Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Harrell, Parity, Projections, Season Previews

October 14th, 2024 at 1:10pm CST by Luke Adams

After reaching a deal in September with the Adelaide 36ers to join the team as a short-term replacement for injured forward Jarell Martin, veteran big man Montrezl Harrell is now in advanced talks with the Australian club to sign a rest-of-season contract that would allow him to stick around after Martin returns, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN.

According to Uluc, the 36ers and Harrell’s agent have been talking for the past few weeks about a possible full-season deal, and the expectation is that the two sides will get something done. If they do, the 36ers will have to deactivate a local player in order to keep Harrell active.

The NBA’s former Sixth Man of the Year is off to a strong start in Adelaide, averaging a double-double (15.7 points, 10.3 rebounds) during his first five games in Australia’s National Basketball League. While Harrell is interested in returning to the NBA, there’s a sense that’s more likely to happen in February or March after the NBL season ends, Uluc explains.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

When the Celtics won the NBA title in the spring, they became the sixth different team in the last six years to claim a championship. That’s just the second time in league history that has happened, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, who takes a closer look at the current era of NBA parity, exploring why it happened and what it means going forward.
John Hollinger of The Athletic previews the season for the seven teams he projects to finish at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, from the Wizards at No. 15 to the Hawks at No. 9. Using his BORD$ formula, Hollinger forecasts just 14 wins for Washington, seven fewer than any other team in the conference. He also has the Pistons moving up to 11th place, with the Raptors claiming the second play-in spot at No. 10.
Zach Kram of The Ringer previews the coming season by sharing one defining statistic for all 30 teams, such as 23.4 for the Thunder (the average age of their roster) and 31.2 for the Nuggets (their three-point attempts per game last season, last in the NBA).
Tim Bontemps of ESPN identifies 10 individuals who will help define the 2024/25 season, ranging from players like Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns to front office executives such as Calvin Booth of the Nuggets and Mike Dunleavy Jr. of the Warriors. Bontemps’ list also includes a top prospect (Cooper Flagg), an analyst (Charles Barkley), and a head coach (J.J. Redick), among others.

Southeast Notes: Daniels, Hawks, Martin, Hornets, Sarr

October 12th, 2024 at 1:58pm CST by Rory Maher

In his Hawks debut on Tuesday vs. Indiana, third-year guard Dyson Daniels looked like he could form a solid partnership next to Trae Young, writes Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Hawks acquired Daniels from New Orleans this offseason in the Dejounte Murray trade.

Known for his strong defense, the 21-year-old Australian recorded 14 points (on 5-of-8 shooting) and three assists in 22 minutes. Daniels is a former lottery pick, having been selected No. 8 overall in the 2022 draft.

“Dyson did a lot of good things,” head coach Quin Snyder said. “I thought defensively, we’ve talked about his presence on the court defensively. But, I thought he made the game simple. He made the right pass when someone was open, he passed to them. He moved without the ball when he needed, and he was spaced. It’s such an elusive thing to talk about spacing all the time, but if you’re not spaced, it’s hard to play together. Dyson does all those things. He does them intuitively, and he’s committed to them, and as a result, he’s someone that makes his team better.”

Here’s more from the Southeast:

If the Hawks want to improve their 36-46 record from last season, a good place to start would be to perform better in clutch situations, particularly on the defensive end, Williams writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think having clarity down the stretch, and the biggest thing is getting stops,” Snyder said Thursday. “It’s hard to score late in an NBA game. You have to make shots (and) sometimes those shots are more contested. The way to score is to get stops and to score in transition. One thing that will be important for us is there’s a mindset where you can continue to attack, and there’s also a mindset where not one player has to do that.”
Hornets wing Cody Martin has been sidelined by a variety of injuries over the past two seasons, having played just 35 games over that span. He’s currently dealing with a sprained right wrist and laceration on his thumb, but he’s confident he’ll be back soon, even if he doesn’t know exactly when it will be, per Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. “Just a basketball play,” said Martin. “It’s unfortunate. I’m optimistic. I’m good. I’m just trying to figure it out for now and making sure that we are all on the same page going forward. But I’m in good spirits to be honest with you. I’m staying even-keeled.”
LaMelo Ball and Josh Green were held out of the Hornets‘ preseason game vs. Memphis on Thursday, but neither player is injured, according to Boone. “We’ve played a lot of basketball so far,” said head coach Charles Lee. “We did training camp on the road at Duke and so there’s going to be a couple of guys when you’re playing a three-in-five that we’re going to be mindful of their minutes.”
Josh Robbins of The Athletic spoke to a handful of NBA scouts from rival teams to get an idea of what talent evaluators think of No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr. All of the scouts believe the Wizards‘ rookie big man will need time to develop, and most are bullish on his defensive upside. “The biggest thing is his mobility and motor, his ability to run the floor and switch and contain on the perimeter as well as be someone who can protect the rim,” one scout said.

Southeast Notes: Jeffries, Ball, Risacher, Carter

October 9th, 2024 at 1:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran swingman DaQuan Jeffries, one of the three players the Hornets acquired via sign-and-trade in last week’s Karl-Anthony Towns deal, has been diagnosed with a fractured right fifth metacarpal, according to the team (Twitter link). The injury, which he sustained in Tuesday’s preseason game vs. Miami, affects the bone at the base of the pinkie finger.

The Hornets didn’t offer any concrete recovery timeline for Jeffries, simply stating that he’ll be “out moving forward” and that updates will be “provided as appropriate.”

The injury to Jeffries, a fifth-year wing who has averaged just 10.8 minutes per game in 64 appearances over the course of his NBA career, won’t have any impact on the Hornets’ regular season rotation. However, it could be a factor in the team’s upcoming roster decisions.

Jeffries is one of 15 Charlotte players with a fully guaranteed salary for 2024/25, but the club will likely want to find room for Taj Gibson (whose salary is partially guaranteed) on the regular season roster, meaning Jeffries and Charlie Brown Jr. – who was also signed-and-traded from New York – are among the players who could be on the chopping block. If Jeffries is out for an extended period, that won’t help his case to open the season on the Hornets’ roster.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

After playing just 58 total games over the past two seasons due to ankle issues, LaMelo Ball will need to stay healthy in 2024/25 if the Hornets hope to be competitive. As Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer writes, the star guard has shown in two preseason games what he’s capable of if he can stay on the court, piling up 42 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in 42 minutes of action. Charlotte has outscored its opponents by 21 points during those 42 minutes. “He’s generational. I tell him that all the time,” former teammate Terry Rozier said. “That’s little bro. They are really good, but this team only goes as far as they have him, him being healthy and everything else. So, he knows what he has to do.”
No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher offered Hawks fans a tantalizing glimpse of his potential in his NBA debut on Tuesday vs. Indiana, per Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Risacher scored 18 points and was a team-best plus-15 in his 23 minutes off the bench. “I hate that this wasn’t the first game of the season where it counts for real,” Hawks guard Trae Young said. “That was a hell of a performance. That was a game, hell of a start. So for me, I want him to feel like how he felt tonight, and feel like there’s no pressure on him. He can go out there and be himself.”
Discussing his new three-year contract extension with the Magic, center Wendell Carter Jr. said on Tuesday that he’s “super excited” about the deal, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). Carter credited the front office for its willingness to invest in the Magic’s core players and agent Mike Miller for working to get something done before the October 21 deadline. “I told him I wanted to be here, wanted to be here long-term, however long I can be,” Carter said. “I told him just to make it happen and that’s what he did for me.”

And-Ones: G League Trades, Charania, Breakout Candidates, More

October 8th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

A pair of teams have acquired the G League rights for players who are in camp with them on Exhibit 10 contracts.

The Wisconsin Herd (Bucks) sent Marquese Chriss‘ rights and a 2025 first-round pick to the Birmingham Squadron (Pelicans) in exchange for Liam Robbins‘ rights (Twitter link), while the Raptors 905 are receiving Jared Rhoden‘s rights from the College Park Skyhawks (Hawks) in exchange for the rights to Omari Moore and a 2025 first-rounder (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of Sportsnet).

Robbins is currently on Milwaukee’s preseason roster, while Rhoden is under contract with Toronto.

In other G League trade news, the Austin Spurs announced (via Twitter) that they’ve sent the returning rights for Yauhen Massalski to the San Diego Clippers in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick, while the Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers) acquired Elijah Hughes‘ rights from the Wisconsin Herd (Bucks) in exchange for the rights to Sam Merrill and a 2025 second-rounder.

Trading away Merrill’s returning rights won’t mean anything for the Cavaliers as long as he remains on Cleveland’s NBA roster, but if he were to be waived down the road, the Bucks’ affiliate would have first dibs on him as a G Leaguer.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Shams Charania, who has spent the past few years with The Athletic, is making the move to ESPN to replace Adrian Wojnarowski as the network’s senior NBA insider, Charania announced on Twitter. Recent reporting suggested that ESPN news-breakers currently covering other sports – including Jeff Passan (MLB) or Adam Schefter (NFL) – were among the candidates being considered to replace Wojnarowski, but Charania was always the more logical choice, given his lengthy history of major NBA scoops.
In an Insider-only story for ESPN, Jeremy Woo identifies 11 players he believes are prime breakout candidates in 2024/25. Woo’s 11 candidates fall into four groups: players who could make the leap to an All-Star level, such as Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley; players who could ascend to borderline All-Stars, like Hawks forward Jalen Johnson; players who will benefit from taking on larger roles, including Bulls guard Josh Giddey; and role players who could make bigger impacts, such as Kings guard Keon Ellis.
Kurt Helin of NBC Sports predicts the 10 players most likely to be traded in 2024/25, ranging from big names like Brandon Ingram and Zach LaVine to role players such as Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas. Three of the players in Helin’s top 10 – Bojan Bogdanovic, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Cameron Johnson – are currently members of the Nets.

Southeast Notes: Poole, Heat, Hawks, Risacher, Carter, Lee

October 8th, 2024 at 2:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Jordan Poole was a little “quiet” and “standoffish” during his first year with the Wizards, according to Kyle Kuzma, who believes that was out of character for the 25-year-old guard and notes that he seems more comfortable entering his second season in D.C.

“I don’t think last year he necessarily was (Jordan Poole last season),” Kuzma said, per Varun Shankar of The Washington Post. “… We have the same agency, and I know for a fact from conversations that was not him. And I think that I see more of what Jordan Poole is now.”

As Shankar details, the Wizards’ plan to get the ball into Poole’s hands more and let him serve as a primary play-maker is one key reason for his increased comfort level. He had 16 points, six assists, and no turnovers in 22 minutes of action during Sunday’s preseason opener vs. Toronto.

“(Playing point guard has) allowed me to have more influence, more impact, get my hands on the offense,” Poole said, adding that his goal in his new role is to be “aggressive” and to “find ways to get my teammates involved.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

The preseason game between the Heat and Hawks originally scheduled to be played at Kaseya Center in Miami this Thursday has been postponed until Wednesday, October 16 due to Hurricane Milton, the Heat announced today (Twitter link).
This year’s No. 1 overall pick, Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher, isn’t coming into the league with nearly as much as hype or pressure as some past top picks, but as his pro career begins, he’s still eager to reward the club’s confidence in him, as Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution details.
The three-year, $58.65MM contract extension that Wendell Carter signed with the Magic features a third-year team option, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). That means the deal will only include about $37.65MM in fully guaranteed money, with a $21MM option for 2028/29.
Having gotten a head coaching opportunity after what he estimates was 10 interviews with teams over the years, Charles Lee is focused on building a culture of togetherness with the Hornets, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “I think that we try to talk about right now just our competitive habits and how we all affect each other,” Lee said. “Knowing that if one person isn’t holding up their end of the bargain or their end of the competitive bargain, then all of us are going to feel that.”

NBA GMs High On Thunder’s Offseason Moves, Celtics’ Title Chances

October 8th, 2024 at 9:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder made the best roster moves during the 2024 offseason, according to the NBA’s general managers. Within his annual survey of the league’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 37% of his respondents picked Oklahoma City as having the best summer, with the Sixers coming in second place at 33%. The Knicks got 20% of the vote share, while no other club received more than a single vote.

It was one of many favorable outcomes in the survey for the Thunder, who were overwhelmingly selected as the team with the best young core — 60% of GMs selected OKC, compared to 20% for the second-place Magic.

New Thunder guard Alex Caruso was chosen by general managers as the most underrated offseason acquisition, receiving 23% of that vote share, while last year’s Most Valuable Player runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was picked as this year’s MVP favorite (40%), narrowly edging Mavericks star Luka Doncic (30%).

The Thunder also received a handful of votes from the league’s GMs as the team that will win the 2025 NBA Finals, but at 13%, they finished a distant second to the Celtics, who earned a whopping 83% of the vote. Besides those two clubs, only the Mavericks (3%) received a vote to become this season’s champions.

Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

New Sixers forward Paul George got 60% of the vote as the offseason acquisition who will have the biggest impact in 2024/25, followed by new Knicks Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns at 13% apiece. The Towns trade, meanwhile, was named the most surprising offseason move, eking out George leaving Los Angeles for Philadelphia (27% to 23%).
Unsurprisingly, Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was the overwhelming choice (77%) for which player the GMs would most want to start a franchise with. Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic each earned three votes in that category, while Doncic got one.
The league’s general managers are high on No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard — the Rockets‘ guard is their pick to win the Rookie of the Year award (50%) ahead of betting favorite Zach Edey of the Grizzlies (30%). Sheppard also comfortably received the largest vote share (43%) when the GMs were asked which rookie will be the best player in five years. Spurs guard Stephon Castle (17%) and Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (13%) were the runners-up in that category.
There was no consensus among the GMs on which 2024 draftee was the biggest steal. Wizards guard Carlton Carrington, Kings guard Devin Carter, Pacers wing Johnny Furphy, Lakers forward Dalton Knecht, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon, and Thunder guard Nikola Topic each received three votes to lead the way.
Among newly hired head coaches, Mike Budenholzer of the Suns is the one GMs feel will have the biggest impact on his new club. Budenholzer received 40% of the vote, beating out Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers and J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons (20% apiece). Meanwhile, Spurs guard Chris Paul (30%) and Raptors guard Garrett Temple (20%) are the active players that GMs feel would make the best head coaches down the road.
Asked what they’d change about the NBA, 20% of GMs said the rules related to the tax aprons, trades, and roster construction are too restrictive and/or should be “indexed to (a) team’s market,” per Schuhmann, making it the top response.

Hawks Sign, Waive Tony Bradley

October 8th, 2024 at 9:11am CST by Dana Gauruder

OCTOBER 8: The Hawks have put out a second press release indicating that Bradley has been waived.

The quick turnaround signals that he was signed for G League purposes and will receive an Exhibit 10 bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the Skyhawks, as noted below.

OCTOBER 7: The Hawks have signed center Tony Bradley, according to a team press release.

Bradley, a six-year NBA veteran, has appeared in 179 NBA contests (18 starts) over the course of his career with Utah (2017-20), Philadelphia (2020-21), Oklahoma City (2020-21) and Chicago (2021-23), averaging 4.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in 11.1 minutes.

He was signed and waived by the Mavericks during training camp last season. He then spent the 2023/24 campaign with the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ affiliate in the NBA G League. He appeared in 17 games (10 starts), averaging 14.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.7 blocks in 21.3 minutes.

The signing of Bradley brings Atlanta to full training camp roster of 21 players. It’s likely to be an Exhibit 10 deal, which would make him eligible for a bonus up to $77.5K if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with the College Park Skyhawks, who acquired his returning rights from the Legends last month.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Miller, Salaun, Carrington

October 4th, 2024 at 11:09am CST by Rory Maher

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, new Hawks big man Larry Nance Jr. singled out Jalen Johnson and Vit Krejci as players who have impressed him in training camp, tweets Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com.

“He dominated practice today,” Nance said of Johnson. “He was awesome. He was knocking down threes in transition. He’s been really, really impressive, and I’m trying to push him into speaking some more and leading the group and breaking the huddles and stuff like that, because he’s going to be a guy in this league and with that comes ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown.’ He’s going to wear the crown one day, and he is being groomed for that.”

Nance, who was acquired from the Pelicans this offseason in the Dejounte Murray trade, said he wasn’t very familiar with Krejci’s game before he joined Atlanta, but that has quickly changed.

“The dude can really play,” Nance said of Krejci. “He passes, he dribbles, he can shoot it. He’s shooting the heck out of it. And he defends. … Vit has been super impressive.”

Johnson is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason ahead of the final season of his rookie contract, while Krejci just signed a new four-year contract with Atlanta over the summer.

Here’s more from the Southeast:

With several new players on the roster, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder is trying to figure out which lineup combinations work best together, writes Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Snyder suggested that the starting lineup is very much up in the air, and could change over the course of the season. “So, I think the question really is, ‘How does our team function?’” Snyder said Thursday. “And the other part of it is, people will focus on the first game as, like, a definitive statement about something. And, we have an 82-game (regular) season. Well, say that we’ll have focus on that in the first (exhibition) game. And, we could start anybody we want, and there’ll be different starters, I think, throughout the year, based on a lot of things, there’ll be different lineups, and it’s something we have to continue to observe and see how guys play together, see who complements each other, see what rotations look like.”
Hornets wing Brandon Miller is coming off a strong debut season in which he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. While he has a reputation as a scorer, Miller has set an unusual goal for the 2024/25 season, per Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer. “I want to lead the team in charges taken,” said Miller, who added that he wants to be an “elite two-way player.” As Fowler writes, the rookie led the team several hustle stats last season, including charges taken. The 21-year-old Miller also wants to add muscle to his lean frame.
French forward Tidjane Salaun, whom the Hornets selected No. 6 overall in June, may have a lengthy learning curve as he enters his rookie season. But the team has been pleased with Salaun’s competitiveness, work ethic, and constant desire to improve his game, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. “It’s for sure a lot for Tidjane right now,” head coach Charles Lee said. “I think the terminology is a lot different than what he’s experienced — the physicality, the pace of the game. He’s in different positions on the floor, but he’s done a really good job of paying attention and asking questions.”
Wizards wing Corey Kispert says rookie guard Carlton Carrington has a great on-court mentality, according to Chase Hughes of The Monumental Sports Network (Twitter link). “I mean, he flips the switch, man,” Kispert said. “He’s the most friendly, talkative, bubbly guy off the court. And then as soon as the ball goes up, he turns into a killer. You want guys like that on your team and you hate playing against guys like that on other teams.”

Southeast Notes: KCP, Barlow, Nance Jr., Davis, Poole

October 3rd, 2024 at 10:53am CST by Dana Gauruder

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was one of the biggest free acquisitions this summer, as the Magic signed him for three years and $66MM. Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley says KCP will have a major impact on both ends of the floor, Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel tweets.

“It’s the fact that he just knows where to be on the floor,” Mosley said. “It goes back to the fact he’s played with some of the game’s best players, so he understands the spacing, the time to cut and the time to move to find the open window that they can pass him the basketball. Defensively, he’s always in the right position.”

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The Hawks added former Spurs forward Dominick Barlow on a two-way deal this summer. Barlow believes he can force his way into the rotation by doing the “little things,” Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution writes. “Screening, hard, rolling hard, being able to hit that shot in the corner and then just guarding, I think will be my way to get on the court, for sure,” he said.
The Hawks acquired Larry Nance Jr. in the Dejounte Murray deal with the Pelicans. The veteran forward has quickly emerged as a vocal leader during the early days of training camp, Williams writes in a separate story. “He’s done a great job,” Barlow said. “He’s a new guy, but he’s been in a bunch of different situations throughout his career, so he kind of understands, how this works. And I think he’s kind of stepped in and taken that role.”
Wizards third-year guard Johnny Davis resents being called a bust at this stage of his career. Davis was the 10th pick of the 2022 draft but hasn’t performed like a lottery pick in his first two NBA seasons. “It’s a word that’s thrown around a lot, and I feel like it’s not fair to anybody,” Davis told Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. “I just want to show that I belong here. People can say what they want about Tommy Sheppard, the GM at the time when I got drafted here, but I don’t think people randomly get drafted top-10 for nothing.”
Jordan Poole expects his second season with the Wizards to go much smoother than his first year with the organization. He went from a perennial contender in Golden State to a rebuilding team. “I’m just a competitive person,” he said, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “It was new for me to go just through the losing process, honestly. Obviously, we’re in a rebuilding phase, but it was a transition year. There was a lot of movement, a lot of new things, a lot of new pieces on both sides. But now coming into Year 2, we have a little bit more clarity in what we want to do, a little bit more direction in what we want to do. So that not only helps me but it helps other guys know what they can focus on, where they can put their energy to. And that’s all you really need: a little bit of direction.”

Southeast Notes: Wizards, Valanciunas, Hawks, Heat Camp

September 30th, 2024 at 9:49pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Wizards are content to continue developing their young talent and laying the groundwork for a successful future, Varun Shankar of The Washington Post writes.

“It’s process over outcomes,” head coach Brian Keefe said on Monday. “I’m a competitor. I want to win, but I want to go into the stuff that gets us to win. … How we prepare, how we handle practices, how we handle shootarounds, how we handle film sessions. Those are the things that’s going to build us to be a sustainable winner.”

Washington had a busy offseason, adding veterans like Jonas Valanciunas, Malcolm Brogdon and Saddiq Bey while drafting Alex Sarr, Carlton Carrington and Kyshawn George.

Although the Wizards are expected to be toward the bottom of the league’s hierarchy again, Keefe helped turn the team around midway through the year. They went just 8-31 under him, but they went from being dead last in the league in clutch games played to first during that stretch.

“We’re not giving up, okay? We’re going to lose some games … but we’re not going to lose games [where we] give up end of the third, halftime. [We’re going to] fight till the end, no matter what, up or down,” Valanciunas said.

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Wizards veterans are happy that Valanciunas made the decision to join the team in free agency, Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network writes in a subscriber-only story. The 32-year-old Valanciunas has been in the league since he was 20 and holds career averages of 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
The Hawks announced a series of front office promotions and hires in a press release, including Daniel Starkman being elevated to vice president of player personnel. In addition, Jay Rodriguez was hired as pro personnel coordinator, Miles Simon and Bubba Burrage were hired as pro scouts and Nick Restifo as director of basketball research. Ben Peterson, Ryan Donahue, Ryan Brooks, Paddy Hogben and John Dusel were among the other additions/promotions. Starkman previously served as the general manager of the team’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks.
Atlanta added some size on the wings while getting a bit younger, Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes in a piece recapping the team’s media day. No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and Dyson Daniels figure to factor into the rotation while the Hawks also added Larry Nance Jr. Meanwhile, Onyeka Okongwu, Kobe Bufkin, Mouhamed Gueye and Seth Lundy all received positive injury updates. Lastly, Williams writes the Hawks are still considering whether Cody Zeller will make the roster.
The Heat have a roster full of players out to prove doubters wrong, Ira Winderman of South Florida’s Sun Sentinel writes. “No matter what it is, we’re going to find a way to make us have a chip on our shoulder,” Jaime Jaquez said. “I think even going in, I think it’s seven national TV games for the Miami Heat. That’s what the NBA thinks of us. And that’s OK, because i guarantee that they’re going to still be talking about us when the season goes on and we play our season.“