Atlanta Hawks Offseason Outlook With Hawks Beat Writer Lauren L Williams

Atlanta Hawks Offseason Outlook With Hawks Beat Writer Lauren L Williams

hi everyone i’m Sierra Sea and I’m joined here with Lauren Williams or do you go Lauren L williams i do Lauren L williams most of the time because it’s such a common name like if you go on Twitter I refuse to call it X but if you go on Twitter there’s just so many Lauren Williamses that I have to put the L i have to take That’s good lauren L williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution she is a Hawks beat writer for them and we’ll be talking about the Hawks right there so first off I hope your off season’s been well i know it’s kind of been I don’t know if this was expected on your part to be quite as eventful in terms of the front office that’ll be something we’ll talk about and there’s a few other key questions coming up on the off season from extensions to who they’ll I guess focus on future being around so for you Lauren what’s been kind of like the mood around the team with if I could just take a stab of how this looks like we’re coming up on a a very pivotal year it seems like Landry Fields was a part of the former you could say Nick wrestler younger core who they’ve kind of pushed out and they wanted to bring in maybe adults into the room and not saying that there weren’t but Aie Salah seems to be you know someone who comes from a reputable reputable background credible they brought in other people especially the other day they announced that Bryson Graham and I forget the other individual Denwitty came over so tell me what’s that all about and what’s the mood going on there yeah I think the big thing is just you know as you mentioned filling out with some experience i think the big thing is that you know they try to to go in a different direction with an a front office that’s really big on collaboration and at some point you have to realize that you can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen like yes you can have as many point of views as possible but I think the big thing is you need somebody who’s okay with you know making those big decisions and that’s not to say that Landre Fields wasn’t that guy but I just think that he’s still so new in terms of what it means to run a front office and I mean I think the big thing is that Anie Salah comes from as we mentioned quite a few different places like San Antonio um and Golden State and in both places you know he built so much of a reputation of trust that some of those big wigs were willing to to kind of you know loosen the reins a little bit and let him you know do quite a few different things and so um when you’re able to do those jobs quite early on you know with I guess you could say the the guard rails or the bumpers on um you know you’re able to to to kind of uh not necessarily fail so to speak but you’re able to learn from experience a little bit quicker and I think that’s kind of you know what we saw with Anie i think in terms of filling out the front office with say Bryson Graham and Peter Deny Peter Denwy you have a guy in Bryson Graham who’s you know known for his acumen in terms of scouting for the draft and so that’s something that the Hawks have really needed especially over the last couple of years where they’ve struggled to find the right pieces in the draft i mean Zachary Reese Shay is kind of the anomaly right now just because with a number one overall pick um you know yes you can swing and miss but it’s still a number one overall pick you do have to take that risk but I don’t think that’s the case for Zachary but the previous two drafts with Kobe Buffkin a guy that now has been injured for his first two years and then AJ Griffin the year before who now is out of the league um those are two guys that you haven’t really been able to get really much production out of over the last three years and so I think you want to add a little bit more experience in terms of finding talent from those young players and obviously Bryson Graham has uh is known for being able to do that and what a way to start with this draft class which is so good and then Peter Denwi is of course somebody who’s very analytical and uh you know you want to have that sort of voice in in this space so do they not give Landry first off is Kyle Corver because I saw him at the com I literally sat next to him at a restaurant he’s still with the organization because he was also at Hoop Summit and he was Is he still assistant GM too yes yes okay because I know teams can have multiple assistant GMs so I didn’t know so I think the big difference though is that um Bryson Graham and Peter Denwi they they are senior uh executive vice presidents of their roles and Kyle Corver is still technically an assistant uh general manager aisala is a general manager and the way that the I guess the the system or the the structure of the office is sort of yes you know Graham and Denwy are going to report to ANIE but they’re seen sort of on the same level as him um is how it’s been explained to me um so I don’t know how that you know will totally work out but they are on cease hires and the interesting thing I think about all of this even going back to Landry Fields is everybody is interconnected going back to the Spurs in some way either either they over overlapped with the Spurs somewhere else but more than all of them even Quinn Snyder is a former Spurs assistant in some sort of way either coaching or personnel and we even knew that like was a big reason with like the whole Dejonte Murray trade and all that so I just want to know what and yesterday it’s funny that this kind of came out that the Knicks even reached out to the the Hawks about Snider’s availability and they were firmly denied yes what is because again I when I originally reached out to you I was like Snyder was like the big hire the big fish available they brought him in midseason on what was supposedly a big deal there was rumors that he had a voice on the roster then that was dispelled the in the off season what is I guess his the new regime’s thoughts on him i assume like their kumbboya and does he have a say on the roster and is he credited with the development on guys like Garrison Matthews and am I saying this correct v kichi and creichi cr like crayon but creri yeah crayon oh wait crayon like Cray Cray okay cr okay yeah vic Crerache and a few of the the other young guys on this like uh Mogay and you know just really a lot of the uh hidden gems on that roster definitely i think that’s the thing with you know these past couple of years it’s really been about development of of the roster just because you know they’ve lacked so many like star-studded pieces that it it’s hard to to really not develop those guys especially because they had so much playing time with so many injuries to this roster that’s something that the Hawks have severely lacked these last couple of years as well is depth um so definitely Quinn Snyder has been you know a credit to the development of those guys because he’s put them in he and his staff have put them in positions to succeed and I think the big thing is that he he does have a voice i don’t think that you know the front office would totally discount his his opinion on what his you know his roster needs but at the end of the day it was always told to us that the final say was Landre’s and so um I guess you could kind of see it in terms of the lack of depth the lack of size and the fact that Garrison Matthews was getting so much playing time and that’s not a knock against Garrison Matthews because he is a tremendous person and he did what you know he was expected and needed to do at the time but unfortunately that’s just not what the Hawks needed in order to be a championship contender and so um yeah I think you know they did the best with what they had but unfortunately it just ended up putting them in the middle of the pack still but I definitely think that you know as we said Snyder has a voice but I don’t think he necessarily has the final say yeah and I think that was a a great way to put it is like no one’s going to disregard your coach unless obviously it turns out a situation we saw in Denver yeah where you know the GM and the the coach clearly were not on the same page now moving forward I think you touched about it their injuries are a concern with this team yeah i love Kobe Buffman as prospect and everything I’ve seen and heard it’s just it’s an unfortunate thing that the best ability is availability and the backup point guard position has cursed Atlanta since I guess Lou Williams left town and Lou Williams wasn’t even a legit backup point guard for them cuz Chris Dunn was a failed failed signing due to that I think what a hand injury or thumb or something something like that weird just top of my head yeah and then the thing I want to ask is moving forward it seems like they need a repeat of what they and obviously different regime but the year they went on a run they brought in a bunch of older guys it felt like they had Solomon Hill Denil Gallinari that’s when they first brought in Bogdan Bdonovich it felt like they surrounded themselves with at least like five or six established guys and I feel like they were able to bring some of those guys in carris Levert and George Niang what is like I guess maybe just the outlook in your opinion that they are going for a playoff push or is this another transition year yeah I think the I think the thing is that they you know they have to listen to what Trey Young wants right and uh by and large he did exactly what they wanted last year which was helping them develop a guy like Tyson Daniels who they brought over in that Dejante Murray Trey to the Pelicans and then of course Zack Reese and so I think now from what Trey has you know kind of communicated to the media in his exit interviews and and some of the things that have come out you know since the end of the season is that he wants to win and so when your you know star player sort of starts to put that mandate out there publicly you’re gonna have to start to shape the roster you know in that sort of way and I think the other thing too is when Quinn Snyder took this job he wasn’t necessarily interested in in building a new or rebuilding a team i think he wanted to be in a position where he was coaching a team that was contending and so when you have those sort of two pieces together um you’re gonna have to kind of build a roster accordingly and I think um as you mentioned with you know bringing in Caris Levert and George Nyang they had uh Larry Nance Jr as well who are pretty you know loud locker room voices in very different ways caris not as much he’s a little on the quieter side but um still a prominent locker room voice it starts it sort of starts to to signal that the Hawks are trying to position themselves um as a team that’s going to be competing and I think the fact that last season they started off so well at one point they were fourth in the East um but then the injury to Jaylen Johnson happened and it kind of tanked the rest of the season uh it signals that the Hawks are a much more competitive team even if they are uh not necessarily expected to be um and so I think the big thing is you know just sort of ensuring that they have the right backups to a guy like Jaylen Johnson so that you don’t have that drop off if he does get hurt but of course you’re going to want him to to be a lot more durable as you move forward you’re going to want to have as you mentioned the right backup point guard to Trey Young and so I think the big thing is that are they going to find that in the draft a lot of the the guys that are mocked to the Hawks are um you know either combo guards or bigs not so many point guards outside of I think Jace Richardson is one of the few like true point guards that I’ve seen that’s been like mocked to the Hawks but um if if I’m them I would sort of look more toward a veteran um to back up Trey Young just because overall the roster is still so young i mean Trey himself is only 26 he’s going to be 27 in September so if they can find a solid backup that you know can sustain some of those minutes when Trey takes his rest then I think that’s huge i think they put a lot of pressure on Dyson Daniels to try to be that and that’s not to say that Dyson you know didn’t do well with that but again he’s still young he’s still inexperienced and he’s still kind of unfolding parts of his game that you know if you’re a team that’s trying to win you might not necessarily have the time to explore all of those yeah and I think you you touched on it there that they’ve brought in a lot of pieces but I think they’ve also needed to figure out the depth especially with backup point guard being one that I can’t say you can go into this off seasonason with Kobe Buffkin confidently being that guy without having bringing in even like a guy like just Corey Joseph or something who that was his role with the Magic and the Magic probably felt so happy they had signed him not thinking that he’d play as much as he ended up doing and not saying that he set the world on fire but that’s the those type of guys that you know are competent veterans that you can pay like a minimum salary to and they’re going to at least carry you to a couple games at a time for sure and I think too in in somebody that watched a lot of Corey Joseph when I covered the Pistons a few years ago you can’t um necessarily knock the effect that he can have on young point guards or young guards and and just sharing you know his experience i mean he does have a a ring if I’m not mistaken from the 2020 or 2014 um San Antonio Spurs so that’s not nothing whether or not he played a lot of minutes in those games is is a different but he still has that experience and and nothing um you know truly prepares somebody for you know longevity in the NBA than experience especially playoff experience and I think the biggest example of that is the Detroit Pistons which you saw it was combination of shooting and experience that they brought over with Tobias Harris Malik Beasley even Dennis Shruder and so Tim Hardway Jun Tim Hardaway another one that really gave Kate Cunningham and which I think in a similar with George Nang Harris Levert even with Dyson Daniels having a shot fall this year Zachary Reese this is a team that is get realizing they’re giving you know Trey Young guys who don’t need the ball in their hand but also when they do have the ball they’re able to to score effectively so two things a Larry Nance I’ve heard people report that he was a huge locker room presence but he played 24 games it was really weird how that was reported any insight in terms of like why was it kind of almost like m it was like not really ever clarified what went wrong he just he just got hurt um and they weren’t even like you know the like soft tissue injuries they were like bone injuries you know things that you just can’t really uh rush to heal i mean he had a a broken hand um you know a few games into the season where it kept him out for a few weeks as like the outside of his like his pinky his fifth finger and then in an Orlando a game against Orlando uh he basically broke his patella I think it was or something around like the knee area it’s a weird I never heard it before either the injury yeah so it’s it’s not that he wasn’t you know unwilling to play it was just that he had these freak injuries that you just like what what can you do it’s not even a a a knock against his durability like if you break a bone like you break a bone you know like what can you do um except like maybe put him in bubble wrap i don’t know um so again it’s not like muscle stuff where it’s like overuse or anything like that it’s just stuff that happened in games and like you can’t you can’t train a bone to not break i don’t know yeah does that does that explain I don’t know but you know it was more so I was asking in the sense that like it maybe it was almost so quietly how it was reported because he he was impactful in the beginning of the year when they they had him he has that like the the pinky injury like is out for a few weeks it felt like comes back and then immediately like disappears again and whenever he played he was impactful but then it was never like really like discussed like oh you know how everyone kept bringing up oh the shoulder injury for Jaylen Johnson like we knew it was a shoulder injury but like we just knew that Nance was hurt so that’s why I was more saying like oh it was just it felt way more quietly reported for sure I think too so like the game where the where Larry’s uh bone broke in the in the leg it was like he was driving into or at the basket for a layup and Fran Vagner was like defending him and like he went up to contest the shot and his leg went out and made contact with like Larry’s knee area and immediately just saw Larry go down and grab his knee and he need he couldn’t put any weight on it he needed help coming off the court so it was just I mean I don’t know maybe because at that point the Hawks um it was like right before the All-Star break too like literally like one game before the All-Star break so I don’t know if that affected why it was so quiet but and I knew he had just came back it felt like oh a week or two prior like it was like two or three weeks yeah yeah he didn’t get much stretch so with that being said it seems like they really valued a lot of their veterans this year and I know from conversations I had uh with people that they were deep in a Brandon Ingram like trade talks that was it seemed that they were hoping to bring Brandon Ingram to basically play the Jaylen Johnson role as a not like a rental they were going to extend give him similar extension but play that role so they can make a playin push they had that idea obviously that fell through but I think that mentality is telling that they were ready to like cash their chips in boo yeah and what is your thoughts with that they they have like two picks they clearly it it’s not that they have a luxury of cap space or anything but I would call it cap flexibility to do things especially bring back or just it’s not like a great free agent class we know trades are going to be there so what is your expectation with this team especially with what you said that they probably want to be somewhat competitive this year with Trey Young wanting to win yeah I think they just have to be like very careful with it i know uh a lot of people are super interested in a potential pairing between like say Trey Young and Giannis but I don’t know if that necessarily is the smart move just because of the situation with the draft picks after this this year you know they were they were fortunate to get that extra pick from New Orleans in the Dejonte Murray trade along with Dyson Daniels and Larry and um you know Larry’s on an ext uh expiring contract he’s going to be a free agent and so he’s one of the guys that I wouldn’t mind if they tried to resign um in fact I would love it if they did just because of how much of a positive influence he was on that locker room in terms of trying to keep you know everything together um because the the few seasons before there was just a lot of like fracturing in terms of just like different factions in terms of the locker room it’s not that they didn’t like being around each other or liked playing with each other or anything like that but it was just you could tell there were clear groups of players that were friends whereas this past season it was there was just so much free flowing in terms of the friendships in the locker room we couldn’t quite say this is a click or this is a click or that’s a click um and so you need guys like that that are going to create that sense of unity and camaraderie um and so yeah they do have you know some cap flexibility especially because they have quite a few trade exceptions that they need to use they still need to use the Dejante Murray one they still need to use the one from AJ Griffin um I don’t think they used all of that and then they still have from Bogdan Bogdanovich so you know they they they have some flexibility and they I do think they need to be very careful with it and if I’m them um you know guys like maybe Mo uh Kobe Buffkin um even V Cron Barlo you know maybe those are the guys that you try to package into something and get some more veteran depth but I I don’t know um you don’t want to mortgage your future especially when you don’t have you know draft picks over the next two years or one of them is a pick swap so yeah I I don’t know i don’t know what they’re going to do this team is definitely very confounding um because they haven’t necessarily taken big swings in free agency a lot of their big big swings have been more so trades um and then the other thing is is like there’s a soft mandate about the luxury tax and they’ve been very careful to stay under that the the last few years so um if this is the year that they don’t spare an expense then this is probably the year especially considering that Trey Young you know is extension eligible he also has a player option um next season so it’s like if you’re going to do anything now is the time to really start going in on it yeah and I know the Hawks have been a luxury tax team twice only uh in 2011 and in 03 I believe uh 03 being the first year luxury tax was put into effect so with that being said I I think you kind of touched on it there there’s kind of the operation is through trades now teams aren’t really sign you really don’t make it to free agency unless like you really wanted to go to free agency but no one really wants to go to free agency because you make more just signing the extension than either being traded or being traded to to the team that you’ll sign the extension kind of like Darren Fox with that I think Indiana if you look at a team to maybe to want to copycat because we’re in a copycat league they were able to trade for stars before they peaked we’ll say a Pascal Seakum or Tyrese Tyrese and I think Pascal was technically peaking but like I I feel like he’s underrated as all hell but holding on to T uh Miles Turner in this case I would be holding on to maybe a Trey Young and not making the wrong trade and having some smart lowcost trades or signings and finding some value either on the margins is what would help a team like Atlanta and do you think and I think going for a Giannis trade would be ostentatious of them because it’s just like you’d be giving up so much for a a twoman duo that will it work it’s it’s we’re playing a what if game and then the other thing too it’s like when you look at both Indiana and OKC it’s like yeah you have you know stars and Tyrese and and Shay but it’s really no longer much of a one-man operation anymore even like Boston last season kind of showed how much like you can’t rely even really on a big three you need the whole team to really uh make things work and so I think that’s the big thing with the Hawks is that you know it’s it’s it’s finding beyond just the big three so to speak and maybe filling out the roster with you know guys who as you said can peak at the right time you know Jaylen Johnson is kind of a good example of that and he’d be a good homegrown talent especially because his trajectory has been pretty steady since he’s gotten consistent minutes i think Zack is going to have a big year next year a guy like Viker again steadily improving over year-over-year um Mo finally started to get some consistent minutes and so um you know he might take a step forward and then if you can add some really good veteran oh I can’t believe I forgot him he’s been steadily getting better year over year and finally you know cracked the starting lineup and so I I think that if you can fill out around that you know really good core Dyson Daniels again why am I forgetting these names i think they do have a really solid core um and so I think the rest of the roster is like filling it out with you know good shooters who can consistently knock those shots down um I know shooters goes through slumps but it always feels like excuse me when the Hawks have their shooting slumps it’s like everybody’s slipping at the same time um and so I think the big thing yeah is you know finding another couple of key three and D guys and that’s to me where they really need to to really buckle down in the draft and and look at some of those options there yeah and to go off of everyone that you just said Dyson Daniels 66 you have Okongus we’ll give him a 69 george Niang 68 reese 68 69 uh Cray I think he’s not done growing yet Zach i’ve heard that i’ve heard that uh Creeche what a 68 jaylen Johnson almost 610 and that’s what I’ve always said was you needed to have a bunch of big guys from the a big two guard a big wing uh you know the center you need an athletic center around Trey Young because the year that they went on that run they had Kevin Herder Denil Gallari Solomon Hill Bogdon Bogdanovich Clint Capella everyone was 66 and above on that team that’s how you make up for having you know a six foot tall point guard yep and I I think especially what you’re seeing with the all these teams OKC and the Thunder you touched on it there that a there was a lot of homegrown talent there was it was it’s a team effort and the teams are usually maybe I think they usually have big centers a couple of them because that’s what you need but the rest of the roster everyone is kind of like 66 67 68 like very interchangeable in size so this is another reason why I thought kind of Landry Fields was axed was I think the brass the regime seemed like maybe hey we’re kind of in a good position to maybe take steps forward and we need how you said someone with experience to know how do we take the how what we just said put the chips forward in a way that like that someone’s done it before no offense to Landry like you’re you know you got the experience and maybe down the road you get a chance to do it again but they just felt like we’re in an opportunity we can’t f this up because we this is why another reason why I don’t think you trade Trey Young you’ll never get return on your investment that is truly comparable to the value that Trey Young is who he is statistically the best passer since Steve Nash yeah i think the other thing too is just like sadly there just hasn’t really I don’t know there just hasn’t really been much of a market for Trey and that’s not to say I definitely think he’s still one of those guys that’s super underrated um especially because of what he did this past season he’s really reshaped his game um and that’s not to say that you know he’s totally reshaped it there were still some moments where we saw some like very classic Trey Young um you know putting up shots that you were kind of like should you have taken that but uh for the most part you know he was what the Hawks really needed him to be and he was such a key part of that early run that they had to the uh in season tournament and so I definitely don’t think that they should trade Trey Young um because again it’s like what what what’s what are you going to get back for that i mean I don’t know if anybody’s going to give up three first round picks for a guard that’s 61 um we’re just not seeing that many of those nowadays and as you said just in that last statement alone it’s like they just want a lot of size in the league these days and so I I think the big thing is that you know they’re going to really have to use the draft to their to the best that they can this year and I mean maybe maybe they’re packaging those two picks into something that will net them a really good veteran shooter who can help you know create that sort of continued continuity that they’ve been missing between the first and second units um and especially if you know there’s an injury to someone um and so I I I do think you know if they can find somebody who can give them the production that they got out of DeAndre Hunter in that early stretch of the season as well I think that’s a huge key um I think the big thing is that they just have to find somebody that um you know it’s a little bit cheaper which is why they I think they did move on from DeAndre and kind of split that contract between Caris and and George Niang yeah and speaking of the the cheaperness I think Terrence man was a guy who played really well in the role that they had him play i do think the contract is a bit rich for how much he’s making uh for the role that he gave you and especially if they do want to bring back Caris and I think the ultimate goal would to be f to to find somebody who’s kind of maybe a short-term rental that can be like a starter in the interimm while Johnson shakes off the rust i assuming he’s ready for the start of the season yeah he’ll be ready for the start of the season is the indication that we’ve gotten from the team and um if you look at if you follow him on social media he seems to be going at full speed in terms of workouts and everything like that so um I think he’ll be ready to go by training camp um maybe those optional runs that they have before training camp um and I I think what’ll be interesting is you know in terms of what they’re like if they do sign a veteran you know who where does that move Zach because I think the big thing was that um you know they started DeAndre Hunter for the first two games and then he got hurt and that’s why Zach became a starter and they just kind of kept him in that role and so uh is that sort of what they envisioned for Zach for the rest of his career so we’ll see yeah and to go off that I feel like the starting lineup might have kind of been cemented once Johnson and everyone got healthy is Dyson at the two Reese at the three Johnson at the four gives at the five yep and Young and now you have Niang Levert Nyang shooting off the bench levert is the sixman you and the VH VR is kind of like the Swiss Army glue utilitarian who can play shooting guard small forward even like point guard at pinches so now you just need to find kind of like a rim running backup big man who can kind of do the same thing Okongu does but like maybe is a little bit bigger to give you some size i would even I have been saying I think the Hawks need another stretch five which is one of the reasons I think they they went out and got Larry or they got Larry in that trade is because he could stretch the floor and that’s one thing that Quinn Snder loves is shooters and so and I think the thing too is like when you look at this league and look at the the two teams that are in the finals what do they have yes they do have a traditional big and Isaiah Hartinstein or Hartinstein is that I can’t remember I’ve heard okay so I always thought it was Hartstein But I met people this past month that were all saying Hornstein and I know cuz he’s German i know cuz he’s German so I got thrown by it and now I’m saying Hornstein i used to say and no one said anything and then I started hearing people say Hornstein i’m gonna say Hornstein now too because I got thrown by it yeah well let’s we’ll go with Hartstein uh yes Hartinstein plays sort of like a more traditional big role um but look at Chad he’s spacing the floor you look at Cleveland and they have their two big lineup where Evan Mobley plays uh the four to start the game and then they shuffle things around when Allen goes to the bench and Mobly moves back to the five but Moy can stretch the floor and so um I do think that you could have a situation where you know whoever they draft could play minutes at the five but they can also play minutes at the four beside Okongu because I don’t think Okongu is quite a power forward um but if you can add say like a seven-footer beside him and in the minutes that Jaylen is on the bench I mean you could you could really mess around and have some really uh fun minutes in the in the front court there yeah and to go off of that like I was saying it’s like if you could basically clear up some money off of like Terrence man and we said earlier maybe Kobe Buffing that’s like 20 million you’re shaking off right there and that would either give you one guy that I think will be available with around their second pick is a Danny Wolf which I think a lot of people who’s a combo big i think he’s able to play both the four and five more offensively suited to play the four but defensively he’s not going to be able to guard the four but he’s not like you know not going to be a rim protector but he could really be that like kind of change of pace yingyang where the defensive guy you throw out Wolf there and I think I also think you can flip it where if he’s playing the five and you pair him alongside Jaylen Johnson that could also work out pretty well because Jaylen is pretty a pretty solid rim protector and I think that’s one of the reasons why we really see success between between him and Okongu together is that they really complement each other’s skills on both sides of the ball so I think you could kind of have something similar with uh with Wolfe who’s a little bit more of a a consistent shooter than Jaylen because that is kind of coming along a little bit more for Jaylen he’s still not quite where you would want him to be but I think you could kind of have that and Jaylen’s a lot more strong is a lot stronger defensively and so you can kind of have him pick up a little bit more of the slack I think with Wolf on that side of the ball yeah and I think that would be like their ideal draft like if they can get you know best player available with their top pick and then a Danny Wolf with that second one i do i don’t know this is something that made me to think once you were talking about you know looking for a guy who can pair with Jaylen Johnson and even Okongu is let’s say if they miss out on a Wolf or you know they go diff maybe package their pick and do something else they still need to figure out the front court spot do you think they could be a team that like a Santi Alama would be or an Isaiah Stewart or somebody that would like basically they are able to move off the Terrence man money and that creates like 20 million you have now who played the three the four and the five with the Grizzlies he’s kind of and now he could literally play with Johnson and and Okongo at the same time or with one of them and then Stewart is seems to be the odd man out i’m a huge fan if I say Stewart same same i and they he clearly is the odd man out just because they’re going to have to pay people and Dur figured things out this year so he’s a guy in the past was shooting four threes a game now they cut that down this year but he’s a another one who would be perfect to play next to Okongu for sure and I al I also think the other thing too is like he’s he’s sort of the toughness that this team is sort of missing as well like they need somebody and like they kind of got that out of George Niang uh just because he’s like such a a trash talker and um Isaiah Stewart kind of has like the attitude to to back it up a little bit more and so I I think and that’s the thing with this Hawks team is that you don’t really I’m not saying that I need somebody to go out there and you know start a fight every night because that’s not like yes I know Isaiah Stewart has developed that reputation when once the the whistle blows and the ball tips off and everything like that but you do need somebody who can like kind of invoke a little bit of fear into your opponents and I think this team this Hawks team sort of missed that i when I look at other teams I like I think you know KD is not somebody that I would want to piss off you know I would never want to piss off LeBron and then when I think of somebody on the Hawks there’s like not really anybody that I’m like I’m terrified to piss you off you know what I mean yeah like the James Johnson like I’ve been seeing all those James Johnson clips this past like week or two for sure and I mean granted the Thunder doesn’t really have that but you know Sheay backs it up with what he does on the court like I wouldn’t want to piss off Sheay so to speak i mean granted I wouldn’t want to piss off Trey Young either because I’d be terrified that Dorf i’ll give it They have that They have two Germans so yeah I I do think you kind of need that little bit of attitude um you know on her team and I think I love Isaiah Stewart for for his intensity he has such a high motor um you know the way that he runs the floor he gets back in transition and and they need more guys like that and to your point about complimenting Jaylen Johnson like can you imagine pairing them and Isaiah’s running down the court with him and you could have Jaylen lob to him and so and the thing with Isaiah is he’s does that consistently and so it’ll be interesting to see what happens yeah no completely and as I said earlier I feel like they’re literally a stones throw away from being a team i don’t know not even playing but being a top six seed in the East because if they can I feel like the the back end of the bench is like kind of figured out because they have the young guys and like Don Barlo Mo and and company that like you know you’re figuring it out but George Nang as we said Caris Lever Larry Nance like those if you can bring in as we said like a Danny Wolf if you can bring in an Isaiah Stewart and you keep the same starting five now you have a 10-man rotation right there that isn’t that especially if you can get a backup point guard that’s competent or at the very least a Cory Josephesque you’re I think the big thing is available too that’s the huge thing is that they just haven’t had a backup point guard that’s been a true backup point guard that’s been available and that’s like obviously the as we said the biggest availability or abilities availability and to me I I think the the trade market might be like the best route for them especially with these exceptions then going into free agency because you know uh all the best free agents this year are restricted and they have the exceptions that they need to use so if I’m getting at from what you’re from what you’ve told me is that if the Hawks are going to make roster changes it’s more than likely going to be via trade than you know making signings when the new league starts yeah especially because I think the really the only signing is if they’re ressigning their own guys because they can um but yeah I it’s hard for me to see them being able to bring in somebody like completely fresh and new but yeah if if I if I had to say if I were them I I kind of agree with you i would try to sort of move off that uh Terrence man contract just because one you could bring in um you know two guys for that or again you know you can use the trade exception too right because one it would create that trade exception but then you also have as we mentioned three others that they can utilize yeah exactly and that would give you a plethora of moves to do there not only the 20 million you’d create through Buffkin man but also being able to then do lateral moves with the other exceptions but that was everything I had to ask you Lauren today i thank you so much for that and by the way I wanted to we talked about it earlier you’re with the Constitution yeah you just dropped that post with Trey Young and basically tell us a little bit a little teaser about it and I’ll have link in the description for sure um so I got the opportunity to go to OKC for the first game of the finals um just because that’s where Trey Young is from and he graciously gave me a couple minutes of his time to to talk about um what he’s been up to this off season and just what he’s looking forward to um doing as far as trying to bring a championship to Atlanta just because you know watching the team that he’s kind of rooted for his whole life in the Thunder um you know it sort of brings a little bit more motivation to him to actually win one for for himself myself no that’s really cool that’s really cool and how was how long is the flight there to OKC it’s not that long it’s about 3 hours so it was just I think the big thing that really surprised me about that is that flights were ridiculous um I think because it must be because of the finals but a Delta non-stop flight was like close to $1,500 i know i was so shocked that’s not I was thinking like 500 you were about to tell me no I had to take a screenshot of it of it because I couldn’t believe it i wonder if I stomach my stomach just like hurt like I’m gonna find you the picture and this is through uh It’s like a trip to Europe exactly this is through like my work um this is like through my work uh like booking app i don’t know can you see oh my god yeah yeah i see it i see it yeah just Yeah yeah yeah wow that’s crazy i had to take a picture i couldn’t believe it but yeah so wow but it was a really fun experience um it was unreal watching Indie come back from you know being down at one point like 15 and being in the building for that it was just like dead silent at some moments with OKC fans is like the Pacers just steadily like cut into the lead in those last four or so minutes uh and then that Hallebertton shot was deflated like it’s kind of deflating yeah i mean nobody left because it was so close all the way down to the end of course but I just and like the thing is you can’t even like say anything about Kase Wallace’s defense really because he was with him basically the whole time yeah and then he pulled like Hallebertton just like pulled up and then hit that midi and you’re just kind of like did that really just happen so I know a lot of the OKC writers they were like this this was a lot like that Denver game a lot like that Denver game so that’s for my first finals experience I can’t complain yeah no that’s crazy that’s crazy what a what a great experience though for the first time i know i’m blessed very very blessed yeah jealous right here jealous blessed no but thank you Lauren for coming on that was everything and what’s it called i’ll make sure to also tag you when I socialize this perfect thank you take care bye bye bye

The Atlanta Hawks enter a pivotal offseason with a new-look front office and major decisions ahead. In this video, Cyro Asseo sits down with Hawks beat writer Lauren Williams from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to break down Atlanta’s offseason direction.

Check out Lauren and her work:
https://x.com/WilliamsLaurenL

https://www.ajc.com/sports/2025/06/hometown-thunder-motivates-hawks-trae-young-to-bring-nba-finals-to-atlanta/

We discuss what the recent front office shake-up means for the franchise’s future, how Quin Snyder fits into the decision-making process, which young players to watch, the Hawks’ biggest needs this summer, and what realistic expectations should be heading into the 2025-26 season.

Tune in for an in-depth conversation on where the Hawks go from here — and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more NBA offseason coverage!

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I own none of the footage in the video, it is intended for the purposes of critique and education.