A few days later… Dejounte Murray trade
Deonte Murray being traded to the Pelicans makes a ton of sense for them he’s a good-sized point guard who’s a good Defender even if he’s not the great defender that we thought we were going to get in his last season at San Antonio especially when he averaged like two steals a game and was an All-Star he’s still solid and that’s good next to CJ he’s still able to cause some turnovers and I think part of the reason that his defense has slipped is that he was part of Atlanta who had one of the worst defenses in the league if not the worst if we’re being honest their 27th ranked defensive r didn’t make anyone look good on a team like New Orleans who was a top six defense and defensive net rating last year while being surrounded with other legit offensive weapons we could see him put a little bit more of his effort back into the defensive end and see glimmers or uh some memories of those San Antonio years at least for some stretches I’m not predicting all defensive teams although he has made a second team before in his career I just think he’s going to look better in a better defense than what we’ve seen over the past couple of seasons in Atlanta I’m really going out on a limb he’s also good in the clutch he hit multiple gamewinners last year I think it was three there was two back-to-back games in January on the Florida stretch against Orlando and Miami then he had that one and overtime against the Celtics and that’s a really good thing to bring to this Pelicans team who were just not very good in the clutch last year according to nba.com they were 24th in clutch net rating 27th in clutch wins 26th in offensive rating in the clutch and last year half of the league was below 500 in the clutch I’m going to give you two guesses as to where the Pelicans fell although they did play the fewest clutch games so I guess that’s good if you can’t win don’t let it get down to the wire but getting a guy that has the confidence to take and make those shots helps you provided they’re a guy that you actually want taking those shots and you’re comfortable with that which in this case I think they will be and he balances out the back court in a really good way with CJ McCollum at least on paper they should be really complimentary to each other with CJ being a smaller Score first guard who spent many years as the secondary playmaker next to Damen Lillard coming to New Orleans The Hope was that he could just slide over and play the primary lead ball handler role which he did for a stretch his assists per game did go up from about 4 and half to six when he first got into New Orleans but last year they kind of came back down to earth and it wasn’t really a secret that the team was looking for a point guard this off season and they got one very quickly one that’s been a 20 point per game scorer and also has shown the ability to distribute that final year in San Antonio he averaged over nine assists when he was an All-Star and he’s bigger than CJ so they can split up defensive assignments well and unlike the failed experiment in Atlanta this is actually sliding both both of them more into their natural positions which was definitely not going to be the case with Trey young who has to dictate everything in a vacuum it’s a really good trade for New Orleans who likely aren’t done they still need to figure out what they’re going to do down low the expectation is that valent chunis won’t be coming back they also need to figure out what they’re going to do with Brandon Ingram he’s been in about every trade rumor for every team so far this off season but even if they don’t make any more splashy moves this should make them a better basketball team and that’s what you want when you’re trying to get Zion his first playoff win now for the Hawks I don’t know I can’t quite figure out what the goal is for the Atlanta Hawks this off season just yet they decided to keep the first pick despite this draft being touted as one of the weakest ones since I don’t know like 2013 or something and particularly weak at the top no offense to Zachary Reese but by all accounts that I pay attention to he was basically a mid lottery pick in a normal draft but not trading that pick suggests that maybe they didn’t get an offer they liked but also maybe they’re pushing towards Youth and that’s definitely what they prioritized in this deal for dejonte Murray where they got a couple of draft picks and a young guy in Dyson jels I don’t think Larry Nance is going to be on this roster I think he’s going to get rerouted no matter which way they’re leaning unless they can find a way to move off a Clint capella which I think they’ve been trying to do for like two or three years and it hasn’t happened so I’m not going to sit here and say well Clint capella it’ll be easy to find a trade for him because it just doesn’t seem like it they also didn’t give sadique Bay a qualifying offer who is hurt so that may be why they aren’t prioritizing bringing back a 25-year-old Wing or they might just not think he’s that good that’s also a possibility um but they also just dumped AJ Griffin who’s only 20 and that might not have been a basketball decision but I don’t know we’re going to see what happens with boogi we’ll see what happens with DeAndre Hunter because if the goal is to reshuffle the deck and rebuild again around Trey young who’s still only 26 so it’s not a bad pathway forward necessarily they do still have a lot of work to do in that regard and so I think that’s what the next moves are going to signal at this moment moment they’re kind of keeping the majority of their team intact just not as good and I don’t think that serves anyone at this point I think the next few weeks are going to really tell us what the goal is in Atlanta so I’m taking a bit of a wait and see Approach at this point what about you comment below who do you think won this trade
It’s been a few days since Dejounte Murray was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the New Orleans Pelicans.
A move that makes a ton of sense for one side and leave a big question mark for the other…
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16 Comments
Really like the Murray fit in New Orleans.
Herb jones will start over Cj sooner than later.
Trae / Daniels / Risacher / Johnson / Capela is a pretty interesting starting 5 around Trae. That's a lot of length, and hopefully defense, with a bench of Bufkin / Bogi / Hunter / Nance / OO it could be fairly deep too . . . with defense. It'll be interesting to see if Kobe can develop and if Trae can be the modern day AI.
I believe the desire is to take hard core lanky wings and improve their shooting ability with Kyle Korver as the shooting development coach. It worked with JJ, Murray, and OO last season. The last of which being his first time making 3's int he NBA. I thin Dyson Daniels is being eyed to enter this program and possibly make him scary as a 3and D wing over time.
What you need to consider about the Hawks is that we're not contending next season. There's no point in making a splash to fight for a playoff position, so it makes perfect sense to take a step back and see what you have in Risacher, Jalen, Bufkin, etc.
In reality, we're probably a better team next season than we were last season just by moving Murray. Trae/Murray lineups were the worst lineups we had, we were much worse than the sum of our parts.
The path forward is pretty simple: build around Trae (which we are doing by getting Daniels and Risacher), and try to develop Jalen Johnson into an all-star.
Win-win trade imo.
Murray defense didn't slip cut it out.. Murray was playing beside Trae who didn't play no defense & Murray was trying to help him on his man
Murray defense didn't slip cut it out.. Murray was playing beside Trae who didn't play no defense & Murray was trying to help him on his man
Murray should be better defensively in Nola because he shouldn’t have as much offensive responsibility.
Little to no mention of Dyson Daniels is a major oversight. Coming into his 3rd year and ranked top 3 in most stats as a POA defender. He’s going to be a difference maker
Run Herb at the 2 and ship CJ and BI for Lauri.
I actually think the Hawks need to add a stretch 4. The Hawks were successful when they had Gallanari at the four position, because it gave Trae shooters around the perimeter when he penetrated. Trae has taken a step back and seems like he’s abandoned his inside the paint floaters which made him very dangerous early in his career.
This starting lineup still doesn’t give him the outside presence to allow him to create. Risacher seems like a high percentage 3 point shooter with decent handles. I would actually play him at the 2. I would bring Jalen Johnson to the 3 and this lineup would mirror the early Warriors (Steph,Klay, Iggy). If you add a stretch 4, the Hawks would be cooking. Again, think players such Gallanari type player. KAT, Should be perfect but too risky with the amount of value he’d command in a trade. They could look for a cheaper version in Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis or Jeremiah Grant, but that would still put them around a 5-7 seed in the east until Risacher develops.
If you go back to the 2021 Hawks run at the ECF, Trae made the Hawks dangerous by confusing the defenses . He would penetrate almost 60 percent of the possessions and either hit a floater, make a pass to Huerter,Gallanari,Collins, Tony Snell or Bogi. He was surrounded with shooters which allowed him to create.If Risacher is as deadly from 3 as anticipated, acquiring one of the players above might be all Trae needs as a facilitator. Bufkin, Bogi, Dyson, Hunter, Nance would come off the bench which would bring scoring and elite defense to keep leads close
Why can't it be the coach? Four players defensively fill off. I think it the coach 🤔
A few days later, everyone think Dyson Daniels is THAT Guy. Fee days ago, ppl thought the hawks got a bag trail mix and that actor named Tyson beckford
Dj on ball defense is not what anyone thinks but having Herb and Murphy will help a lot but Dj doesn't navigate screens well at all
Zion will be hurt when it matters, so who cares?
Hawks win. We got the lakers pick , cleared cap , and we simply gave up on a fit that wasn’t it . Dyson Daniel’s and nance are good trade pieces if need be as well . Yes dj helps the pelicans . But I don’t think they win more than 1 round in the really good west.