Earlier this week, Kevin Huerter said he expects the Hawks to make the playoffs next season (h/t Sarah Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Atlanta is among the eight teams holding in-markets workouts this month.
The second-year wing player added that the Hawks are not far away from competing for a playoff spot, especially with the talent they have acquired. “There’s definitely teams that we think we can jump ahead of going into next year and we’re trying to make the playoffs,” said Huerter. “That’s kind of the main focus for us. It’s something we talked about even at the beginning of this training camp is a lot of individual stats and individual accolades have to be put aside and we have to really try to come together as a team.”
When the NBA postponed its season back in March, the Hawks had a record of 20-47, which was the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference, behind the Cavaliers (19-47).
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Heading into his third season, Hornets forward Miles Bridges is looking to establish consistency, writes Sam Perley of Hornets.com. This season, the former Michigan State standout averaged 13 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 1.8 APG. Charlotte head coach James Borrego said that the team gave Bridges more responsibility on the defensive end, which he earned. However, he also wants the small forward to be consistent offensively. The 22-year-old agrees with those statements and feels he has room for improvement. “I always want to improve on my defense,” he stated. “My off-ball defense, I feel like that’s gotten better with my communication. I feel like my on-ball defense is pretty good, but if I get better on my off-ball and my communication, I feel like I’ll be good.”
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic looks at some potential trade ideas for Raptors All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry, noting that Toronto does not have to trade the veteran point guard – who is scheduled to make $31M next season – unless something drastic happens in the offseason. One trade that Koreen proposes is Lowry and a couple of draft picks to the Wizards for Bradley Beal. However, that proposal, among others, is tough and extremely unlikely.
- Cavs general manager Koby Altman was impressed with second-year point guard Collin Sexton as in-market workouts wrap up, writes Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Altman, who drafted Sexton two years ago, said that the young guard is the cultural leader of the team. “It’s really hard to compare him with other guards as that physique, that just speaks to his work ethic,” Altman explained. “It’s all him. We have certainly given him plans for how he wants to grow from a skill standpoint on the basketball floor, but everything off the floor, he’s locked in.” This season, the former first-round pick averaged 20.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 33 MPG.
How do the Hawks end up with bottom-rung rankings but always end up mid-tier draft picks over and over?…seems TV Marketing plays an obvious role with those magical ping-pong balls….a-la the Pelicans and Zion making the playoffs?!smh
The same way the Lakers always get every single advantage the NBA affords them.
#freedanuelhouse
The lottery nonsense has definitely worked against the Hawks. I might have forgotten a really old year or two, but I think they have actually only moved up a single time in the history of the lottery. Given how the NBA is really a top-3 pick driven league, those drops are huge. And by that I mean once you get out of the top three a team might find HoF’er once every 20 years or so.
Personally, I think they need to redo the lottery. One year should not be the baseline. It should be a ‘last three years’ overall record for non-playoff teams. That would likely help to minimize single year tanking. More importantly, it would stop the nonsense like the 2020 GS Warriors, or Tim Duncan robbing Spurs from getting one year shots lottery shots when everyone knows they will be a championship contending team the following year even without a lottery pick.
I also would prefer a team not being able to move up more than once every three years. I get that they could still be a bad team, but you are letting luck and tanking take on too much value in the current system.
The three-year idea is good… they went quite far with taking balls away from the worst teams… maybe too far.
Lowry & picks for beal?
Wtf is this Koreen guy smoking..
Ya thats going to cost a lot of picks lol
Hawks have only been bad for two drafts since they decided to blow it up. In that time they have had the #4 #5 #10 #19 #19 picks from finishing in reverse #5 & #3.5. Pretty good, no reason to claim bias.
Now the players have to grow up. The decision to start from scratch requires patience which is a good reason to avoid doing that. Next year is probably still too soon. Constructing teams of all youth with firm timelines is risky IMO.
Don’t tell Love that Sexton is taking a leadership role at the camp. Maybe he could do a conference call with the players and pass on some nuggets of wisdom or text them a leadership meme or somethingn
Curry & Dray are skipping stuff. Must not be leaders.
Sexton is just racking up the numbers on a bad team. Lucky to be a good 6th man on a good team.
You’re silly. Sexton is going it as efficient as one can hope. He’s got All-Star written all over him. Once he figures it out on defense, he’ll be one of the better players in the league.
He has Donovan Mitchell potential written all over him.