AbeVigodaLive wrote:Camden wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:Camden wrote:It's odd to me when D'Angelo Russell is consistently made out to be a negative or non-impactful player by the you-know-who's on this board, but the trade ideas floated around by these same basketball minds are sending him out for a player that's clearly valuable around the league albeit to an unknown degree at this time. Like if D-Lo sucks and provides little or no value to winning on the court then why would Atlanta trade John Collins in any deal for him? Seems pretty irrational to me. Two plus two isn't equaling four here.
To be fair... oftentimes, ALL Wolves players are overrated. We also just saw a Beasley + Culver for Collins + Bogdonavich trade floated.
Right, but wouldn't that at least be understandable if it came from someone who was high on or felt positively about those Wolves players that were included in the deal? Like if I proposed D'Angelo Russell for John Collins it would be because I feel like both are very valuable players and maybe the fit or team situation would be my reasoning. But if someone that thinks Russell is merely meh or just okay were to suggest the same deal -- while being high on the incoming player -- wouldn't it be a little bizarre? For comparison's sake, that would be like me proposing Ricky Rubio for Jamal Murray. I'm just trying to wrap my head around how that works.
I hear you. But we don't know for certain who's in on those hypothetical deals with DLO. For what it's worth... there is 0% chance Atlanta would consider Russell.
That team is built around Trae Young. Heck, that's why Collins is on his way out in the first place... and allegedly, the team's catering to Young is why Collins was frustrated in the first place.
Personally, I'm tired of all the DLO talk. I don't think he's the worst player in the league. Obviously. But I also think he has some glaring flaws that make his contract (and style) a bit of an albatross, especially on the eve of possibly losing a #1 pick to acquire him.
It's been a perfect storm. The losing + the pick + decent but not great play from him + subtle signs of him "not getting it" + general frustration/malaise + everything else leaves him in an unenviable spot as the fanbase's latest whipping boy. But are we surprised? He's done
nothing to ingratiate himself to fans, in part, because he hasn't really had a chance to.
Is it justified? Not entirely. Some of it is a bit unfair. At least not until he and Towns have more than 5 games together. Then, one of the sides will have more ammunition in its favor.
I don't disagree there is far too much DLO talk on this board for a guy who isn't even playing, Abe, but let's get back to the point of this thread: Is Collins available, do we want him, and what would it take to get him? Some of the deals that have been thrown out here are far short of what I think Atlanta is looking for. If you read some of the Hawks fan boards and some of the beat writers, they are very high on Collins and see getting a superstar or near superstar for him. I like Beasley's offensive game and his intensity, but I don't think he is what the Hawks have in mind. And adding pieces like Culver and Juancho to the mix may be subtractive rather than additive. We just don't have that much to offer that is attractive.
I think names like KAT, Russell and maybe Edwards have to be in the conversation to get their attention...otherwise another team will trump us with a solid player and a pick in next year's draft...an asset we can't offer (and picks 3 years out are tough to sell to a fan base). I don't want to trade KAT, and Ant is too intriguing for me to give up on at age 19. So that leaves DLO as the one guy who I would offer who might get the Hawks to at least return our phone call. He's not my type of player and he doesn't appeal to many others on this board either, but he obviously has some cachet around the league because 5 different GM's have acquired him in his 6 years (but of course, 4 of them have jettisoned him within 2 years). I can see Atlanta reasoning "He's a proven scorer who is still young, was the #2 pick in the draft just 6 years ago, and had the one positive season in 2018-9 when he was an All-Star and led his team to a 42-40 record. Maybe he just wasn't coached well the other years...we can coach him up, and he just might fit well next to Trae Young" (Even if I think that would be a disastrous pairing).
Add to the mix the report that DLO might not be happy here (yeah, I know it reportedly came from Wolfson...but as much as we malign him, he gets to actually talk to players and GMs, while we only talk with each other :). Who's more in the know...us or him?), and you have a good topic for discussion. Even if many of us are tired of discussing DLO. this is a new angle that seems to fit.
At least to me...