Atlanta Hawks POBO search, Trade or develop & Jalen Johnson discussion W/ Glen Willis

Atlanta Hawks POBO search, Trade or develop & Jalen Johnson discussion W/ Glen Willis

Welcome in Hawks fans. It’s your boy Bryce Lewis back at it again for another believe in Hawks episode. We have a good friend of the show coming back on once again, Glenn Willis, one half ATL and 29 coming on talking some Hawks obviously with a lot of storylines that are going into this offseason that are currently uh evolving right now. Glenn, welcome on to the show. How are you, man? Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. Enjoying these playoffs. I think it’s I think the the field is a little flatter this year than maybe there is in some other years. So, it’s creating here in the second round some some compelling basketball to watch. So, enjoying that a lot. Of course, Hawks fans are on pins and needles to see what happens on draft lottery on Monday uh and things like that. So, it’s a fun time of year for sure. Yeah, man. It’s always an active time of year. Good playoffs. You got the draft coming up like you mentioned. I mean, it’s one of those things where basketball never gets dull, even when if your team’s not in it anymore, especially in the postseason. But speaking of the Hawks, I want to dive right into this. So, obviously the biggest one right now for the Hawks is the president of basketball operations. That has been the big story line as they Andrew Fields a few weeks ago. Uh we’ve heard a lot of different names. We’ve heard Danny Ferry. We have heard uh Boo, the former uh Denver GM. We’ve heard McNair from San Antonio. And then just yesterday or on Saturday, we heard Trey’s agent may be potentially involved. And we’ve heard that wrestler is, I guess, warming up liking the idea of maybe having an agent run the team. So, I wanted to get your thoughts on the whole situation. Has there been any name during this process that stuck out to you? Do you have a certain direction that you want him to go in? Because I think some people are kind of like what the biggest, if they did go the agent route, the biggest person we know right now in the league would be Rob Blink, former former former agent who went and became the GM with the Lakers. people have been mixed very mixed reviews about how’s performance has gone so far. So what do you think about the whole just situation with that in Hawks President? I mean I I find it interesting um and you know I they’re doing a good job of not kind of putting any reporting out or not letting any kind of leaks get out there messaging out there around what they’re prioritizing you know and things like that. And for me, you know, I guess in terms of what I think should be prior prioritized is a few things. One is um I do think in this day and age, we’ve seen track records where former agents sometimes can marshall bigger deals because they have uh though a little bit more rapport, closer relationships, working history across other agencies and things like that. Uh so that’s that’s the kind of thing when you look at some of the former um leaders like Calvin Booth, etc., uh and you kind of look back at track records, it’s sometimes, you know, especially if you don’t follow that franchise, those franchises really closely, there’s so much there around ownership context. You know, are they authorized to, you know, spend money, you know, to retain a team together like in Denver, you know, they lost a couple of key pieces, you know, after the the championship run, Bruce Brown, KCP were big contributors there and financially they decided they weren’t going to make the investment to retain those guys. And so when you look at, you know, any and just using Calvin Booth as an example there, like how much of that was autonomous decision-making and empowerment that he had or didn’t have versus kind of having to work within the financial constraints handed to him by ownership group, you know, and things like that. So, and I look back at, you know, for example, people, you know, talk about Bob Myers at Gold State have a hard time knowing like how good or not good is he? Actually, they were, you know, way over the tax every single year. had that luxury uh being in, you know, a great market, you know, to be able to kind of support those kind of financial decisions. So, it’s a little bit it’s a little bit hard for me, but I like uh innovative thinking. I like being a willing seeing a willingness to kind of think outside the box. Um and and I think that, you know, I think that could be uh helpful. Um, and when we look back, you know, at say the last four to five years, the Dejante trade, I think we could say, for example, not I’m not hating on Dejante, but significantly overpaid, you know, there uh in that deal, salvaged some of that in the deal to get Dyson and Nance and some picks back from New Orleans. And so when I look back at what Landry and the team did over the last few years, I feel like they’ve kind of dug out of some bad moves to a certain degree and got them back to a point of some flexibility, some maneuverability. But I I I would guess that Tony thinks now we need to take a big step. And who is a person that can come in and marshall bigger substantial more substantial deals to make that happen? has the rapport across the industry, has rapport across other front offices, has worked across the whole league, you know, those sorts of things. And I I would hope that that’s being the thing that’s kind of being prioritized here because I know we’ll get into some roster stuff here in a bit, but Trey needs more offensive juice on this team’s uh you know, in some form. And I know we’ll break that down here a little bit. Yeah. And and the thing too I think is you know when they promoted Auntie Salah to the GM one thing we kept hearing about him is he was really good with salary cap that was like his thing you know obviously we may not have questions about okay photo talent valuation things like that I don’t know if there’s a certain role that they’re going to pigeon the guys into and that’s why the decision of basketball operations president of basketball operations is that big obviously um I think they want that to be a good pairing obviously you would like any front office to have a good pairing ing there’s not like a divided, you know, line within the front office. So, I think that will be interesting to kind of see how they approach that. And so, like I said, if it is an agent, maybe, like you said, broker deals, that was one thing people criticize Landry about. Was he able to do it? Did he have the cache in the league to really get certain deals done? And now you bring in a guy whose job is getting deals done potentially, you know, maybe they feel like that could be a good partnership. So, you know, and and I think that leads me to my next question because it’s been about a debate about what direction the Hawks should go in. As you mentioned, could swing, they need offensive juice. Some people have been like, “Listen, I like the young players, but we got to get a start.” You mentioned Giannis, they mentioned Zion, they mentioned multiple people. Um, but obviously, you also have to have a plan in place for, okay, if we were going to build around what we have, what would that also look like? because a lot of people said if you can’t get a star, the next big thing would be retooling the bench, you know, trying to fill certain those needs off the bench. What What is your standpoint of what you think the Hawks need to do? I know you mentioned they need a more offensive juice, but do you think that involves, hey, you might have to move one of the guys to do it? Do you think it’s something they can still just build through other means or like what does that look like overall? Yeah, it’s interesting to kind of see Hawks fans on social media kind of talk about things that they like to see happen and I and I’m never one to want to kind of, you know, look down on that or whatever. You know, fans get excited about possibilities and things like that and talk about talk it out. You know, for me, Giannis is, you know, there’s 29 teams already in line to go figure out, you know, what that might cost them. You know, for sure. Um, but then if you look back at what Milwaukeekey’s issues were this year, their issues were that apart from, you know, Dame got older and Dame obviously had some health issues and, you know, all of us were hoping the best for him in that situation for sure. But when you look at the supporting cast they had there, it wasn’t nearly good enough, right? I mean, just not even close to being good enough. And when Dame couldn’t play, they didn’t really have a point guard, you know? I think I think you Kevin Porter Jr. like grew some this year in that role. But when you’re a team that you know, Milwaukee, you got to one of the single best players in the whole league. Yeah, you’re wanting more uh than what uh you know, a a first maybe first time full-time point guard or backup full-time backup point guard was going to give you. And then I for me I’m trying to figure out how do the Hawks make an offer to Milwaukee that doesn’t just gut their whole roster in the current form, you know, and and maybe you say to yourself, players around the league will take cheaper contracts to go play with Giannis and Chase. Maybe that’s a thing. I don’t Is that a thing? I don’t know. Is that a thing for the Hawks? We haven’t really seen the history of that in the past, but yeah, maybe Giannis is a needle mover there. So, so for me, I have a hard time kind of seeing how they make the best offer and still give themselves space to build out the rest of the roster to accomplish what you would hope to accomplish with the Zion. It’s interesting because, you know, you heard some of the reporting that they’re going to move him. And then you see, I think yesterday it came out he’s going to represent them at the draft lottery on Monday and it’s like, whoa, what’s going on here? You know, and I made a joke uh to someone. I was like, is he going to be is it going to be like the the Rob Low thing where he wears a a hat with NBA logo on it, you know, um that kind of thing. And so, um, yeah, just is, but beyond that, you know, I think you have to kind of look at if the Celtics flame out here in the second round and they played really well yesterday, got some things fixed, are they going to shake things up? Is is Phoenix going to shake and and when sometimes for where the Hawks are in their current standing in the league as an organization, being opportunistic sometimes is your best uh track towards making something happen. you know, a team that feels like, oh man, we didn’t accomplish what we hoped to accomplish this year, so let’s move a few pieces. And then you jump into a deal, maybe, you know, maybe get a player like that. So, so for me, I I I have a hard time seeing the Hawks because of they’re not super drafted asset rich right now, being a nice nice way to say it. Um, how do they like make the best offer for Ariana? Just don’t I don’t I don’t see it. But when you see a team that’s trying to create space to let’s say for example Boston’s like we’re gonna go get Giannis, right? I mean just little things like could you get Payton Pritchard from Boston if they need to clear salary to go get Giannis? Could you know that some of those things and and I do think you have to kind of think in tears here. I do think the Hawks need a very high level offensive player to put next to Trey. Uh I think Jaylen’s still one or two steps away from being that. He’s not quite the shooter he would need to be to be like a true number two yet. And I don’t want to say he can’t get there. dude’s physical freak and you know made so much progress. But if you had him plus another guard or wing that, you know, can handle, pass, distribute, make decisions, be trustworthy with the ball, all those sorts of things, it just takes a lot of pressure off of Trey who who in that template might become available. I don’t think we’ll know for another 6, 8, 10 weeks. And it very I think history tells us we very much impacted by the outcome of these playoff runs by whether it be Boston or you know the Knicks or you know or who whoever it might be. And so I do I still I still feel like the Hawks kind of laying in weight and seeking an opportunity to be opportunistic is probably the most likely uh path for them. Yeah. And I I think too you mentioned about them being strapped with draft assets. I said my my big issue or I think is I don’t think team is at a point where they can make a big move and they still have more left over if you know what I’m saying. Like Oklahoma City has so many good T players, they can trade two, three guys and still know we have some good guys still ready to go. Especially I’ve talked about today’s CBA and how that’s impacted that roster construction is even more important than ever before because you can’t just luxury tax your way out of it. you get into certain aprons and that limits how you actually can even build your team. So now if you have holes it’s like can’t really do that much to fix them. And I just feel like that yes we can make an argument Tony wrestler should spend more but at the same time I think you know you don’t want to you you you can’t be topheavy to me in today’s league. you you may be able to get luckily if you just have like the like one of the best like Denver is to top heavy but they are really good at the top but we know one injury and then they don’t have that much else coming off the bench so it’s it’s one of those things where it’s just you have to be lucky in that situation and it helps that you have one of the best centers in the game and etc etc and Jamal Murray but I think the Hawks are not at a point where they can make a move like that that they’ll be fine because it’s like you I think people always look at the positive of like well if we get Giannis like Trey and Giannis top three like best duo in the league. But then it’s like, okay, once you get past that, let’s say you have to give up Jaylen or you have to give up Zack, right? Who who like who are you bringing in to replace these guys? Like, are we like are we trusting the G-League guys? Are we because it’s not how much money are you going to have to bring in? You may be able to get sign one or two maybe good players and after that you’re like after the first five maybe six guys, you have any injuries, you don’t really have much after that. And I think that’s something I think people don’t consider from both ends of the spectrum. Um and and and speaking of that, um Jaylen obviously is coming back from injury. A lot of people because we haven’t seen a full season from him, there’s always going to be the questions, okay, is he injuryprone, etc., etc. What you mentioned that you feel like, you know, Jaylen’s still maybe a one or two steps away from becoming that offensive player, but at the same time, we all saw Jaylen is so important for this current version of the team. what they can do and and and what he brings to the table. Uh can you just talk about what would you like to see from him next year? Obviously outside of staying healthy uh just in ter and then also like is there anything that you felt like when you saw during the season I really want him to kind of grow on this or because I know you mentioned multiple times like they put him in certain positions to give him reps in that spot so then he could get more comfortable like maybe running that point forward position and etc etc. So, what because I think a lot of people are kind of like if we make a big move for a star, Jaylen would be at the the centerpiece of that because he’s probably a player that people would want, but what overall what do you think for Jaylen uh you want to see from him next year? Yeah, I mean I felt like where he was for for what he was giving them this year where he was missed really a lot was defensively and that has to do with their their lack of depth, you know, in the injury situation across power forward center. you know, towards the end of the season, McGee was giving them some some nice defensive juice, you know, um but he he still got he still has a lot of offensive growth for me. If if Jaylen could be a true number two, right? You know, true number two. And and like I I always want to say, I see no reason why he can’t get there. I just think he’s a couple big steps away from it. Number one is his self-creation, creating his own shot. You know, he’s, you know, B I would say like B minus there. He’s still kind of growing and learning how to do that. How do what what spots does he prefer to get to on the floor? You know, what what does what um moves does he feel like is he’s most comfortable with kind of really leaning into, you know, when he has a younger or smaller defender on him or what have you. And then the other piece is to be that. I mean, you have to be a pretty high level shooter, you know, jump shooter. And he’s not he’s not that yet, you know. And so those are the big things for me in transition. Forget it. Like he’s one of the single best guys in the league there. whether he’s finishing, pushing the ball himself, making the pass, all those sorts of things. But but where he has to to come a higher to be become deserving of investment of more usage in the half court, it’s just reps reading the floor more naturally. Um, as the Hawks lean into him running some pick and roll and say things like that, teams would, you know, saw his rawness there. because this is the first year he really got a pretty good dose of that before he got hurt, you know. And they just like a lot of young play, he’s getting tricked into thinking he’s seeing one thing and actually there’s something else going on there. Um, jumping passing lanes, you hiding the defender that’s low on the other side of the floor, all that sort of stuff. And Jaylen has, I think, great feel, great natural feel with the basketball in his hands. I think there’s a ton to build on there. He just needs repetitions and and opportunities. But the thing the one thing I I you know I always like to say my my I I work in in technology and cyber security. My educational background is in psychology. And I feel like one thing fans kind of miss on sometimes is that they want a player to be a human being that they’re not. And every player brings their personality and their natural makeup and their biology to their person on the court right there. I I wonder if there’s something the Hawks can do to get Jaylen to click and just be more play with more force. I think that’s an other really really big step. He we seen him last year at times finessing finishes that he didn’t need to finesse, right? And and just being able to recognize like, oh, there’s a 63 guy in front of the rim. He can’t he can’t keep me off the rim. I’m just going to go, you know, be very assertive and physical and and play with force there because I think he I think he his natural instinct is to lean a little bit more into finesse, you know. Uh and there are times that that makes sense. you go, you know, Brook Lopez is sitting right in front, maybe I get to a 12oot pull up, you know, or whatever it might be. Other times when the defense got disorganized and there’s a guard sitting in the paint and so it’s th that decision- making and that processing of when he can because he has so much athleticism and physicality that’s there that I feel like he doesn’t really tap that often. And to me, that’s the big those are the big steps is self-creation, jump shooting, and maybe the biggest of them all is how to really lean into all of his athletic skills and gifts and play with a lot more force. I think that’s that’s what that last one I think is the one that stands between him, what he is now, and being an all-star level player. Yeah, and I agree with that assessment. I think Jaylen is a guy who, you know, when he gets downhill, you know, he is he is a hard player to stop. And I think that’s why when he kind of burst onto the scene for the Hawks, a lot of people are trying to figure out, okay, what exactly is this guy doing? What can he be? Because it feels like he jumps off. He’s to me, I say he’s one of those players where if you aren’t, if you’re not a basketball fan, you’re a casual watcher of basketball, but you watch the Hawks, I feel like you could point out Jaylen, say he looks like he should be a good player, like like he he gives off that energy. And I think that, you know, a guy who averages 20, 10, and five because his under his rebounding is underrated. He averaged 10 rebounds a game. He’s really good at that, too. Um, I think he’s a guy who I think it’s one of those things where I think people reason why they’re so divided on what the Hawks should do. It’s just a matter of do you believe Jaylen can get to that next step as we’ve talked about. And if people feel like if he’s not or if you don’t, then you need to move him for someone who is. And yet at the same time the argument for keeping him would be stability, comfort, you know, just like cuz you know he pretty much for the most part Trey and Jaylen seem to work where you bring in another guy there’s no guarantee of that. Like if you bring in Giannis, Jaylen Giannis kind of play a little different, you know, and so that could change how they want to operate and then we’ll have to see how that works in the grand scheme of things. But I think Jaylen definitely if he could stay healthy sets himself up because I because we because we see work he works he works on his game. He gets better. He tries to get better. So, we know he’s gonna put in the work and then we’ll see if what the fruits of those labors look like when they get into the season. But, so, you know, going from Jaylen to the bench now, um, we made obviously at the trade down line, we made the trade, we acquired Terrence man, George Nyang, and Caris. Uh, I feel like out of the three, a lot of people just in terms of what the Hawks need, we feel like, okay, I would like to see Caris back just because he he is one of the guys who can create a shot. You know, obviously we know it’s the car train. He’ll he’ll give you D one night and he’ll give you 30 the next. It’s just part of who he is, but he is capable of doing it. And, you know, I know Terence man is a very, you know, interesting name to Hawks fans. Uh some moments I’ve said that he’ll be a reason why we’re down 10, but he’s also sometimes the reason why we’re able to get back into a game. And then George Nyang, obviously it’s easy, you know, to pick on him. I always like to say, uh we know that he isn’t the most athletic guy. He’s not the best defender in the world, but he’s smart. He could shoot. And we saw in a big playoff game, he stepped up. So with the three guys from from this past season, first do you want all three of them to return? And second, what do you see for them all? Because I’ve said that the Hawks need more out of them for them to be competitive than probably what you would like to ask them to do and hope and obviously when Jaylen comes back that will reduce some of that and then whatever moves they make. But overall, what do you think about those three guys? Do you like to see all of them return? And yeah. So yeah, I think I think Carths almost everything that they do on both ends of the court. And this is the big asterisk with all of these guys, right? It’s like when his role is optimized, right? You know, with their injury situation, I mean, Mann was defensively playing power forward half the minutes down the last month, right? And we’ll talk about man in a second, but Picaris a couple things. One is he’s not the point of attack defender he was say three years ago, get a little older, right? U he’s a totally professional defender. like completely professional defender, but you know, not um the first guy want to put on the other team’s best ball handler at this point in his career. The self creation is what the Hawks were lacking before they got him. You know, for as good as Hunter was before the trade happened, you making I mean, he carried that second unit offense for the first month and a half of the season, but as soon as Jaylen goes down, he’s dealing with power fors defending him instead of, you know, and it was it completely changed everything, you know, for him. um which made it a lot harder and and and his he was never going to be a self-creator, you know. Uh I mean he got better about you attacking the paint and driving a little a little more and things like that, but I think Caris’s ability to get to mid-range pull up being reliable shooter kind of in that area. Late shot clock, he has the skills to kind of create some decent shot for him and that’s something I think they have to have more of on this on this roster. So I think he’s a priority to bring back if they can make that happen. When it comes to Terrence man, I you know I wrote the the season review on him for Peace Hoops and when I one of the things I emphasized there is that from a cultural fit he is a perfect culture selfless team guy whatever assignment you give him he takes it does his best with it um leans into it even if it’s not like you know he’s out there trying to control you defend Giannis you know in that last game against the Bucks you know and so as you know, a guy, you know, who’s coached coached youth, you know, my background and things like that, like always loved, “Yeah, I’ll take it. Yeah, I’ll take that assignment. Yeah, I’ll take that assignment.” And you appreciate that. We all saw where it was a a bigger adjustment for him offensively than for others, right? The 0.5 that they always talk about. He had a he had a hard time with that. And that doesn’t surprise me because in LA, he basically sat in the weak side corner. You know, I joked on the ATL and 29 that he just lived up in the weside corner the whole time he was on the floor. in LA, so it doesn’t surprise me. But the dude is a hard worker. He’s smart. Uh, and he’ll have a whole off season to kind of work with the Hawks coaches on what it takes for him to kind of become a better fit offensively. Um, but when you talk about him and Nang, you know, they man has what, I can’t remember, it’s two or three more years on that deal, I think. Yep. And Nang has one more year really affordable deal at 8.2. If you can go swing those two guys into a trade, even if you have to give up one one or two of the picks this year, I don’t think there’s anything that is precious about Nan or Yang to the point that you don’t think about putting them in a deal that makes you a lot better that brings back a highle player back, you know, but at the same time, all three of those guys, I think one of the reasons they pulled the trigger on all those deals is that all three of them are pros. They’re all three of them are team guys. All three of them will serve in the role you ask them to serve in and and will just do the work and do their job. And that’s what the Hawk that identity that culture is what the Hawks are really trying to emphasize. It’s one of the reasons I think they took Risha’s Risha will do what’s asked of him. Will you do what’s asked of you? We do what’s asked of you. From that vantage point, I have no heartburn if they bring all three back. You know, none. None at all. I think Niank has to be a guy that sometimes he doesn’t play. You know, Europe that plays really fast. you’re playing the Pacers who run up and down the court. Ning may not be able to play more than say eight minutes, you know, in a game like that and just, you know, be a, you know, a sub like that. Um, and so for me, I’m fine from the cultural standpoint, what I’m what I’m more interested in is those three guys being on your second unit, Caris being a guy that closes games for you, plays on the same, helps you close games when that’s the right fit. But that’s where you look at um do they do they start Trey Dyson, Zack, Jaylen, and Yucka next year and those three guys are on the bench. So now you’re eight deep. Where’s that big upgrade come? Do you make an upgrade that slides Zack to the second unit? You go get a small, you know, what where does that come from? And so for me, it’s it’s really interesting to kind of kind of think about that. But I I thought the trades were fine. I thought they overpaid for man. You know, I thought I thought throwing the draft picks in from the Hawk side didn’t make a lot of sense, but I thought they had I I don’t know, just reading Teleavu, it seemed like they had gotten to a point with Bogey where they almost couldn’t bring him back, you know, you know, uh, and so had to probably just kind of make the best deal that was out there. But generally speaking, I like what those three kind of give the team. Um, but I think Caris is really important to bring back. I think Niang and Man are totally fine to put in a trade if you find something that really is a significant upgrade. Yeah. And I think too, I mentioned like if if I was going to make a move, I would probably look at the Lakers pick the 20 the in the 20s and maybe try to pair him with one of those guys and see if that’s something that you can, like I said, make a like a move for get a bench upgrade on. Um because like I said, I think a lot of people, like I said, we have discussions about should the team run it back, should the team, you know, make a swing, things like that. And I think that could also be part of it just as not of a as a big major move, but one of the smaller moves that can help fill out your team to help and get your team where they need to be. So, I think that, you know, like I said, they all bring something to the table. I’ve always said Caris is kind of like a guy was like, I really like him back just because unless you feel like you’re going to get other guys who can do that. Um, you know, I think that would be really good for the team as they, you know, continue to move forward. So, no, when you mention it about, you know, Nang sometimes not playing. I think backup four again once again is a question and I think the question for people is like all right do the Hawks after what they saw last year with Moay do they say listen Mogay you’re backing up Jaylen you know from a from a defensive standpoint it’s ideal size you get with rim protection it would fit especially if you do add another rim protecting center now you’re like okay we got two rim protectors coming off the bench so you would think that would be ideal biggest thing with Gay is his offense will his offense come along you know that’s going to be the big thing. And like I said, even when Jaylen plays next year, nobody really plays 82 anymore. So, he’s not going to play all 82 more than likely. So, there’s going to be games where you’re going to need make him to start. And then I’ve made an argument maybe that’s why you keep Nang just to kind of have as if he was like your third power forward, quote unquote, that’s not bad. Like I I think that would that would work. It’s just, you know, it just depends. Do you think the Hawks will go in direction where like listen he just started for us let’s just make him the backup or do you think they do need to explore an upgrade or do or is it maybe you think Nang should be the backup for until proven otherwise? Yeah, I mean so it’s so hard for me to know like how do they feel like they could help him really grow offensively over this offseason? That I mean because as you you nailed it like that’s the big thing is can he function? Can he 0.5 on the catch? and he, you know, can he do those things? Another thing is he hasn’t really figured out how to really uh he’s fast and has a lot of verticality. That stuff should really pop in transition and that and it hasn’t, you know, to this point a lot. And he’s got to like I think that’s an area where even if he’s, you know, you know, neutral has neutral value at the offensive half court, if he’s contributing in transition regularly, that helps you feel better about leading into more minutes for him, you know. And I think the value for Nyang if they bring him back is every co every NBA coach when their team is down say 8 10 12 points midway through the fourth quarter they want to juice their lineup with shooting and you can’t just say okay we got to put they we got to put our best shooting lineup on the floor and that’s where you try to probably survive some of the defense you know issues that the kind of offers uh and just really trying to juice as much shooting to the lineup as you can and I think that it’s so so funny for me and again I don’t say this in a condescending way at all but every you know when the Hawks were losing down the stretch everyone’s hammering Quinn for his quote rotations and it’s like what what did you want him to do who else did you want him to play you know I mean you know so uh it’s kind of interesting to me but but for me when you look around the league at the way that teams will oftentimes construct their roster to support a guy like Moay getting more opportunity next year is you’ll go find a veteran player like a really experienced veteran player towards the tail end of his career. Uh and if Mo Gay is having a a young guy tough game having a hard time to click, you can turn to that guy and say, “Okay, Mo doesn’t have it today, you know, 34 year old backup, you know, power forward who just knows how to go out and do all the baseline basic things and and you have that available. you kind of look around the league and like, you know, and Knicks had, you know, Landry Shamut they could throw out there when somebody was hurt, right? And Landry and I’m I’m a overall I’m a big fan of his. I love those guys who will not play for a month and then go play for eight straight games, then go back to the Mets when they’re healthy, you the other guy is healthy again. And that’s what the what the Hawks what what really kept them from getting to six or five this year was that when they had injuries they had to they were playing young inexperienced guys right where other teams that were built for a little bit more maneuverability could say well we can give our young guys some run but if it’s not going well I have a veteran I can turn to that will go out and just do the kind of baseline stuff. The Hawks had none of that, especially once Nance went down and Capella went down, Jaylen went down, they were playing, you know, Don Barlo a backup center in critical games. And I I think Dom has a future in the league, but he was not ready for that, you know, this this season. And so for me, I think, you know, if it goes Jaylen, Mo, and then a veteran guy, you know, who can kind of be that other guy that doesn’t really have to play ever except when maybe Mo’s struggling, that’s the roster construction that a lot of teams try to use to put around young guys who are trying to develop. And the Hawks didn’t really have that this year. Yeah. And I think, you know, like I said, I think for obvious reasons, you know, front court defensively that would be good. Obviously, Gay can help you there. It’s just one of those things like you said, do they feel like he can take enough growth offensively? You know, whether that is hitting the three, whether that is being stronger with the ball, obviously, you know, he’s still even, you know, developing his body, you know, you know, that’s part of the process as well. So, I think that Gay has I think I think a lot of people are like excited about him and they want to see him play just because they they look at what they think he can bring. And I think that’s why there’s always the conversation about it. But like I said, we don’t know what the Hawks think in terms of like do we want to trust him with that role? And if they if they’re not comfortable or they rather keep him in like a third third guy off the bench role, they may need to find a guy who can obviously, you know, replace that position.

Glen Willis from the ATL and 29th podcast joins the show to talk about the Hawks president search, should the Hawks swing for a big star and more.

Topics

Hawks President search
Trade for star or develop
Jalen Johnson’s growth
and more

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