Ten Things About the NBA: Phil Wants to be the Atlanta Hawks GM

I have decided to enter my name into the Atlanta Hawks General Manager pool. I decided to do this after listening to the Toronto Raptors TV guys laughing about how dumb it was for the Hawks to trade Kyle Korver to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Because I like the Hawks and their fan base so much I decided to practice playing GM on the Memphis Grizzlies…….you can listen to me attempt to reset this team without missing a beat here.

Trading Dwight Howard

I would be an irresponsible GM if I didn’t at least try and move Dwight Howard. His contract takes up roughly 18 percent of the Hawks salary cap. After watching his exit interview you could see that Dwight was unhappy this season and while I don’t think he would be happy anywhere I still am going to try and make the Hawks a better basketball team by trading him.

After Howards latest little stunt I do believe I have found a place for Howard and as luck would have it this is the perfect fit for Howard.

ESPN Trade Machine

YES! The Milwaukee Bucks!

Head Coach Jason Kidd also might know a thing or two about late night traffic infractions and maybe this shared common ground might help them find a way to make it work.

The Bucks haven’t been all that thrilled with Greg Monroe and I don’t think it will take much to pry Spencer Hawes out of their hands either.

And don’t think for a second the prize here is Monroe. He is essentially the same player as Howard just younger. Monroe is the price you pay for ridding yourself of a very bad contract.

If Hawes can stay healthy he will at least give Coach Budenholzer an opportunity to run sets that might actually resemble the sets he ran before the Howard days. You remember; the ones where the ball was constantly moving and ISO plays were few and far between. Ah, the good old days.

If I were the GM of the Bucks I wouldn’t do this but since this is purely hypothetical let’s pretend they said yes!

Problem numero uno solved.

Letting Paul Millsap Walk

I really don’t want to do this. I mean I really don’t but looking at this roster there isn’t a way in hell this team beats the Cleveland Cavaliers. Not one way in hell that happens.

I’m actually surprised that Millsap finished the season with the Hawks and especially so after that dumb ass Kyle Korver trade to rival Cleveland. But he remained and if we can believe Owner Tony Ressler he has every intention of bringing Millsap back.

The real question I’ve been asking myself? Why other than for financial reasons would Millsap even want to play for this edition of the Atlanta Hawks? If I were the GM of the Hawks I’d be asking him this question because for the life of me I can’t figure out one good reason why (other than money) someone with his diminishing window would want to play for a team that is probably three seasons away from even thinking about a Championship?

I don’t want the Hawks to become the Knicks of the Southeast and be stuck with a bad contract and possibly disgruntled players like the Knicks have with Carmelo Anthony. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

As much as it pains me to say and more than likely get me killed for the only way I bring Millsap back to the Hawks is to retire his jersey.

Hiring Hawks Fanatic to be my Capologist

I’ve had “capologists” appear on my radio show. I’ve seen and heard plenty of basketball people, including myself, talk out the side of our necks when we try and figure out the salary cap and all its intricacies. We fail miserably at it.

That’s why I am hiring Hawks Fanatic to make sense of it all. Have a look at this easy to read primer and you will discover what I know; he’s the best kept secret in the NBA blogosphere and should be working for an NBA team.

What to Do About Tim Hardaway Jr?

Depending on just who you ask Hardaway had the proverbial “breakout” season. He had career highs in most of the offensive categories and let’s keep it 100 here; if Hardaway Jr doesn’t have a few of those big scoring second half outbursts the Hawks might not have made the playoffs this past season.

Hardaway Jr. is now a restricted Free Agent. That means we only lose Hardaway Jr. if we want to. We allow him to talk with whomever his little heart desires and then we let others tell us what we need to do.

Since we are allowing Millsap to walk we do have some wiggle room financially if we so choose to meet what might be a crazy offer and still have some cash in the till to maybe sign another front court player or maybe even two.

If we can get him for three years thirty million than I might be inclined to meet another club’s offer but I wouldn’t pay a penny more than that for a one dimensional player with a shot chart that looks like this.

What to Do About Kent Bazemore?

I don’t know about you but I was expecting at least a similar 2017 from what we saw Bazemore accomplish in 2016. For whatever reason we didn’t and it got so bad that Coach Budenholzer was bringing him off the bench in the playoffs.

You can’t have a $15,000,000 dollar per season player coming off the bench. You also can’t trade this $15,000,000 dollar a season player after what was arguable not his finest hour in probably any uniform he has ever worn.

For Bazemore it’s all about confidence; he needs to know that he is the starting shooting guard for the Atlanta Hawks. He also doesn’t need to be seeing someone in his rear view mirror trying to take his job.

If I am the GM and I have to make a choice between Bazemore and Hardaway Bazemore wins hands down.

What about Jose Calderon and Kris Humphries?

Kris Humphries: It never hurts to have a stretch five who doesn’t make waves because he’s sitting on the bench. Plus Humphries ain’t afraid to get physical. He’s also a veteran and these young fellas on this roster could use a veterans voice in that locker-room so I would attempt to bring Humphries back.

Jose Calderon: Calderon was an interesting albeit decent acquisition towards the end of last season. He really stepped up in the playoffs and brought energy and enthusiasm off the bench. With that being said the Hawks really need to develop Malcolm Delaney so I would have to say no way to Jose.

What about Mike Muscala?

There was a time I thought Muscala was garbage; this past season he showed plenty of grit and determination and Muscala has proven he belongs in some NBA team’s rotation next season. That rotation is the Atlanta Hawks and even though he is an unrestricted Free Agent I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that he would want to return to the Hawks and be a part of what I am building.

What about Thabo Sefolosha?

Even though it looks like I’m hitting the reset button as GM I fully intend on making the playoffs this coming season. The Hawks could have used Sefalosha during this past playoff series against the Wizards but he was hurt. AGAIN. Over the past three seasons Sefolosha has missed a total of 57 regular season games and to me that’s just too many. Plus at age 33 is he really going to get any healthier? Probably not and with his window closing I would hope he could latch on with a team that has a chance of winning it all and sadly to say I’m going to have to let him walk.

What about Ersan Ilyasova?

Ilyasova is a Free Agent. He’s also a decent stretch four who can knock down the left corner triple. Losing Millsap is going to hurt a LOT but I believe Ilyasova could be had for roughly three years $30,000,000 and maybe even a team option for the fourth year if that is the deal breaker.

What the Hawks get is a capable consistent four who can shoot, rebound and defend his position. Ilyasova has also made it crystal clear he wanted to stay with a team for a while after being traded to four different teams in the last two seasons. That and the starting power forward job should make this easier to get the deal done.

Making Peachtree Hoops the Official Site for the Atlanta Hawks

Three seasons ago there weren’t any Hawks related podcasts so we started the Peachtree Hoops Podcast. In fact I may have been one of the only national guys doing a weekly Atlanta Hawks segment on my show and Kris Willis appeared faithfully each and every week.

Peachtree is the number one Atlanta Hawks site and if I was the GM I would make it the Official Site of the Atlanta Hawks. Kris and the rest of his crew do a fantastic job covering your Atlanta Hawks each and every day…..plus they put up with me!!

Peachtree Hoops is the number one Atlanta Hawks podcast on the interwebs......check it out here and let us know what you think!!