Hubert: I think you’re right. But now comes the big question for you, CDiggy: are you willing to bet a 4 year mini max extension that he can do better?

$29.5mm through 2026 might not be a very team-friendly deal. First you’re taking a risk that he doesn’t regress in the regular season. Then you’re making a bet that he will solve something he seemed totally incapable of solving.

And this was just the Hawks! Imagine if we was playing Harden and Durant.

Oooooo I’ve been put on the hot seat!!!

Okay here it goes: I’ve said in the past that next season would be where the team would have to make its big decisions. When it comes to Randall, I would like to say, “hey, love what you did this regular season – now show me you can do it again in ’21-’22”. Right now, I’d:
A. Fully guarantee his full 2021-22 salary. He’s earned it.
B. Propose this third option for a short term extension.

I would not offer a 4-year extension just yet: I want to see the team remain as fluid as possible with players that are not (or not yet) franchise-level talent. I want to buy as much time as possible to improve the talent base and to reposition Randall’s use on offense closer to the basket. I need to go into preseason next October seeing whether Barrett makes the 3rd year leap (which I’ll argue is maybe even more important than navigating Jules’ contract situation), and what improvements IQ and Obi bring to training camp.

Randall needs to solve things. But not on his own, particularly if RJ and IQ take big steps forward and we bring in a legit starting PG.

One underrated sad part of being eliminated so early is that we miss out on 2-4 more weeks of Alan becoming increasingly frustrated with every instance of “maybe Vildoza will be ready for the next game.”

STOP TRYING TO MAKE “FETCH” HAPPEN! IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

Some bits of the article:

Paul has a $44.4 million player option, which according to several sources, he intends to decline with hopes of inking a new multiyear deal (perhaps in the $100 million range over three seasons).

and

The New York Knicks appear to be a player away from being a competitive playoff team in the East. With Paul’s relationship with former CAA agent Leon Rose, now president of the Knicks, the Suns may have some competition for the veteran’s services next season.

They scored 107, 92, 105, 113, 103 in their 5 games.

We only broke 100 in the first 2 games.

Atlanta averaged 113.7 per game in the regular season. They only reached that once in the series. So we played fine defensively.

I don’t think Randle was ready to face Playoff defense – where a team has the time and opportunity to really hone in on your secondary and tertiary tendencies for multiple games. And not only that – Atlanta had the same amount of time off between their last reg season game and playoffs start; that’s five days for them to prepare defensively for a team that limited on offensive skill. Also, akin to last season – Randall likely put too much pressure on himself; even Shaq noticed that, which is why he told him to let the game come to him.

I think you’re right. But now comes the big question for you, CDiggy: are you willing to bet a 4 year mini max extension that he can do better?

$29.5mm through 2026 might not be a very team-friendly deal. First you’re taking a risk that he doesn’t regress in the regular season. Then you’re making a bet that he will solve the postseason. I would be wary of making that offer.

And this was just the Hawks! Imagine if we was playing Harden and Durant.

i am less optimistic about the state of the franchise than the average poster here. but i still agree that we’re in a vastly superior position to recent history, so that’s something.

E, all merc’d out:
It could be as simple as the psychological, and theretofore never before engaged, realization that “Oh my god, they’ve thought about me and are designing something for the conscious purpose of trying to shut me down. What am I going to do now???”Indeed, that’s the theory that best fits the data.He was deer in the headlights from the very get-go, literally the first or second possession of the series.It never budged or wavered through the final possession of Game 5 and he never came close to figuring out what he was going to do now.

We more or less agree with this sentiment.

So then my question to you is this: do you think Randall can learn and improve from this?

Hubert: let’s not act like it was only the offensive side that fell apart. The Hawks scored 116 pts per 100 possessions in Atlanta while shooting 47% on – mostly open – three pointers.

That’s fine. I mean we did rely on the ISM for much of the season for our 3pt D. And they were better shooters than us. That said, I really believe we lost the series moreso on the offensive side of the ball.