Atlanta Hawks: NBA Free Agency, team building, trade targets, and roster construction (Part 1)

Atlanta Hawks: NBA Free Agency, team building, trade targets, and roster construction (Part 1)

on today’s show we get into some team building conversation with regard to Atlanta Hawks free agency trade stuff roster construction Etc and I’m joined by Andrew Kelly for part one of a two-part conversation and all that is coming up you are locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Hello friends welcome to episode 1736 of the loton Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Tuesday into Wednesday here on the loton Hawks podcast we encourage you to make our make us your first listen each and every day here at loton Hawks please check us out and subscribe to the show anywhere you might find your podcasts that includes apple and Spotify as well as YouTube on the video side and Today Show Bo to the by Folks at FanDuel Sportsbook right now if you’re a new customer get $200 in bonus bet with any winning $5 bet and the place to go is d.com lockon to get started today’s podcast be part one of two with my friend Andrew Kelly diving into some roster buing stuff for the Hawks in this part one and then part two will be heavily draft focused as we evaluate some of the options for the Hawks coming up at number one overall in just a couple weeks at this point in time one note at the top of the podcast we record this on Sunday I don’t think I don’t think anything has really changed since then but just as a note to understand why I’m not wearing the same shirt and all that fun stuff but I am traveling this week so doing a little bit of pre-recording to keep everybody up to date if anything happens to break I will be able to get in there and update you in real time but there you go on that and also part two will be available in your same podcast feed right now so go ahead and subscribe stay tuned for part two after this podcast and here we go with adrew Kelly and part one I am joined today by my guy Andrew Kelly sometimes of P Hoops always of the internet Andrew how are you I’m good man how about you I’m well I appreciate you doing this uh I generally only ask you to come on like once or twice a year you’re you’re a busy man it’s not really what you do but I know that you are very interested as your Twitter profile says in team building aspects which I think the Hawks have a lot of interesting te- building stuff going on right now both with the number one overall pick of course but also with their current roster that they’ve kind of been running back the last couple years and um I guess I’ll start there knowing that they won the lottery plays a part in this but uh even before that if you want to go back that far like what as a hawks Observer what would you have been looking for them to do this summer uh I guess pre- Lottery but even now especially since they have that that pick which sort of opens up a bunch of avenues like what’s the overall goal and like are you trying to shake things up are you of the mind of kind of sticking with what they have been going recently like where are you at on this on this entire project because it’s pretty nuanced Beyond just like who do you pick at number one I think they got to shake things up I mean I think that’s pretty obvious at this point just looking at the record over the last two years where they just have not been very good so I think it’s pretty clear they need to make some pretty big changes um it’s interesting after they traded for desante they really just haven’t done much of anything you know they’ve used their draft picks they made um their sadik Bay trade but other than that like they’ve they’ve really sat on their hands for the most part so it’ll be interesting to see what this like kind of Cobble together front office can uh can do this summer just because there are some pretty big areas they need to address uh chiefly defense I think that’s like one of the the obvious points they need to try to shore up um they not been good at all since making the Eastern Conference Finals uh a few years ago they’ve been a bottom five defense two of the last three years I think just when you look about when you look at how to try and improve this team I think defense is probably the key problem area you want to address for starters yeah obviously my pension for defensive appreciation is is well known and I I obviously agree with you I I’m going to ask you later on in this conversation about the you know consensus candidates for the number one overall pick but before we get to that like you know how does that work in your mind you know the number one pick is part of the Arsenal here but I think the most likely thing that they will do is just use that pick on a player and that player is going to be a rookie when they come in and you know you can certainly debate on who’d be help more helpful sooner or rather than later but as far as the more short term or maybe even long term dep how you look at it like what are you trying to Value if you’re the Hawks because they’re clearly in more of a win now mode than most teams would be that win the lottery and at the top of the draft but they also were a playin team this year they were playin team last year and realistically they’re not like one semi minor move away from being a top three seed in the East like that’s that’s not really how this stuff works like you probably need some bigger stuff to happen so as far as like in your thinking are you are you kind of more focused on this coming season or are you looking long term and being realistic because I think there’s always a split on that with fans about like all right a lot of I’m sure you get these too like people want to like all right what’s for next year how we going to do this versus like planning for two or three years from now I would say both I mean it’s kind of like cheating but that’s that’s how I feel I mean they don’t control their pick for like the next three seasons so that that has to be a big part of your Calculus and how you approach things like the option of just you know kind of bottoming this team out and trying to tank and getting the Cooper flag sweep Stakes like that doesn’t apply for the Hawks so you’re kind of you want to be pretty good just because of the situation that they’re in I mean obviously there’s a lot of different Dynamics they have to address I mean there’s de jante and trade rumors there’s Trey and trade rumors so it’s hard to give like a real prediction about how things could go from there but I think you do want to be uh aiming to be good next year like trying to win a playoff series good is kind of like what I have in mind but there’s also a few ways to go about it like I don’t think that means that you want to go all in to try and be you know a first one a first round out or a second round out you want to have some optionality still so I think that trying to get more flexibility with the types of contracts they have or things to look at like acquiring good contracts could be something that uh to look at um just trying to develop some flexibility um so that way you can be both good in the short term but also have plenty of options in the long term to see how things might change yeah I think that you know the the books are a topic that matters even if it’s not the sexiest thing in the world like I went through on a show I a week ago now about how they’re really over the tax already just bringing everybody back with nothing else after winning the lottery and that’s obviously a good problem to have when you win the lottery but that added you know 10 million to their books 10 million seven million of their books for next season and you know acquiring good contracts they don’t have I actually want to know what you think about this my operating theory is that they don’t have any bad like capital B bad contracts but they have a couple that are not the most advertising I would say number one that list being the enre hunters contract um which I think is mostly seen as a at least a slight negative you know there is the argument that he’s a 68 forward who’s a who can shoot and defend and that’s usually a pretty useful player but I think if you pull people around the league it would be a deal that’s like you know not great necessarily A do you agree with that and B how much do you have to think about if you’re the Hawks and look we we we don’t know maybe maybe Tony will just decide to spend more money this time around but if you kind of treat this the the tax line as a deao hard cap how do you kind of do this because the Hawks are not incredibly expensive but they have a bunch of guys making healthy money yeah it’s definitely something that requires like a like a nuanced approach like you’re up against the luxury tax and you don’t want to go into the luxury tax like you have limited availability to improve the team like you don’t project to have cap space um you have your mle so that’s something they didn’t use last year but you could look at as a tool to improve the team but I mean I think the first thing that has to happen is they have to decide what they’re going to do with their guards I mean like I said earlier we’ve seen both of them uh in trade rumors to varying degrees but I think they do have to make a call there um I don’t think they’re going to trade both I don’t see them wanting to like bottom this team out like I said due to the lack of picks and just probably ownership preferences for staying competitive as well but I I think that you you got to make a call on one of those two guys like that’s probably the first shoe that has to drop um so deante I mean I just lean towards him being the guy out just I mean Trey even with him missed some time this year maybe like somewhat of a Down year I mean this is still a top 20ish type player um you have him under long-term control we’ve seen what he can do as far as leading your offense and he’s had his highs in the playoffs at times too so I try to look at ways that you can kind of improve this team to coales around Trey and Jaylen Johnson like that’s those are kind of my two building blocks that I’m looking at and I’m looking at everybody else as someone that if there’s a deal that can make us better than they could be available for that but I think that dejon is the first step that you have to kind of look at before you go from there Today’s Show is brought to you by fandel Sports summertime means baseball the NBA finals and much more you can bet out all of that at FanDuel Sportsbook FanDuel is number one Sportsbook and right now if you’re a new customer get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed that’s $200 you can bet on everything from the finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park and more bet on all of your favorite players and teams with quick bets live sand game parlays exclusive props and much more the app is easy and secure at F Sportsbook they have everything looking for runners to money lines player props future bets game props and much more the app is safe and they cover the entire range of sports that includes the NBA WNBA NFL college football baseball of both major league and college varieties golf tennis soccer auto racing boxing MMA and much more and Now is awesome time with Folks at FanDuel Sportsbook the place to go is fanduel.com lockon one more time just visit fanduel.com lockon and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America’s number one Sportsbook just to back you up on that like I know that we’ve we sort talked around that since the end of the season even about there’s this nuclear option and I had our our friend wesb on the show recently as well about like kind of the paths of what they could do and basically I have not come across anyone around the team or near the team or that has talked to people from the team that thinks that they’re going to blow it up and by blow up I mean trade both guards like that is an option that’s like on paper like okay if you want to do that then reset the whole thing and I get that as sort of a like extreme thing but no one believe that’s actually practical and the longer this goes on again I’m recording this you know in early to mid June so it could change but the longer this goes on without without really hearing much on the like eager to trade try train out there I think that the most likely of the two would be to trade dejonte and I think that sounds like you would kind of prefer that as a hawks Observer I’ve been on record as saying that look I’m I’m not like gonna come on the podcast and burn the place to the ground if they trade Trey young but if it’s me I would not be looking to do that right now I would I certainly agree with you that they probably need to break this the backward up it’s not because deon’s bad it’s that Deonte and Trey don’t fit together and it’s a very important distinction I know I’m repeating it from previous podcasts but in case people haven’t heard it I think Deonte is a really good player that I think needs to be the probably the point guard on his next team and he’s not the point guard in Atlanta because try is better than him in my opinion and also like they just they’re too small together defensively it’s kind of a mess so if you disagree with any of that please let me know but um I I guess through the lens of maybe going down this path what do you think they should be trying to do if they were to just all right make the decision trade to jante in their mind hey they’re not going to give them away that’s one that’s and nor should they in my opinion but like let’s just say they’re they’ve made this decision what are you even trying to go out and get for de jante or is just best is it best value because you know you got these pick based offers like let’s just say the Lakers offer from from February maybe a little bit better than that it’s much more kind of aligned with picks maybe you get atin Rees or whatever in the trade but or you have this like present day thing because this kind of what we’re talking about before about about present day versus future a lot of these trades for established players whether even even if it was Trey um or Deonte they’re GNA be pick based or at least heavily pick based and like how do you sort of square that with trying to make the team better now because it might be hard to get someone for Deon that’s as good as dejonte that’s kind of a it’s an obvious thing to say but it’s also one that’s just needs to be set out loud because you’re you’re probably not gonna be able to get the small forward version of Deonte for Deon straight up other than I guess there’s there’s a guy in New Orleans that’s kind of similar yeah I think you did a good job of kind of summarizing that but there’s there’s a few different paths that I think you could go down I mean there’s a pick based one like maybe with LA where you could look to get a couple picks back I mean like we like we talked about earlier they don’t they don’t have a pick in 25 they don’t have a pick in 27 so getting some picks back could be appealing but I also think that’s harder to sell to like a disgruntled Trey young that you’re gonna get you know some future draft Capital back I don’t know that that’s what he would have in mind um you could look at trading him for a player that might make more sense with Trey like a like a cam Johnson um something like that from Brooklyn could be interesting getting a good shooter to kind of put between Trey and Jaylen Johnson makes sense it’s a maybe an easier fit there than with dejonte um but the other option and I one the one that I think they’re gonna spend a lot of time on is just trying to get a player roughly in dejon’s tier that way you can sell Trey on and Quinn on not really getting much worse but getting a player in that tier that might fit better I mean the first guy that comes of mind that we’ve already seen link is just Brandon Ingram in uh New Orleans I mean when you look at New Orleans uh needs they could be in the market for a guard they’ve been connected to jante in the past I mean Brandon Ingram he’s an expiring contract a large contract so you’d have to kind of have a plan for whether to extend him or be comfortable taking him to unrestricted free agency next year but that’s another guy that I think they could look at that might make a little bit more sense with try I mean Ingram does have like his own share problems like he can be a black hole at times on offense but having another shot Creator especially in half court after you trade de jonte I think it’s something you want to look at you don’t want to go too empty as far as like shot creating options in half court um I also think that just having like a taller um initiator could be something really interesting for the Hawks Ingram also too I mean he’s had flashes on defense where he’s you know I would say he’s at least like a solid Defender so you might make you better defensively than deante but that’s somebody that I think we should mention just as somebody that has coming up you know a good bit just in some rumors as well as like online conversations about it but yeah I mean you can look at picks as one option you can look at like a better fit you know somebody that you can sell like a cam Johnson or just you know another lower-end star for lower- end star type trade and and Ingram yeah I agree and look that’s it’s I’m not saying because there hasn’t been a lot of reporting on Ingram like there’s been a little bit out there I think Christian Clark mentioned it from New Orleans they did talk about dejonte trades in February not for Ingram at that point but but they are interested in Deon it seems like I do think that if the Hawks acquire um For Better or Worse is the way I’ll put it a famous player for de jante it’s probably gonna be Brandon Ingram um I don’t know if they’re gonna go that route I think Brooklyn would make a lot of sense for D jante to your point um teams that need League guards I mean I don’t think he’s a great fit in Orlando but that’s doable I would say Orlando’s in the market for a guard it seems like um they don’t really have a ton of like high-profile guys s back like just to say this out loud no the Hawks are not going to get France back for for Deon that’s not going to happen but it’s it’s going to be like a a peac mill kind of trade if that were to happen but you can go through the teams are around the league Lakers of course um there are teams that need guards uh I think Detroit is a new you know Detroit’s a team with a d a new front office now but if they’re trying to win a little bit more now I think he would make some sense for them um there are some options across the board and it’s it’s hard to do fake trades you know uh I famously don’t like to do fake trades out of nowhere I mean if you get a if you get an actual rumor I will analyze it for sure it’s just like trying to pull out out of thin air but yeah it’s it’s identifying teams that would fit um and you know same for Tre a little bit different they if they went the trade if they want the Trey route um he makes more money than Deon does but I think you probably have a little bit wider of a birth of teams that are trying to get him necessarily I don’t know uh it’s definitely a challenge but just for the record we agree on the uh on the impetus of being the number one thing even I guess you could debate whether the number one pick decision or the backward decision is the most important one but uh they’re one and two on the list it seems yeah and we’re in kind of like a like a Hiatus period as far as like trade rumors and that kind of thing so it’s harder to get a availability two of like the jante in Detroit just to get a little bit more experience there I mean I think you do want to kind of give Kade Cunningham a chance if you’re Detroit and get some like real NBA players so I think that could be intriguing too I’m just not sure that they’re also in a spot where they’re going to be willing to give up picks you know with somewhat un certainty with their team but hope hopefully in like the coming week or so we’ll get a little bit more information that we can you know game out scenarios a little bit better it does seem like uh just if you follow the general tenor of the offseason once the like finals start to wind down a little bit you get more rumors um you know you you and I were laughing offline at one point uh in the last couple days about you know usually W has some slop in these finals pream um we’ll record this before game two keep that in mind but um game one it was uh kind of the big item was the Dan early stuff so we didn’t there was no trade slop in there but that usually is like it’s about now when it starts to kind of get a little bit open because like there’s not been a single what I would describe as an actual trade rumor of this entire cycle so far like it’s it’s early that makes that’s it makes total sense like you don’t usually get that stuff till later in June but with the draft being so much later this year the draft is literally three or four days before before before free agency starts it’s one of the reasons why we’re doing this podcast now because I always have you on to do kind of one of these like interstitials it’s going to be really really tight between the draft and when free agency is beginning in capital letters so that that per that week is going to be absolute Madness and it might just start a little earlier this time around yeah like like you said there’s just been kind of a a blackout period where it’s hard to get a good feel for for things at the moment but going back to the deante ideas I mean that’s kind of what I think they’re going to be looking at I’m I’m trying to wreck my brain too to like think of other you know deante tier players like an Ingram that could become available I mean herb Jones is another guy that you you know you’ve seen in rumors online but nothing like you know reported or anything like that they could do they could do a a Deon New Orleans tra without Brandon Ingram in it the problem is New Orleans is not is a non-t taxpaying team and then they they would have to trade Ingram somewhere else it feels like I can’t imagine them having Deon and Ingram on the team together and also like her herb Jones is one of the best contracts in the league like it’s just hard for me to getting moved unless they’re getting like an all-nba type player you know like a huge deal that involves him I don’t I don’t know that they would even want to give him up for Dante even if they do have a need at guard Today’s Show is sponsored by the folks at better help we all carry the r things they’re craning stress whether it’s big or small we keep things bottled up it start to affect us in a negative fashion therapy is a safe space to get things off our chest and also figure out how to work through whatever happens to us and what Happ be weighing you down in that moment therapy is help for everyone and you can also learn positive coping skills how you set 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lockon NBA I I think generally speaking this the case for most trades you don’t usually see those like challenge deals of like one top 50 player for another top 50 player it’s usually one team’s getting the more established asset for more future facing stuff or like piecing it together and for me I know this is not be popular with Hawks fans but they could trade Deonte and get back some secondary pieces like you know for instance herb Jones is a really really good secondary piece but you know what I mean like guys who are not on the Star level and they could make a deal like that and still get better while not acquiring a player who is individually as good as a Jon that that’s part of the challenge here is because in that theory of course you would hope that if you were the Hawks either the number one overall pick and nor Jaylen Johnson becomes a star level player and now suddenly you have two three stars still even without Deonte on a team that’s a a long way down the road but I always get this question from people and I’ll kind of go there a little bit now with you um you know how do the Hawks get a starback for Deon or you know free agency like who can the Hawks get in free agency and it’s like well uh they they might have the mid level which you mentioned earlier uh that would either take them into the tax or what you know there’s the non- tax pyramid level which is like 12 million a year um to start with and it goes up from there you have the N sorry you have the taxpayer mid level if the Hawks you know this is breaking news Andrew if the Hawks were to go into the tax they’d have a smaller mid level they could use on top of that or they have the biannual exception which is like a two-year 10 million-ish kind of contract or minimums because they don’t have cast space that’s that’s long gone and you know we could do fake trades till the cows come home but you know have you thought about fre agency I mean we’re this same cats apply about trade stuff but have you thought about free agents because I have like my little mini list of players but every time I I sort of list it for some Hawks fans they’re like wait that’s it and I’m like well guys this they don’t have the spending power to just go like sign Paul George in free agency you know what I mean yeah I’ve spent some time looking at some of the options I mean we can kind of throw out like the the taxpayer and M like I think we both know that’s not very likely it’s probably not gonna happen yeah I would agree with you on that yeah but some of the other options um I mean you know I’ve been a fan of this player for a long time but uh Philadelphia 76ers guard he be interesting yeah he uh had an injury plagued season but still as effective as ever I mean I think true ml money is probably what he’s looking at uh Philly’s probably looking at you know some star hunting type moves to get better around in be so he’s somebody that could find himself looking for a new team um so he’s somebody that I would have circled just because I mean guard defense is you know remains a big need for Atlanta I mean I think you would like to see more from buffkin next year in that role but I also getting a veteran um could make sense I mean just quickly like and their trade Target just you know in that same bank could be like a Marcus Smart I mean he’s physically breaking down a bit but could be available and could help you with that guard defense um other guys I think that could be interesting I mean Kyle Anderson in Minnesota I think kind of another three four type forward that defends to come off the bench is something they could look at we don’t know what their plans are for DeAndre Hunter but he’s a guy that we’ve heard is available so depending on what they do there you might want another you know 67 68 type guy they can defend those are guys that I would be looking at um Naji Marshall I know you’re a fan of him new or one guy I was gonna mention if you didn’t bring him up for sure I like M Marsh a lot I’m actually curious I’m not sure if he’s quite full mle level but he’s no no he he won’t get that much I don’t think but you know part of part of the ml or I I think he’ll get more than the more than the biannual if I had to guess but I wouldn’t be giving him like a like four for 55 or whatever the this year that’s that’s too much but as a guy who’s like always been on a minimum and like has never started he’s a nice player yeah I I think he’s like kind of what Milton was the last time we did this when you were like begging and pleading for the Hawks to sign mton when he was like pretty unestablished I think that’s what Marshall is now as like a guy who’s like a real bet but I think would probably be available for cheaper than those guys would be he’s a nice player too he’s one of those guys too where you know we’ve seen Derek Jones Jr this year kind of like bounce around a lot then establish himself as like a starter as a good team that’s something I could see happening for Naji eventually um one guy that I think actually could have like a realistic chance of happening is a royce O’Neal he’s he’s a free agent we know the experience with Quinn Snyder um has some positional versatility that’s someone that wouldn’t be full INE but another guy that you might dip into a little bit and that’s something I could see happening yeah no I I agree the only thing there is that Phoenix like just cannot let him go like they cannot afford let go they have nowh to replace him at all because they’re firmly in second apron uh territory we’ll say but no he’s he would be interesting if he’s uh if actually available and able to get out of there like I have a list working I mean this is going to this is going to be very very funny and I don’t mean it to be Toran Prince available yeah I looked him up too that’s something that that makes sense yeah he’s he’s not exciting at all but he can shoot and he’s a I mean the three and D thing is overblown for him it always has been def is not very good but like for cheap if he’s available for cheap a reunion there because honestly nobody’s still here from that from that regime other than that would kind of be like your sadique Bay like we don’t think he’s going to be because it’s hard to know what they’re going to do with him I mean do you make like the qualifying on Sid Bay I guess you do I mean but that’s one of the things I was going to ask you actually it’s like you know that’s a that’s sort of the role that yeah that that role I mean other guys like I’ll just name some more player like Lonnie Walker is a offensive First Option but he’s been cheap and would be useful um if they move on from capella and don’t draft kingan uh goo bat yeah I would Circle I think Orlando’s gonna keep him but yeah that interesting one but I like I like him a lot he’s definitely a pure Center so you wouldn’t you wouldn’t bring him in over the top of uh especially kingan I think if they draft SAR and we’ll get to that in a second um SAR could be we’ve seen it’s more of a combo big or is kingan’s obviously just a center um who else am I on my list uh some of the like def I mean speaking like the worst version of the Anthony Melton uh you know Dennis denn Smith yeah I had Dennis Smith on there I was thinking for like a bae like that’s probably about what he is cu his offense is still really bad he is a good defensive player and I mean honestly speaking my language now I I have to say two words out loud that’s that’s that’s our that’s my guy D rtis back to be a free agent again just saying I forgot that he was a free agent I must have missed him on like the list but yeah d right would obviously make a lot of sense he hon I mean un ironically I’m not to do my own bit he actually would make a lot of sense he he he’s he’s been better as a shooter the last couple years he doesn’t need the ball he plays defense you don’t you don’t have to start him like obviously it didn’t it didn’t work out at the end for him and I think but that was that was the Nate regime it’s a whole different ball game now and I think that you know Bae again like you know if you if he’d sign for two two for 10′ be great I think some of it too is like what kind of role do you envision for buffkin like that could affect how that is a big part of it you approach these guards like if you’re feeling really good about buffkin then that might be you know you could price it down a little bit to like a you don’t you don’t have to go as hard there well I think I think what you said earlier about that not to go pong at too much but um if you want just another veteran around and maybe you’re hoping Kobe just takes the re and that’s that makes totally sense to me like you know it won’t probably won’t be him but like Aaron holiday is available again like a very Bor a very boring you know fifth guardar who was already here before but that’s the kind of guy you sign if you want Kobe to to be that guy you know what I mean just a little bit an insurance policy also depending like let’s say in this scenario they do trade de jonte like you still need another ball handler like you’re not going to trust it with just buffkin behind TR G need somebody else that’s actually a good point that we I should probably say more if they trade de jante again that’s big if or if they trade try either way uh they’re going to need another ball handler and I know Jaylen might take a little bit more of that role on next year that’s very much in play but people have to be reminded occasionally like of what it was like before they got to Jon and like how badly they needed another guy who could handle the ball and yes they had Kobe that’ be very much helpful but um Kobe will you would think in this scenario be a lot of backup point guard minutes but even with Trey on the court you need somebody else that can handle the ball and create some offense and yes Jay want to do a little bit of that but a little bit of that but like you don’t like it’s not like you’re going to go back to the to the days I don’t think of just having Trey with nobody else that can create around him they didn’t they didn’t love that scenario yeah you definitely have to have another another guard in there it’s just kind of working out what kind of role that you’re gonna have for buffkin and I mean back to the forward spot real quick too I mean Covington as somebody for like a vet men that could make sense he’s not totally washed yet yeah his his values Daniel house is available like yeah I had Daniel house on my list even K Bates de off there’s like all kinds of names they’re not great even one guy that I had just for pure vet men was gawari just pure vet men like deep bench like I think he’s pretty cooked but he can still shoot I mean just this is just for Kevin Shard Justin Holliday is available again he was pretty good Justin holl yeah he was actually okay in Denver uh KJ Martin I think is a g a guy you brought up before in the past he’s a free agent he’s a free agent again he kind of had a weird couple year period I mean we’re just naming guys but yeah I was about to say we’re in the naming guys section of the show right now yeah they look that’s not to go they’re not always they’re not all this low like if you want to go back to the mid-level guys like hey what high Smith a guy of Miami that I like is like a boring role player but someone that could definitely use Simon Bento from Detroit they have their names the thing is above all else this year they just got to use the the tools available to them to improve the team you know you can’t have multiple seasons of not using youro when you’re trying to win like well especially last year and I I know I’ve said this before but for the new listeners yes if they had used the entire mle last year they would have gone barely into the tax but they could have used three quarters of the mle and gotten another player and and for a team that we all kind of agreed during the season was like short a player they had a tool to your point that was available to them that they just chose not to use and that is like team building malpractice like you can’t you can’t do that espe look if you w to put the put my tax avoidance hate to the side for a second even if you wanted to stay under the tax they still could have signed some signed a real player to a real contract last summer without going over the tax and they and they they just didn’t do it right and I you just can’t do that two years in a row like you you have to have some kind of plan there for your rotation I mean the whole point of this you know these exceptions especially with the m is like that gets you a good rotation player and over a long season you’re gonna need that so you know we can debate like which guys they you know they should pursue and we we can discuss that later too but they just above all else they have to try to use their exceptions to improve the team yep I mean I’m just to say it out loud there is the trade exception from the Collins deal um there is a you know there’s a CH like they could maybe bring somebody in in a trade that with using that exception uh I doubt they’re going to suddenly just add a 20 million player to the roster without cutting some money elsewhere because of the tax because of the tax stuff but look if you find a player on another team that’s making $15 million a year that a team is trying to offload to you know get under the second APR or something like that you can swoop in and be like all right we’ll take that guy and that’s part of the appeal that look I’m not sure they’re going to use the trade exception I said the day that they created that trade exception that they may not they may never use it and they still haven’t but they that is another to speak to your point that’s another tool they could use if they want to bring somebody in that makes more than midlevel that’s already on a contract or whatever they can it’s a flexibility tool even if they don’t like use it just to add a guy from nothing yeah and agreed and I there’s never really been a point where I’ve expected them to use that trade exception those things like you could use it as part of something else like for instance if they were going to trade Clint for like to somebody with a cat space or whatever and they wanted to kind of dump Clint for a pick or something like that then you could turn around and use a trade exception for a player and kind of replace that salary slot yeah exactly that’s more practical than like just adding a an expensive player because of again the tax concerns that we’re talking about um but it’s just a tool you don’t have that one’s less important that they use it that’s what it’s just available to them but uh they they need to supplement the depth a little bit before you even get into what they’re going to do with v and sadik and all those guys um at the end of the roster all right that is all for part one with myself and Andrew Kelly talking all things team building part two is available in your same podcast feed of choice right now whether it be apple or Spotify or YouTube overcast Etc and that one focuses heavily on the NBA draft with regard to Alex SAR Zach ret Donan kingan Etc fun our to be had there so go ahead and flip over to that one for part two again please subscribe to the show tell the friend about the podcast and we’ll see you all next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts episode No. 1736 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Andrew Kelly (@andlankell) for Part 1 of a 2-part discussion. The conversation begins with a look at the team building decisions for the Atlanta Hawks, including free agency, trade targets, and much more. Then, the discussion pivots to the 2024 NBA Draft and candidates for the No. 1 overall pick, including Alex Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher, and Donovan Clingan.

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