2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: The New York Knicks.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

So, if you came into this season thinking that the Knicks would be good then you must be a Knicks fan and if you are, I’m sorry to hear that. Last season provided fans of the team a reason to have hope: they had the worst record in the league which gave them the chance to potentially draft Zion Williamson, they had $74 million in cap space after dealing Porzingis to the Mavericks for some picks and three guys who didn’t really matter and one of the biggest free agency markets in recent offseasons where they could use their two max slots and their “big market appeal” to lure superstars like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. I mean come on, what superstar doesn’t want to waste four years of their career on a bad team with a horrible owner not making the playoffs, it sounds like a good time to me.

But unfortunately, and in true Knicks fashion, nothing worked out in their favor. KD and Kyrie both chose to go to their neighbors in Brooklyn and they fell to the 3^rd pick in the draft. This must’ve been heart-breaking to that one fan who got a Zion tattoo a little before the Lottery.

https://twitter.com/MasterTes/status/1128454941335592966

Remember kids, don’t get tattoos of things that haven’t happened, because you run the risk of looking stupid if it doesn’t happen. But hey, your body your choice, I guess?

Anyway, so how did the front office bounce back from these two devastating blows to the organization? Yep, you guessed it, by signing a boatload of power forwards (four to be exact). On top of a disappointing free agency class, the Knicks overhauled both their coach and president in the hopes of a brighter future, but we’ve been down this road before. Nothing is going to change if James Dolan owns the team so until he sells it or until the Knicks sign Michael Jordan, they shall be stuck in this cycle of never-ending disappointment.

I made a meme. Enjoy

June 20^th – NBA Draft & Rookies:

 

The Knicks entered the 2019 NBA Draft with both 3^rd and 55^th overall pick. They selected R.J. Barrett (SG/SF) and Kyle Guy (PG) respectively however they ended up trading Kyle Guy to the Kings in exchange for Ignas Brazdeikis (SF).

 

Trades:

 

June 21^st – As mention above, the Knicks trade 55^th pick (the draft rights to Kyle Guy) to the Kings for the 47^th pick (the draft rights to Ignas Brazeikis).

 

Free Agency

 

After missing out on KD, Kyrie, and every other decent free agent, the Knicks had to use their cap space to sign multiple players to fill up their roster. Warning, this is going to be long so bear with me.

 

July 8^th – They sign Julius Randle (PF) to a 3-year $62.1 million contract with only $4 million partially guaranteed in 2021-22.

 

July 8th – They sing Bobby Portis (PF/C) to a 2-year $30.75 million contract with a team option in 2020-21.

 

July 8^th – They sign Taj Gibson (PF) to a 2-year $20 million contract. 2020-21 is a team option.

 

July 8th – They sign Elfrid Payton (PG) to a 2-year $16 million contract.          

 

July 8th – They sign Wayne Ellington (SG) to a 2-year $16 million contract with a 2020-21 team option.

 

July 15^th – They signed Reggie Bullock (SG) to a 2-year $8.2 million contract.

 

July 15^th – They signed Marcus Morris (PF) to a 1 year $15 million contract.

 

You know I like these moves by the Knicks though, most of the players they signed had team options for the 2020-21 season which will set them up to have the cap room to sign a superstar in the 2021-22 offseason. They probably won’t do it, but at least they can.

 

Midseason

 

December 6^th - After a 4-18 start, the Knicks decided to fire their coach, David Fizdale, and was replaced by Mike Miller (interim). Fiz only coached 104 games for the Knicks and had a record of 21-83, yikes. He was their 6^th coach in the last 11 years, so take that for data. Also, if you’re asking if that Mike Miller is the same one that hit a three with his shoe off then yes, he’s the same one.

 

February 4^th – The Knicks fire their long time president Steve Mills. He was replaced by their general manager Scott Perry for the interim

 

March 2^nd – Leon Rose was named the new president of basketball operations for the Knicks. He’s an agent with multiple well-known clients like Devin Booker, Karl Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid, and Chris Paul.

 

Signings – Nothing to report

 

Trades

 

February 6^th – 3 Team trade

New York Knicks get	Los Angeles Clippers get	Washington Wizards get
Maurice Harkless (Clippers)	Marcus Morris (Knicks)	Jerome Robinson (Clippers)
Draft rights to Issuf Sanon (Wizards)	Isaiah Thomas (Wizards)
2020 1st round pick (Clippers)
2021 top 4 protected 1st round pick. Chance to swap with Clippers.
2021 Detroit 2nd round pick (Clippers)

 

March 11^th – The NBA suspends the season due to COVID-19.

 

Overtime Notes:

 

June 26^th – The Knicks wave Allonzo Trier (SG). I don’t know why they did that, I mean yeah, he’s a bad defender and all but still, he’s a great scoring and he’s very efficient (88 games, 45.4% from the field and 38.4% from three.) He’s still young so I think this wasn’t a good move, he could’ve been a useful rotation player and could’ve been used as a trade asset for teams that need more shooting.

 

July 30^th – The Knicks hire Tom Thibodeau to be their new head coach. Just a little bit about him, he’s a former coach of the year in 2012 with the Bulls and a champion as an assistant coach to the 08 Celtics. He’s had great success with D-rose in Chicago and even brought the Timberwolves back to the playoffs in 2017-18 after a 13-year absence. One more fun fact, he was an assistant coach on the Knicks for 8 years from 96-04 which means he was apart of the magical 8^th seeded Knicks going to the Finals as an 8^th seed in the 1998-99 season.

 

Preview.

 

This picture was taken from basketballreference.com, click the link for more information https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/NYK.html

The 2020-21 season doesn’t look like it might be any easier for the Knicks because of the position that they want to be in. They want to have cap space for the 2021-22 season, so they will most likely be unlikely to commit to any long-term contracts unless it’s for one of the top free agents of this year’s class. They desperately need more scoring as the Knicks were the 2^nd worst team scoring team with 105.8 points per game. Guys like Jordan Clarkson and Fred Van Vleet should be prime targets for them.

They need to hope that Tibs can help save the careers of Knox and Smith Jr. because they have been awful for the past two seasons. Although Robinson and Barrett look solid, they need those two other young guys to step up and be good at basketball again.

Now let’s look at the draft, this year’s lottery saw the Knicks once again fall from their projected pick as they fell from the 6^th to the 8^th pick. As for who I think they should take, they pretty much need help in every position except maybe center. With that being said I guess they should value offense over defense because this is such a great defensive-minded coach, so I don’t have worries on that end. So, I guess they should go after a guy like Devin Vassell (SG/SF) or Tyrese Haliburton (PG). These are guys who can score and are decent defenders so I think they should fit right in with Thibs. They also have the Clippers pick which should be in the 20s, so they have another opportunity to get some nice young talent.

Things with the Knicks never seem to ever be good and I don’t expect next season to be different, there won’t be some magical turn around a trip to the playoffs. But that’s not what next season is supposed to be, the goals for Thibs and Rose are to develop a good culture and their young players, maintain cap space for 2021-22, and to be competitive. Without those four things then there’s no way they attract big-time free agents, and this would just be a repeat of 2019. This won’t be easy but hey, somebody has to do it. 

 

 

2019-20 Timeline Review & Preview: The Detroit Pistons

 

For the Pistons, this was a very bleak season in more ways than one. They had a bad case of the injury bug, which caused their best player Blake Griffith to play only 18 games and in those games, he played horribly. Probably their only decent looking young star, Luke Kennard only played 25 games. They traded away their, “franchise” player, Andre Drummond for the equivalent of two loose cigarettes AND on top of all that, they fell two spots in the lottery. So yeah this was a pretty horrible year to be a Pistons’ fan, or coach, or player, or employee.

Dwayne Casey (still love you Dwayne), really had scraps to work with on a nightly basis trying to have a decent team in place but he was fighting an uphill battle all season. I mean when three of your top five players in points per game each played less than 26 games, then yeah you can tell the pain he went through.

So yeah, this season I think the front office just said, “screw it” and blew the team up, I guess they decided that they only wanted to be stuck with one bad contract. Two of their former starters were waved and they made some moves to get future 2^nd picks, so I guess that’s cool. But anyway, lets dive right into it and talk about the franchise that’s living in Spain, but the S is silent the Detroit Pistons.

 

A live look at the Pistons' front office: 

June 20^th – NBA Draft

 

The Pistons originally had two picks in the 1^st round however, they ended up trading the 30^th pick to the Cavaliers in an earlier trade. They had the 15^th and 45^th picks and selected Sekou Doumbouya (PF) and Isaiah Roby (SF) respectively. However, after making some trades, the rookies they ended up were Jordan Bone (PG) and Sekou Doumbouya.

 

Preseason:

 

Trades:

 

June 21^st – The Pistons trade Jon Leuer to the Bucks in exchange for Tony Snell and the 30^th pick (the draft rights to Kevin Porter Jr.)

 

June 21^st – The Pistons trade the 30^th pick (the draft rights to Kevin Porter Jr.) to the Cavaliers for a 2020 2^nd round pick from the Jazz, a 2021 & 2023 2^nd round pick from the Trail Blazers, a 2024 2^nd pick from Miami, and cash considerations.

 

PS – I know they got a lot of picks but KPJ was pretty good in his rookie season so do you think the Pistons would’ve liked him on their roster?

 

June 27^th – The Pistons trade the 45^th pick (the draft rights to Isaiah Roby), a 2020 Jazz 2^nd round pick, and a 2021 Trail Blazers 2^nd round pick to the Mavericks for the draft rights to Deividas Sirvydis (why the hell did they do this trade?)

 

July 8^th – The Pistons trade a 2024 Miami 2^nd round pick and cash considerations to the 76ers in exchange for the 45^th pick (the draft rights to Jordan Bone).

 

Signings

 

July 6^th – Detroit signs Markieff Morris to a 2-year $6.56 million deal, with a 2020-21 player option.

 

July 7^th – Detroit signs former MVP, Derrick Rose to a 2-year $15 million deal. At least he’s still getting buckets.

 

July 17^th – Detroit claims Christian Wood off waivers. He was a really big surprise for them since Drummond was traded, he started 11 out of 13 games and averaged 23 points & 10 rebounds (I rounded up) on 56% from the field and 40% from behind the arc (on 4 attempts a game).

 

October 22^nd – The season starts.

 

November 11^th – Blake Griffith plays his first game of the season; he missed the first ten games of the season.

 

December 21^st – Luke Kennard plays his last game of the season as he suffered a knee injury. He only played 28 games.

 

December 28^th – Blake Griffith plays his last game of the season as he suffered a left knee injury. He struggled in his 18 games played and this trade just looks worse and worse with each passing day.

 

Midseason

 

Trades

 

February 6^th – The Pistons trade their “franchise player” Andre Drummond to the Cavaliers for John Henson, Brandon Knight, and a 2023 2^nd round pick.

Well damn, was this the best offer that they got? I mean he has a player option this offseason, why did the Cavs trade for him? So many unanswered questions, so little time.

 

Important Notes

 

February 18^th – The Pistons bought out and waived their starting point guard Reggie Jackson. He was traded to Detroit from the Thunder in 2015 and then signed a 5-year deal with them. He later signed a contract with the Los Angles Clippers on February 20^th.

I never really had an opinion on him, he was always meh. He was overpaid but I don’t think it was that bad of an overpay. In his 299 games with Detroit, he played 29 minutes a game and averaged around 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 5.6 assists on pretty poor efficiency (42.5% from the field and 35.4% from three on 4.4 attempts.)

 

February 21^st – The Pistons bought out and waived Markieff Morris, he played just 44 games for them. On February 23^rd he signed a contract to play for the Los Angles Lakers.

 

Oh, you didn’t know? – From the beginning of this horrendous year of 2020 till when the league was suspended, the Pistons won only 8 of their 32 games played.

 

March 11^th – The league was suspended.

 

Preview

This picture was taken from basketball reference.com, if you want more information you can click the link https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/DET.html

Looking ahead to the future, I’m stumped, I mean what are they going to do? They’ll have nine guys on the roster so in free agency, they would need to try and get bench depth, hopefully, try to sign younger players as this team is DESPERATE for any sort of young talent. But their major concern in free agency is resigning Christian Wood. They need to get him on a long-term deal so hopefully more than three years. But it now begs the question, how much is he worth? I would say between $8-$12 million a year. Also, Sekou Doumbouya’s performance in his 38 games played leaves a lot to be desired but they’re hoping that he will continue to develop. 

They also have the option of trading guys like Rose and Kennard in exchange for other players and future assets, but I would try to keep Kennard because he’s a great shooter and he’s still young and can develop further. I believe that the Pistons might get a decent return for Rose if a championship contender wanted to trade for him.

Now moving onto the draft, unfortunately, they dropped in the lottery and moved down from the 5^th pick to the 7^th pick. Now with Blake Griffin still on your roster and assuming the Pistons can resign Wood, I think their holes are at point guard and power forward position. So, I can see them going for a guy like Killian Haynes (PG) or Onyeka Okongwu (C). Either of these two options will have to ability to be mentored by great veterans. Haynes can sit behind and learn from former MVP D-rose or Okongwu can benefit from learning from Blake Griffin as he is also small enough to slide over and play the power forward position.

The Pistons are stuck between a rock and a hard place, I don’t think they can do much until Griffin’s contract expires, it's all up to the front office to draft right.

NFL 20-21 “Off the dome” Predictions

Football is back babyyyyyy!!!!! And if I am being totally honest with you, I spent little time keeping up with training camps. Mainly because I was too busy watching the NBA bubble and playoffs and since there was no preseason, I didn’t have any incentive to keep up with the NFL news. So, I didn’t know the injuries that each team is dealing with, but oh well.

So as the title says I shall do my predictions for records, division winners, playoff matchups, award winners and Superbowl winner off the top of my head. Naturally, I will be 100% correct as I am a prediction god, just go read about who I thought would make the 8^th seed in the West (PLEASE note the sarcasm and also, I know it’s a selfish plug). I’m just going off each team’s schedule, this is going to be off the dome (or a domer if you will), not going too in-depth in each team, because I find this way is easier and it's more fun for me.

Also, don’t expect a lot of explanations for my picks because then this would be way longer than it really should be. Lastly, sorry that I am releasing this after week 1, I didn’t know I wanted to do this until like the 12^th of September.

 

The NFC

 

NFC North

 

Green Bay Packers – 11-5       DW

Minnesota Vikings – 10-6

Detroit Lions – 6-10

Chicago Bears – 4-12

 

NFC South

 

New Orleans Saints – 12-4      DW

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 11-5

Atlanta Falcons – 6-10

Carolina Panthers – 4-12

 

NFC East

 

Dallas Cowboys – 9-7              DW

Philadelphia Eagles – 7-9

New York Giants – 3-13

Washington Football Team – 2-14

 

NFC West

 

San Francisco 49ers – 12-4

Seattle Seahawks – 11-5

Los Angeles Rams – 10-6

Arizona Cardinals – 8-8

 

NFC Seeding

1.      San Francisco 49ers    (West)             BYE

2.      New Orleans Saints     (South)

3.      Green Bay Packers      (North)

4.      Dallas Cowboys           (East)

5.      Seattle Seahawks

6.      Tampa Bay Buccaneers

7.      Los Angeles Rams

 

AFC

 

AFC North

 

Baltimore Ravens – 12-4         DW

Cleveland Browns – 10-6

Pittsburgh Steelers – 8-8

Cincinnati Bengals – 4-12

 

AFC South

 

Tennessee Titans – 9-7

Houston Texans – 7-9

Indianapolis Colts – 5-11

Jacksonville Jaguars – 3-13

 

AFC East

 

Buffalo Bills – 10-6

New England Patriots – 7-9

Miami Dolphins – 4-12

New York Jets – 3-13

 

 

AFC West

 

Kansas City Chiefs – 12-4

Las Vegas Raiders – 9-7

Los Angles Chargers – 8-8

Denver Broncos – 7-9

 

AFC Seedings

1.      Baltimore Ravens        (North)            BYE

2.      Kansas City Chiefs       (West)

3.      Buffalo Bills                 (East)

4.      Tennessee Titans        (South)

5.      Cleveland Browns

6.      Las Vegas Raiders

7.      New England Patriots

 

NFC Playoffs

 

Wild Card Round

 

2 vs 7: Saints vs Rams                         WINNER – Saints

3 vs 6: Packers vs Buccaneers             WINNER – Buccaneers

4 vs 5: Cowboys vs Seahawks             WINNER – Seahawks

 

 

 

Divisional Round

 

1 vs 5: 49ers vs Seahawks                   WINNER – Seahawks

2 vs 6: Saints vs Buccaneers               WINNER – Saints

 

NFC Championship

 

2 vs 5: Saints vs Seahawks                  WINNER – Saints

 

AFC Wildcard

 

2 vs 7: Chiefs vs Patriots                     WINNER – Chiefs

3 vs 6: Bills vs Raiders                         WINNER – Bills

4 vs 5: Titans vs Browns                      WINNER – Titans

 

Divisional Round

 

1 vs 4: Ravens vs Titans                      WINNER – Ravens

2 vs 3: Chiefs vs Bills                           WINNER – Chiefs

 

Championship Game

 

1 vs 2: Ravens vs Chiefs                      WINNER – Chiefs

 

Superbowl 55

 

Kansas City Chiefs vs New Orleans Saints

 

WINNER – Kansas City Chiefs

 

Awards

 

MVP – Russell Wilson

 

Offensive Rookie of the Year – Joe Burrow

 

Defensive Rookie of the Year – C.J. Henderson

 

Offensive Player of the Year – Christian McCaffery

 

Defensive Player of the Year – Khalil Mack

 

Coach of the Year – Andy Reid.

 

Comeback Player of the Year – Tyrod Taylor

Also if you were interested in how horribly my 8th seed in the West predictions actually were then why don't you take a read for yourself. Please just don't shame me

https://andrewjaevelyn.blogspot.com/2020/07/race-for-8th-in-west.html

My thoughts on the Raptors vs Celtics series.

This is not going to have any sequence or structure to it; I just have too many thoughts and opinions so I’m going to write them all out. So, enjoy it.

First off, congratulations the Celtics, you were the better team for most of the series and you guys deserved to be moving on after a hard-fought series. I still don’t like the Celtics, but I must give credit where credit is due. Jason Tatum is a superstar, Marcus Smart as annoying as he is, the best on-ball defender we have in the league and that’s on god, and I like Jaylen Brown I think he’s going to be a future all-star. They have a good group of guys and they just need a better center and bench players and they will be the best team in the East. But enough about them.

Man, this sucks. It was an amazing series between two of the best defensive and well-coached teams in the league. It wasn’t the prettiest series especially for Raptors fans at the beginning, but we showed our determination and heart in game 3 and OG hit that RIDICULOUS shot to help us steal game three. I woke up my mom and my neighbours by screaming and running around the house when it went in. Just another reason why basketball is amazing. Game 6, the double-overtime thriller, was an instant classic and it showed the world that Kyle Lowry is a point god, and I love him dearly. We scrapped out all our wins because the Celtics as much as I hate to admit it was the better team. Their defense was phenomenal, they got a lot of open threes and they utterly destroyed us in the paint among other things. After game 2 I was just praying that we didn’t get swept because we were looking like pre-2018-19 raptors that cowered in the presence of Lebron, but then I was quickly reminded that Lebronto died the minute we lifted the Championship last season.

I know that if Siakam didn’t pull a Houdini and disappear this series, we would’ve won. Hell, if he was like 75% of what he was in the regular season we would’ve won. But he was exposed and neutralized in this series, and in game 7 he just looked scared. If he wasn’t an above-average defender then I would think he was just out there running suicides like what Westbrook did in game 2 against the Lakers. 

Siakam's basketball ability before the start of the series

He was pretty much useless, and it seems at least for now that he can’t be the best player on a championship team. But that’s okay, but don’t shrink in the playoffs like that man, we literally got rid of DeRozan because of it (sorry DeMar I still love you). it got to a point when he scored, I was literally in shock, and that only happens with Marc Gasol.

Speaking of Marc, I’m glad he’s a free agent because this man infuriates me. Like every time he shoots a three, I just sigh because it misses 99.9999% of the time. But that is expected because he’s 35 so he’s on the decline of his career so I can’t blame him but damn all he used to do was miss 3s and pick up fouls.

Our offense struggled a lot this series, as we weren’t really able to score, which is a credit to our poor shot selection (at times) and the great defense by Boston. But Fred Van Vleet, OG, Norman Powell, and Kyle Lowry did their best. But if Pascal doesn’t develop any further (which if he doesn’t, I am okay with as long as he doesn’t regress), we need to get a go-to guy who can get us points. Since Pascal was social distancing himself from his scoring ability, we had to share that “go-to guy” role with Lowry and Freddy, which work a bit, but it cannot be sustained.

One thing about being a Kyle Lowry stan is that he takes some HORRIBLE shots at times, heat check threes and pulls ups early in the shot clock, that miss more times than it hits and you just have to live with that. He’s a streaky shooter, but since he does everything else so well it's okay. But my god when he starts scoring it’s a joy to watch, for example, game 6 in this series and last year in game 6 in the finals. Forget “Game 6 Klay,” it’s “Game 6 Lowry” now. (jk Game 6 Klay is a Super Saiyan transformation).

We also made a lot of mistakes in that game, keeping Siakam in after he early turnovers in the 4^th, Norm trying to get the layup on the fast break with Smart trailing, and not boxing out Tatum after Williams missed those free throws, but what can you say, that’s life. We went down swinging and to turn the ball over 18 times for 31 points, and we still had a chance to win late, I can’t be mad at that. Am I upset that we didn’t win? Yes. Am I upset that we didn’t repeat? Absolutely, but as G-Eazy said, “these things happen.”

At the end of the day, I am satisfied. We have the best coach in the league, one of the best GMs, we have cap space to sign free agents and we have young guys who should develop nicely. Life is good. Besides our future is more important as this offseason Van Vleet, Gasol, and Ibaka are our notable free agents and I have no clue what Masai would do (hey that rhymed). In a perfect world I would like us to keep FVV and Ibaka (I want Gasol OUT), but how much are we willing to pay to keep them. I would imagine we still want to keep a lot of cap space for the 2021-22 free agency, but then again what the hell do I know anyway?

I am proud of the amazing season we had and it’s a shame it ended sooner than I thought but there’s always next season, right? (Raptors 2020-21 champs confirmed). Also, big up OG and Ibaka for being great this series. 

2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young’s second season might have been a major improvement for him individually, but it was a shame that it didn’t translate to much team success. The Hawks went a lowly 20-47 giving them the 2^nd worst record in the East and 4^th worst in the league. The Hawks might be a force on the offensive side thanks to Trae’s shooting and playmaking but their inability to stop their opponents from scoring was one of their major downfalls, posing a league-worst in opponents points per game with 119.7. I mean that’s worst than the Wizards, and they abandoned defence all together this season.

But poor defence aside, the Hawks did have other major contributing factors to their poor record. Firstly, John Collins their 2^nd best player got suspended for 25 games, after only 5 games for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Secondly, besides Trae and Collins, there wasn’t much production from anybody else on the team, as most of the others were very inefficient, so everything mainly fell on the small shoulder of Trae.

Besides that, the Hawks set themselves up with a lot of expiring contracts this season to have major cap space in the offseason to finally get Young some help. They also made numerous moves in the preseason and during the season to help acquire picks and players. So, let’s see how their entire season played out.

June 20^th – NBA Draft

The Hawks originally had the 8^th,10^th and 35^th pick in the draft, however, they agreed to trades on the night of the draft to swap around rookies (more on them later). With their picks, they selected Jaxson Hayes (C), Cam Reddish (SF) and Marcos Louzada Silva (SF) respectively. However, after the trades their rookies were; Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter (SF) and Bruno Fernando (C).

Preseason:

Trades:

June 19^th – The Hawks traded the 44^th pick (drafts rights to Bol Bol) and cash considerations to the Heat in exchange for Miami’s protected 2024 2^nd round pick (the pick would transfer if it’s between 51-55 only.)

June 20^th – Atlanta trade the 41^st pick (draft rights to Eric Paschall) to the Warriors for their 2024 2^nd round pick and cash considerations.

After seeing how good Paschall was do you think the Hawks would’ve liked to have him on their roster?

June 24^th – The Hawks trade Kent Bazemore to the Blazers for Evan Turner.

July 6^th – Atlanta trades Taurean Prince and their 2021 2^nd round pick to the Nets in exchange for the 17^th pick (draft rights to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Brooklyn’s top 14 protected 2020 1^st round pick and Allen Crabbe.

July 6^th – The Hawks trade a 2020 top 10 protected 1^st round pick, the draft rights to; Jaxson Hayes (8^th), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17^th) and Marcus Louzada Silva (35^th) to the Pelicans in exchange for a 2023 2^nd round pick, the draft right to both De’Andre Hunter and Jordan Bone (4^th & 57^th respectively) and Solomon Hill.

July 6^th – The Hawks trade the draft right to Jordan Bone and a 2020 and 2023 2^nd round picks to the 76ers for the draft rights to Bruno Fernando.

July 7^th – The Hawks trade Miles Plumlee and Solomon Hill to the Grizzlies for Chandler Parsons. (See what I mean about them taking on big, expiring contracts.)

July 8^th – The Hawks trade Omari Spellman to the Warriors for a 2026 Warriors 2^nd round pick and Damian Jones.

That’s five trades within three days, sheesh.

Re-signing and Signings:

I’m only going with their important pickups as most of their signings were two-way contracts.

July 8^th – Atlanta signs Jabari Parker to a 2-year $13 million contract (player option in 2020-21).

September 20^th – Atlanta re-signs Vince Carter to a 1 year $2.3 million contract.

He became the first player to play in four different decades in the NBA and he retired at the end of the season. Thanks for everything Vince.

October 22^nd – The NBA season begins. 

Mid-season:

Re-signings/Signings – Nothing to report here

Trades:

January 16^th – The Hawks trade Allen Crabbe to the Timberwolves in exchange for Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham.

February 5^th – A four-team trade:

Hawks got	Nuggets got	Rockets got	Timberwolves got
Clint Capela (Rockets)	Keita Bates-Diop (Wolves)	Robert Covington (Wolves)	Malik Beasley (Nuggets)
Nene (Rockets)	Shabazz Napier (Wolves)	Jordan Bell (Wolves)	Juan Hernangomez (Nuggets)
	Noah Vonleh (Wolves)	2024 Warriors 2nd round pick (Hawks)	Jarred Vanderbilt (Nuggets)
	Gerald Green (Rockets)		2020 Nets top 14 protected 1st round pick (Hawks)
	2020 Rockets 1st round pick		Evan Turner (Hawks)

February 6^th – The Hawks trade Alex Len and Jabari Parker to the Kings in exchange for Dewayne Dedmon, a 2020 Rockets 2^nd round pick and a 2021 Miami 2^nd round pick.

March 11^th – The season is suspended due to coronavirus.

2020 Preview.

The picture used was taken from basketball reference.com https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/ATL.html

Atlanta has done a decent job trying to set themselves up for the future, they got a lot of young players who if they develop next season can help Atlanta take the next step. Reddish was extremely inefficient, and Hunter still needs to drastically improve his defence.  I also like the addition of Clint Capela as he is a double-double machine who should help stabilize their center position.

PS – Do you guys think that Trae, Collins and Capela can be like a poor man’s version of the Lob City Clippers? I think they might be.

One of the biggest decisions they must make next season is whether they extend or trade John Collins next season or trade him. He’s been really good offensively but has struggled to improve his defence. It will all depend on how much he’s asking for but if he can’t at least become a decent defender I would not be surprised if the Hawks move him for assets.

Moving onto the draft the Hawks had the 4^th best odds of getting the number one pick but unfortunately fell all the way to number 6 after both the Bulls and Hornets moved up. I think they need to take another defensive wing player. I know Reddish and Hunter both struggled in their rookie season, but I believe that in case they don’t pan out and show improvement you still need a player who can play good defense. I mean you’re not going to get much defence from Young and Huerter so getting good defenders is a priority. Just like I did with the Timberwolves, I will recommend both Isaac Okoro and Devin Vassell. Or any decent defender they can find.

In free agency, I think they should good after a good back up point guard who can help lighten the load off Young when it comes to ball handling and playmaking. Maybe nice veteran like Goran Dragic can be a nice fit. Also, a key free agent that they can target if he doesn’t pick up his player option can be the man himself, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He plays good defence and can shoot the three and he will also be a nice veteran player with playoff experience.

Final Thoughts.

They set themselves up with good cap space for the future and another top ten pick in the draft to add a good young player. It doesn’t matter how they do it, they better get Ice Trae some help, on god. I want to see him in the playoffs next season.