Atlanta Hawks: Front office search, 2025 NBA Draft, Kobe Bufkin, Danny Ferry, 2025 NBA Finals, etc.

Atlanta Hawks: Front office search, 2025 NBA Draft, Kobe Bufkin, Danny Ferry, 2025 NBA Finals, etc.

On today’s show, it is now June officially, which means the NBA draft is later this month. On today’s show, we’ll get into the latest with the news, some NBA draft prospects, Kobe Buffkin, and much more. All is coming up right now. You are Locked on Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hello friends, welcome to episode 1986 of the Lock on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Sunday evening into Monday. Today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money and use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for half off your first year. I also want to encourage you at the top of the show as I always do to make sure your first listen each and every day here locked on hawks. Check us out and subscribe to the podcast anywhere you find your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Please like, subscribe, rate, review, and of course, tell your friends about our podcast. It’s actually going to be a special episode for one reason and one reason alone. It’s episode 1986. That’s actually the year of my birth, and it’ll be the only time on this podcast history that I can say that about this podcast episode. So, there you go. Calculate at your own risk how old I am. But that’s what this was going to be. And we’ll get into some draft stuff later on, some mailback questions, a little bit of NBA Finals talk at the end of this podcast. But first, we will dive in with the latest on the Hawks front office search on this Sunday evening into Monday and our first show of the month of June. It’s been quiet as I’ve referenced a few times in recent days, but there was some reporting, at least a little bit of reporting that came out over the weekend. So, we’ll begin there. And it’s been like two and a half weeks since there had been anything reported on the front office search. The last thing that actually came before Saturday was the Messiah Jiri sparkler about two plus weeks ago. And by the way, that’s been quiet on that Messiah front recently, in case you were wondering about that. But in his newsletter, Mark Stein, a awesome reporter of course, nationally, acknowledge the quiet nature of the search for the Hawks right now. But also, he wrote the following quote, “One scenario making the rounds that Atlanta is said to be is Atlanta is said to be considering is rehiring Danny Ferry as a senior adviser to newly promoted GM on Salet.” So for some background if you missed it, Ferry’s name was kind of floated around earlier in the process for POBO search. And I said at the time I found it to be very unlikely that he would be the choice to be the president of asphalt operations, the number one person in the front office. Not impossible, but I found it to be unlikely from what I had heard and my research and making some calls and logic and all those things put into one. Uh reasons for that obviously are all over the place. Number one, he’s been out of the league. not like out of the league totally but like has not had a prominent front office job in about a decade now almost that’s tough to kind of go from that to being back in as the number one person and perhaps the biggest reason of course is the history of Ferry in Atlanta how he was uh part of ways with by the Hawks recently without getting back not recently but when it happened 10 years ago and without getting back into all that again I believe it would be a very tough sell for the Hawks to turn around and hire Ferry in particular it and it would be easier for like any other team to do that other than the Hawks ferry just had a good record basketball-wise, but obviously the way he exited Atlanta, all that stuff. Now, with that said, hiring a senior adviser is not close to the same spotlight or the same dynamics as hiring a president about basketball operations. It’s far more plausible to me that the Hawks could hire Danny Ferry in an advisory role than they would in a president role, a future sort of for forward- facing number one role. There’s some middle ground potentially in this because I think there’s probably some interest in wrestler side and having Ferry in the building. He worked there before, of course. He has the experience that the wrestler is said to want. He built a good roster in Atlanta 10 years ago plus, and there’s a relationship there. Obviously, I have heard, though not with Ferry’s name attached. Keep that in mind that the Hawks might want to add an older experienced name to the mix in an advisory role. If they choose, again, if they choose, as I’ve been saying the whole time, is a possibility to give ANIE the number one job. they might want to bring in another kind of old wise council kind of person in thestead of ANIE. Uh the possibility by the way of ANIE running the show is getting more and more likely by the day it is June 1st as I’m recording this June 2nd as you’re listening to it on Monday. Um I think honestly my guess at this point educated guess is that if you said all right pick one path that’s going to happen now I would say it’s honestly being the number one person. That’s my best guess. I’m not reporting that, just using my deductive reasoning and some listening behind the scenes on that front. But back to Ferry, it would still turn some heads in a negative way. Even with even this reporting got some negative reaction on my Patreon. I wrote it up on social media, etc. That would still happen if the Hawks hired him in any capacity. But senior adviser is the kind of job honestly they don’t probably have to even announce this if they were to do it. Like it’s not it’s not a huge like press release front page kind of hire. Um, and that job is pretty vague in nature. You could have that person be involved in the process, but there are plenty of examples of senior adviserss and organizations who are not really in the mix day-to-day. They might be in a different city. It’s kind of a sounding board for the GM or the owner if they want some counsel and kind of run it by like an idea, run it by somebody. Hawks may not remember this, but the Hawks did hire former Warriors GM Larry Riley as a senior adviser back in 2018. that was like just announced as part of a slew of operations hires and announcements from the Hawks. It wasn’t a big highly reported deal at the time. Riley was a veteran that veteran front person that Travis Lank worked for in Golden State. It was basically like sooner retired and was just a voice in the room basically for the Hawks. Uh he had experience and gravitas and savvy and all that stuff. And even right now, the Hawks currently had at least last year two executive adviserss quote unquote on the books in their front office. And even unless you’re a total sicko, you wouldn’t like know those people’s names or know know that they’re around. So it could be there’s a pretty wide range of what a senior adviser actually does or looks like. So look, it’s impossible to know right now from the outside what it might resemble if, again, if the Hawks did hire Ferry or anybody else, by the way, to a senior advisor role. You wouldn’t know how that was going to work until it actually happened, but it would get a lot more attention for sure if it was Ferry given the history in Atlanta, his credentials, all that fun stuff. In the meantime, again, Anie Clay is currently running basketball operations. I get this question all the time. I know I answered it last week and maybe even a week before that. People still kind of confused by this. I get it. When the Hawks announced the Landry firing in that press release, they said is running day-to-day basketball operations till they make a hire. that is still happening. Honest is number one. You got Kyle Corver in the assistant GM role. The two of them are in the driver’s seat right now when it comes to basketball operations. But as always, honestly, I hear rumblings all the time still from people that are in the league across the league involved that Nick Wrestler is still part of the process. I don’t like that. I think it’s bad process, but that is still out there. The rumblings are still as strong as ever. He hasn’t had that front office role anymore, but he’s the alternate governor. He’s in the mix from what I can what I can tell which is not a good thing I don’t think. Tony wrestler by the way is obviously has every right to be involved. He’s the Hawks governor owner but he’s still he’s still in the mix still very involved in basketball operations stuff and something that’s often ignored I think as kind of a nonsequittor but it’s not a direct basketball job but Steve Kunan is like one of the more powerful and active CEOs of any basketball team. It’s a business side job not a basketball side job but Coon’s in the mix too. So lots of names still in play. still in play. Auntie’s number one on the basketball operations call sheet, but with Nick involved, Tony involved, still a lot going on there, uh, meetings going on right now for the draft, etc. The draft’s three three and a half weeks away. And there’s no deadline for making a hire, as I’ve been saying the entire time, the Hawks don’t have to do anything quickly if they don’t want to. One of the benefits, if you want to look at look at it that way, is that they don’t have to do anything quickly because they have an he’s in the job running the show. And again, I think right now, I’m not reporting, but I think it is now trending towards likely that Anie is the number one going into the season, but that doesn’t have to be the case. But in the meantime, they’re just kind of rolling along. And um one of the odd things about this is that if they don’t hire anybody else, there’s no they don’t have to make an announcement. Maybe at the draft, if they haven’t made a hire and honestly has to speak to the media for the first time, because right now, honestly, Salai has not talked to the Atlanta media at any point. That’s one of the uh if you’re the Hawks, one maybe benefit quote unquote is that you don’t have to talk because you’re in this transition period. They’re not doing any draft workouts publicly. It’s kind of been radio silence for the Hawks. The only person that has talked to the media on behalf of the Hawks since X interviews is Dyson Daniels via Zoom from Australia because he won an award. Everything else radio silence. So interesting situation, but uh in the meantime, that’s the latest on the Ferry thing. They’re keeping the process for the draft and free agency and tread stuff that goes along with that. So, buckle buckle up. But in the meantime, Auntie is running the show and a little bit of a sprinkler of uh reporting, but uh could be nothing and we’ll find out sooner rather than later. All right, everybody. We’ll have more to come on the podcast, your mailback questions on the NBA draft, Kobe Buffkin, NBA Finals of the podcast, and much more. But first, work with our partners on the podcast. Today is brought to you by Monarch Money. 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And if you want to manage your money with your partner, it can be smoother than ever as well. You can track shared accounts and personal accounts, set goals, and stay on the same page without any of the stress. Take control of your finances right now with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com 50% off your first year with MonarchMoney. That is monarchmoney.com. Code locked on NBA for half off your first year. All right, a question that I will get into now from Jamie who says, “You said that there are 25 or 30 players the could draft with their two first round picks. Can you share some draft prospects that you are higher on than the consensus?” So, we question from Jamie. I’m doing a lot of my draft talk with guests on the show, at least so far, and I have some more scheduled in the future. I figured it’d be a good time to kind of give some of my own evaluations in this process. I’ve been watching film this entire time, learning, reading, pulling numbers, all those things. I’m not a finished product just yet on my draft stuff, but still getting closer and closer. And first things first here, uh, consensus is a kind of a tricky word to evaluate, especially with more than three weeks till the draft. I’m gonna use for this reference the consensus big board that John Chepkevish does at rookiescale.com. It’s a good mainstream available proxy for a consensus. It’s not perfect, but you’re trying to average a bunch of stuff together and get a good feel for what the league thinks, what the public thinks. By the way, there’s always a split of some kind between the internet, like draft Twitter and people that work on the internet and actually what people in the league are saying. There’s always that kind of disconnect. Um, I would also say it’s useful to keep stock of like ESPN’s board, the athletics board because those are very like Intelbased more so than people on the internet’s boards will be. It’s all kind of a mix, but uh anyway, using the rookiecale.com consensus board, I came up with six names that I am higher on than the current consensus ranking. Again, this is not a comprehensive list. I used some names like people that I thought I was a few spots by Tyron than than Consensus. And also I picked no one in the top 10. That wasn’t on purpose, but it’s not like in the or that I have in right now on that on that list, but there’s like nobody that I think is massively better than where they’re currently ranked. And part of that’s I think this kind of a flat top, you know, after the top two. Obviously, it’s Flag and Harper and one and two. That’s kind of what I have as well. So three to 10 kind of a jumble. Anyway, to the players that I have higher than the consensus, uh, one is Arizona’s Carter Bryant. He is 13th on this consensus board. He is a top 10 guy for me. He’s a forward with a seven foot wingspan. He’s a great athlete. He had really good shooting splits and a smaller role at Arizona. I think I think he’s been projected to be like kind of that two-way forward that every team wants. Big, physical, athletic, can shoot a little bit. I thought he’s been good in workouts. Like I don’t think he’s like going to be a star. He could be, but um I think that I have him a couple spots higher than the consensus. And by the way, if that means if if I’m the Hawks, if he’s available, if he’s available at 13, there’s a good chance, not not for sure, a good chance that he’s my number one player available. I think if you know there’s guys ahead of him or to the same level as him, maybe Derek Queen if he slips, like those guys come in the same range, but I think the smart money is if Bryant falls to 13, I would like that pick quite a bit. So that’s that’s something like there. Um, Yukon’s Liam McNeely is 17th on the board. Um, he’s a like late lottery guy for me, like 15, 14, 13, something like that. Um, he does it pretty well actually athletically at the combine. That was a good sign after an up and down kind of injury plagued freshman year at Yukon. He was also kind of in a bad role for him at Yukon. Like he was a kind of a primary option a lot, but some nice flashes along the way there. Um, I think he’s better suited as a role player. You know, again, big like 67, 68 forward, can knock down shots, does a little bit of a shot creation thing if you want him to defend enough, like not a perfect player, but certainly one that has a skill level and a pedigree that I like. Um, Georgetown’s Thomas Sorber is 18th on the board. He’s a for me a top 15 top 15 player in this draft. He measured with a huge wingspan at the combine, 76. Does a lot of things well both ends of the floor despite being a very young player. still 19 years old. Uh I don’t think he has like a huge star upside, but he has great feel, good passer, good defender at the NBA level. I think he’s going to be in the future just a lot to like like a starting center kind of player long-term projection for me. Uh Rasheir Fleming of St. Joe’s is 23rd on the board. I have him in the mid- teens. So, like for me, he probably won’t be the number one player on my board at 13 for the Hawks. But then put this all in kind of Hawks speak. If he went 13th, I would get it. And at 22, he’s likely to be like one of the top players about the about the top player available if he’s still available at that point in time. He measured huge at the combine. 75 wingspan, more than 230 pounds, 91 standing reach, like a massive massive human being. I don’t love his like feel for the game and like secondary stuff, passing, defensive feel. That’s kind of the question marks for him. But the physicality is definitely there. The size is definitely there. He had 64% true shooting at the college level. Like he could really shoot it. He can defend multiple positions. Like I get it. Uh I get the drawbacks for sure. That’s why he’s a little bit lower for me. Like not a lottery guy, but at 23 that’s that’s too low in this class for me on Fleming. And then finally, uh Hansen Yang is number 41 on the consensus board. For me, he’s like a late first or at least a top 35 guy for me in this class. 19-year-old center from China, measured 7-1 without shoes, has massive hands. Like, he’s true center size. Still very much a developmental kind of long-term bet, but I like the passing. He might be really able to shoot it eventually potentially. There’s decent mechanics there. Um, I don’t love his athletic tools, honestly. I think he might be a pretty limited defender, but he is massive, which definitely helps. It’s more like, can he switch? can he play non-drop coverage? Like those are questions that I’m going to have for sure. Um I see people get a little bit too high on Yang at this point in time. Like it’s like a lottery pick. I can get there, but at 22 it’s like he’s certainly could be in the mix at 22. That’s a reasonable thing to say. Um I think for me, he’s definitely uh too low at 41. I get the appeal. Um, I’m not over the moon about Yang from what I’ve seen so far. But I have more to watch and at the very least the tools, the size, the passing gets me to being uh higher on him than the the baseline is right now. This one is the last one almost not even worth mentioning, but Cedric Coward is still 29th on this contest board. And that’s not a misprint. People have like I mean I was talking about him potential lottery for the last few weeks, but ESPN’s latest big board has him 29th. So like there’s a split on him for sure. Um, there are people that had him in the lottery or like at least like top 15 and people that don’t kind of get it. So, there’s a big split there. Athletic wing, 72 wingspan. He barely played this year at Washington State, had an odd predictor before that, played D3 Eastern Washington, was going to go to Duke and then decided to enter the draft instead. Um, he’s got comparisons pre-draft to Jaylen Williams. Obviously, that’s a huge lofty comparison, but as a late riser, West Coast player, um, you know, lottery guy at the end of the process, etc., I think I wouldn’t go that far on Cal right now, but for me, he’s like a top 20 player in the class, still listed at 29th. So, he has to be on the list and we’ll see how high he goes by draft night. And then a few quick second round names. Again, the Hawks don’t have a pick in the second round, but these guys are still relevant. And if you’re the Hawks, it’s not hard to get a second round pick. Also, if you missed it on Friday on the last show that I did, I talked about Nicole Yurich, who the Drew Hawks drafted last year in second round, who’s still kind of in that second round kind of level player for the future. But anyway, if they want to get back in the back in the mix here, I I have Scion James of Duke as a top 35 guy. He’s 46th on that list. Kobe Brea is 43rd on the list. I have him in the top 35. Honestly, just a great shooter. That’s all he really does, but that’s kind of enough for me in the top 40. And then uh this is maybe a homer pick, but I also believe it. Um Michigan big man Vlad Golden is 60th on the list. I have him like 45. So not a huge difference, but certainly a difference nonetheless. So there you go. A quick look at the guys that I’m a little bit higher on. Again, not a not a comprehensive list. There are still players that I might have a spot or two ahead of these guys. I’m not doing the guys I’m lower on. Maybe I’ll do that later on. But in the meantime, some optimism here uh in the mix when it comes to evaluating prospects. All right, a question from Marshall who says, “How much would you consider Kobe Buffkin when making the two first round picks?” It’s a good question honestly because it’s about a player, but it’s also philosophical in nature. Um, I’m planning to do a more comprehensive Kobe Buffin player capsule with Glenn Willis, good friend of the podcast, some point this summer as I would with any player on the roster, but it’s going to be a challenge in some ways because Kobe has not played very much through two years. Everyone knows that, but just worth emphasizing. He’s played 27 NBA games, 14 GL games, and five summer league games in the last two years. That’s it. Tiny sample size. Obviously, he’s still very young, 21 years old. He’s younger than guys that are in this first round mix this year, like multiple of them. So, that’s worth keeping in mind. At the same time, he has not been amazing enough to assuage the doubts of just not playing basketball. Um, the durability questions are real. That has to be the case after two years of this. Um, one thing that I will say is that just because he’s been hurt recently, it’s not going to always be hurt. Like, it’s not a chronic injury. If it was like one bad issue or like he had a bad knee or something like that, that’s more concerning to me. Um, it’s been a little bit unlucky so far. that might still be the case. Like you got to prove you’re that you’re going to be healthy, but I’m not putting the like never can stay healthy label on Buffkin just yet. Um he has to prove he’s going to stay healthy. I think the entire team would agree with that. He would too, I’m sure. Got to prove yourself in the NBA level. There you go. Now, there’s also a distinction that I would draw between Buffin being a 15th pick overall two years ago and a if he was a top five pick, you just get more latitude. The team is going to be more in on you, etc., etc., etc. I don’t want to go all way into this, but it’s just logical if you think about it for a second. You’re not committed forever to the 15th pick of the draft. Do you want to hit that pick? Obviously, you do, but the Hawks could trade Kobe this summer, and it would not shock me at all. Um, I do think that that they still like him from what I what I hear. Quinn’s always like Kobe from what I understand. Um, and there’s still a lot of talent with Kobe Buffett. That’s that’s undeniable going back to the pre-draft stuff, even flash to the NBA level, G-League level, etc. He’s got a pretty appealing archetype as a guy who can play in theory, again, it’s still all in theory right now, point guard or play next to Trey, as a guy who has real shooting guard level size that and good enough defense to play with Trey as well. That’s a good appealing package on the whole even if again it’s only theoretical right now, which I definitely understand. So, that’s the player side of things. Then you have a philosophical argument about best player available and how much the Hawks should consider Buffkin specifically given what he has not proven to date. For me, I say this a lot. I’ll say it again here. My overall take would be that they really shouldn’t consider Buffkin too much, if at all, when weighing who to draft. That doesn’t mean you totally ignore him. He’s on the team. That does matter. He’s still a talented guard prospect. But Buffkin’s presence on the team should not stop you from taking a guard in this draft. If again, if you believe that guard is the best guy you can draft, that’s the that’s what it comes down to me. That might seem silly or simple or whatever, but for me, I I see people all the time, and I don’t I don’t agree with this. There are Hawks fans that will tell you they have to draft quoteunquote have to draft a center or they quote unquote have to draft a backup point guard. I don’t believe either one of those things. Could they draft a center? Sure they could. Could they draft a guard? Sure they could. I don’t believe in drafting for fit generally speaking, but especially when you’re talking about like mid or late first round picks on a team that has a bunch of guys already. You’re drafting the best players available. The only exception to that potentially is if you have two guys available in the same tier of evaluation. Maybe you get preferential there with fit on either, you know, schematically or position or whatever. That’s fine. What you don’t want to ever do is jump up or jump down a tier based on position. I would not do that generally speaking. So, I don’t honestly love the guards in the Hawks range of this class. Um, if you notice, none of the guys that I listed off earlier as guys that I am higher on than the consensus are guards. That wasn’t on purpose, but I realized that I was doing as I was making this for the podcast like none of those guys are I’m not higher on the consensus on any of these guards. Now, I don’t hate them either. Like, there are some real first round prospects in this class that are guards. And by the way, obviously, I’m removing Dylan Harper and those guys at the top. Um, like for instance, just Nolan Trayor or Ben Sif or Walter Payton Jr., Jay Richardson, but those guys are all like top 25 players in the class. They are, but I don’t think that, especially at 13, I can pretty much guarantee you a guard is not going to be my highest rated player at 13, unless someone weirdly falls. Like maybe Akashonis falls, that would be different. But if you follow the consensus boards and all that stuff, uh it will surprise me if my personal top player is a guard at 13. At 22, could certainly happen. I think Trayor, even Clayton Jr. could be my top player available at that spot. That’s fine. And there is no reason you couldn’t draft a guard. None at those spots if you like those players to be very clear. So again, personally, I wouldn’t draft Sarif or or Treyor or Clayton Junior or Richardson at 13. I would not do that. It wouldn’t be insane to do that. If you love that guy, I again I will practice what I preach here. The middle of this draft is pretty flat. If you have an opinion that’s different than mine, I’m not going to come out and say you’re an idiot. I don’t believe that. So keep that in mind. If the Hawks were in the top five, top six and for instance, like I think you’re worried about more about Trey than Muffin. And what I mean by that is like if I’m if I have the fifth pick, I personally would not take Jeremiah Fierce as the Hawks because I don’t think Jeremiah Fears is a my best prospect in that class, but also I would have some real concerns about playing with Trey. And at the top five pick, that does matter on some level. Um at 13 and 22, you’re taking the best player available with very few exceptions. Kobe shouldn’t stop you from drafting anyone, nor should he make you draft anyone. Like, I’ve seen that other case, too, like Kobe’s a bust or whatever. Now, you got to draft another guard. No, Kobe may not be anything. And I have said repeatedly already this summer that at the very least the Hawks have to bring in somebody else at guard to at least compete with, if not play over Buffy this year. I do believe that, but doesn’t mean you have to draft the player. So, I’m pretty firmly on the best player available train. Buffing shouldn’t stop them. And uh if it’s the best player available, take that guy and figure it out later. All right, last thing on the show before we get out of here. A brief NBA Finals look ahead now that we’re set on that front after the Pacers advanced over the weekend. I reserved the right to talk about the finals more on a podcast with a guest if I want to. I’m not sure if I’m going to do that, but in case I don’t, people ask me about kind of what I think about the series. So, a brief kind of fiveminute look at that right now. Uh personally, I don’t care about the small market thing. I love basketball. I’m a sicko. Um, it won’t rate well. I get that. I don’t care. And by the by the way, the NBA, it’s the first year of a new TV deal. They’re not worried about this that much either. I’m sure they’d like to have big markets, but if there was ever a good time to have a bad market, quote unquote, finals, it’s right after you sign a big deal, so whatever. Anyway, matchup wise, um, I think OKC, by the way, is clearly an elite team, so they should be there. And Indiana’s been playing great for a long time. Um, Indiana like, okay, the thing to watch here is OK’s def OKC’s defenses against Indiana’s offense. That’s the matchup. Everyone knows that, but it’s it’s true. Indiana’s on a total heater right now offensively. They’re shooting 40.1% from three in the playoffs as a team. Just for reference, the highest rated team in the league this year shot 38 38.7%. The Pacers shot 36.8% from three as a team in season against bad teams. 40% in the in the playoffs is ludicrous over three series and no one is shooting better than 36% from the three other than any of these playoffs over multiple series. They are on a heater. They have four of their starting level guys shooting 45% or higher or whatever it is 50% from for the playoffs. Nemar’s 48%. Seak 46%. Those guys are not great shooters. They they can all shoot but they’re unheater suffice to say. Will they continue? Maybe. It’s definitely possible. It’s a make or miss league. You got to make shots. I’m big on process. But hey, it’s all small sample size. You gota you got to make shots. These it’s it’s win or go home time now. But the the of note I would say the Thunder have been generationally good defensively this year. They have a ton of guys throw at Hallebertton, a ton of guys throw at Seakum. And the biggest thing in the whole series might be turnovers. OKC was number one in the league this year in creating turnovers and also avoiding them on offense. number one on both ends of the floor. Massive differential there. Um Indiana is awesome at taking care of the ball offense. Hallebertton is the best at that of any guard in the league, but OKC is the best ball hawking team in recent memory. Honestly, I don’t think Indiana’s going to win the turnover battle. They’ll do better than Minnesota did. I’m pretty confident in that. But, uh that’s the area to circle, I would say. And that means Indiana’s going have to score in the half court. Um I think Hallebertton’s going to have some trouble in this series. Um he might not have triple the in every game. He’s really good, but he does have a tendency to kind of just like disappear when he’s not got it going. For instance, he’s taken 13 shots or fewer in seven different playoff games. Hallelbert just like kind of coasts when he’s not cooking, which is okay. He’s a good passer and all those things, but um he can’t afford that in a series. Just can’t. Um and also OKC’s biggest vulnerability defensively is rebounding by a lot and Indiana is terrible on offensive glass. So, it’s a tough match up for them in that area. I do think the other side of the floor OKC’s offense can bog down some in the half court in particular when when they’re not getting steals or whatever. And Indiana has got multiple guys to throw at Shay, but if N Smith is not either on the floor or out of foul trouble, uh tough sliding there defensively. I think I think Sakum will get a dose of Jayla Williams and be fine there at least. It’s so weird. Like Indiana’s reputation is earned for running and running and running and playing super fast all the time, but that’s not a huge advantage against OKC. OKC wants to play slower on offense probably by not turning over like I don’t know. It’s just interesting to me that balance of ball security and pace and who who dictates that. It’s going to matter a lot. But I won’t go even longer on this. I am gonna take OKC pretty comfortably in the series. like OKC and five I think is my pick officially. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to the Pacers because I don’t I really don’t like they’ve been playing really really well for a while now. And uh to bring it back to the Hawks for a second, it’s honestly reminiscent of what happened with the 2021 Hawks in that the Hawks that team that Hawks team played at an elite level for about three months before the playoffs but only the Sickos noticed it if that makes sense. That Hawks team finished like 28 and 11. They were really playing at an elite level for a long time. And this same thing happened with Indiana this year. Indiana has been playing at a top five team in the league level since like January. And before that, they weren’t. But they’re similar to the Hawks in that way. But it’s still a bad match up for them. I think NKC is still in my mind underrated by some people because they haven’t won it yet and they’re super young. I get all that. It’s a weird archetype of a team winning the championship. But the Thunder have historically great numbers this year. They really do. They had a 12.7 net rating this season and it’s over 11 in the playoffs. That’s ludicrous. They have 80 wins before the finals. That’s crazy. They may not win in five obviously. I’ll be pretty surprised if they lose barring injury. Now our friends at FanDuel have OKC at minus 750. That’s a massive, massive spread in the finals. The implied odds of that is 88% for the Thunder. That might be a little high, but I think they’re going to win the series. I think Thunder are better. They have homec court advantage and uh this is I think it’s going to be their time. I will pick them now on the record. Not going to shy away from that. I think Indiana has a chance and no one should say that they don’t. Even if you’re a huge proponent of OKC, like injuries can happen. Shooting variants again, if Indiana shoots like this, like they have been in the rest of the playoffs. It gets really interesting. That’s all fair to say. But I like I like OKC in five. I They’re really good. Uh like historically so and they’re probably underrated right now. Maybe that’ll stop being the case in a in a couple weeks here. But uh hey, anyway, it’s on Thursday. Maybe I’ll do more on this, but guess I don’t want to or I don’t have time to. My pick is on the record. OKC and five. And uh sorry Pacers fans. I do enjoy watching the Pacers. They’re they’re fun to watch. And uh there you go. All right, everybody. That’s all I have on this Sunday evening into Monday show. Again, I have scheduled hopefully guests later on in this week. So, please subscribe to this podcast anywhere you find your podcast. Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Follow us on social media. We are at Loftton Hawks on Twitterx. I am there at BT Rolling. I’m also on Blue Sky at BT Rolland. And follow my nonpodcast at patreon.com/bt rolling. All right, everybody. Thanks again for listening. Hope you have a great week and we’ll see you all next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 1986 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. Topics include the latest on the Atlanta Hawks front office search and the potential of hiring Danny Ferry, Kobe Bufkin’s impact on Atlanta’s 2025 NBA Draft class, 2025 draft prospects to be encouraged about when compared to the current consensus, and the upcoming 2025 NBA Finals.

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