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Monday, May 28, 2007
What are you crazy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After a week of watching and listening to all manner of theories about what the Hawks should (and should not) do with their draft picks in next month’s draft, the only thing I can figure is that we’re all just a little bit crazy.
No.
Really.
Crazy.
Certifiable.
Loony.
Bonkers.
How else to explain all the crazy trade scenarios being tossed around, and not just here but from coast to cast by supposedly respectable media outlets.
I’d pan them individually if there weren’t so many to mention. But let me just say first and foremost that any team willing to trade the No. 3 and or No. 11 pick for an established star in the current NBA is an absolute nut. The only guy guaranteed to deliver a playoff spot is Shaquille O’Neal, and his days of being the Big Guarantee are dwindling. Do I have to mention the long list of established players, many of them among the league’s elite talents, that you simply cannot build a playoff team around on a consistent basis?
There’s not a single player out there I think is worth mortgaging your prime position in a good draft, one you could have been shut out of, so you can say you added a veteran piece. The Hawks have cap space people, so if they wanted to add a quality veteran they could still do so in addition to the draft picks they have.
They need a young point guard. And something tells me there’s one to be had in this draft.
They also need a quality big man to help fortify their frontline. Again, that player can be had between picks 3-11 in this draft.
That savior you were hoping for … well, he’s headed to the Pacific Northwest.
Which brings me back to the plethora of not-gon’-happen trade scenarios that have invaded our lives in the past week. The only team worth talking to about a possible trade is Portland. And since we all know they don’t plan on giving up the No. 1 pick in this draft, those conversations would be brief (I love LaMarcus Aldridge and I’d take he and Jarrett Jack in a heartbeat for the No. 3. But do you really think the Blazers would trade this kid, a 7-footer with an impressive face-up game and a high ceiling, with an opportunity to pair he and Greg Oden together like the New Millennium version of Duncan and Robinson? What are you crazy?) and probably end with laughter on both ends of the line.
The bottom line is this, if you’re building a team in today’s NBA it has to begin with you maximizing your position in drafts, trades and free agency. The Hawks have a chance to maximize that position in this draft by fortifying two positions with quality lottery picks. And then they can entertain all types of trade offers (involving not draft picks but perhaps one those veteran point guards and one of their young swingmen that teams around the league covet) for the quality veteran piece - at whatever position - that we all agree they so desperately need. Since the free agent market appears to be a bit thin, the Hawks relax in July and pass on spending money for appearances sake.
This is a time to be smart and make the shrewd and subtle moves that can take your team from 30 wins to 44-plus, not the time to do something crazy to appease the curiosity of those who want to see what could be done simply because you have a couple of high draft picks (and it would help greatly if some of these crazy trade rumors were grounded in at least a drop of reality).
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