have tyres Maxi they’re still trying to win Tobi sah a good player so nothing’s easy about this game but certainly uh not what you would expect

From a road game in Philly on paper and uh we’ll see how the Hawks Faire in that one and uh yeah all all systems go so they have you know 31 games left this season I’ll be covering them in detail as I always do on the show uh in the

Future I will have a deeper uh salary cap breakdown about what they’re looking at in the offseason I’ll be following the Kings down the stretch and uh while a lot of it’s been trade trade stuff in the last few days and weeks it’s gonna be game covered to the rest of the

Season like we’re we’re diving back in we’re talking about X’s and O’s I’ll have guests on in the future I’m sure Glenn Wills to come back on the podcast talk about what what Quinn is doing what he’s seeing um some some really impressive play in the last few games

From from Kong wo obviously jaylen’s got a bright future Trey is still there Deon we’ll see what he’s looking like when after the back after the back back tightness I should say hunter ramping up story lines Bal there’s still stuff to talk about on this team and I hope

You’ll join us on a regular basis on this podcast and again forgive me for being a little bit more scattered than usual on this show but it was a weird one putting together a show after nothing happened today but there was still plenty to talk about so there you

Go please subscribe to this show anywhere you get your podcast it would be awesome if you would do that and tell your friends about the show as well Apple Spotify overcast on the audio side where you also get some bonus content from Lon Sports Atlanta always in the

Audio only feeds in addition to the YouTube page where you can find us on video and like And subscribe and share the podcast there as well follow the show on Twitter SLX locked on Hawks follow me there as well at BTR Roland and I write about the Hawks regularly I

Share audio regularly at patreon.com BTR Rolland uh it was a scramble today I was I was trying to write something this afternoon and I kind of just ran out of time so hopefully I’ll have more stuff on there in the future but I I pretty much share

All that on the show today but there’ll be some extra stuff there in written form and uh sincerely thank you for listening to the podcast you made it this long uh hopefully people will uh take my context to light it was a weird day it was a frustrating day as I

Acknowledge at the top of the podcast for everybody involved and uh we’ll see what the Hawks do from here because having a plan sticking to it is certainly something they should be trying to do in the near future but that’s all I have for today thanks for listen everybody I really appreciate it

I’ll see you after the game on Friday and then again on Saturday as the hwks play a home game on Saturday night so stay tuned and we’ll see you next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland, DIME on UPROXX) hosts episode No. 1649 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. The show breaks down a silent trade deadline for the Atlanta Hawks, with Dejounte Murray staying put, another full season of Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu, the team’s roster and salary situation, Friday’s game in Philadelphia, and much more.

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