Returning to Atlanta this week for the first time since he was traded from the Hawks to the Thunder last summer, Dennis Schroder didn’t mince words when he spoke about heading from Atlanta to Oklahoma City. As Erik Horne of The Oklahoman relays, Schroder suggested that he welcomed the move to a contender after growing tired of the Hawks’ rebuilding efforts.
“I wanted to be in a winning-mentality organization,” Schroder said before Tuesday’s game between the Thunder and Hawks. “You just can’t go out there and try to lose. I’m a competitor and I try to give everything out there. I want the organization to feel the same way. Right now with our organization, all the players in the locker room, all of the coaches, they’ve got a winning mentality. That’s what makes it fun, when you go out there and go to war with your brothers. There’s nothing better than that.”
Despite Schroder’s veiled shots at the Hawks, it was Atlanta that had the last laugh on Tuesday. The Hawks overcame Schroder’s 21 points and six assists to beat the Thunder in a 142-126 barn-burner. Atlanta’s offensive outburst included a pair of 45-point quarters.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- In an interesting and in-depth feature for Bleacher Report, Jonathan Abrams explores Kemba Walker‘s situation in Charlotte, including his upcoming free agency. While Walker didn’t drop any bombshells regarding his future, he said he remains very interested in helping the Hornets reach new heights. “I do want to be the first to accomplish a lot of the goals that have never been accomplished around here,” Walker said. “Yeah, I do think about that. Just because I know a lot of things haven’t been accomplished here, and this is my eighth season here now. … I want to help accomplish those goals and help get this organization far—as far as possible.”
- Rodney McGruder, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, started his 41st game for the Heat on Tuesday. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, that means McGruder has now met the “starter criteria” for RFAs, which will increase the value of his qualifying offer from $1.93MM to $3.02MM.
- After falling to 13-23 and losing John Wall for the season, the Wizards‘ season looked over. But since then, the club has won five of eight games, including impressive victories against Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee. As Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington details, that puts the Wizards at a crossroads with the trade deadline fast approaching. In a separate story, Standig takes a closer look at whether Washington should buy, sell, or stand pat.
The Bleacher Report piece about Kemba was great. If you never got a chance to read the Dion Waiters piece, then try and find time to do so.
Walker’s article is a lot of reading for nothing new. Charlotte & Walker are unchanged from last year, prob the year before, and if Walker re-ups, next year too… And the results are not enough.
Charlotte would be better off separating & prob Walker too. This isn’t a new take either.
Wizards need to find a way to bail out of the Wall contract.
Maybe someone can call up ol’ Gil and see if he has any guns Wall can borrow?? LOL
How could they realistically move Wall at this point? I’m just not sure what teams are going to be willing to send out without them taking a bad contract back. Maybe to the Timberwolves for Wiggins? Wall and KAT might fit well together and the Wizards take a chance on Wiggins improving?
I don’t think they can move him, but I definitely think they should look at stretching him the summer of 2020 (assuming he has a good season next year).
Stretching Wall in the summer of 2020 means they can pay him about $19 million/year thru 2027 to go away (obviously, that sucks). However, Wall can earn the full midlevel as a free agent in 2020, as there just aren’t that many great free agents in the 2020 class (particularly at PG). Wall earns more personally the bigger his contract, so he has an incentive to find the full midlevel.
Whatever salary Wall lands helps reduce the Wizard’s costs, which means the easiest way to save money on Wall’s contract is to stretch him and hope he signs elsewhere.
As for the cap hit, I suspect the Wiz will take those on the original schedule. The stretch will be all about reducing the amount they have to pay Wall, hoping he can earn dollars somewhere else to close out his career.
A buyout is an option too, but I don’t see any reason for Wall to agree to one unless they try to force him out…
I’ll be glad when they stop winning