- 2 days ago
The Atlanta Hawks made a stunning trade over the weekend acquiring Oklahoma City guard Lu Dort, who was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team just a year ago. His acquisition is in addition to Hawks draft picks Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor. So what does the team and Quin Snyder's rotations look like now?
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00:00Meanwhile, speaking of the NBA, the Hawks do make the moves.
00:03I saw a guy just tweet saying, man, he goes,
00:05we've got more for Reece Sashay than we've got for Trey, in his estimation.
00:09You'll love Lou Dort.
00:10You put him with Dyson.
00:11We've got a shutdown defensive combo.
00:12But where's the offense come from, and how does this work in that?
00:15How do these rotations evolve during the season?
00:17Because I really look forward to seeing all of our new guys.
00:20Ejafor, certainly we've got another guy that can play some guard
00:24and pick up some minutes, where eventually we're going to see
00:26Kingston Flemings out there.
00:27But what do these rotations look like?
00:30Now, you could argue if it's a playoff game
00:32and you're really getting down to the nuts and bolts of half court,
00:34and now we've got guys who can sub in and you can just lock it down.
00:37But the regular season is so different than the playoffs.
00:41This almost seems like a team with all the things happening
00:44in the Eastern Conference, with potentially LeBron coming east,
00:48Hal LeBurton healthy with the Pacers.
00:50All of a sudden, it's almost like you slide back into that seven spot.
00:53There's a million things that I think about this.
00:56We can start right there.
00:57We can start right there, Mike.
00:58I don't know how you're a top six team.
01:01I just don't.
01:02I think Philly has jumped you.
01:04I think the five teams that were ahead of you are still ahead of you.
01:06I think, depending on what happens in Miami, maybe they get ahead of you.
01:11I think Philly is now ahead of you.
01:13I think that there's a wild card in Indiana that you talked about with Halliburton.
01:17Maybe they're ahead of you.
01:19And so I just don't know how you're getting to, I think, if Orlando stayed healthy,
01:25they're probably ahead of you, based on last year, if Franz Wagner stayed.
01:28So, yeah.
01:29Getting into his top six seed, again, is problematic.
01:32And to your point, good.
01:34You've got defense.
01:35Maybe that can win you games here and there.
01:37At some point, you're going to have to outscore somebody.
01:40And you talk about the rotations.
01:43And it's almost, how do you close a game out?
01:46And I think that's what's interesting to me.
01:49How do you close a game out?
01:50You've got to have a guard, I think.
01:52Right.
01:53Right, CJ.
01:54The way you closed games out last year was CJ McCollum, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson,
02:00Nikhil Alexander-Walker, and I guess Onyeka Okagwu.
02:03Right.
02:04I don't know if Lou Dort can get into there.
02:06I don't know if Ejafor or Kingston Flemings is getting into there.
02:10You've lost Mo Gay, maybe Jock Landale at times.
02:14But, like, yeah, I don't know.
02:16I will say this, though.
02:17Dort comes and has won a lot of games.
02:19He's been in playoff situations.
02:20He brings experience.
02:22He brings toughness.
02:23He brings a lot of things that you probably lacked heading into the series with the Knicks.
02:28So I view it from that standpoint as well.
02:29And that's why we said, you know, going into this conversation,
02:32that it seems like, yeah, it's just what the doctor ordered for a team which is ready
02:36to really make some noise in the playoffs.
02:38But now we all know that we're going to have more cap space.
02:40Next year we can make a play for a big free agent or take on some salary.
02:44A lot of guys looked at this and say, well, what's the long-term answer with Dort?
02:47Dort is almost very similar to Kaminga.
02:49You can audition Dort in this offense.
02:51You can re-sign him.
02:52They have the option.
02:53You can keep him.
02:54Or you can maybe move him.
02:55But, I mean, they've got some flexibility.
02:57Everyone, I had a couple guys text me today on Twitter and stuff.
03:01It's Mike Bell or what the hell am I?
03:02ATL Bell.
03:03You'll find me.
03:04Mike Bell.
03:04I'll never get back to the 50,000 followers, Abe.
03:07It's gone.
03:08Thanks for nothing, Elon Musk.
03:10ATLBell929.
03:10What's your Twitter name?
03:11Mine's at Abe Gordon.
03:12There you go.
03:13That's easy.
03:13Click links.
03:14I'm not supposed to click, Mike.
03:15I know.
03:16And, again, all I've just wanted to help somebody, too.
03:19I know.
03:19Good luck in your award season.
03:21No good deed goes unpunished with the way that spam worked or that malware worked.
03:25But I digress.
03:26But, yeah, so a lot of guys hit me up and going, where's the offense coming?
03:29What are we doing here?
03:30So, CJ, Nikhil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jalen, Anyak Elkong, you're starting five.
03:35And we talked about the rotation.
03:37Now you've got a bunch of guys that can really give you some help defensively.
03:40We've talked about Wiggins, who I love.
03:42You know, you've got a lot of – you're adding some athleticism.
03:44The young guys, the size everybody was coveting in the offseason, that's down the road.
03:48And we'll see.
03:49You know, one thing for certain, we've got some guys now that are taller and bigger and give you some
03:55of the things that I think, if you were looking for the old school standard five, perhaps that happens one
04:00day for this team.
04:01But how does it work, though?
04:03I mean, when do we see Henry Visser in there?
04:06When is he on the floor?
04:08I mean, if at all.
04:09He's not going down.
04:10Not a lot.
04:10He's not going down to the G League, so he's just going to be on the bench.
04:13Maybe.
04:14And I think things probably shifted when we got the Mo Gay news that he's going to be out for
04:18a number of months.
04:19He's got the injuries going to be out for a while.
04:20And so, Ejiofor can – I love Ejiofor's game.
04:23He's kind of like a Swiss Army knife.
04:24But he's a double Okongwu, like size-wise.
04:26He's not really there to play center either.
04:29And so, you're still dealing with the size issue that we talked about heading into the playoffs.
04:33Jock Landale's back, and that can solve part of it.
04:38But, yeah, I don't know what the plan is for Visser.
04:40And it might have adjusted because of the Mo Gay injury.
04:43But, look, you look at the offense last year.
04:45You see what C.J. McCollum could do at times.
04:48I think we've seen Nikhil Alexander-Walker take over at times.
04:52I think we've seen Jalen Johnson take over at times.
04:55But is any of these guys going to take another step?
04:58Now, C.J. McCollum's not taking another step.
05:00His career's been written.
05:01What he is offensively now is what he's going to be.
05:04Does Nikhil take another step offensively?
05:06Does Jalen take another step offensively?
05:08Got to get something out of Dyson, Mike.
05:10Well, that's just it.
05:10I mean, Dyson's not a great – we know that.
05:12And that's what I saw from folks outside of Atlanta saying, where's the scoring?
05:16You really have to lean into Jalen Johnson.
05:19Look, Jalen Johnson, we don't want to be overreacting to how the Knicks series came out.
05:23But it's almost like events kind of overwhelmed him and he was passing open looks.
05:27And I didn't like – I thought he was timid at times.
05:30They're leaning on him to be the man.
05:32I mean, if you're going to put that on the floor where you've got two guys who can't score at
05:35all,
05:35you really need Jalen Johnson to be a machine and more consistency from Nall.
05:38The good news is, a guy like Lou Dort, they hate to lose, but Oklahoma City's up against it with
05:43the cap.
05:43Same thing happened with Minnesota, how he got Nall.
05:46These are great pieces.
05:47Can you moneyball this team as we try to figure out what the rotations look like and get the offensive
05:53production?
05:54Well, first off, to that point about Lou Dort, I absolutely view this as OKC moving Lou Dort before they
05:59had to pay him.
06:00And before – to avoid the second –
06:01They'd love to keep him, but he's a luxury.
06:02And if that's going to be your advantage, then I'm absolutely fine with that.
06:06Look, I think with Jalen Johnson – and I don't know if he reaches the next level,
06:11but there is a next level to his game that has been unopened.
06:14And that is the ability to create his own shot from the perimeter without attacking the basket,
06:19whether that's a pull-up jumper or what it might be.
06:22And I've used this comparison before, Mike.
06:25I understand he's not going to be Kevin Durant, but at his height, at his size,
06:30there is the ability to shoot and create your own shot similar to how Kevin Durant would.
06:36He's not Kevin Durant.
06:37He's not going to be Kevin Durant.
06:38He's not a killer like Kevin Durant.
06:39That's fine.
06:40But if he can learn to create his own shot a little bit from the outside like Kevin Durant can,
06:45then his game takes even another step, and you go from being a top 20, 25 player in the league
06:50to one of the top 15 players in the league.
06:52Guys were hitting me up today, and one guy follows me.
06:54He was saying, well, when are we going to spend the money?
06:55Well, Ansi Saleh came on the show and told us we weren't, in his mind, one player away.
07:00That's why the Jalen Brown thing wasn't on the table, despite other teams,
07:03other folks linking us around the NBA to Jalen Brown.
07:06I get it.
07:07You want a star?
07:08I mean, you want somebody.
07:09Jalen's supposed to be that guy, but Jalen needs to take enough.
07:12There's the evolution of Jalen Johnson.
07:14They need to just take that experience and learn from whatever the hell that was against the Knicks
07:18in some of those games where he disappeared.
07:19And that's also incumbent on Quinn Snyder and his coaching staff.
07:22And I also think that, and you spoke about it already once today, you're going to have
07:26a ton of money in the next offseason.
07:27You're now giving yourself one more year to see, hey, is Jalen a one here, or do we need
07:33Jalen to be the second best player on this team?
07:35Is he going to be somebody's Pippen?
07:36Is he going to rob him to somebody's Batman?
07:38Right.
07:38I still think he can establish himself as the man.
07:40And if he does, maybe you spend your money differently.
07:43And if you go through this season and you kind of feel that he doesn't, maybe you have
07:47a new refocus goal.
07:48So I know it doesn't feel like we're going in to compete this year, but I somewhat am
07:54okay with them kind of taking another review year and saying, hey, exactly what do we have
07:59with Nall, with the whole core, and then saying, all right, we need this.
08:04You sound like my boy Damian, Day-Day Lewis, who's off today, our producer.
08:08Patience.
08:08I have no patience.
08:09A lot of Hawks fans don't have patience.
08:10And you got your appetite whetted by those two wins against the Knicks, and it was exciting.
08:14I mean, to leave State Farm Arena with us up two games to one, it felt surreal.
08:19That was one of the best games I've been to the last couple of years.
08:22It was a blast.
08:23But the reality of it is, Pacers are back with Halliburton.
08:26We're going to see LeBron likely maybe, by the way, where's he going to land?
08:29The Sixers?
08:30I honestly think it's either Philly or Cleveland.
08:33And I do think he's made up his mind.
08:35I do think a decision comes at some point this week.
08:37But I'm not ruling out Miami yet either.
08:39But not to mention the Magic, a new coach, and everybody else who made the playoffs.
08:43The Knicks, it almost feels like the Knicks are saying, look, you got your championship.
08:47If you're told, we're not going to go spend crazy money.
08:49They'll be around.
08:50They're not going anywhere.
08:51But are they going to be able to get back?
08:52The Eastern Conference is a lot more competitive than it was a year ago.
08:55And that's part of why I think Ansi Saleh wisely is not, hey, let's make a run at this right
09:00now.
09:01And that's why you didn't go in the mix for some of these guys who were up on the float.
09:04In my opinion, yeah.
09:05Again, with LeBron on the way, the East is much better than they were a year ago.
09:10And again, this is why I don't think you're finishing as a top six seed.
09:12Right. Now you have $6 million available.
09:15We're not into those aprons that we always talk about.
09:17I get it. It's frustrating because you'll want to see Russell go all in.
09:19But Abe just laid it out there.
09:20We just talked about how competitive the Eastern Conference is.
09:23Can you still be entertaining?
09:25And like I said to Carl last week, nothing against our starting five.
09:29I can't wait to see Ezra for it.
09:30I can't wait to see Kingston Fleming's.
09:32But how do they rotate? How do they evolve?
09:34And I've got to be honest.
09:36I had no empathy for his research.
09:38I appreciate him saying I'm unhappy.
09:40He wanted more minutes. He felt like he was the odd man out.
09:43But his game and his draft, even Alexander Sarr is nothing special.
09:47He's good, but he's nothing like...
09:49Reese Sashay might not even be a star in this league.
09:51Period.
09:53He might not be in this league.
09:55Period.
09:55Right. In three years.
09:56That's the reality.
09:57I will say this.
09:58We have guys in this town.
10:00We've got guys that will cry about Desmond Ritter.
10:02I didn't hear anybody crying about Reese Sashay.
10:04Somehow Reese Sashay is getting shafted.
10:05If they wanted to keep him and work on him, I would have been fine with that.
10:08I'm also equally fine with, hey, we're going to cut it here.
10:12We've got a nice offer.
10:13This is a great offer.
10:14Right.
10:15And this is a strong offer.
10:16I said to Abe to start the show, Dallas apparently sees some things.
10:18And look, we'll see where it goes.
10:20It's just, you go back, you look at that draft.
10:21It's like what?
10:22It's Stephon Castle.
10:25There's like two other, three other guys.
10:26But really, it's just Castle.
10:28Right.
10:28As a current difference maker, it's just him.
10:30And then back then, you weren't taking a big overall.
10:33And Sarr didn't want to be here.
10:35Sarr made sense for us, but he didn't want to come to the last.
10:37Tonya Trey, you weren't going to take Castle either.
10:39Right.
10:39And Trey, he gone.
10:40He gone now.
10:41He's trying to rip up a jail in Brunson, Jersey.
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