00:00We got to open up the phones after that Hawks game last night, lost to the Knicks, 140-89.
00:06Before the game, C.J. McCollum was telling everyone he felt things were going to be different.
00:10He could feel it in the air. I was believing the hype.
00:12Things were certainly different, just not in the way I thought.
00:14He's not wrong. It was different.
00:17We haven't lost by 50 in a playoff series before.
00:21You know what's interesting, too, about C.J. McCollum?
00:25When I heard him say after game four, if you'd have told me we'd be 2-2 right now, I
00:33would have taken it.
00:34That made me a little sick to my stomach.
00:36Because I was like, dude, that is such a slippery slope of being like, we're just happy to be here.
00:41You know what I mean?
00:42That was tough for me to swallow in and of that moment.
00:45I don't like that mindset at all coming from a player.
00:49Yeah, I love the way you ended it coming from a player.
00:53But remember, Allie, when you asked us, hey, what would be – you asked us something before the playoffs started,
01:01like, you know, what would be acceptable or something or, you know, an outcome.
01:06And I was like, look, just don't win a couple – don't get swept.
01:10Don't even have the gentleman sweep.
01:11Go out there.
01:12Represent yourself well.
01:13Don't get embarrassed.
01:14And I think you did that until last night.
01:18Like, like, if they won – if they won last night the way they won game one or, say, game
01:26three, like, I could have – or, excuse me, game four.
01:29I could have accepted it.
01:31But, like, all the goodwill from the series goes away.
01:36I don't believe all the goodwill from the way the season ended goes away.
01:40But from that series, it goes away.
01:41Well, unfortunately, last night is going to be a little bit more poignant in people's minds than the season for
01:46a moment.
01:47Hopefully, that fades away.
01:48But we are going to take your calls right now, 404-726-0929.
01:52Let's go out to John in Union City.
01:55John, good morning.
01:56How are you feeling this morning?
01:59I'm not doing too good this morning, ladies and gentlemen.
02:03Now, let me tell you something.
02:04Now, I have from a very reliable source that there was some cussing and fussing between Ansi, Quinn, and your
02:14owner last night after this game.
02:16And I would suspect that Ansi is saying, y'all not going to get me fired over no crap like
02:22this, what I saw last night.
02:24And I'm just going to tell you, Quinn needs to be fired.
02:28And I'm going to tell you why.
02:31Now, whether your first pick, overall pick, first-round draft pick, is ready or not, okay, and would have gotten
02:40beaten up in this series,
02:42just like in football, when you introduce a new offensive lineman out there, you got to throw him in the
02:48fire and see what he got, okay?
02:51This team has been built wrong from the very beginning, and Quinn's philosophy has been wrong from the very beginning.
02:58This man wants you to play basketball by analytics, okay?
03:03Hold on, John.
03:04Tell me how – I want to ask something.
03:06How is this team built?
03:08Because when you traded Trey, you were essentially giving up on the season and saying, you know what?
03:14We got money.
03:15We got lottery picks.
03:17And then C.J. McCollum turns into 26-year-old C.J. McCollum.
03:20You go on a run against some mediocre teams, had some good games.
03:25So the team – we don't know how the team is built because this isn't even a team that you
03:29were planning on competing with
03:32when you traded Porzingis and Trey and Kennard.
03:36So I don't know why people think this team was built to win something when essentially you gave up on
03:43the season
03:43and then you got hot.
03:45Like, I'm confused on how this.
03:48Let me explain how.
03:51Number one, all basketball teams need to have big centers.
03:57Okay, that's the very first thing.
03:59You were built wrong from the jump trying to make a Yucca Kongwu into a center at 6'9".
04:07Okay, he has no skills.
04:11He can barely move out there on the floor.
04:13He was undersized.
04:15All right, enough, enough.
04:17I ain't going to listen.
04:19Okongwu is the reason you won game three because of the defense.
04:22He can barely move.
04:24Like, you act like he is the kid from Florida that's 7'9", that can barely run up the court.
04:29Your big center was injured.
04:32And people forget – just to go back to Yucca Kongwu real quick –
04:35people forget – go back to 2021 since people want to go back to 2021.
04:39Yucca Kongwu did a good –
04:40When he punked Embiid.
04:41And when he punked Embiid and he did a good job on Giannis, too.
04:45He did a really good job on Giannis.
04:46Look, guys, I'm not trying to be angry.
04:48I'm not trying to be hateful.
04:49But, like, you've got to come with some actual facts.
04:53Quinn Snyder did a phenomenal job down the stretch getting this team to turn.
04:58This team gave up in the middle of the season.
05:01They said, we're trading Trey.
05:02We're trading Perzingis.
05:03We're trading Canard.
05:04We're giving up.
05:05We're resetting.
05:06And we're going to build around Jalen.
05:08And then all of a sudden, it kind of, like, took off, right?
05:12And you got here and didn't – you just ran out.
05:19You turned into a pumpkin or whatever analogy or, you know, whatever it is you want to use.
05:24I mean, Mike, am I wrong on that?
05:26I mean, I just can't sit here and listen to nonsense.
05:30Well, I do want to say thanks to John for calling, whether we agree on all points or not.
05:34We are going to go back out to the phone lines right now.
05:37Let's talk to Frank in Fayetteville.
05:40Frank, how's it going this morning?
05:42Hey, man, it's going great.
05:43What's happening, guys?
05:44Hey, man.
05:44Hey, listen.
05:45Hey, look.
05:45Hey, let's look at the whole totality of everything.
05:48You know, we lost to Syria.
05:49We lost it.
05:50Bad loss.
05:51You know, but all is not lost.
05:52The guy, Quinn, put the guys – got the guys together.
05:55They played.
05:56They played hard.
05:56They won two out of four games.
05:58They got blown out in the last game.
05:59But we still got things to work with.
06:01We're going to have a first-round draft pick.
06:03We're going to have some money this year.
06:05But the Hawks need to build from straight up the middle.
06:08The same thing like in football with the Falcons.
06:10We need a center.
06:11We need a punt guard.
06:12The Falcons need to get more stout on their defensive line.
06:15You know, that's how you build a team.
06:17But, hey, bad loss.
06:19So what?
06:19Move on.
06:20Kind of feel like Bob Uke in the movie Major League.
06:23You know, when they were getting blown out,
06:25they only got one hit and the bottom was already empty.
06:28Hey, man, it's already over.
06:29Hey, move on to the next game.
06:31Don't worry about it.
06:31Just start looking forward for the future and let that be it.
06:34Yeah, I appreciate the phone call.
06:36Appreciate it.
06:36I will say in terms of the outlook, because I think for me,
06:42I'm somewhere in the middle of these two callers.
06:44Because I do fully believe in Ansi Saleh.
06:48Now, whether or not you want to believe in Quinn Snyder or not,
06:50that's another conversation.
06:51But for me, I do believe in Ansi Saleh.
06:53I mean, he was the runner-up for the executive of the year,
06:55I believe, in the NBA.
06:57He made a lot of moves that made this team better
06:59that were not popular at the time.
07:02And yet, they've worked out really, really good.
07:03He's the reason you have some of the capital
07:06and some of the money you have going in towards next season.
07:08So, if Ansi Saleh and whatever combination of ownership group
07:12thinks about Quinn Snyder, I'm on board with that.
07:15If we were to get a notice this morning that said Quinn was fired,
07:19would I think that that was going to happen?
07:21No.
07:22But do I believe in them enough,
07:23more so than I have any front office personnel
07:27for the last 10, 20 years with the Hawks?
07:28Yes, I do.
07:29I agree with you about Ansi Saleh.
07:31That's the one person you can believe in.
07:33And here's the deal.
07:34If the owner is upset,
07:36tell the owner to throw some money in then.
07:38Because we have stayed below the luxury tax for so long,
07:41and it's always like,
07:43well, if we have a chance,
07:45well, you have Jalen Johnson,
07:47and look, that was his first playoff series.
07:49Did he perform at the level?
07:51No, probably not.
07:53But, again, I come back to,
07:54and the reason I got,
07:56and I've talked to John from Union City for years.
07:58The problem for me is when you come in here
08:00and tell me that this team was built
08:02for a championship run,
08:04you're just lying to yourself or to me or somebody.
08:08This team wasn't built at all.
08:10This is a throw-it-together team
08:13because you traded away what you thought
08:16you were coming in when your one-two punch,
08:19which was trade for Zingas.
08:20Does anybody really, though,
08:21think that this team was built for a championship run?
08:24Well, if you're telling me
08:25that this team was built wrong,
08:27I'm saying it wasn't built at all.
08:30This is not the team you built for the season.
08:33This was, give us,
08:36you got nothing from Trae, essentially.
08:38You got C.J. McCollum,
08:40and then you traded Kennard.
08:43You got Landell,
08:44who was good enough to play physical,
08:47but he got hurt.
08:48Like, the reality is,
08:50is if you thought this team was built
08:52for a play in any way for this,
08:55I don't know what you paid attention to
08:57because this wasn't the team you built
08:59in the offseason.
09:00I think you had,
09:01how many new players did you have
09:03after the deadline?
09:04Five?
09:04Yeah, because you got C.J. McCollum,
09:06you got Gabe Vincent,
09:07you got Jonathan Kaminga,
09:08you got Jock Landell,
09:10and there might be one more I'm missing.
09:12Kaminga?
09:13I said Kaminga.
09:14Kaminga?
09:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:15Landell,
09:16Gabe Vincent,
09:17C.J. McCollum,
09:18and Kaminga.
09:19Kispert.
09:20Oh, and Kispert.
09:21Yeah, so five.
09:21Yeah.
09:22Nikhil Alexander-Walker,
09:24love him,
09:25but he was signed to be the sixth man,
09:28and he's starting.
09:30Like, you know,
09:32that's the thing,
09:33and look,
09:34I'm not,
09:35if Quinn Snyder's fired up today,
09:38I am losing no sleep over it.
09:40But I also don't believe
09:41you can come on here
09:41and just trash him
09:42when he got a group of guys
09:46to come together,
09:46whether they're playing bad teams or not.
09:48Guess what?
09:49You were six games under .500.
09:51Seven games under .500,
09:52something like that.
09:53So, yeah,
09:54you beat bad teams,
09:55but you were a bad team.
09:56Well, I think with all those trades,
09:57the messaging was
09:58we're building for the future, right?
10:00We're moving to the future.
10:01However,
10:02when they went on a run,
10:03you get swept up in the moment,
10:05and your perspective starts to change,
10:07and you start to think,
10:07hey, this could happen.
10:09And I think that's where
10:11the level of upsetness
10:13is coming from today
10:14after that loss last night.
10:15Let's try to get one more call in right now.
10:17Smitty in the truck.
10:18Hey, Smitty,
10:19what's going on this morning?
10:21Good morning.
10:22Good morning.
10:24I wouldn't go as far as to say
10:26that Snyder needs to be fired,
10:29but the Hawks cannot mess this draft up.
10:32I mean,
10:33there's no way you can mess this draft up.
10:36For me,
10:37I know that we need two dogs.
10:39I need two dogs.
10:40I need one coming off the bench,
10:41and I need one that's starting.
10:43I looked at the game last night
10:45with Minnesota.
10:45Their best player
10:46and one of their good,
10:48good players
10:48didn't even play last night,
10:51and they still beat the brakes
10:52like the Nuggets.
10:53We just need
10:54a big man in the middle
10:57and we need somebody
10:58coming off that bench.
10:59And for me to lose
11:01to that fan base,
11:02we're going to get the business
11:03all year from them
11:04because there's so many
11:05of them down here.
11:06I'm not even listening
11:07to ESPN enough
11:09for the next month
11:10because it's going to be terrible.
11:12I don't blame you.
11:12It's going to be
11:13Stephen A.
11:14Smith is going to kill us today.
11:17It's going to be terrible.
11:18So,
11:19just give me two dogs.
11:20I need two dogs.
11:21I need some physicality,
11:23man,
11:23because last night
11:25when I looked at
11:26a Kongu
11:26trying to hold back Robinson,
11:28he looked like a child
11:30standing behind that band.
11:32That's a good point.
11:33And I thought a Kongu
11:34was big.
11:35You know,
11:36I just need some
11:37physicality, man.
11:38I just need some feeling.
11:39I need somebody
11:40that's going to get in there
11:41and knock somebody.
11:42I ain't going to say
11:43head off,
11:44but you know what I mean.
11:46I think everybody's
11:47kind of feeling
11:48what he's feeling right now.
11:49Yeah.
11:50And,
11:50you know,
11:51the thought process
11:53over in Yekia,
11:54that can be ongoing.
11:54I know there's conversation
11:55about Dyson,
11:56but I will go back
11:56to his first point.
11:58You can't mess this draft up.
12:00I thought that was
12:01a great call.
12:02Cannot mess
12:03this draft up.
12:05This is a
12:06trajectory
12:08altering pick
12:09that you will be making
12:09in this year's NBA draft.
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