It’s clear that changes are necessary to improve the Hawks‘ defense, but the team’s current personnel may not provide any quite fixes, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, who suggests that it’s an area Atlanta could look to address on the trade market.
Trae Young scored 56 points with 14 assists for the Hawks on Monday night, but it wasn’t enough for a victory, since the club surrendered 136 points to a Portland team missing Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Acting coach Joe Prunty acknowledged after the game that something needs to change on defense.
“There are a lot of things that need to be addressed. A lot of things that we have to do as a team to get better at,” Prunty said, per Kirschner. “There are things we have talked about, things we have worked on, but clearly we need to continue to do it. It’s going to be hard to win a game giving up 136. We’ve done this a few times now. We have to get better across the board as a team, that’s coaches and players.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Jimmy Butler exited the Heat‘s game in the third quarter on Monday due to a right ankle injury and will undergo further testing today to assess the severity of the ailment, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. For his part, Butler – who has already experienced some right ankle problems this season – doesn’t seem to believe it’s a significant injury. “If you talk to Jimmy right now, he says he’s fine,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We will have to evaluate it and see how he feels.”
- Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma had a career night on Monday, putting up 36 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists in a win over Charlotte. As Ava Wallace of The Washington Post writes, Kuzma is getting more and more comfortable with his new team and believes he’s in a “great situation” in Washington. “Fit and opportunity is everything in this league,” Kuzma said on Monday.
- Magic guard Markelle Fultz, who continues to recover from ACL surgery, is now in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, but forward Chuma Okeke has exited the protocols, tweets Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. Okeke missed Monday’s game due to return to competition reconditioning, but should be nearing a return.
Ben Simmons to Atlanta he will go along way to fixing the defence. He will also take some of the playmaking pressure of Trae Young who is more of a natural scorer anyways. Atlanta also have a few bigs that could work as floor spacers around Ben such as Collins, Gallo and Deing.
We would have to match salaries so automatically gallo is going back and maybe Hunter and a first round. If I’m giving up that I rather go after Bradley Beal
I would always take Ben before Beal, I mean it ain’t even a choice to make there!
As a Sixers fan I’d happily take Bogi, Hunter and Lou Will (to salary match) and a second round pick.
That’s a pretty low cost for a former first round pick, 3 time all star, 2 time all defensive first team and nba third teamer
Wizards should trade for Jusuf Nurkic.
Think he would be a great fit with the Wizards.
Nurkic for Thomas Bryant and Isiah Todd
Nurkic for the last two seasons has played a reduced role in Portland. He’s currently putting up 13.5-10-2.5 in 26 minutes on 9 shot attempts.
However at his best 2019-2019-2020, he was putting up 17-10-4 on 13 shot attempts in about 30 minutes of action.
Considering he’s on an expiring deal, Portland won’t be making the playoffs and he’s playing a reduced role Portland probably will be happy to get rid of him. Thomas Bryant, is only 24 also on an expiring deal but offers some upside that Portland may be interested in. Isiah Todd he’s only 20 and was taken at the start of the second round last draft.
Portland would be getting themselves back two younger players with more upside for a guy on an expiring deal playing on a reduced role.
For Washington they get Nurkic who has a bunch of experience and hopefully can earn enough minutes to show he’s still a very good player. If he can refind the form which made him a top 10 centre then Washington can hopefully tie him down for a few years on a relatively cheap contract
I’m warming up to Simmons on the Hawks. The D is terrible and Cam and Deandre can’t stay on the court. Maybe Bogdanovich, Hunter, and little more can convince the 76ers to do it. Nobody else is beating down the door for a defense first 40 million dollar guy.
That’s what I’ve been saying, Bogi, Hunter, (something to match salaries like Lou Will) and a second round pick.
Over in Philly we can play Maxey Curry Hunter Harris and Embiid with Green Bogi Korkmaz and Thybulle off the bench in the wing and guard spots. Bogi is always a solid contributor off the bench, makes smart plays, shoots well that’s all we need. Hunter he’s got heaps of potential and is a solid defender. Teams in the east would struggle to match our size with Embiid Harris and Hunter.
For Atlanata Trae and Ben as a core that’s elite. Great combo for their playmaking, Trae brings the shooting and Ben the defence. Then around them you have Heuter Reddish Johnson Gallo Collins Capela and so on. A 5 of Trae Hueter Simmons Gallo and Collins would be really tough