- The Hawks ended their mini-camp five days early, Sarah Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes, with the team choosing to halt activities on October 1. Spencer reports the team always planned to end early with a focus on injury prevention and keeping players engaged in voluntary workouts. “We wanted to maximize the opportunity that we had and to compete at the level that we’re doing, to be in a new environment and situation, we wanted to do what made most sense, and that’s why we’re ending today,” head coach Lloyd Pierce said.
OCTOBER 2: The Hawks have officially hired Fields as their assistant general manager, the team confirmed today in a press release. According to the team, his role will focus on “bolstering player relations, scouting, and strategic planning.”
“Landry has quickly risen through the ranks, bringing a unique combination of playing experience, sharp eye for player development and strong skills as a communicator,” Schlenk said in a statement. “He will be a welcome addition to our group.”
SEPTEMBER 23: The Hawks are hiring Austin Spurs general manager Landry Fields as their new assistant general manager, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The 32-year-old Fields joined the Spurs as a scout in 2016 and was promoted to G League GM last year. He is filling a vacancy in Atlanta that has been open since Jeff Peterson, who was the Hawks’ assistant general manager under general manager Travis Schlenk, left in 2019.
Fields also spent five seasons in the NBA, playing for both the Knicks and Raptors. In 255 games, he averaged 6.8 PPG and 4.3 RPG.
After a strong showing in the playoffs, Nuggets forward Jerami Grant is expected to turn down his $9.3MM player option in favor of free agency. A recent report from Mike Singer of The Denver Post indicated that there appears to be mutual interest in a new deal between the Nuggets and Grant, who could command upwards of $14-16MM per year.
However, Denver is expected to face stiff competition for Grant’s services. According to Singer, the Pistons, Suns, and Hawks are among the clubs that are expected to express interest in the forward once free agency begins.
As Singer notes, Detroit and Atlanta will have plenty of cap room available, and Phoenix has a path to open up space as well. All three teams could make contract offers worth significantly more than the mid-level (projected to be worth about $9.3MM).
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver and Suns head coach Monty Williams are both former Thunder employees, so they’re very familiar with Grant, who played in Oklahoma City from 2016-19 before being traded to the Nuggets last July. The Hawks have no obvious connection to the 26-year-old through their front office or coaching staff, but he’d be a nice fit on a squad that had the NBA’s third-worst defensive rating this season.
Of course, the Nuggets will hold Grant’s Bird rights, allowing them to go over the cap to make a competitive offer for the former Syracuse standout. Head coach Michael Malone told reporters today that Grant is “a big part of our future,” as Eric Spyropoulos of Nuggets.com relays.
Grant averaged 12.0 PPG and 3.5 RPG on .478/.389/.750 shooting in 71 games (26.6 MPG) for the Nuggets in 2019/20 and became a full-time starter in the postseason as the team made a run to the Western Conference Finals. His outside shooting ability and defensive versatility will make him one of this offseason’s most popular free agents.
It’s worth noting that the Suns and Pistons are also expected to have interest in free agent point guard Fred VanVleet, while Phoenix and Atlanta have been linked to sharpshooter Davis Bertans. The Hawks can afford to pursue multiple top free agents, but the Suns and Pistons are less likely to fit two pricey new contracts in under the cap. If they go after another top free agent like VanVleet or Bertans instead, that could take one of Grant’s potential suitors out of the mix.
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).
Since his freshman year in college, Trae Young has been known for his impressive scoring stats and outrageous shooting range, but he tells Mark Medina of USA Today that he won’t be happy until his team starts winning. Young has averaged 23.6 PPG during his first two NBA seasons, but the Hawks have finished last in the Southeast Division both years with a combined record of 49-100.
“I hate the narrative of just being a scorer and a stats person,” Young said. “Stats don’t mean anything. I don’t want that narrative to be I’m all about stats because I’m not. For me, stats is the last thing I’m bringing up. I’m all about winning.”
With a strong collection of young talent in place, Atlanta may be ready to take a step forward next season. The Hawks added center Clint Capela – who was sidelined by injury after being acquired from the Rockets at the trade deadline – and could have as much as $50MM to spend in free agency. As one of the eight teams not invited to Orlando, Atlanta may go 10 months or more without playing in an actual game, but Young doesn’t expect the layoff to be a factor.
“It won’t affect me at all,” he said. “I know my body and how hard I can push it and where maybe I can slow down. I know when we’re going to be playing. I know it’s going to be a couple of months from now. So I won’t overload my body now. I’ll be smart and continue to get better and focus on that.”
There’s more on the Hawks:
- Atlanta owns the sixth pick in the November 18 draft, and general manager Travis Schlenk is open to another draft-night deal, Medina adds in the same story. Schlenk has been involved in significant trades during the past two drafts, bringing in Young and De’Andre Hunter.
- Capela was thrilled to finally be able to practice with his new team as the Hawks gathered for camp this week, writes Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is now fully recovered from a heel injury that he suffered in January while still with the Rockets. The Hawks diagnosed it as a right calcaneus contusion/plantar fasciitis, and although Capela believed he was ready to go in June, league rules prevented him from doing anything beyond individual workouts. “It honestly felt a little bit weird at the beginning, being on drills with everybody, cheering, everybody just being with everybody and being involved,” Capela said. “It honestly felt really great. It felt good going through drills, being vocal. I couldn’t wait. It’s been a very, very long time. So I’m really enjoying it right now.”
- In case you missed it, Skal Labissiere, who was also kept out of action by an injury after being acquired by Atlanta in February, hopes to return to the team next season.
Skal Labissiere has yet to suit up for the Hawks since being acquired in early February and has not seen any NBA action since December due to a knee injury. Now a participant at Atlanta’s minicamp, Labissiere has made it clear he wants to return to the Hawks next season, Sarak K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.
The Hawks were not invited to the Orlando campus once the 2019/20 season resumed given their poor record. However, Labissiere has been a frequent presence around the team, demonstrating his progress in recovering from his injury.
“Just to show that I’m ready to go, I can play,” Labissere said. “I’m ready to play. I’ve been out since December, and I’ve been doing rehab with the team that whole time, so for me I just wanted to show that ‘Hey, I’m ready to go,’ I’m ready to play, and I feel good. I just want to play basketball. It’s been a long time since I’ve played.”
Labissiere, 24, played in just 33 games this past season, averaging 5.8 PPG and 5.1 RPG for the Trail Blazers before he was traded. The 28th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft is not just the Hawks’ only pending free agent to participate in minicamp — he hopes the work he has put in with the team’s staff has earned him an opportunity to return for the 2020/21 campaign.
“I would love to be here,” Labissiere said. “Obviously, if I was not interested in being here I would not be here doing training camp, I could have been just working out somewhere else and not in the bubble setting. I’m very interested in being here, and we’ll see.”
Former Georgetown big man Omer Yurtseven has met virtually with about a third of the teams in the NBA, including the Hawks, Wizards, Spurs, Hornets, Kings, Sixers, and Rockets, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. As Yurtseven explained in a conversation with Hughes, he has made an effort to do his homework on each team interviewing him in order to make a good impression during those meetings.
“You have to know their rosters in order to see how they would fit in; what shooters are you going to be able to kick out to, or what bigs would you be playing with, what picks do they have,” Yurtseven said. “In all the interviews, I try to incorporate all the things I know about them in order to show them that I care, that I want to be on their team.”
Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:
- The revamped “combine” won’t allow teams to get as much first-hand information as in a typical draft combine, but after six months of doing little but rewatching tape and making phone calls, scouts and teams are pretty interested in the process and anxious for new information, tweets Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report.
- In a story for Bleacher Report, Wasserman looks at some of the latest draft rumors, attempting to weigh their legitimacy. Wasserman is buying talk of RJ Hampton‘s improved jumper, but doesn’t expect the Timberwolves to trade the No. 1 pick and is skeptical about some of the chatter coming out of Golden State.
- Despite the fact that just about every NBA team would love to add a sharpshooter such as Duncan Robinson, the Michigan forward went undrafted in 2018. With that in mind, CJ Moore of The Athletic identifies four prospects who could be this year’s under-the-radar marksman like Robinson, including BYU’s Jake Toolson and Boise State’s Justinian Jessup.
- The latest mock draft conducted by team beat writers at The Athletic featured LaMelo Ball going No. 1 to the Timberwolves, the Warriors trading the No. 2 pick to the Suns, and Anthony Edwards slipping to the Hornets at No. 3.
- Having been fully cleared after battling a foot injury for the second half of the 2019/20 season, Hawks center Clint Capela has been able to participate in drills and mini-scrimmages at the team’s in-market bubble camp, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Head coach Lloyd Pierce is excited about how Capela will be able to help Atlanta on the glass. “Defensive rebounding has been a big issue for us,” Pierce said. “He just knows how to do it. He knows how to hold off a guy with one arm and get (the ball) with the other. Just really simple things that you can’t teach. … He showed a couple of those possessions where you instantly look down there, and you’re like, ‘We’ll be all right there.'”
The NBA’s bottom eight teams are finally participating in group workouts this week as part of the second phase of the league’s in-market bubble plan to get those clubs some organized offseason activities to tide them over to the 2020/21 season. However, those activities are voluntary and not every player on the bottom eight rosters is in attendance.
One of the more notable absences is in New York, where Knicks center Mitchell Robinson isn’t taking part in the team’s mini-camp, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv. As Begley details, Robinson participated in individual workouts last week but will be absent from the group portion of the camp for personal reasons. The big man doesn’t have COVID-19, sources tell Begley.
Robinson’s absence from the mini-camp is unfortunate for the Knicks because he’s under contract for multiple seasons and these sessions are mostly aimed at getting teams’ young, core players some extra reps in practices and scrimmages. Participation from established veteran players is less crucial, so it’s no surprise that Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have been excused from Golden State’s in-market bubble camp for family reasons, as Nick Friedell of ESPN writes.
“A lot of guys are going to get a lot better and really thrive in this environment,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m not worried about Steph and Draymond; I know how hard they work and I know they’ll be prepared for next season.”
Impending free agency is another logical reason why certain players would opt to forgo these offseason team activities. In Atlanta, for example, Jeff Teague, DeAndre’ Bembry, Treveon Graham, and Damian Jones – all of whom are on expired contracts – aren’t with the Hawks in their bubble, according to Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dewayne Dedmon also isn’t participating in the team’s group activities, Spencer adds.
We’ve previously passed along details on players from the other five teams who aren’t taking part in these in-market camps. That list includes Kris Dunn for the Bulls; Juan Hernangomez, Evan Turner, and Omari Spellman for the Timberwolves; Bismack Biyombo and Nicolas Batum for the Hornets; Andre Drummond, Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova, and Cedi Osman for the Cavaliers; and Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Christian Wood, and Langston Galloway for the Pistons.
- Speaking today to reporters, Hawks president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk confirmed that the club anticipates having contract extension discussions with John Collins‘ reps once they’re able to do so (Twitter link via Brad Rowland of Uproxx). Collins will become eligible for a rookie scale extension once the 2020/21 league year begins.