Vonleh assigned to D league

[MichaelNewtonII]

Come back good Noah. Wishing we'd drafted Elfrid Payton right about now.

chuck was right about Payton

[KendrickPanther]

I'm ok with this. Take advantage of it.

[emhoward]

I agree, the contingency plans for free agents has been a disappointment at best. I feel like with the name change on the way, they simply wanted to win the offseason, and with Hayward off the board they scrambled to make a play for Lance without thinking about the fit. There's simply no excuse for the Marvin signing. Brian Roberts, as anonymous as he is, has been great value off the bench.

I applauded them for not doing it this offseason but looking back I can't help but wonder what this team would look like with all the free agents from last season back in tow. I remember seeing an article about how Atlanta had a really disappointing offseason with a very underwhelming free agency (to my knowledge, the only new addition they had in FA was Kent Bazemore) and now look where they are. What makes it worse is this could have easily been done once they realized they were going to miss out on Hayward.

As far as Cho drafts go:

2011 - Bismack Biyombo, Kemba Walker. On the board: Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Kenneth Faried, Nikola Mirotic, Reggie Jackson

2012 - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. On the board: Damian Lillard, Andre Drummond

2013 - Cody Zeller. On the board: Nerlens Noel, Giannis Antetokounmpo

"Who was there to pick?" is no excuse. As you can see, talent was clearly available, but, as with every draft since 2004, we cannot find talent, let alone develop it.

Also, you'll notice we commit the cardinal sin of drafting for need over talent. By addressing point guard and center in 2011, it takes Lillard and Drummond off the board in 2012. By addressing SF in 2012, it takes Greek Freak out of the picture in 2013. Underwhelming picks begat more underwhelming picks which leaves you with the underwhelming roster of the Charlotte Hornets.

Though I agree with your overall sentiment, I don't think you can use the "on the board" criticism to judge a GM. If you did then most all GM's stick.

R.C. Buford, widely considered to be the best GM in the game, in the 2011 draft took Corey Joseph instead Jimmy Butler, Chandler Parsons, and Isaiah Thomas. I think you can do this with any GM out there.

[emhoward]

Is Cho a basketball guy? I mean is he a basketball guy like Gettlemen is a football guy?

I ask because he seems great a collecting assets, but not so great in choosing what to do with him.

Was he ever a scout? How did he come up thru the ranks.

[SOJA]

rich cho would look like a genius right now had the NBA not screwed us out of Anthony Davis: moral of the story is the same with the NBA you have to either be a big name city or luck into Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis etc. 

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

I agree, the contingency plans for free agents has been a disappointment at best. I feel like with the name change on the way, they simply wanted to win the offseason, and with Hayward off the board they scrambled to make a play for Lance without thinking about the fit. There's simply no excuse for the Marvin signing. Brian Roberts, as anonymous as he is, has been great value off the bench.

I applauded them for not doing it this offseason but looking back I can't help but wonder what this team would look like with all the free agents from last season back in tow. I remember seeing an article about how Atlanta had a really disappointing offseason with a very underwhelming free agency (to my knowledge, the only new addition they had in FA was Kent Bazemore) and now look where they are. What makes it worse is this could have easily been done once they realized they were going to miss out on Hayward.

As far as Cho drafts go:

2011 - Bismack Biyombo, Kemba Walker. On the board: Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Kenneth Faried, Nikola Mirotic, Reggie Jackson

2012 - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. On the board: Damian Lillard, Andre Drummond

2013 - Cody Zeller. On the board: Nerlens Noel, Giannis Antetokounmpo

"Who was there to pick?" is no excuse. As you can see, talent was clearly available, but, as with every draft since 2004, we cannot find talent, let alone develop it.

Also, you'll notice we commit the cardinal sin of drafting for need over talent. By addressing point guard and center in 2011, it takes Lillard and Drummond off the board in 2012. By addressing SF in 2012, it takes Greek Freak out of the picture in 2013. Underwhelming picks begat more underwhelming picks which leaves you with the underwhelming roster of the Charlotte Hornets.

Id say drafting Kemba in 2011 eliminated Lillard in 2012.

I see 2011 as a key draft that we missed on players during the draft.. Not just in hindsight. I liked Klay in that draft...and also hated the raw project as the pick.

There were a ton of questions about Drummond's desire to play.

Anthony Davis was the savior-answer for any woes it still bothers me how we missed out on him.

[Eazy-E]

Jesus when is everyone going to learn that tanking and the draft is a total crap shoot. Every year you all cry about this player or that player and the only one in probably 5 years you can make an argument about is Anthony Davis.

You all cried for guys like Shabazz, Wiggins, Parker and they all would have done nothing for this team right now.

Unfortunately the players in the NBA are not like they once were 20 years ago and don't have that competitive drive to want to beat each other like the days of Jordan, Malone, Barkley. Magic and Bird. Only team that may remind us of that is the Spurs.

Because of this all of the major talent in the NBA is stock piled on about 5 rosters. This makes actually competing for a championship unrealistic for 75% of the NBA which is absurd.

[CharlottePanther]

If Lance comes around, it solidifies him. If Lance busts, then he has to do something drastic quick.

I don't blame him for Zeller, that entire draft was garbage. MKG over Beal and Lillard is looking worse- even though I love me some MKG. Biz was Cho's star and that is the killer. Kemba was MJs pick oddly enough. We have to see with Vonleh and PJ. But the trade back for PJ and cash was done perfectly.

FA Moves:

Warrick/mcbob was a thing of beauty. Sessions was a solid pickup but to turn him around for Neal was really good. Marvin has been very underwhelming for the money we gave him. Roberts looks like a serviceability backup. The big one was Al Jefferson but he is starting to revert to his old ways. in the end, not bad but not great

By the way, would you have rather have Vonleh or Detroits unprotected pick this year? Just food for thought

Or how about Biz over Klay Thompson, Vucevic and Kawhi Leonard, smh.

[PantherGuy]

rich cho would look like a genius right now had the NBA not screwed us out of Anthony Davis: moral of the story is the same with the NBA you have to either be a big name city or luck into Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis etc. 

 

Without getting into the NBA possibly rigging the draft lottery, you're totally right on this. The only ways to achieve sustained success in the NBA is to luck into a star or two in the draft, or be a big market.

[PantherGuy]

Jesus when is everyone going to learn that tanking and the draft is a total crap shoot. Every year you all cry about this player or that player and the only one in probably 5 years you can make an argument about is Anthony Davis.

You all cried for guys like Shabazz, Wiggins, Parker and they all would have done nothing for this team right now.

Unfortunately the players in the NBA are not like they once were 20 years ago and don't have that competitive drive to want to beat each other like the days of Jordan, Malone, Barkley. Magic and Bird. Only team that may remind us of that is the Spurs.

Because of this all of the major talent in the NBA is stock piled on about 5 rosters. This makes actually competing for a championship unrealistic for 75% of the NBA which is absurd.

 

Absolutely right.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Jeff Taylor is headed to the D-League as well.

[Keith Moons Liver]

Unfortunately the players in the NBA are not like they once were 20 years ago and don't have that competitive drive to want to beat each other like the days of Jordan, Malone, Barkley. Magic and Bird. Only team that may remind us of that is the Spurs.

Because of this all of the major talent in the NBA is stock piled on about 5 rosters. This makes actually competing for a championship unrealistic for 75% of the NBA which is absurd.

 

And the league was so balanced back in the 80's and 90's? How many different franchises won titles between 1980-2000? You're right in that only a small number of teams are legitimate contenders, but you're wrong in that this isn't a modern phenomenon. It's been that way pretty much for the entire history of the NBA and has absolutely nothing to do with the "competitive drive" of the players. 

[Rise of The Hive]

If this is to work him into the rotation then we should all be for it. He hit two threes hell, he should be in our rotation now.

[Eazy-E]

And the league was so balanced back in the 80's and 90's? How many different franchises won titles between 1980-2000? You're right in that only a small number of teams are legitimate contenders, but you're wrong in that this isn't a modern phenomenon. It's been that way pretty much for the entire history of the NBA and has absolutely nothing to do with the "competitive drive" of the players.

The league was more competitive back then compared to now. Even if championships were really only won by the Celtics Lakers and Bulls. Ewing never left NY because he couldn't beat Jordan. Reggie Miller and Larry Bird were 1 team players. The whole big three idea of stars dumping their teams to join up to make a run didn't exist back then. Neither did the "I'm coming home" thing with Lebron and people talking about Curry with Charlotte and Durant with Washington.