00:00Hacking Carl is out today. Abe is in. We were just talking off the air about what's going to happen
00:04with the Hawks in this Eastern Conference.
00:06A guy on YouTube watching us on Twitch says,
00:09Wrestler acts like luxury tax is a great wall of China.
00:11He says, Hawks and Braves, never about titles.
00:13Talking about our conversation earlier and the gap, which is only right now $26 million with the Phillies.
00:18I've used them as a reference point, but as you said, that's one big starting pitcher contract difference, basically.
00:23And trying to get you across the finish line to win the division and make some noise in the postseason.
00:27What I said on the text line was, Eastern Conference is so much better this year.
00:32And that's even before we know where LeBron is going, right?
00:34Correct.
00:35And you could remember, because Indianapolis will be back in the mix with Halliburton healthy.
00:39You know, we're still, you know, we're still a team that, as you said, was a sixth seed.
00:42I get it. We all wanted to see that big star play.
00:45And next year they're going to have tons of cap space next offseason.
00:48How do we evolve with the young guys?
00:50And how does this depth chart look?
00:51We'll get into all that stuff coming up later in the hour.
00:54Because I like the moves we made.
00:55I like cutting bait on Riesa Shea.
00:57I think that was going nowhere.
00:58I mentioned this to someone who was kind of chirping at me on Twitter.
01:02Saying that, you know, I'm punting on the season and all this.
01:06And I actually think the Hawks are a better team this coming year than they were this past year.
01:12At the same time, I think they're going to finish significantly further down in the standings.
01:17That's the problem.
01:17Because, look, you've got McCollum is here for one, all intents and purposes, one year, basically, right?
01:22Right.
01:22One more year.
01:23You brought in Lou Dort.
01:25You picked up another backup.
01:26Again, a pretty good depth now at the point guard position.
01:29So the future is provided that Kingston Flemings hits the ground running, gets some traction.
01:33But this is a team that defensively, yeah, you're going to be able to line up.
01:37As we said, it's almost like you wish you had this against the Knicks.
01:40But this is something which is more about the half court and real great defensive matchups with Dyson Daniels and
01:45Lou Dort, two all-defensive team players.
01:47But you've got to get to the playoffs first.
01:49You have enough offense to get you in there.
01:51You can utilize all the things we think we're going to have in the depth chart.
01:54There's two separate discussions that people don't want to be separate.
01:57There's a discussion of, are the Hawks an improved squad?
02:01There's also a discussion of, where do they stand in the East?
02:07Those are not the same discussion.
02:08It is not a blind, the Hawks were the sixth seed, you just told me that you think they're better
02:14than they were last year, so they're at least a six or better.
02:18No, I think they are better than they were last year.
02:20I do.
02:21I think Philly is better.
02:24I think potentially Miami is better.
02:28I think the Pacers, if Halliburton returns in good form, is better.
02:32I think the teams that are above you, no one got worse enough to fall below you.
02:37I think you're at wild cards with Orlando and Charlotte and maybe even Milwaukee, potentially even Washington.
02:48I think you're better than you were last year.
02:51I think you're also going to finish further down because other teams are also better.
02:56Well, that's a problem.
02:57I mean, we've got so sick and tired of that play-in rut, but right now you can look and
03:01say, man,
03:01you're going to be in a hard position to get to that sixth seed, even though the big picture, and
03:06this is something if Day-Day was here,
03:07we'd be saying, Ansi's looking for the big picture.
03:10Didn't think we were one player away.
03:11He told us, Dukes of Bell, that we're not one player away.
03:13I know, like, I'd love to be in the mix for some superstars.
03:16What we do need, though, if you're going to be so defensively oriented in some of your rotations, Jalen Johnson's
03:20going to have to ball out.
03:22Jalen Johnson needs to even go further than he did last year.
03:24He's an all-star.
03:25He needs to become, like, that upper-tier guy.
03:27Not, you know, again, he's not the first player in the NBA to have a big playoff moment where you
03:32kind of, uh, you know,
03:33I don't want it, you take it, like hot potato, some big moments.
03:36But he's got to grow from that experience.
03:37And that goes, to me, that goes back to Quinn Snyder.
03:39Right.
03:39And look, we love Naw.
03:41You know, there was times when Naw was inconsistent in that Knicks series, too.
03:44I personally was quite frustrated with Nikhil Alexander-Walker because what I kind of expected was that Jalen Johnson was
03:52going to get pressured the way he did.
03:54And someone else was going to need to step up.
03:56And I have nothing against Naw.
03:58I thought it was going to be him.
03:59It turned out to be C.J. McCollum.
04:01And that's fine.
04:03Unless you're getting something you just really don't expect out of Kingston Flemings offensively, then, yeah, it's going to be
04:10up to the same guys to take another jump offensively.
04:13It includes Nikhil Alexander-Walker.
04:15It includes Jalen Johnson.
04:17I think the wild card for you offensively is Dyson Daniels.
04:20Because you can't just have multiple guys on the floor that you're getting nothing offensive from.
04:26And I think if Dyson – two years ago, Dyson was perfectly fine.
04:30He wasn't the greatest three-point shooter, but he was shooting, you know, whatever it was.
04:36He became 18% or whatever it was, which is you can't have that guy shoot.
04:40Correct.
04:41If you get anything from him, I think it might change the scope of the discussion you and I are
04:45having if he's a threat.
04:47I think most fans, though, as I said to Oren off the air, you know, when a guy gets traded,
04:51you know, there's a fan's reaction.
04:52There's no reaction to Reese Ache.
04:54There's none.
04:55There's no reaction.
04:56I mean, Reese Ache – it's like if a tree falls in the forest.
04:59He just felt – look, I appreciate the kid stepping up and saying, look, man, I'm not happy with where
05:03things are going.
05:03But you couldn't even get him on the floor in blowouts against the Knicks.
05:06Yeah.
05:07It's just not – like that draft class is going to go down in infamy with the exception of Stephon
05:11Kassler.
05:11Who's the – the two centers?
05:13Edie was good.
05:14There's a couple guys.
05:14He's okay.
05:15But it's not like – again, it's just if you believe in Atlanta-itis, and I don't, although sometimes it's
05:21hard to argue against it,
05:22you get the number one seed sandwiched between Cooper Flagg and Wemby.
05:26Yeah.
05:26Bad role.
05:27And Alexander Saar, for whatever reason, didn't want to play in Atlanta.
05:30And you could have used a big man, but he didn't want to be here.
05:32He's not that good anyway.
05:33No, and he's just a dude.
05:34He's just a dude.
05:35And you said Reese Ache might not even be in the NBA in three years.
05:37No.
05:38But the Mavericks, apparently, they were willing to give even more to get him.
05:40Hey, look, good for them.
05:42I think most of the general perception is there's not an ill will towards Reese Ache leaving.
05:50It's kind of a, all right, he's someone else's problem now.
05:53Hopefully, he does well with – like, I don't think people are rooting against him in Dallas.
05:56I think, generally, people want to see him prove to be something he wasn't here.
06:01But at the same time, that's not our problem anymore.
06:03We are looking forward now.
06:04I am excited.
06:06I was getting on Marta yesterday when I saw the tweets about Lou Dort.
06:13And I was like, man, Lou Dort for Reese Ache and who cares about second-round picks?
06:17Some guys say we got more for Reese Ache than we got for Trey.
06:19Well, it's a value thing.
06:20And obviously, Reese Ache is cheaper and younger than Trey.
06:23And there's all sorts of attached things there.
06:26But I was pretty excited about Lou Dort.
06:29I'm pretty excited about Nebhard, too.
06:30They're all good additions.
06:32And Nebhard was an undrafted free agent who actually – one gave me a 23 assist last year.
06:38Hey, you know what?
06:39That's – all of a sudden now, again, Kingston Fleming's going to hit the ground running.
06:43I'm excited about seeing the young guys.
06:45And I never, ever, ever, ever want to say patience.
06:48But I guess I'm going to have to be patient with this Hawks team this year.
06:51I just wonder how some of the fans feel about this because you really whetted the appetite with that run
06:54last year.
06:55Well, we can also go through the list of teams that are just so close to falling apart.
06:59Like, Detroit's pretty close to falling apart depending on what happens with Durin.
07:03And we'll see what Boston is without – let's be honest – without Jalen Brown.
07:06That's one.
07:07We'll see if Giannis and Bam works.
07:09They could be one year away from falling apart.
07:13It seems like Riley's making a play for LeBron.
07:15He is.
07:17It just sounds to me like Sixers.
07:18What about if something happens with Kawhi and Toronto's not able to acquire him?
07:21Yeah, they're still waiting for that investigation with the NBA over the dummy corporation that
07:24Balmer set up to backdoor him some money, which – by the way, why isn't the attorney general
07:28in California looking at that?
07:30Anyway, Oren, real quick, big old man, what do you think over the weekend we were texting
07:33back and forth when the trades went down?
07:35How do you think this is going to go this year?
07:37I mean, we just laid out the Eastern Conference is better.
07:39The moves we made, everyone agrees.
07:41Defensively, we're going to have some amazing matchups.
07:43Defensively, are we going to have enough scoring on this team?
07:45That's where it gets kind of hairy right there, especially with the second unit,
07:48because I don't expect Lou Dort to be your starting two or three.
07:53Like, you can't play him and Dyson Daniels on the floor at the same time.
07:58That's just – that's too much offensive inefficiency right there at the same time.
08:04There's a toughness he brings.
08:05You're always talking about the Hawks have been lacking that guy that gets into somebody's face.
08:09Like, the guy who's not afraid to make the hard foul on somebody.
08:12Like, that's Lou Dort before you lose, not afraid to mix it up down on the court.
08:15So, from a toughness and from a defensive perspective, but in the playoffs, too,
08:20like, we had these long moments where, like, nobody was hitting baskets.
08:24Nobody was hitting from the outside.
08:26Well, Jalen – that's what I mentioned earlier.
08:27Jalen kind of, you know, shied away from some of those good – there were some decent looks.
08:32Now, look, the Knicks defensive prowess, we talked about the size disadvantage and all that,
08:35but I'm with you.
08:36It's just – I like where we're going with this,
08:38but it's really going to be incumbent on C.J. McCollum having a little bit left in the tank, right,
08:42as far as when he's out there on – in half course.
08:45And quite frankly, Mike, it might be one of those situations where he has to pick and choose his spots
08:49in the regular season.
08:51Right, he's no spring chicken.
08:52Right, and if – not that he's, you know, load managing or whatever,
08:57but if he needs to take a back seat because it's game 38 and not game four of the playoffs,
09:04just remember that.
09:05Just think about that.
09:06I like picking up Wiggins, everyone.
09:08Like, there's some good things happening with this team, but you're right.
09:10It's how does – how does the coach – how does Quinn Snyder get the –
09:13I just want to see what these rotations are going to look like.
09:16And to Oren's point, matching the offense with the defensive prowess.
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