Atlanta Hawks fire Landry Fields, Onsi Saleh, Tony Ressler, fallout, and 2025 NBA Draft tiebreakers

21 comments

1. The Resslers were the one who pushed hard for the Dejounte trade. Landry got a raw deal

2. It seems like they're doing the same thing they did with Travis, as soon as a GM's vision seems to start to show some promise they get rid of them. This team never seems to have a clear sense of direction.

3. My only thought is that maybe Landry was made aware he would be let go prior to exit interviews with the players, that way during those he could make them aware as well. Basically giving him and the players closure on the season.

   But knowing the Ressler ownership, probably not lol.

4. Good emergency pod Brad. IMO, Quin is safe. Quin has shown that the development piece he brings is validated. But Quin has been hamstrung on whether he can win it all with the talent he’s been given.

   Landry has Dyson as his calling card, but the failure to do anything with Clint prior to his contract expiring was a bit of a black mark. Ressler doesn’t seem to be the guy to want any asset not have some kind of return (even if it’s not a great return. Something is better than nothing). And I think that Tony wants a splash player and not want to spend for said player. I feel like Landry told him that it’s an impossible ask and now he’s gone. Tony wants lemonade without buying or sacrificing any lemons. But I belive he thinks Quin could make good lemonade, he just wants a guy to tell him that it’s possible to do it how he wants it to be done… it’s conjecture for sure, but just a feeling I get.

5. Brad, i understand Onsi's specialties are finances and salary caps. Will Onsi's moves be dictated by Tony's tax cutting methods or could rumors be true that Tony is ready to improve the hawks and spend as needed to coincide with The Gulch?

6. It is a TBD on how I feel about this. It’s egh. But what are they gonna do afterwards? And to be honest I’m not longer as high as I was on the Ressler family. Just sell the team.

7. God I wish we could all write a petition to get rid of Tony

8. Talked me off the ledge a bit. What I got from this:

   -Maybe Landry wasn’t as responsible for some of the moves and roster building as we might believe. The reason I was so upset was because I liked the direction of the roster.

   – With the move for Georges and what I’ve heard about Kobe being off the table for Siakim because Quin was VERY high on Kobe let me know that Quin has a lot of pull on the roster.

   – Had no idea who Onsi Saleh is, hopefully his vision for the roster continues in the direction we established this season. I really liked the direction of the build , maybe along side Quin, he had one of the biggest voices in the room.

   – Trae seems to be ok with the move and I’m glad to hear that his attitude has been really positive. Feels like his relationship with Quin is really strong and the fact that Quin stay on signals that they want to figure this out with Trae and his relationship with Quin plus the improvements (Quin helped make?) to the roster has made Trae interested in seeing this through.

   Having said all of this, there is no one that is a bigger Trae Young fan than but I’ve gotten to the point that if the option is gutting the roster for an over the hill star or letting Trae Young Walk, I might be ready to let him walk. We have 3 guys on the roster that I would hate to see get traded for an aging vet ; Risacher, Dyson & Jalen. For the right guy I would make an exception and let one of those guys go but not for a guy that’s 32 plus. If we can get a KD for our picks this year, a future , O and Kobe, fine, but I’m not literally gutting our roster (SG-PF) for an over the hill star or an injury prone star:

9. Tonys moves are ass backwards.

10. I think Landry did a decent job with Draft Pick Selection. On top of that he did what the owners wanted by trying to build around Trae, while keeping under the apron. Why would they fire him?

11. I think the Resslers made Landry purposefully weak in order to allow themselves the ability to tweak the roster how they wanted to i.e. the DJM trade, but in doing so they created a situation where agents, and other teams were cutting out the middle man and heading straight to Tony. But it could also be that Landry was benefiting from decisions he disagreed in. I mean for all we know everyone else in the organization wanted to draft Zacc, and Landry was the lone reason we were hearing about us drafting Reed Shepard for some reason lol

12. Good!

13. Good, demolition process in effect.. ☻️💥Quinn ☻️💥Trae☻️💥Capella ☻️💥etc .. Take those 2 1st round pks and get a STAR /Trade UP, GET A GOOD PLAYER STAR IN MAKING.. Throw Trae and or players with those 1st round picks move up and get a new franchise player/Dog, and start fresh… Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over getting the same results… Team looked pertty during this season but results still same and really worst.. NO Playoffs, and JJ, Capella, LARRY NANCE JR, being out is not the big difference or the excuse of Atl not exceeding goals… 7th seed best is what we would be if they were healthy playing… We weren't supposed to be trying to just make playoffs we were supposed to be trying to win the East and essentially Championship.. Good first move toward not being insane.

14. Crazy to fire a GM when the owner doesn't even attempt to provide the resources to build a successful roster.

    This is why Schlenk left. Ownership doesn't want to win, and doesn't empower the front office to make the moves they envision to create a successful roster.

    It's all about avoiding that TAX, baby!

15. A search firm is certainly different. I am use to front offices/coaches and ownership doing the interview process but if they were going to fire Landry. You would think the Hawks would have a list of people in mind before firing Landry.

16. It's so funny that you said that about Fields doing those Press Conferences and speaking with the players. Then being relieved of his duties. I thought the same thing. Weird. I don't know what's up with that. I hope we can get it together. Let's go Hawks!

17. Thank goodness! LF should have never been hired in the first place! By the process of elimination, he apparently agreed with the DJM trade from SA — the worst trade this CENTURY! I bet he was the yes man in the room while the owner's (non-basketball knowing) son pitched the idea. Schlenk would have nothing to do with it (smart), and thus resigned. So, the Yes Man got promoted. Then this year, he traded away the best player in 2 separate deals — Dre and Bogie. The idea is to IMPROVE your team with higher quality players, not higher quantity. But then LF never knew what he was doing. So, he finally got what he deserved. Just like Lloyd Pierce, he won't get another GM gig in the NBA. Hawks have to turn the page and hire knowledgeable, talented, and skilled people for the FO. 50+ years of a garbage franchise has to end!

18. Please slow down so we can understand and absorb what you're talking about.

19. I disagree with Brad 99% of the time, including this one. How the hell can you say the Hawks had a positive season! The 2 trades made at the deadline were NOT OK'ish. The team that gets the best player in a trade WINS the trade. In both trades, Hawks gave up the better player. QUALITY builds a team. Quantity just adds more of the same. And apparently Brad would have preferred to fire LF right before the Play-in games, ala Denver, Memphis — WTF!

20. Did you consider that Quin's job was discussed with Saleh? I seriously doubt Saleh would have taken the job if he didn't want Quin to coach the team and couldn't fire him.

21. Brad, I wonder if this wasn't as much about the past as it was about the future. The statement mentioned the pivotal decisions that need to be made this summer. Obviously Trae is the big domino. I wonder if they weren't on the same page about that. If so, my guess would be that maybe Landry wanted to shop Trae, and Ressler wanted to extend him. Trae did not sound as upbeat as nearly everyone else in exit interviews, but then after this announcement he is telling Chris Haynes how much he wants to stay, a subject he had been pretty quiet on all year. I'm sure Ressler took notes on the Dallas situation; if they had a time machine those people would fire Nico Harris and keep Luka.