Our Longest Summer series will look at the eight teams whose seasons are now officially over, and will have to wait until mid-October to make decisions on what’s next and how to proceed after falling short of the cut-off for a continued 2019-20 campaign.
Prior to the 2019-20 season, there was buzz (at least in some circles) about the Atlanta Hawks as a potential threat at the edges of the Eastern Conference playoff race. While that never materialized, Lloyd Pierce’s team enjoyed flashes of what might be to come, especially with the growth and development of Trae Young as the team’s centerpiece of the present and future.
In the end, though, the Hawks posted an unsightly 20-47 record, sunk by shaky roster building and other factors, including an unforeseen 25-game suspension to the team’s second-best player in John Collins. Maybe most frustrating for the Hawks is they never got to try and make a late season run with a new-look roster after an active trade deadline. Ultimately, Atlanta’s struggles paved the way for exclusion from the 22-team bubble in Orlando but, as the extended offseason arrives, there are many factors to evaluate.
2020 Free Agents
Jeff Teague (UFA), Damian Jones (RFA), Skal Labissiere (RFA), DeAndre’ Bembry (RFA), Treveon Graham (UFA), Vince Carter (UFA — likely retired)
2020 Projected salary cap space (assuming $115 million salary cap)
$47.75 million, per Early Bird Rights
Areas of Strength
The Hawks, unlike many teams in rebuilding mode, have a legitimate star in Young. Acquiring that No. 1 piece is the single most important piece of any rebuild and, after a strong sophomore campaign, Young is firmly entrenched as the face of the franchise. Atlanta also has another high-end offensive piece with John Collins and a bevy of young wings with De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Kevin Huerter. Atlanta’s combination of youth and flexibility makes the team quite intriguing this summer, especially once Clint Capela returns in full from the injury that ended his 2019-20 campaign prematurely.
Areas of Need
Atlanta doesn’t have a glaring positional need, which can be a good and a bad thing depending on how the team’s younger supporting pieces progress. The Hawks have a few lineup constructions that already make sense but, at the same time, the team struggled mightily without Young on the floor this season. Part of that is a lack of a legitimate primary creator aside from Young. One of the team’s glaring deficiencies in 2019-20 was the center position but, with Capela now on board, the Hawks should be looking for more shooting and, ultimately, continuing the search for the second perimeter star that almost every team is seeking.
Biggest Decisions
In a free agent class void of top-tier stars, the Hawks picked a challenging time to have the largest amount of cap space in the NBA. Atlanta doesn’t have to rush things and overspend but, at the same time, there could be internal pressure to take a step forward as Young’s third season arrives. The Hawks could improve drastically by simply adding one or two competent, starting-quality players at the 2 through 4 spots. The alternative is for the Hawks to do more of their work around the edges, using cap space in other ways beyond inking high priced free agents, and focusing on keeping the runway clear for their young players to grow. Beyond that, they team has a pick in the top half of the lottery to play with when the draft arrives and Collins is extension-eligible, though the Hawks have some incentive to take advantage of his (relatively) low cap hold in the summer of 2021.
Overall Offseason Focus
It’s a big offseason for the Hawks. The on-court results were brutal in 2019-20, but considering the team’s combination of star power, youthful talent and future flexibility, there is a lot to like in Atlanta. The goal should be to improve while doing so responsibly and avoiding the pitfalls that a team could make with a porous free agent class and a pocket full of cap space.
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah returned from a two-week hiatus on Monday, and there was nothing to talk about. If only.
In an extended and emotional hour-long episode, host Noah discussed the recent protests against police brutality. “Never before in American history has there been an uprising like this, exactly like this, where you have huge numbers of people coming out every single day, in every single state in the country,” he said, later adding, “With all these protests sweeping across America, people have been comparing this moment to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. And much like the 1960s, law enforcement officers have met these calls to end police brutality with even more police brutality.”
Noah spotlighted the video showing 75-year-old peaceful protester Martin Gugino being violently shoved to the ground by two police officers (he’s currently hospitalized in serious but stable condition, even if a certain mush-brained someone thinks it’s all a hoax). “I don’t care how many times I see that video; I will never get used to it,” the Daily Show host said. “Because it’s bad enough that these cops push an old man who is walking over to them. But the fact that they walk over him, they walk past him while he’s bleeding out on the sidewalk. Who are you protecting and serving, if not that old man?”
And to disprove the “bad apple” theory, Noah showed footage of the two cops getting cheered by their fellow officers after being released on bail. “What are they cheering for? Something I think people need to understand about the police is that in a way, they have the same code that a gang does in that above all, you are loyal to your crew,” he said. “That is a culture that is within every police department. That’s the heart of this issue.”
“If good police are willing to look the other way or even join in when the bad police abuse their powers, you can make new rules and regulations all you want but if it won’t matter. America’s not going to be able to fix this problem until we have police whose first priority is protecting and serving the people instead of protecting and serving themselves.”
You can watch clips from the episode below.
Perhaps nobody is as important to Drake’s career (aside from Drake himself) as Noah “40” Shebib, the man who has produced all of the rapper’s albums. So, when he speaks about Drake, people listen. He talked about his high-profile collaborator in a recent Rolling Stone interview, and during the conversation, he ranked Drake’s albums.
From best to worst, Shebib ranked Drake’s discography as follows: So Far Gone, Take Care, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Scorpion, Nothing Was The Same, Views, and Thank Me Later, excluding More Life because it’s a “playlist.”
After the fact, though, Shebib didn’t actually support his rankings. DJ Akademiks posted about Shebib’s list on Instagram, and in the comments, Carl Chery, a Creative Director at Spotify, wondered why Nothing Was The Same was placed so low. To that, Shebib responded, “Yo @carlchery I was driving when he asked that question. I would never have NWTS that low. Some days that’s my favourite project we did but it’s whatever lol I have different reasons for why I’m attached to different projects then everyone else and that’s understandable but that list ain’t right I don’t stand by that. And also I ain’t giving a list cause as I said I have a different perspective.”
Read the full Rolling Stone interview here.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K? Maybe. The good news, though, is that it’s “Bill And Ted Day,” as foretold by Alex Winter, one of the two stars of Bill And Ted Face The Music, the long-anticipated threequel of the greatest damn franchise ever. Yes, “greatest” is a subjective term (fight me, Vin Diesel), but is anyone going to argue that the reteaming of Winter (as Bill S. Preston, Esq.) and Keanu Reeves (as Ted “Theodore” Logan) is an unwelcome sight in 2020? Nope.
Orion Pictures is here for us. These two righteous dudes are back, finally, as Wyld Stallyns, who actually are the greatest band on Earth. That’s not even owing to taste, for their music will transform Earth and encourage peace and prosperity. With this trailer, they’re presumably operating in real time, which means that they’re ditching 2020 (to steal their music from themselves in the future), and that sounds like a fantastic idea. The film’s first trailer also features… Prison Bill and Ted? Alright.
Not only are Winter and Reeves aboard for this film, but William Sadler will return as Death (with the air guitar moves intact). Brigette Lundy Paine and Samara Weaving will be portraying the daughters of Bill and Ted, respectively, and we’ll also see Anthony Carrigan, Kid Cudi (as himself), and some archival footage of George Carlin as Rufus.
Bill And Ted Day is also taking place on the perfect day: 6/9. Nice. And excellent! Enjoy this righteous poster.
Their destiny is calling. Keanu Reeves and @Winter are BACK in the official poster for Bill & Ted Face the Music! Time to be excellent, dudes.
#BillAndTed3 #FaceTheMusic #BillAndTedDay pic.twitter.com/MSZToqIOQZ
— Bill & Ted 3 (@BillandTed3) June 9, 2020
Bill And Ted Face The Music will arrive on August 21.
Perhaps unexpectedly to some, BTS and their fan base, known as the “BTS Army,” have become a strong force for good in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The band recently donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter, a donation that their fans quickly matched. In light of that, Corden decided to treat the BTS Army by sharing a previously unreleased clip from the group’s “Carpool Karaoke” episode.
Corden detailed the recent charitable goings-on from BTS and their fans, from the group’s $1 million donation to the BTS Army’s response of matching (and exceeding) that donation. He also shouted out the K-pop fan community at large for their efforts in drowning out hateful hashtags by flooding them with K-pop content.
Corden continued, “You just know that there’s some angry guy out there trying to be racist, but now he just can’t stop dancing to ‘Boy With Luv.’ So while the President is busy threatening military force, it’s clear to me that the only troops we should be sending in right now is the BTS Army.”
As a token of appreciation for the band, the BTS Army, and other K-pop fans, Corden decided to share a previously unreleased clip from the shoot for BTS’ “Carpool Karaoke” episode. In the video, Corden and the group sing “Baby Shark,” which quickly transforms into a shark-themed version of LMFAO and Lil Jon’s “Shots.”
Watch the video above.
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