[Grades] Grades v. Hawks 11/16/2012

[Henkel]

The biggest thing that separates us from the OKC's of the world is talent. The rotations suck and the role players aren't utilized, but the problem is much deeper then that. Cousins has a chance to be elite, yet mentally he's so far off that you have to wonder if he'll ever get there. Petrie is just as responsible, if not more so, for this mess. I hope we clean house before another disastrous off season.

 

[hrdboild]

Of course there was the rumored option for Lowry, but I think people overrate how easy it is to simply move our pieces for pieces which will help us.

But even if we did trade for Lowry, we'd probably see Smart play him at SG and SF in Brooks/MT/Lowry or IT/Lowry lineups. It all goes back to even if we do trade players it won't matter a whole lot if we're not managing any of our players correctly.

Top 5 picks have value. Last year's draft was an excellent opportunity to trade down and still pick up a solid player. There were guys that were picked in the late teens that will probably end up being starters in the league. But I think you're right -- even if Petrie pulled off a solid deal over the summer, Smart doesn't have a clue when it comes to assigning roles so we're probably in the same situation regardless. I'd feel better though if Smart were the only problem. He's near the top of the list, but that's getting to be a pretty long list.