It turns out the draft was only the third most exciting event for the Hawks this week, ranking well behind a new billionaire coming in to sweep up after Atlanta Spirit and some new-look uniforms that are sure to be a hit with the I-want-to-dismay-my-parents demographic.
Once more to recap what we’ve learned this week, in the order of importance:
1. Tony Ressler is going to fall somewhere between the extremes in Atlanta sports ownership that we currently know. Not all handsy like Arthur Blank, but neither a corporate apparition like Liberty Media.
2. There is nothing uniform about uniforms anymore. Blame Oregon. Now, every team designs its game clothing with one goal in mind — how can we make the jersey look like one of Andy Warhol’s old paint rags?
3. For some teams, like the Hawks in 2015, the NBA draft can turn out to be as sexy as a “New Republic” swimsuit edition.
The result of Thursday night for many who rediscovered the Hawks last season was a rather loud yawn at best, and much disharmony on the Internet forums at worst.
Time to remind ourselves that the NBA draft is to the NFL draft what silly putty is to cement. The amount of serious building that can be done with middle-of-the-first-round material is vastly different in those two talent auctions. The expectations should be adjusted accordingly.
As far as I could tell by Thursday night’s production, the sole purpose of any NBA draft is to give Kentucky’s John Calipari a night out with the fellas.
In Atlanta’s case, even baseball’s draft was more intriguing — and that’s the recognized Fredo of drafts.
Try not to be too let down. Those expecting the Hawks to do something parade-worthy with the No. 15th pick Thursday must not have been paying much attention just a year ago. That was the same spot where Danny Ferry took some tallish guy from Michigan State who played about the same amount of minutes in the league as did Adam Silver.
Initially in this draft, with the same No. 15, they took Kelly Oubre, who perched his Hawks cap above a hedgehog topiary of a haircut for about five minutes before everything changed.
Playing a little three-card monte in the first round, the Hawks ended up acquiring third-year man Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Knicks. A certified 10-point-a-game NBA guard, he was coveted for some scoring punch off the bench. Hardaway averaged 17.7 in three games against the Hawks last season, so, perhaps, their company brings out the best in him.
(As for the second round, the less said about that, the better. It belonged to various Euro zone ballers — “assets” as the team calls them, players to be stashed in some dusty corner of the globe on the chance they’ll be valuable one day. In the show “Hoarders,” they would be known as “1982 Life Magazines.”)
The loss of Hardaway was hardly lamented in New York. Take that for what it’s worth.
According to the New York Post, he “struggled on defense and wasn’t a strong passer, never excelling in a sophomore-jinx of a season.”
And, by the Newark Stat-Ledger’s reckoning, Hardaway was “a one-dimensional shooting guard who regressed in his second year in the league.”
Acquiring him as their centerpiece of this draft, the Hawks showed no small amount of coaching conceit that they can bring the best out of him. Isn’t that exactly the hook upon which they hung 60 wins on a season ago?
No, Hardaway is not the piece that will catapult the Hawks to the NBA Finals next year. That piece never was available to them.
Basically, what the Hawks managed was to provide their fans with an extraordinary number of second-guessing opportunities. Think of all the might-have-beens that bear watching for seasons to come. Oubre, for the time being a Wizard. Arkansas power forward Bobby Portis, the people’s choice, taken by Chicago with the 22nd pick. Guard Jerian Grant, in New York in place of Hardaway.
All conveniently residing in the Eastern Conference, for easy and regular comparative analysis.
This draft may well go down as the most unexciting thing about the Hawks in the past four months, and honestly, that’s nothing to get all twisted up about. This is not necessarily a sign of post-Ferry backsliding.
Save a little bile for July, if needed. That’s where the Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll questions go for resolution.That’s when the real work begins, when free agents start lining up at the pay window and the short-term difference-makers find a new place to park their Jags.
