- One reason for the Hawks‘ slow start to this season has been Clint Capela‘s inability to be the sort of two-way impact player he was last season, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Capela tells Kirschner that he’s still working his way back to 100% after dealing with a lingering Achilles issue. The veteran center was limited during training camp and head coach Nate McMillan doesn’t believe his conditioning is where it would be if he had been fully healthy. “The fact that he didn’t really start running until he got to training camp set him back,” McMillan said. “He’s now trying to play himself into game shape with the season starting.”
- With ramped up expectations, the Hawks are struggling to strike a balance between developing their young players and winning, Seerat Sohi of The Ringer writes. Atlanta is off to a 4-6 start. “Last season we came in and we were still developing,” coach Nate McMillan said. “Developing your game at a time like this, that’s difficult for a player and for a team. You have to do that within the framework of playing the game together and that’s the only way it’s going to happen.”
- Hawks rookie forward Jalen Johnson, the 20th overall pick of the 2021 draft, has been assigned to the College Park Skyhawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate, tweets Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Kirschner notes that two-way players Sharife Cooper and Skylar Mays were transferred to the Skyhawks as well.
Speaking to Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report (video link) about his NBA career, Hawks guard Lou Williams said that 2021/22 is “probably my last season.” However, Williams admitted that he thought the same thing last season and continued playing.
[RELATED: Lou Williams Considered Retirement After Trade To Hawks]
“Potentially,” Williams said when pressed by Rooks about whether he intends to retire after the current season. “I have the clarity, I’m OK with that. But I’m also OK with continuing to play if that’s where it takes me. I’m prepared for the worst.”
It doesn’t sound like Williams has made any decisions yet, but the fact that he’s even discussing retirement is noteworthy. The three-time Sixth Man of the Year just turned 35 last Wednesday, and some of his contemporaries have talked about wanting to play into their 40s. It doesn’t sound like the 17th-year guard expects his playing career to last anywhere near that long.
Williams, who entered the NBA as a second-round pick in 2005, has averaged double-digit points per game for 14 straight seasons, but has gotten off to a slow start this fall, averaging 6.3 PPG and 0.5 APG on .381/.333/1.000 shooting in four games for Atlanta.
While there’s plenty of time to increase those numbers, Williams’ limited playing time so far (12.3 MPG, two DNP-CDs) suggests he likely won’t have a major role for the Hawks this season. He’ll be a free agent in 2022 when his one-year, $5MM deal with the club expires.
The 3-3 Hawks have yet to recapture the momentum that propelled them to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. With an intimidating schedule coming up in which Atlanta will play several 2021 playoff teams, Kirschner offers his thoughts on how the club can adjust.
While forwards Cam Reddish and John Collins have exhibited plenty of growth, other key Hawks players have struggled a bit. Point guard Trae Young is struggling to adjust to the league’s new free throw rules, while shooting guard Kevin Huerter is struggling to connect from deep.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- The Hornets have already enjoyed a promising start to the 2021/22 season, writes Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. New additions Ish Smith and Kelly Oubre have fit in well thus far, with Oubre connecting on a solid 35.7% of his three-point looks. 2022 restricted free agent forward Miles Bridges has taken his scoring to borderline All-Star heights, and Boone is pegging his future contract in the $100MM vicinity. When it comes to perimeter depth, Boone observes that Cody Martin, Jalen McDaniels, and Nick Richards are also improving.
- The hot start of the Heat has Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel wondering if team president Pat Riley has finally nailed the club’s supporting lineup around All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The club has wholly recalibrated its frontcourt depth around Adebayo, and the early results have paid dividends thus far. The addition of former Raptors All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry has made a huge defensive impact on Miami, though his offense is struggling so far. Sixth man Tyler Herro also appears to have taken a leap in his third season.
- Heat All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler has thrived alongside new addition Kyle Lowry. Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald wonders if Butler has been newly maximized as a player alongside the former six-time All-Star point guard.
The NBA has fined Hawks point guard Trae Young $15K for making contact with a referee, the league announced (via Twitter).
The league also provided a video link of the incident, which occurred during the second quarter of Atlanta’s game Thursday night, a 122-111 loss to the Wizards.
Young appeared frustrated after not receiving a foul call after a slight bump from Raul Neto and a missed shot attempt, which was tipped in by John Collins immediately afterwards. Young then made contact with the referee closest to the play and received a technical foul.
Young made comments after the game that showed his frustration with the incident and the new rule changes to limit “non-basketball moves.”
- Having De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish healthy and productive is almost like signing two impact free agents, Hawks star Trae Young told Marc Stein of Substack. Both of those players were limited during Atlanta’s postseason run. “We didn’t have them most of the playoffs,” Young said. “And ‘Dre … not having him in the last two series made it a lot tougher for everybody. And then Cam only being able to play the last couple games in the playoffs. Those two guys are key guys for us. Having them healthy is going to be big.” Hunter missed Monday’s game with a non-COVID-related illness.
Although Atlanta is one of the NBA’s largest markets, the Hawks haven’t typically been the sort of franchise stars flock to, like those based in Los Angles, New York, and Miami. Team owner Tony Ressler is hoping to change that, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic writes.
Since assuming control of the team, Ressler has renovated State Farm Arena, built a state-of-the-art practice facility, purchased a G League franchise, and – most recently – invested huge money in several important members of the team that made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals earlier this year.
Trae Young, John Collins, Clint Capela, and Kevin Huerter have all received lucrative long-term deals in the last three months, and Ressler says he’ll have no issue with paying the luxury tax going forward as long as Atlanta continues to contend.
“How could we not be a true free agent destination?” Ressler rhetorically asked Kirschner. “We think, I would argue, our facilities are as good as any, our city is as good as any, our roster is as good as any, our investment, our dollars, our commitment to spend is as good as any. It makes no sense that historically this team has not been a top-tier free agent destination. And I think you have to earn that, and make clear that it’s a franchise committed to winning in every sense of the way.
“… One of the true objectives or genuine objectives of this ownership is to make sure that we win on a tie for great players, if we have to. That we attract great players, that we keep great players, and that players, frankly, look at Atlanta as a really great place to play. I think that takes a lot of work. Hopefully we’re pretty close.”
The Hawks operated as an over-the-cap team this offseason, but had significant cap space available for a few summers before that. In most cases, Atlanta opted to use that space to accommodate salary dumps and accumulate assets, but the club forayed into free agency in 2020, signing veterans like Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Rajon Rondo. Those players aren’t superstars, but Gallinari and Bogdanovic especially were a couple of the top available players on the open market.
The Hawks don’t project to have cap space again anytime soon, but if Ressler’s plan is successful, a higher caliber of player may be interested in joining the team on mid-level or minimum-salary money. That could be a factor in helping to push Atlanta over the top, though Ressler told Kirschner he believes that – even without further upgrades – the current roster is capable of winning a title.
“We expect to be contenders, man,” Ressler said. “We expect to be really good. We hope to be really good, and we’re going to see how it plays out.”
After spending six-and-a-half years in Orlando, Knicks guard Evan Fournier knew he was on the way out last season when he heard the Magic sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Orlando purged most of its veteran talent at the trade deadline as the team committed fully to rebuilding. Within a few hours, the Magic finalized deals involving Vucevic, Fournier and Aaron Gordon.
“Once they pulled the plug with Vuc — because Vuc got traded first to Chicago — I remember it was the one year where I felt, OK, this might happen for real now,’’ Fournier said. ‘When I saw Vuc, I was with my wife at home like, ‘Yeah, honey, we out,’ because obviously you trade Vuc. Then it was myself, then it was Gordon.’’
Fournier, who was dealt to the Celtics before signing with New York over the summer, is glad to be in different surroundings as he prepares to face his former team for the second straight game. With a roster full of young players, the Magic may be looking at several years before they return to the playoffs.
“That’s a rebuild, so a rebuild takes time,’’ Fournier said. “It is definitely gonna take them time to figure it out. It’s not my problem anymore.’’
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Rival teams view Hawks forward Cam Reddish as a strong trade candidate, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Atlanta made Reddish available at the March deadline and again heading into the draft, but couldn’t find the right deal, Scotto states. One executive told Scotto that teams would be willing to offer a protected lottery pick for Reddish.
- Executives around the league expect the Magic to eventually trade Terrence Ross to a playoff team, Scotto adds in the same piece. Orlando was seeking a first-round pick in exchange for the veteran swingman last season, but teams may not be willing to meet that price. “He’ll be moved,” an unidentified executive said. “They were trying to move him at the draft. They wanted to put him in a place where he could win. I think he’s worth a couple of second-round picks.”
- Kyle Kuzma, who was part of the Wizards‘ return for sending Russell Westbrook to the Lakers, believes the deal has made Washington a better team, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I mean, you gotta do that trade 10 out of 10 times,” Kuzma said. “If you have an opportunity to get five good basketball players for one, it makes sense. Granted, (Westbrook is) obviously a Hall-of-Fame player and everything. He’s an unbelievable player, don’t take that wrong. But especially for a team like Washington, if you look at the track record from the past couple of years, it hasn’t necessarily been enough ballplayers here. … It’s smart, you have to do it if you’re a GM.”
- A healthy De’Andre Hunter could be a difference-maker for the Hawks, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic writes. The 23-year-old Hunter is in his third season with the team. He appeared in 23 games last season, averaging 15 points per contest on 48% shooting.