Dyson Daniels wins 2024-25 NBA Most Improved Player, Atlanta Hawks, reaction, press conference, etc.

Dyson Daniels wins 2024-25 NBA Most Improved Player, Atlanta Hawks, reaction, press conference, etc.

On today’s show, Dyson Daniels brings home some hardware to the Hawks winning most improved player. We’ll get into all of what transpired there, the voting, the reactions, his own comments, and more. All is coming up right now. You are Locked on Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked On. Your team every day. Hello friends. Friends, welcome to episode 1965 of the Lon Hawks podcast. I am your host, Brad Roland, coming to you on a Wednesday evening here at the tail end of April. And today’s podcast is brought to the folks at the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Turn any TV into your Xbox with no console needed. Head to amazon.com/firetv locked on to learn more. I also want to encourage you at the top of the show, as I always do, to make us your first listen each and every day here at Lock on Hawks. Check us out and subscribe to this podcast anywhere you find your podcast. If you are watching on YouTube, like this video as you’re watching it. And also, please check us out on audio platforms like Apple, Spotify, Overcast, etc. And today’s podcast is going to be kind of an impromptu one. I was going to do a show probably tonight, but definitely tomorrow, but instead, we’re going for sure right now because the Hawks have an award winner, and it’s Dyson Daniels. We’re getting into Dyson winning the most improved player, plus Zacharish coming up pretty close to winning rookie of the year, finishing second earlier this week. And then at the end of the podcast, Dyson Daniels talked to the media for 15-ish minutes on Wednesday evening. And I have that entire interview back and forth, questions, answers, and interesting insight from Dyson at the end of the show. But of course, the headliner is Dyson is the most improved player award winner for the Hawks. The first time since Allen Henderson in the late 90s, almost 30 years ago, that the Hawks have actually had this kind of award winner. And I said multiple times over the last few weeks and months, honestly, the Dyson winning most improved player was probably the most likely of the awards for the Hawks to actually garner. They had other candidates. Obviously, Dyson himself was second in defensive throw of the year last week. Reese Shay was a candidate for rookie of the year all the way to the end, but Dyson made a pretty late charge and honestly won by a pretty decent margin in the end. He had 332 total voting points and Aisa Zumach finished second with 186. So, a pretty big gap there. Dyson also was on 84 of the 100 ballots. That’s easily the most of anybody that was involved and he had 44 first place votes. That was the most by far as well. Most improved player is always a little bit wonky. like it’s not the consensusy award that sometimes MVP is, defensive player of the year is, rookie of the year often is. Like it’s usually pretty split because it’s a very interesting criteria. It’s like kind of each their own in some respects. That’s why there’s hardly ever blowouts in this one. But Dyson um obviously improved quite a bit. Had a pretty logical and to me obvious case for the award. Doesn’t mean that he absolutely had to win it. There were other deserving candidates as well, but I thought it was appropriate that he did. And uh certainly he had a heck of a season in his third year in the NBA in the first year in Atlanta. Ended up averaging 14 points a game about six rebounds per game which is an underrated part of his game. He’s an excellent excellent rebounder for a guard about four and a half assists per game. Not a small thing for a secondary player in addition to being of course the first player in three decades to average three steals per game in the NBA. And he actually has the modern era record now for deflections in a season. Um first guy in a long time to have you know all these total. It was a ridiculous defensive season for Dyson. We all know that by now. I won’t relitigate at all on this podcast, but suffice to say, he is a to me at least deserving of first team alldefensive performance. And when you’re playing most of the year at age 21 at a guard spot, that’s a pretty lofty uh place to be. And that’s where he certainly earned himself into this conversation. And also, but on the defense, obviously, the scoring is pretty impressive. 14 points a game. That’s like the fourth option a lot of times. But Hawks PR had this stat that I wanted to pass along to you. Dyson is the third player since 1974. So that’s five decades to improve by at least eight points per game, at least two rebounds per game, at least one and a half assists per game, and at least one and a half steals per game from one year to the next. So basically doing everything notably better one year to the next. The third player in 50 years to have those benchmarks. Obviously, they’re kind of arbitrary end points, but it was not just the defense. The defense is what got Dyson noticed this year, the Steels nationally, I would say. But again, not many guys in a secondary role end up averaging 14, six, and four and a half assists per game. And yeah, obviously Dyson’s got work to do still, and he acknowledges, as I’ll you’ll hear later on on the podcast when I play you the audio video of Dyson talking to the media, he knows he’s got to be a better shooter in the future, but he his his shooting improved quite a bit. He shot 34% from three this year. He was a real threat at times as an offensive player penetrating like he’s not a zero on offense at all. You can’t fake 14 points a game over a large sample size. The passing is pretty solid and the defense is spectacular. So, um, yeah, not much to add. Obviously, Dyson is deserving in my opinion. I think it was encouraging. It’s nice to have the Hawks be able to celebrate an award winner for the first time in a long time. Honestly, they have they do not have a lot of individual awards hardware for the Hawks in recent years, honestly. So, it’s a interesting cool thing there. Second time Hawks history that player has won this award and Dyson was great as always, as you’ll hear in just a few minutes. in between. Zachary finished second in the voting for rookie of the year on Tuesday evening. I did tweet this, but I was going to do a podcast if Risha won, but he didn’t. So, I let the two-parter that dropped the day before kind of breathe a little bit for an extra day, but I was not surprised at all by the end that Zach did not win. I’ve been saying for a while I didn’t think he was going to win, but that is different than whether he should have won or not. Honestly, I think I don’t have a vote. Um, I am a straw poll voter in some places, but I don’t have an official vote. I think I would have voted for Zack, but it would have been close. So, I was not outraged at all. I know Hawks fans, some of them were about Zach not winning. I am not bothered by that at all. What I am bothered by, and I think it’s pretty silly, is the margin. Uh Stefan Castle had a good rookie season, totally fine winner in my opinion, but him being like a runaway winner margin-wise and perception wise, it’s the whole time like he was just going to win, it seemed like. And that seemed kind of crazy to me. If you align the stats, both basic stats, standard box score stats, advanced stats, all those things and just efficiency stats and line them up, um it’s pretty even between Ricochet and Castle and I don’t really get the margin. So, I had a whole segment about this already. I won’t do it all again, but there’s just no way to get to a landslide for me. And the voting was 92 first place votes for Castle. That kind of blew my mind. I don’t understand it at all. But anyway, people pointed this out before. It seemed like there just a narrative crystallized for Castle early in the year and just kind of never stopped being the case and then late in the year he kind of got all he could eat offensively because when we went out and they were kind of not tanking but they were not trying to win necessarily so he got a lot of opportunities etc etc. Uh, obviously good, again, good rookie season. I like Stefan Castle, but um, I thought it was a crazy margin. But anyway, recent J had a heck of a year, honestly. Started short, he started slow with the shooting as we talked about a lot during the year. It’s really the only thing you can really nitpick for a 19-year-old rookie forward. Finished at the top of the class at all kinds of categories. Played 75 games on a situation where he was not gifted minutes. Like, he was playing rotation minutes on a pretty good team all year long. He 12.6 points per game. Um, had the highest scoring of any rookie. He had the most three-point game as many rookie. Like all kinds of accolades that went to Zach and he was just genuinely efficient for the second half of the season. And importantly, it’s not a half season award. Um if the season for Zack started not even like in January, if it started in December, he would have in my mind been a pretty comfortable winner. It’s that he couldn’t make a shot for the first six weeks basically. Uh he still in my mind again would have gotten my vote narrowly, but it would not have been narrow if the season had started a little bit later if he shot a little bit better early on. And it all counts to be fair. Um he got backed up in January and then he came back and had 63% true shooting in the final 35 games as a 19year-old rookie. Pretty impressive. Solid efficiency for the season. Um played competent, mature defense all year long. Helped the team win. So yeah, I’m not like overly bothered by Risha Shay not winning rookie of the year. voting for Castle was totally fine in my opinion. I mean, that may be a hot take for Hawks fans, but I don’t not bothered by it. My big thing was the I don’t understand the blowout margin, but it was close. I thought Zach had a really really good rookie year rookie of the uh of the year campaign and really just general first season in the league. At some point later on this summer, I will do a deeper dive like player capsule breakdown of Arishia Shay and of Dyson honestly. But for now, uh a fun week of awards. I also would have better if Zach won for Hawks fans, but Dyson winning is a lot of fun. And in a minute, uh Dyson I thought was really interesting in his post award comments. He’s really awesome to talk to all like all the time. He’s for a 22 23 year old kid like he’s very mature and the way he speaks and thinks about the game and uh is candid as well. So I’ll share all of that in full in a second. That includes what what he wants to improve on next year, what he wants to accomplish in the future, his opportunities in Atlanta, what that meant to him, um the way that they kind of bought into him right away and much much more. After work for our sponsors, that’ll be the rest of the podcast. So stay tuned for that. Subscribe to the show anywhere you find your podcasts. Tell your friends as well and you’ll hear the full question and answer session from Dyson and the Atlanta Media in just one moment. Did you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices. No console required. Just grab your pair controller, describe or sign in to your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with EA Play included, and you’re ready to play. You can dive into hundreds of premium titles from EA Sports Call of Football 25 to Call of Duty. And you can do it as easily as you stream your favorite shows. 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Available on select devices including Fire TV Stick 4K second gen, Fire TV Stick 4K Max first and second gen and Fire TV Cube third gen. Hey Dyson, uh congrats on most improved. Uh, I just want to ask over the course of this season, like what are you most proud of that you improved from previous seasons to this one? No, thank you. Um, I think this year I’m just happy that I got into a position where like, you know, I kind of, you know, earn my respect from, you know, my opponents, my teammates, my coaches. Like, you I feel like this year I just came in with a different mindset. um you know really willing to do whatever it takes to you know stand my foot in this league and I always knew I had the capabilities of doing it. It was just about um you know going out there being confident in myself and credit to my my coaches, my teammates, you know, they wanted me to go out there, beat myself. Coach Q was great and um you know, putting me in positions to succeed. Um so I’m just happy that you know I kind of got a fresh start here in Atlanta and kind of you know made the most of it. But I still feel like there’s a lot more improvement in me and um you know I said this on media before. I feel like that I can win another one of these awards. Uh, we’ll go to Jamaa Johnson. Hey, Dyson. Congratulations. Um, I wanted to ask you earlier this month, I don’t know if you remember, but I asked you your opinion about the most improved player award, and you said it was um, if there was an award that you should that you probably think that you deserve the most, it might be that one. And now that you’ve won it, I just wanted to know at the time you sounded pretty confident. You sounded cautious but also pretty confident. So just wondering when you kind of knew or you figured you kind of had it as a lock. Yeah. I mean like like I’m a humble guy and I I don’t like to you know go at anyone or anything but um you know I knew that you know I deserve this award the most. You know I feel like I improved the most this year and um you know I felt like my first two years you know I couldn’t really go I couldn’t really do any worse. So I was only improving from there. So, uh I think um for me just coming into Atlanta this year and getting the role that I got given um really you know gave me confidence um drove me to be a better player and you know I put in a lot of work I put in a lot of work um over that summer you know during the Olympics and stuff like that. So um yeah I I felt like I was very deserving of this award and um I didn’t know until they said my name. It’s not like the draft they call you you know a minute before you get drafted. So, I didn’t know until they said my name, but I definitely felt like I deserved it. So, it was definitely um some reward for effort. Brandon Harper. Hey, Dyson. Uh once again, congrats on uh winning the award. Uh just to kind of piggy back on what Caleb was saying when you start talking about, you know, just improving your game. Obviously, as a pro, you want to take your game to the next level each and every season. So, when we get into the specifics of your game, what is it specifically that you’ll be focusing on in the off season that you can get better at going into next season? Yeah, I mean, the obvious one is is shooting. You know, just being able to become a more consistent shooter, being able to shoot off the dribble, being able to, you know, come off pin downs and make catch and shoot shots. Um, you know, the league’s, you know, trending so like to towards, you know, everyone having to be able to shoot to be out there on the floor. So, uh, for me, that’s a big one. you know, the free throw line. But, um, I think it’s the offensive defender. It’s it’s getting more wiggle to my game, being able to break my defender down, you know, have different counter moves and stuff like that. Um, yeah, I mean, I feel like, you know, the defensive defend I’m always going to, you know, work on and and that’s that’s what I pride myself on. But, um, I think having a little more wiggle to my offensive game, being able to shoot off the dribble, you know, get counters, you know, I use my, you know, spin move a lot this year where maybe it’s turned it into a fake spin and then go back or, um, you know, hesitation into a step back, something like that, you know. I think, um, just being able to, you know, be that offensive player that, you know, play people, you know, I’m not I’m not getting the the worst defender on the team. I’m I’m having to be guarded by, you know, the second second best defender on the team. Uh Lee Ellis. Uh hey Dice. Congrats man. Fantastic season. Uh it was really fun watching you flourish this year at both ends of the floor. I remember before the season, you know, you you wanted to set yourself a goal of getting to that 20 point barrier. You did it 12 times. Was there one game, you know, that really stood out for me? I think that that one in Boston where you came back, you had your careerhigh 28 was one that really showed that you did have so much more to your offensive game. But was there one in particular that gave you the belief that you can be uh you know as an effective scorer as you were on the defensive end? Yeah, I mean to be honest, I think it was the preseason games, you know, um coming in there, I just felt more comfortable out there with the ball in my hand, you know, playing in my role. Um and I I felt like I could go out there and have a really big impact. And um for like just from my second year to my third year, that those preseason games really what you know made me made me feel comfortable. And I would say the regular season game was that Boston one where I came in and uh then Trey was out for that game and um we were able to come up with a big win and I was able to have a big game there and um you know doing against the best is you know that’s when you really gain confidence in yourself and um I had that confidence coming in but that that’s what you know really made me say like yeah I can I know what I can do this year. I know the impact that I can have and um that was the that was the game that I found, you know, found myself and and found really where I can, you know, what what I can do to help this team. Charles Odum, you guys uh finished the uh the season um for the most part with a very young lineup around Trey and um you could you could say that some others in addition to you um had their best moments uh in the second half including Zack Onca. uh when you guys have Jaylen next year, do you see um uh what growth coming from this time that you guys had together in in the second half of the season? Yeah. Um I think we have a really good team and I think this team’s being built really well um to for the future. So hopefully we can keep this um core group of guys together. You know, obviously Jaylen going down hurt us a lot, but um you know, we got big wings. Obviously, you know, Zack took a big jump this year. I feel like, you know, O took a big jump. Guys like V took a big jump. Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Gay took a big jump. Like these guys um I feel like can really, you know, have an impact on NBA game and um I like the team. I like how it’s built. Um and obviously being surrounded by Trey who’s, you know, one of the best offensive players in the league, we’re always going to be a good offensive team. It’s about dialing in on the defensive end and getting it done there. Um, but you know, I think, you know, we really showed growth this year and obviously we didn’t get to where we wanted, nowhere close. But, um, you know, we can make we can definitely make some noise next year and I’m I’m looking forward to it. Brad, hey D, there’s always a lot of discussion around this award about like opportunity versus improvement and like, you know, having to get the opportunity to play more minutes for example to have the numbers follow. you mentioned earlier um you know that you weren’t happy I guess with the first two years in New Orleans. How how do you kind of balance that with like obviously the opportunity that the Hawks gave you but also your own personal improvement how that led to this? Uh I mean I feel like in New Orleans there was opportunity there as well. I just didn’t take it, you know. Um I got there was games I was playing 35 plus minutes in New Orleans and I wasn’t able to go out there and have the impact that I needed to to, you know, really, you know, earn my minutes every night. And um you know, the second second year, you know, when when it comes to playoffs, you know, I was I was out of the rotation. I wasn’t playing. And um I think that’s what really drove me that like it’s either it’s either now or never, you know, I could be out the league next year if I don’t perform or I could, you know, go out there and um make a statement. And you know, I think um obviously getting more opportunity here in Atlanta um I was able to, you know, fill that role um even better. But I say this all the time like I feel like if I got the opportunity in New Orleans, I would have done the same thing. It was just a more of a mindset thing rather than anything. But um here I was put in a position to succeed, you know, by my coaches, my teammates trusted me, and I was just able to go out there and make it work and figure it out. Jamila. Hey, Dyson. I know it’s early. Um, but has anybody contacted you? Has your phone been blown up? I know you talked to the guys on NBA on TNT, but I’m wondering if you’ve like talked been able to talk to anybody else or been congratulated. How do you plan on? Yeah, I haven’t actually talked to anyone yet, but my phone keeps buzzing every second, so I’m going have to spend all day getting back to people. But um no, obviously, you know, getting this award is special and um that’s what’s going to come with it. But, you know, I think it it just, you know, shows everyone that cares about me. I’ve got old old teammates texting me, old friends, uh you know, people, you know, that I care about. So, it’s cool and it means a lot, but I haven’t I haven’t checked my phone yet. So, And do do you plan on celebrating at all or is it kind of like you’re happy about it, but you don’t really want to make too big of a deal out of it? Yeah, I I’ll celebrate with my family. We go get breakfast or something. They all sitting over there. But uh no, I uh I mean that’s the offseason now. So I’m just going to enjoy myself, you know, how I would. But obviously this is um you know, like I said, some reward for for my improvement or my reward for effort. And um you know, I think you know, my friends will probably want to celebrate, but we we’ll go do something. You know, in Australia, they got got some good beers out here, so we’ll go have a few. Thanks, Dyson. Uh Deshan, you bounced first on the uh award. Dyson, is there any um scheme system um roster coach, anything like that that kind of benefited you in terms of, you know, giving you the comfortability and the ability to be able to win such award? Forgive me for the two-part question, but um that being my first one. Yeah, I think this whole year, uh, the scheme that, um, Coach Q put in, the playing system, you know, getting up and down fast. Um, playing in transition a lot. Um, getting the ball out of the net and just pushing it, you know, not having to, you know, sit and sit in the corner all the time and have a play run, you know, for 20 seconds of the shot clock, you know, I think that benefited me, you know, being able to play fast guys like Trey finding me out in transition. Um, being able to, you know, get play in the in the, you know, guard to guard pick and roll a lot. Um so you know coach Q definitely benefit uh benefited I benefit off him this year and um a lot of the assistant coaches as well you know just coming in you know giving me little tips and stuff you know where to be um when to cut and stuff like that but I think you know I have good feel for the game and and when you’re playing with guys like Trey Jayen like these guys that um know how to play the game have good feel it’s just going to um click and it’s going to make um everyone’s job easier and I know that it might be a little bit of a premature ask Um, but is there maybe any other awards that you kind of have, you know, target want to target for the your future? Any other ones that you want to achieve uh in the in the short term for your career? Yeah, absolutely. Um, I want to be an all-star one day. That’s that’s a big one. And that defensive play of the year, I was one off. So, uh, you know, hopefully we can take that step further next year. But, um, those are definitely two that I want to do. Um but you know my the awards I want is a you know I want to be a championship player and I want to have a ring one day. So um building towards that is the most important thing. Thanks D. Uh Yakiri congratulations again Dyson on winning the most improved player. But I guess my question to you would just be um just thinking about just this major award um what would you say to just the younger players and maybe the fans that um are going along with this journey with you in Atlanta? What is your message? Uh, you know, I’m I just want yeah, I just want to say thank you and grateful, you know, especially, you know, all the I feel like I got a lot more media attention media attention this year and um, you know, that’s that’s that’s a big a big part of it, you know, going into these awards and stuff like that. And, you know, my fans and stuff like that, you know, I appreciate it. You know, the support I got in Atlanta. Um, I definitely felt it. You know, always out there on the floor or seeing my jerseys being worn, people want to stop sign, hearing my name being yelled from the crowd. But the love in Atlanta I got was um was special. So the fans, you know, the media, you know, whoever whoever it was, you know, I felt the love this year and um you know, it was a lot of fun playing in Atlanta. Kevin Chinard, Dyson, when you when you did media day back in October, you you said something to the effect of, “I have a big goal. My my goal is to make an alldefense team.” when you when you look at back at this season on an individual level, do you feel like you sort of met your expectations? Did it like blow your mind and exceed expectations? Like how would you put back this season and compare it to maybe with what your vision was back in October when you said that? Yeah, I think uh I would say this year I met expectations. You know, I didn’t exceed them. Um but I definitely met them. you know, I think, you know, there there’s still a step I can take on the defensive end. You know, I can be that you know, that pest that picks up full court every um you know, every game. And um you know, obviously, you know, being that help defender, you know, being able to, you know, come up wall up, block shots and stuff like that with my size. But um obviously, you know, I think I achieved a lot of my goals on that end of the floor this year. And uh I don’t know when the defensive teams get named, but hopefully being that first team and and I would have ticked that one off. But um I definitely you know I met my expectations this year and I have you know I I have a lot more in me on that end of the floor. So the bar is going to be set higher you know going into next year. Uh Christos hey D hope you’re doing well. Congrats first of all uh for you in such a demanding league like the NBA you established yourself as one of the best defenders in this league. So what kind of statement for you was your all season long e effort winning the most improved player award and also what’s the next step for you? Yeah, I think um you know be just being able to have the respect on that defensive to the floor and get the respect from opponents. You know, I found this year that a lot of teams would try, you know, keep me out of the action and and put me in the corner just so I wasn’t able to have an impact there. And um you know, the most improved player, you know, that was a goal of mine coming into this year. But you know, what’s next for me is uh you know, next year. We we got to look into next year, what we can be better at as a team. You know, where I can you have more of an impact. Um, and like I said, I feel like I could be most improved player again that I have that much more in me and um, a bigger leap to take. And, you know, I’m just looking forward to, you know, getting back to work with the guys. Um, cuz, you know, I think a healthy Atlanta Hawks team is is a team that can be really dangerous Hey, Dyson. Uh, I don’t want to take away from from your moments for sure. Uh, but I just wanted to ask briefly since we last talked to you, the Hawks made a pretty big change in the front office. Have you been in communication uh with them since that or is that something that you plan to do in the future? Yeah, I mean obviously I heard about the news and uh you know it’s something that you know I don’t have seen or I’m not involved in as much but um obviously you know Landry he brought me here. He gave me this opportunity. So, you know, we had a really good connection, really good um relationship, and you know, credit to him. I feel like he’s built a really good roster, and um obviously, you know, on being being named the GM now, you know, he’s a guy that I also have a really good connection with and I’ve had some really good chats with. So, I’m sure he’s going to, you know, know pick it up and um put it in the right place. And um yeah, like I said, you know, they’re both great guys and, you know, that that’s the business we live in. you know, we we don’t we don’t get to have any say in those decisions, but um I’m just, you know, I’m just looking forward to next year and and going out there and playing. Brandon, hey, Dyson, we know that um at times, you know, you you see different eras of the NBA and you know, people talk about nowadays how defense can be a a lost art, you know, amongst many NBA players and we know that defense is is an effort thing. It’s a it’s a want to type of thing. And you know, you see so many kids coming up through college, whether it be the AAOU circuit or whatever, when it comes to you who focuses so much on defense, obviously say you want to work on the offensive side of the ball, too, and continue to improve, but what what would be your message to a lot of guys who, you know, maybe coming up throughout the ranks who just look at their offensive game or just focus on their offensive game. What would be your message to them when it comes to defense when how you can make a name for yourself on the defensive end and how important defense is to the actual game of basketball because it’s two sides of the floor. Yeah, absolutely. I think I think the importance of defense is kind of, you know, it can sometimes be overlooked and um if if I would say to them, you know, watch watch these playoffs. you know, there’s there’s guys that are so good on offensive end that, you know, aren’t performing and they don’t play defense, so they’re on the bench. And, um, you got guys that, you know, haven’t got a lick of offense, but, you know, absolute, you know, beast on the defensive end that are playing 35, 40 minutes. You know, that’s how important it is. And I think, um, you know, everyone growing up want to be that that offensive guy that can, you know, average 30 and and have the highlight reel. But, um, the defensive end is so important. you know, being able to, you know, it’s it’s not even individual defense, it’s team defense. You know, being able to be there for your teammates, you know, step in, take charges, you know, wall up, have your teammates back. And, um, it really does win championships. And you look at the best teams in the NBA now, like Boston, like, you know, OKC, these guys, they can all defend. Um, they all they all, you know, take pride in defending their matchup and and they do it every single night, night in night out. And uh I I think you know you know to these guys that you know are coming through the ranks you know juniors and stuff like that. Aaou you know if I had one thing to say to them I would just say defense wins games. It’s going to get you on the floor and it’s going to get you in the league. You know there’s too much optive talent out there for you to go out there and and try and be better than what the talent is that you got to separate yourself somehow. And I’ve done that on the defensive defensive end of the floor. And you know, not everyone’s going to be great at defense, but I think if you if you have the effort and um the work rate that you can definitely, you know, hold your own. Uh we have time for one more. Deshawn Dyson, I know that there’s a lot of talk this whole year about how infectious your energy is on the defensive side of the ball and how it kind of gets other guys going on that side as well as far as your teammates. Is there a particular area um on or off the floor that you put a lot of focus on that you hope that you hope also becomes a very infectious part for your teammates? Yeah, I think it’s just, you know, every teammate has, you know, the accountability on themselves and being able to go there, watch their own film, watch games and stuff like that. But coaches are going to show us film of players and teams and and what we want to do defensively. But um if you want to be a great defender team, a great you know defensive team, you know, you got to put that that work in by yourself. And you know, I’m always watching basketball games whenever I’m home. I always watch the team about play their game before. So I think it’s important. And you know, I I got told a lot this year that my defense was infectious. And um you know, to me that that means that I’m doing my job and I want I want my team I want my defense to be infectious. I want my team to play defense and it’s a lot more fun when you’re getting stops, you’re getting out and running and getting those highlight reels and stuff like that. And um you know, when you’re getting 140 points, 130 points scored on you every night, then I know I’m not doing my job if that’s the case. So um I know as a team we have a long way to go on that defensive end, but I think this year we took a step in the right direction. All right. Thank you, Dyson. Um and congratulations again and appreciate you all being here. Thank you. Appreciate it everyone. Thank you.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 1965 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. Topics include Dyson Daniels winning the Most Improved Player award, Zaccharie Risacher’s runner-up finish in Rookie of the Year voting, and Daniels’ press conference with the local Atlanta media after winning the MIP award.

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