"President Budenholzer sir, sitting before you are two envelopes: Scenario A and Scenario B. The plans contained within these envelopes have been formulated using state-of-the-art Trade Machine technology by the brave dipshits of /r/AtlantaHawks. Both plans are equally unthinkable. But the owners of the franchise have given us no choice. We must select one or the other.
"On the left is Scenario A, which involves trading away our future assets for a chance at a championship today. It's true that the Hawks are a good team right now, but they are not a championship team. And although it is also true that our youngest players -- Schroder, Tavares, Hardaway, Muscala, etc. -- all have a bright future in this league, they are still too raw right now. They aren't going to help the Hawks win a 2016 championship if they are glued to the bench or if they are making costly mistakes whenever they do get playing time. However, they do have value as trade assets... and if we can trade one or more of them for a star veteran -- a true difference-maker -- then that one last missing piece could very well spell the difference between hoisting a championship trophy and resigning ourselves to 'good but not elite' status for yet another year.
"On the right is the other option, Scenario B. In this scenario, we take a good hard look at reality and simply admit that no team right now is going to be able to beat Golden State or San Antonio in a seven-game series, especially not if they have to get through Cleveland first. In this scenario, then, we take the opposite course of Scenario A, and we trade away our most valuable veteran players for future assets. In other words, we blow up the team and start building for the future (when GSW and SAS will no longer rule). There are certain teams around the league -- Chicago, New York, Milwaukee, Boston -- that have some promising but raw young players, yet are trying to contend now and still need one or two more quality veterans to take them to the next level. If we were to offer up our best players for trade -- Horford, Teague, Millsap, Korver, etc. -- we would be making them an offer they couldn't refuse... and we could potentially give ourselves a jump-start on building a future juggernaut. Letting go of our best players wouldn't be easy, of course. They are all in their primes and are capable of playing All-Star basketball. However, they will only regress with age, and their value will drop accordingly. So if we do not believe that the Hawks can win a championship as currently constituted, the time to trade them is now. We must sell while their value is at its highest. If we can just grit our teeth and pull the trigger, we could reap an outstanding young core of players in return -- think Porzingis, Portis, etc. But if we simply stand pat, the alternative may be another half-decade of mid-playoff exits followed by a Sixers-esque rebuild from absolute rock bottom with no assets other than our draft picks.
"Again, this is not an easy decision, sir. Both Scenario A and Scenario B are absolutely unthinkable. But we are being told that we must choose one or the other. What is your decision?"
TLDR: Instead of the usual "tweak around the edges" trade ideas, let's push the extremes and imagine what might happen if we went ALL OR NOTHING. Would it be better to trade our future stars for current stars who can push us to the Finals today? Or would it be better to blow up the team and trade our current stars for future stars who can push us to the Finals tomorrow? Which of these two scenarios would give Atlanta its best possible shot at an NBA championship? And what are the most game-changing trades you can come up with?
Submitted January 24, 2016 at 11:28AM by aghaud