The Atlanta Hawks are trading for Camelo Anthony– so they can cut him. This tells us all we need to know about Anthony, once a big deal, and the Hawks, who are systematically removing every trace of the Danny Ferry/Mike Budenholzer years, not that many remained.
(The move was first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Esteemed colleague Chris Vivlamore reports that the transaction involves both Oklahoma City and Philadelphia.)
The Hawks are sending Dennis Schroder, their first pick in the Ferry-wrangled 2013 draft, to OKC, and Mike Muscala, acquired in a trade for Shane Larkin the same night, to Philly. Muscala became a semi-useful sub here. Schroder became, for one not-so-shining moment, the future of the franchise.
Jeff Teague was traded to Indiana to make room for Schroder, who flunked his audition. The latter essentially asked to be traded before the June draft, but the new Hawks would surely have obliged him anyway. Travis Schlenk, who with Golden State saw how hard Stephen Curry labored to become Stephen Curry, didn’t see a similar work ethic in the German import. (Also: Schroder could stand trial for felony battery.)
With Trae Young and Jeremy Lin on the roster, Schroder became superfluous to requirements. The Hawks have a newer new point guard and a serviceable-provided-he’s-healthy backup. Beyond that, there’s not much. Yes, there’s John Collins, and there’s Taurean Prince and there’s … umm … give me a second ...
Wait! Got it! Another Round 1 draft pick! It’s coming from Oklahoma City in this deal, and it won’t arrive until 2022, and Wojnarowski reports that it’s lottery-protected. So: not exactly prime. But it’s something.
As for the guy the Hawks are receiving, albeit briefly, in this deal: Carmelo Anthony once was really good, or at least really good at scoring. He always was a bit of a ball-stopper, which is a liability in these pace-and-space times, and he’s coming off a season at OKC where he averaged 16.2 points; his career average is 24.1.
He just turned 34, and he’s due to make $27.9 million this season. That’s $27.9 million the Hawks are prepared to eat rather than issue him a uniform. Remember when we used to ask who was better, LeBron or Carmelo? Was that a serious question?
We asked last month how close the tanking Hawks were to getting good again. The guess was at least three years. That guess could prove to be optimistic, especially if Young doesn't turn out to be as good as Luka Doncic, who might go down as Schlenk's Chris Paul. (Then again, he might not.)
This isn’t, as we know, the Hawks’ first total makeover. Billy Knight needed a couple of years to prune everything he inherited from Pete Babcock. Schlenk has gone faster. Heck, he’s making like Paul Bunyan with a chainsaw. Remember when Knight landed Rasheed Wallace and flipped him to Detroit after one game? Schlenk one-upped that. Carmelo won’t be here for one practice.
Oh, almost forgot. Kent Bazemore is still on the roster. He’s the only guy was was part of the roster that reached the Eastern Conference finals in … when, 1975?
No? It was 2015? Really?
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