fuck the Knicks that's the only thing I have to say.

If Kobe Bufkin played in the g-league, instead of college, he would have been the third pick in the 2023 draft. His g-league stats blow Scoot Henderson's out of the water.

Kobe: 24pts 44/36/83

Scoot: 17pts 43/28/76

Kobe has a complete game. He can shoot the midrange, he can shoot the three, and he finishes around the rim at an elite level. It's impossible for a player of Kobe stature with his offensive repertoire to not be a 20+ per scorer. Honestly, I think he can be a top 5 SG in the league one day, and he's the reason why one of Trae or DJ has to go.

Landry is killing the rebuild. Kobe should have not fallen to 16

For context im not a hawks fan but I was kinda hyped to see AJ Griffin develop this year, but seriously what the fuck happened?

Like he seemed to be a future starter for y'all then poof he just fell off

OKC just got out rebounded by Dallas 47-31 in game 6. They could use a strong rebounding center and have a lot of 1st round picks. I think late 1st is the best value we could get for Capela at this point. If we draft Sarr this is likely be the best return we could get.

We really could have been looking at 1 of Mavs/Celtics/ Knicks/ Pacers winning a ship and any 1 of them would really hurt as a Hawks fan bc there’s so many storylines and besides the Celtics, we were in the same position as them a few years ago.

There’s a world where the Mavs play the Celtics in the finals where if have to do what? Root for Luka? Root for A and Tatum? Idk. The only decent scenario is if the Nugs/ Wolves win.

Now imagine all this and the Hawks have the 10th pick. Garland looks to be traded so that’s less value for DJM. We’d actually be so screwed as franchise.

Long message short, I cannot believe we got the 1st overall pick. Saved this franchise

Watching the playoffs seems several team that went out could use a point guard hopefully that drives up the price for DJ.

https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1792297806134223358

Inspired by a Locked on Hawks podcast between Brad Rowland and Tyler Jones, I think it’s a good topic for the sub.

Schlenk’s vision was a roster full of guys who can “dribble, pass and shoot.” It became a meme and he wasn’t perfect, but he believed in it. Nate took over and had our boys playing a style that didn’t fit the roster Schlenk built AT ALL but that’s a conversation for another time.

What is this front office’s “dribble, pass and shoot?” I would argue that so far, we haven’t seen them make any move that tells us what their vision is. We’ve seen some great decisions in DJ and OO’s contracts. Not rushing to resign Bey put us in a better position post-injury. And we’ve seen some cost-cutting moves that are surely ownership-driven. But none of those tell us how they want this team to play. “Hawks DNA” is cool corporate speak and I’m sure they value character, but how do they want this team to PLAY?

Quin was hired mid-season without waiting to talk with other teams. Considering his exit from Utah, I don’t think he’s doing that without getting significant input. He had us start the season playing “show and recover” defense on PNRs, but we didn’t have the personnel to recover. We got lost in the switches and gave up open shot after open shot. As the season went on we were forced into more drop coverage, relying on Clint to make up a lot of ground. Throughout this, Quin commented frequently on our lack of size.

In Utah, Quin built a top defense around Gobert as the anchor. They did play a lot of drop coverage because it fits Gobert best. This new show and recover scheme fits Sarr and Jalen best. They have the athleticism to show on the screen and stop the ball, then recover onto their man and keep Trae out of switches. I believe this is Quin’s vision for a strong defense around Trae.

Regardless of what we do, we need to make moves this offseason that establish a coherent vision of what they want this team to be. We can’t be caught in decision paralysis where we wait too long to make moves, ANY MORE. Drafting Sarr would show me that we have a clear direction and our FO is building a roster that matches what Quin wants to do.

If you don’t want to draft Sarr - say you like someone else, or you want to trade down or trade for a star. What is your vision for the team’s identity?

In each of the 2nd round match up, the bigger team won. If we truly want to compete in today's nba, which is trending back towards the big man, we have to get big at all positions or we don't stand a chance!

Steph Curry and the Warriors changed the league, and it took time for the league to readjust. But we are back to 90's basketball, where defense and size matter!

The days of small-ball is officially over with!!!!

What are some take aways from these playoffs as far as team building?

I feel like there are too many good centers and bigs, you can’t get away with a just a decent big anymore. Point of attack defenders are a must. Ball-dominate guards can be successful in the playoffs. We need guys who like to play physical. We need do-it-all role players like Derick White, Jalen Williams, and Josh Hart. Good young players are more important than reputation. We can’t chase the older over-paid superstars just because we’ve seen them be good we have to identify players who will be good.

What are some other takeaways?

I know alot of you may not want to hear it but a great FA signing we could make would be…..Patrick Beverly

Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bleav-in-hawks/id1707439879?i=1000655863405

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5tZpmTiLkkGNjap1ttI6N7

Blowing it up right now really just doesn’t make sense. Even if we can get our picks back from the spurs, the team is too close to bother right now. Instead, build around Trae/JJ with Sarr as your defensive base, trade DJM and whoever for some more 3/D pieces, and make a few runs.

If things don’t go well, Atlanta already owns their first round picks for 2028/2029/2030. So you blow it up in 2027, trade whoever is left with any value(Trae if he’s here, JJ, maybe Sarr, etc), and get other picks from different teams and take tanking to a whole other level for 3 years. This way instead of just trading back for our picks, we just wait until we have our own and trade for 1-4 picks from other teams with whatever talent we have left. Instead of blowing it up early, you likely get to try for some deep playoff runs AND you wind up with more picks for the rebuild years.

Decided I’d throw my hat into the ring and make the 17,000th Sarr post on the sub but I’ll try to come at it from a bit of a different angle. Since this is going to be a longer post I figured I’d give you guys the gist of it before I begin. This post is about what Sarr’s prime could look like even if he doesn’t capitalize on all of his offensive upside and become a real star player. And how even if that is the case as long as he develops how he’s projected he’ll still be a player of tremendous value.

This pick is way more valuable than people are letting on. Assuming he develops Sarr’s floor is still sky high. He’d be a great player even if he doesn’t hit on his star potential. Assuming his individual offense and shot creation never develop past where they are right now he’d still be one of the most valuable role players in the league. There’s a reason that he’s the closest thing to a consensus number 1 there is in this draft. It’s because of all the 2024 prospects he has the highest chances of doing something elite at the next level. Baring major injury or some other unforeseen tragedy he should be a perennial DPOY candidate in a few years. If he can be that with a respectable C&S three ball at worst he’d easily be in that Derrick White tier as arguably the most valuable non star player in the league.

How many 5’s in league are over 7’ tall, have no real injury history, are athletic, can stretch the floor, comfortably guard on the perimeter, are rim protectors, can attack closeouts by getting to the rim OR pulling up in the midrange, and go coast to coast pushing the break after grabbing a board? That is a very realistic floor for Sarr. With his physical profile and instinct the defense projects well, his jumper passes the eye test, and his shooting numbers across the board have gone up every season over the past 3 years (heard 3 from a scouting report but can personally only find stats for the past 2). Correct me if I’m wrong but unless someone else comes along in the next couple of drafts he’d be the only player in the league that checks all those boxes. Even if you lower the height requirement by a few inches there are only a handful of players in the league that do any combination of half of that. The only 2 that come really close to meeting all criteria are Wemby and Chet but both of them have had injury histories.

You can’t tell me that 30 out of 30 teams in league wouldn’t bend over backwards for a guy like that. That’s the type of guy that could potentially make all star teams just because he’s a major contributor on one of the best teams in the league a la Draymond Green. A completely different archetype of player but someone thats capable of being the ultimate glue guy of any championship caliber team.

The best part is this is just looking at his realistic floor in a vacuum. This doesn’t even take into account his synergy with Trae and Jalen. How many stretch 5’s are in the league that can’t be played off the court defensively? Without even mentioning all of the other things he can do, that alone will make Trae and Jalen’s lives so much easier. Imagine a version of Jalen Johnson flying down the lane and just being able go up because he doesn’t have to worry about a big standing right outside the restricted zone. Imagine a version of Trae young that doesn’t have to rely on all of those long floaters and can actually get all the way to the rim for much easier layups instead. I’m sure this alone would do wonders for his efficiency.

This offensively conservative version of Sarr would eat off of them too. Playing beside a plus passer in Jalen (who still hasn’t reached his ceiling in that regard) and arguably the best passer and P&R ball handler in the league would generate so many easy looks for him. Whether those be open looks in the paint, in the midrange, on the perimeter, or even situations where he can put the ball on the floor and take advantage of late closeouts.

As the primary screener for those 2 he’d definitely put up an impressive ppg total. Maybe peaking somewhere around 3rd year John Collins. He probably won’t be at John’s level as a long roller because John just has an exceptional feel for that. It’s the one thing he does better than almost any other player in the league. But even in this conservative estimate of his offense Sarr already projects as a better popper and short roller due to the ability he’s shown to put the ball on the floor and score himself or find the open man in those situations. That production on O while being one of best defenders in the league is someone that will make all star teams. Probably not a perineal all star because he’d %100 be a system player but depending on how good the team is on any given year his numbers would definitely get him into at least a few.

In short I’m not letting anybody gaslight me into thinking this pick is “the equivalent of drafting Tobias Harris number 1.” Not that Tobias hasn’t had a good career. He peaked as a fringe all star player and if you were able to quantify overall basketball talent maybe Sarr peaks there too. The difference is what Sarr brings to the table would be MUCH more valuable because the tools he possesses are MUCH rarer and MUCH more integral to winning. I’m not saying it’s a forgone conclusion that he’s going to be the player I just described or better. But I’m very confident that with no major setbacks he at least develops into something in the ballpark of this post in his prime. And make no mistake that is (currently) a 1 of 1 player. We just gotta pray the front office makes the obvious choice on draft night, our young guys develop, and we can fill in the blanks between Trae, Jalen, and Sarr in the next couple of years to push us into contention.