Are Hawks ready for newfound expectations?

Are Hawks ready for newfound expectations?

What’s going on, Hawks fans? It’s Atlanta Basketball with Caleb Johnson, episode two. And hopefully you’ve gone back and listened to episode one. You’re uh following, you’re subscribing, you’re doing all of the things that make my bosses happy uh in order to get this content. There’s been a lot that’s happened since the last time that we talked, and that’s because there was an NBA draft. there was free agency uh opening and beginning and getting underway and causing a ton of chaos uh in the world of the NBA. So, we’re going to catch up with all of those things over the course of this episode. Also, I’m going to have a conversation with Asa Newell, the Atlanta Hawks number one or excuse me, their first round pick picked at number 23 this past uh NBA draft. Uh so, yeah, spoiler there if you didn’t know, Asa Newell out of Georgia is the new Hawks draft pick. I had a conversation with him at his introductory press conference that I’ll have for you later in the show. Uh but let’s first begin kind of where things left off as we talked about uh GM Anie Salah being a guy who had a lot of expectations I believe of kind of where this draft would go, how he would go about attacking free agency. Uh and then we’ve gotten to see his work in play. There was some conversation about whether Auntie Salah would be the guy in charge and that’s simply because the Hawks told us they were going to hire a president of basketball operations. They have not done so and I certainly I was one who said early on I wasn’t so sure that they were going to because of the glowing reviews that Anie Slaw had coming out of Golden State and previously spending some time with the Spurs. Uh, and then a guy like Messiah UI pops up right after the NBA draft as he was let go by the Raptors after they drafted, which seems insane. Not something you normally see uh in this NBA climate, but we’ve also seen coaches now get fired right before the playoffs uh and advance pretty well like we saw with the Denver Nuggets. So, anything can happen. the one of the best players in the NBA can get traded as we’ve seen with Luca Donic. So, all of these things can kind of go on at any point and you just gota keep with it and kind of follow things as they are. Uh, but for now and as I fully anticipate to see moving forward, Anie Salah is the guy in charge and he is someone who is gaining a lot of fans very quickly because of the moves that he’s making. And it it started last week with the fact that the Hawks traded with the Boston Celtics. It was actually a three-team trade in order to get Kristoffs Porzingis. I told you on the last episode going into the draft. I did not think that the Hawks wanted to take 13 and 22. And in fact, they took neither 13 or 22 as we’ll get into uh within this episode. But, uh, taking Christophs Borzingis is adding veteran leadership and ability to this team that was already really young. And when you’re trying to build a championship contending roster, you want to have youth. You certainly want to have youth. And we saw the Oklahoma City Thunder be a team that was so young that when it came time to pop champagne, they literally didn’t know what to do. So, youth is clearly important, but you don’t want to go too young. And I think Anie Slaw realized that with the Hawks and so he took the 22nd pick that the Hawks had acquired as a part of the Dejante Murray trade with the Pelicans that got them Dyson Daniels and the 22nd overall pick uh in this year’s NBA draft. He packaged that together with Terrence man and with George Niang included the Brooklyn Nets as a part of this deal and made a deal happen where you get Chris Tops Perzingis a guy who Yes. It’s going to be talked at nauseium about his injury history and the injury history is there where the man has not played a full NBA season and like eight seasons I think something like that and hasn’t really played close to a full season since he was in a contract year with the Washington Wizards. All of that being aside like when you’re making moves in order to improve your team you’re taking on some sort of risk. And the risk that the Hawks are willing to take on this time is in order for us to get Christophs Christophs Porzingis, we’re going to have to deal with the risk of his injury history because he is 7 foot2. He is a guy who blocks a ton of shots and he can stretch the floor and shoot outside the ark. So, all of those things are things that the Atlanta Hawks needed and they got that. Now, uh it goes into the conversations that are always going to be fun and interesting to have as to who is going to start in Atlanta. Uh but I certainly think the most pressing issue kind of happening is the simple fact that uh you improved your team. You gave up George Niang and Terrence Man uh guys who you acquired at the deadline, but Terrence man had a awful awful contract. uh and just in terms of the type of production that he was bring bringing to the Hawks. You can look at his numbers, his numbers looked fine, but when you start watching the actual games, his impact on the floor was just not big enough for the new contract that he is about to take on. And so you were able to ship him to the Brooklyn Nets who have the cap space to take on that contract. Uh and then you get one year of Kristoff Sporzing at about $30 million a year in order to essentially prove it. he can prove it to himself, to the Hawks, maybe get a new deal moving forward, or you were able to improve your team and not lock yourself into something long-term if, heaven forbid, uh, that Kristoff’s injury history pops up again and is a problem and is something that isn’t able to help your team. So, uh, by giving up, uh, you know, Terrence man and George Nang, you are able to take a second round pick along with Christophsis with that Brooklyn Net steel. Uh, and so you you do get some draft capital in return. Uh, but getting Chris Hops for his was clearly the biggest pressing issue that you had at that point. Uh, and it it made you better. And so it was really good to see that the Hawks were able to go do that. Then draft night came up and on draft night you were walking into the NBA draft with the 13th overall pick and there was a ton of options that this team could have gone and we talked about a few of those on the last episode. Well, the Hawks decided they knew that New Orleans Pelicans wanted Derek Queen. And how did they know that? Well, it might just be because one of the new assistant GMs in Atlanta was the former GM in New Orleans, uh, and that’s Bryson Graham, a guy who had been a part of scouting Dyson Daniels and clearly had some belief in him, uh, but was not necessarily a decision maker in New Orleans. And as Joe Dumar came in and he brought in Troy Weaver, Troy Weaver, uh, and both Joe Dumar and Troy Weaver were of the Pistons previously, you know, that Pistons regime that had 27 straight losses. Yeah. The Pelicans thought those were the guys to hire. So, they come down and take over the Pelicans organization. And after already getting fleeced in the trade last year of Dejonte Murray going to New Orleans and the Hawks getting Dyson Daniels and that 22nd pick that I mentioned they flipped in a and a part of the Christophs Porzingis deal. The Hawks then go on draft night take that 13th pick and say, “Hey New Orleans, we know that you desperately want Derek Queen because Troy Weaver, your assistant GM uh or he might be GM, but he’s underneath the president of basketball ops Joe Dumars. Troy Weaver’s son was on the Marilyn Terrapens coaching staff. So clearly there was a relationship there. They were all really interested in Dererick Queen and they decide in order to get the guy that we want we have to give something up. And so essentially Anie Salah had the New Orleans Pelicans over a barrel and that meant getting a 2026 firstround pick that is the best of the Milwaukee Bucks or the New Orleans Pelicans. And I don’t expect either of those teams to be particularly good, especially if things begin unfolding as they have uh so far in the last 24 hours, which is some things we’ll we’ll get to in just a bit. But in order to make that deal, you get a 2026 first round pick, which could very likely be top five at the worst top 10. Uh you know, because I just don’t expect the Pelicans to be a good basketball team next year. And if the Bucks go and end up to an extent blowing it up and trading away Giannis Takoupa, which is very very likely, then you know the Bucks could have the better position. And as we just saw with this past year’s draft, it doesn’t even have to be the best odds to get the number one overall pick. I mean, the Mavericks had less than a 2% chance of landing that number one overall pick to get Cooper flag and it still happened. So clearly the Hawks having the best odds of the Pelicans and of uh the Milwaukee Bucks just really improves their odds of having a great first overall pick next year. Uh and it’s it’s going to be fun to see how that all turns out. Once that trade was over, the Hawks were then left with a position of drafting number 23 overall and they decided to go the Georgia kid as Newell out of the University of Georgia. someone who was able to to talk to us on draft night and said, “Yeah, I grew up a Hawks fan.” Because he lived uh in Athens until he was 10 years old and then he moved around to Florida, but he grew up a Hawks fan. He grew up with a Cal Corver jersey, which is just crazy to me uh that those sorts of things can all kind of coincide together. Now, Kyle Corver did release some information that was inaccurate, saying that he was traded from the Atlanta Hawks organization for a pick that ended up turning into Kevin Herder and the Kevin Herder pick then turned into 13, which then was flipped to 23 to ASA New. So, he was trying to make the connection that Cal Corver was directly connected to Ace Newell. However, after some some research, Kevin Shernard of Atlanta Hawks.com was able to look it up and find out that no, it was in fact Omari Spelman. That’s who was traded for uh that or excuse me, no, no, Adrien Payne, it was Adrien Payne was the selection uh that Kyle Corver was traded for when he left the Hawks. And so, those two aren’t necessarily connected in that way. Uh, but they certainly are connected by the fact that ASA grew up a big Hawks fan and is able to add to this organization in hopefully a very productive way that I think based on other moves that the Hawks have made recently allow for that growth to happen. I think slowly someone who uh Asa I expect him as he is a bit undersized to play the five uh but as you’ll see in the interview I was able to have with him at his introductory press conference I think will be just fine uh for the position that he plans to play but uh definitely has some size to grow into as he’s just 19 years old at that 6’8 6’9 frame uh is someone who is very active at the rim uh and a strong defender. All things the the Atlanta Hawks are looking to add, but as I mentioned, has that room to grow and develop as a player, probably will spend a lot of his time in College Park, which is not always a bad thing. I know sometimes Hawks fans see a guy get drafted, then spend time in College Park and think, “Oh no, we blew it and the pick is not good.” But as we’ve clearly seen from a guy like Jaylen Johnson, uh getting to develop down in the G-League system with all of those guys who are very talented coaches and have the same uh verbiage with Quinn Snyder and this Atlanta Hawks organization, it makes the transition very easy and very beneficial, I think, for those players. And so it’s not necessarily a bad thing to see that happen. And I will be interested to see Ace’s growth into a player that is able to contribute to the Atlanta Hawks on a regular basis because I do think the qualities that he has, although he is very often talk about being that tweener type position um which sometimes struggles to to find their footing in the NBA and and I think a lot of people think his ceiling is just a rotational guy, but when you’re building an organization that is trying to win a championship, rotation guys and guys who know their role are so vital to your organization that not everybody has to be a star. Even if that’s exactly, you know, that’s what you’re looking for in the draft when you’re drafting guys is the ones who blow up and turn into a big star. But having safe rotational players who do their job and do it well is vital to you as an organization. And so I think what the Atlanta Hawks have gotten in Ace Newell is really going to benefit them on top of, as I mentioned, having that 2026 first round pick, the better of the Bucks and the Pelicans. All right, I want to get to now that conversation that I was able to have with Asa Newell at his introductory press conference. Uh Asa is just a really fun uh just interesting kind of personality type of guy. And so I think you’ll see that he’s going to be an exciting presence to have with this Hawks organization for quite some time. Sports Radio 99 the game and the Odyssey app. It’s Caleb Johnson here with the Hawks new draft pick Asa Newell out of Georgia. Now Ace, I want to start off by asking you, you are the second Georgia player to be drafted by an Atlanta team this year after we saw Jaylen Walker go uh to the Falcons. Do you have any kind kind of relationship with Jaylen or been able to kind of see him at a distance and and what’s that like to to have a fellow Georgia guy drafted in the same city as you?
Yeah, I mean it means a lot, you know, seeing that, you know, the University of Georgia is a elite athletic program and athletic school, but you know, my brother knows him a little bit. Um, but you know, I’m ready and excited to meet him.
Yeah. Now you come from the MV background where a lot of you you mentioned it earlier in your press conference a lot of big stars have kind of come out of there. Uh when did you know that guys not only from yourself but you you see the Cooper flags you see the Derek Queens. When did you kind of know that you guys were were building something truly special that was going to translate to the league? Yeah. I think after we lost um in our in our our playoffs, we we all made a promise to stay home. like we don’t have to go to, you know, a school that we can average 25 at. Like let’s really hunker down. And you know, after like the first three or four games, it was like, hold on, we might have something really special here. And then we had an undefeated season. Um, and you know, going to college, it was all our thought process to go one and done. And it’s just a huge accomplishment that we were able to do that.
Now, I you’re a lefty, correct?
That’s right.
All right. Were you handwriting everything always a lefty or is it just the the shooting stroke that kind of came that way?
No, everything’s left-handed.
Uh do you have any I know you mentioned Chris Bosch earlier being one of those guys. Do you have any other guys that you kind of remember uh being those lefty? Because I looked it up earlier just for you and 9% of the NBA are lefties. Uh do you any of those names kind of stick out that you might remember?
Uh isn’t Jiren Jackson a lefty?
Jiren Jackson. Yes,
he’s one of those.
Bill Russell was a lefty. Uh it started going through the list and like some pretty big names stick out. Kobe Buffin as well, your current teammate is also a a lefty.
James Harden.
Yeah, James Harden as well. Did anyone try to push you towards that that right side just because it’s more natural for everyone else or is that something that you just kind of always stuck with? No, I always stuck with it and you know my shooting motion’s good and you know everyone told me it’s harder to guard a lefty so I wanted the the biggest matchup problem.
That’s true. Uh when it comes to positionally like what you want to to have translate to the NBA uh kind of coming in like the the outside people will say maybe you’re undersized for that center position that that five role. Uh, how do you kind of see your abilities and and what you want to do as far as playing the four, the five, or however the Hawks want to use you?
Yeah, like like you said, I want to do whatever the Hawks need me to do. Um, but I see myself as a power forward. Um, and you know, with the ability to play a small ball five depending on the matchup and depending how we want to play. Um, whether it’s running in transition or um, you know, spacing the floor, that’s what I’m here to do. Um, but I got to put definitely put some size on me and that’s something I’m working on and super excited to to do.
All right. Well, Asa, we’re super excited to have you in Atlanta and uh can’t wait to have many more conversations, man.
Yeah, that’s my conversation with Asa Newell, the Atlanta Hawks uh 23rd pick in the first round of this past year’s NBA draft. Look, I I think the the sky’s is the limit for what Asa Newell is going to bring as far as if you are realistic with his expectations of of what he can add to this team. I think year one very very low expectations of what he will actually add to this roster just simply because as he mentioned he’s still 19 years old. He’s still got uh a a you know younger body, a frame that he’s got to build into. who’s got to add muscle and then just some of those things come with age and it’s a little bit different as far as his skill set and his abilities versus a Zachary Reza who was in the same position but just if if we’re being honest the talent level that Zach brought in was was higher uh than that of Ace Newell and that’s kind of why you see the difference there to some extent. Uh now apart from drafting Asa Newell with that pick in the first round, the Atlanta Hawks then turned their attention this past start of the week into free agency where 5:00 p.m. on Monday night things started falling and you know teams are snatching up players and everything is kind of going down. Uh, and the Atlanta Hawks were a team that you weren’t seeing any moves with their name attached to it as you did see a team like Clint, excuse me, a team like the Rockets who were involved with picking up Clint Capella that we now learn has been a sign and trade move that earns the uh Atlanta Hawks a second round pick so they get something in return for making that move happen uh for the Houston Rockets. We kind of knew that Clint wasn’t going to come back based on how he had worked out this past season. And I mean, there was talks even before this past season that maybe he would get traded. He stuck around at the trade deadline. There was a very awkward situation where he was going through an injury and he also had uh some some personal things going on. He had a child that was being born and so he stepped away from the organization and you wondered if he was get going to get moved. he didn’t end up getting moved and then uh the the thought of him adding something to this team after that trade deadline, he came back and then ended up suffering an injury, stepping away from the team and was uh gone for the rest of the year. So, it’s a very awkward situation towards the end of Clint Capella’s time with the Atlanta Hawks, but he now gets that reunion where his NBA career began with the Houston Rockets. Another name that was of course attached to the Atlanta Hawks because it was a name that they uh surely were looking to to add back to their team. Harris Levert. He goes and signs a deal with the Detroit Pistons on what I would consider to be a pretty teamfriendly deal. Like it wasn’t a ton of money being thrown Caris Levert’s way. And yet he signed it with the Pistons and not with the Hawks. and and you’re left thinking, well, the Hawks traded DeAndre Hunter in order to get George Nyang, uh, Caris Levert, and uh, those couple of second round picks, but surely you would have want to keep those players. And so, I did see someone who hit me up on social media and was like, “Okay, so essentially you took uh, the Bogey Bogdanovich deal that got you Terrence man and you took the DeAndre Hunter deal. you combined those two players and you got back uh Christophs Porzingis in a roundabout way. Sure. Uh but I think you were really looking at the contract that DeAndre Hunter was on and wanting to get off of that and just not really seeing especially with his injury history, not seeing that as something you wanted to be attached to long term. And so that’s why you cut bait with that deal when you did. Uh, and so it it’s difficult because I know fans and I even tweeted about it. The fact that it looks like, oh, the two guys that you traded for, you then traded away or lost in free agency as you did with Caris Levert. And so, what are you really left with after the DeAndre Hunter trade? Well, I think you’re left with a much freer cap space situation, which is going to give you a lot of options in the future to add talent. and you just you you got away from a player that had high upside when available. Uh but I think had just kind of run its course as far as his relationship with the Atlanta Hawks organization and him wanting to to look to to potentially, you know, be somewhere else. And I think everyone’s happier after the the split and kind of move on from there. But when Monday came and you saw Clint go and you saw Caris go and you saw some other names that were attached to the Atlanta Hawks potentially your your Sam Howers, uh your Tai Jeromes, uh your Dennis Shruters, like all of these names started binging bing bing just going getting out of here being gone. Then you started to wonder, okay, well it seems like the name that had been floated around the most with the Atlanta Hawks was Nquille Alexander Walker. Surely that’s the guy that they want to go get. And yes, that is eventually the deal that the Atlanta Hawks make uh as they go and get Nquil Alexander Walker on a 4year deal. So someone he is someone that they want to be want to have around long term uh and and give him a a nice chunk of change, $62 million overall. We’re not sure exactly how that contract is set up just yet, but that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $15.5 million a year. Uh, and that is quite the the upward swing for Nikquil Alexander Walker who was making just $4.5 million with the Minnesota Timberwolves. But with the Timberwolves having to pay uh some of their big players like Nas Reed and like Julius Randall, that g gave an opening for the Atlanta Hawks to go out and make a deal like this happen. Not long after going to get Nquille Alexander Walker, we then find out that the Atlanta Hawks had signed a free agent, Luke Canard. This is a guy from the Grizzlies, one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA. That is statistically when it comes to the fact that he has been uh the highest three-point percentage shooter, 45 a.5% over the last five seasons. And he does that at a really high clip. Like as far as uh it’s about 10 attempts per 100 possessions. It’s very nerdy way of saying he shoots threes a lot in games and he makes a lot of those threes. And I did see some online discussion of okay well the Atlanta Hawks essentially just went out and got a more expensive Garrison Matthews. And I don’t think that’s the case. I think they got a a more talented player just quite honestly in his ability to shoot the ball but also handle the rock because something that’s going to be very important for this Atlanta Hawks organization this year is getting Trey to not spend so much time as the primary ball handler uh but also just not on the floor altogether I think as much as we’ve seen the usage rate that Trees had and the minutes that he’s played over the last few seasons uh just kind of climb up and up and up and up. And I think by acquiring a guy like Nikquille Alexander Walker, who is also in his own right a very good three-point shooter, but also a really, really strong perimeter defender. That is something that the Atlanta Hawks, I think, needed to add to because you do have Dyson Daniels, but just because you have Dyson doesn’t mean that the Buck needs to stop there. to have someone who can come off the bench and provide additional defensive support or just matchup wise, not not even necessarily just has to be with the bench, but you can play a lot around with with lineups, I believe, in order to get matchups that are really strong for you defensively, but then as I mentioned, Nquil Alexander Walker brings the offensive aspect as well, uh, for him to be able to contribute to this team. Luke Canard, someone who yeah, he’s not the greatest defender. That’s c like there’s no reason to kind of hide that sort of thing or talk around it. It certainly is something that you have to uh kind of manage and and figure out and and strategize of of how you want to handle that. Uh I would assume he’s not going to be on the floor a whole lot with Trey Young. Certainly wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense there, but he is also he is someone who has ball handling abilities. Uh, and so whether you want to run small lineups with, uh, you know, potentially having Dyson Daniels handle the Rock and Luke Canard as a potential shooting option, whether you want to make Luke a potential point guard option to handle the ball or whether you really will move forward with Kobe Buffin in that potential point guard role as he was brought into this organization. really thought he kind of started to show the tendency of being more of a two guard and and I’d heard a lot of the discussions around Kobe being in that light, but if the Hawks need him in a different role, I’m sure he’ll be fine handling that and the the Hawks have a lot of expectations because they did draft him after all. So, you would like to see your draft pick turn into something and so far the only thing he’s turned into at this point has been an injury liability. And so you you want to give him that additional opportunity this next season. It appears at least that’s what the Hawks want to do. Uh and give him that opportunity and see how that works out. I do think for Hawks fans, you have to be realistic about your expectations of addressing needs because so far the Atlanta Hawks have addressed a ton of needs. They added size through drafting uh and then acquir you know or excuse me through drafting Ace Newell and then acquiring Chris Porzingis but then through free agency through sign and trade getting Nquil Alexander Walker getting Luke Canard they addressed shooting issues that they had as well as upgrading their defense on the bench and these are a lot of things that make this team a lot better. They still have a need I believe at that three position uh at that forward position and as well at the big role because you did let Don Barlo go you decided not to exercise that option for him this upcoming season and then we just learned uh earlier in the day on Tuesday that Larry Nance Jr. is going to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is someone that I thought might sign a vet minimum deal with the Atlanta Hawks, but he has decided to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that he spent some time with. And uh that means you’re you’re you’ve got a hole right now that you’re going to be trying to fill. I had seen some names pop up that certainly would be interesting as to whether or not the Hawks would want to add. Uh, I know my buddy uh Glenn Willis had mentioned Movagner is out there as the Orlando Magic decided not to bring him back. Al Horford is certainly a name that’s going to be on the market. But you have to wonder about as far as uh the type of money that he’s going to want and then picking a team. Does he want to go back to the Hawks or will he want to go out west to a team like the Lakers? Thomas Bryant, who is coming off of it uh almost winning a championship, getting so close. Game seven, he was with the Indiana Pacers. Is he a name that you want to bring back? Alex Lynn certainly someone that the Hawks have experience with at this point in his career. Is he kind of that low-level center, that third option off the bench? Uh, Precious Precious Aua is certainly gonna be an option as well. As well as Jackson Hayes, someone who at one point was rumored to be in a Lakers deal that was going to involve Trey Young. It was a very silly thing a while back, but so certainly there are some options available to the Atlanta Hawks in order to get that third center. Would have loved honestly for for it to have been a guy like Larry Nance Jr. who because of the injuries that he suffered this past season really didn’t get to fully show what he could bring to this team. The most important thing that he brought was his offthe- court ability, his veteran leadership and all that sort of thing to help out a young locker room that I thought he did a really good job with. Him and George specifically. Those were two guys that I think handled the veteran responsibilities of a locker room really well with the Atlanta Hawks as as Trey Young uh of course did as well and kind of blossomed into a different leadership role. But those guys kind of handled those things more naturally. Unfortunately, they’re no longer a part of this team. And so, you are going to be leaning on Trey Young more as a leader in this team. And it is interesting to see in all of the reports going on with the signing of Nikquil Alexander Walker as well as going to get uh Luke Canard that those were both CAA clients and shared an agent with Trey Young. And and so all of the reports were that Trey Young was very active in those discussions of recruiting those guys to the team. We’ve heard of Trey doing this in the past as he tried to get De Jante Murray and eventually did get him there. Uh that one didn’t particularly work out, but it is always good to see that your team star player is actively recruiting players and eventually getting them to come and join your organization. So hopefully we see that kind of continue on. Now, one of the things that I wanted to get into over the course of this podcast as we kind of wrap this thing up and get towards a close is the thing I am most concerned about with the Atlanta Hawks heading into this upcoming season is expectations because the expectations have changed for this team. This is a team that finished ninth in the Eastern Conference a year ago, were fighting for their lives. And obviously Jaylen Johnson was not a part of that team and there was a lot of different pieces kind of moving around. Uh injuries certainly played a part in the Hawks finishing ultimately where they did. But acquiring Christophs Fzingis, going out and getting Nikio Alexander Walker, getting a a guy and a dominant three-point shooter like Luke Canard, adding him to this roster that already has Trey Young, that already has Tyson Daniels, that already has Anko Congu, Zachary Reese in year two, uh, and hopefully a healthy Jaylen Johnson. All of these things have changed the expectations nationally about the Atlanta Hawks. They’ve gone from a team that was forgotten and discussed only when it came to, hey, let’s trade for Trey Young and now they’re being discussed as a potential top team in the Eastern Conference. It makes me extremely uncomfortable because I don’t nec necessarily know that the Hawks have handled expectations so well in the past. I mean, if you remember, this is a team that coming from the Mike Benhoer days of when you were competing in the East, you were getting to those conference finals and you were ultimately getting knocked out uh by LeBron James that you were not really f you weren’t following up those years with great results. You were kind of lesser and lesser each year. you went from conference finals to the conference semis to getting bounced out of the first round to following that in a dead period. Then you get back with with Lloyd Pierce uh in a disastrous season quite honestly in that 2020 year that saw you acquire talent the way that the Hawks did this year, but that talent wasn’t working out early on. You cut ties with Lloyd Pierce. You bring in Nate McMillan who was that lead assistant. he does run you to eventually making it to the conference finals again where you’re knocked out by the Bucks and eventually uh you go into that off season where the thought was well we’re just going to bring everybody back that help us get to this point instead of trying to get better. Those expectations and all of that was met with getting bounced out of the playoffs by the Miami Heat the next season. You then follow that up with a pretty disappointing year uh with Nate McMillan where he gets fired and then you bring in Quinn Snyder, but expectations are then low at that point because he’s a new head coach and you get bounced out by the Boston Celtics. You’ve then followed that up by a couple of years in a row of getting knocked out of the playin. Um, and just I worry about expectations for this team as I was recently asked where could the Atlanta Hawks organization end up in the regular season? And I don’t know that this has necessarily been, at least to this point, this has not been a good regular season team. And so expectations, sure, you could be the third best team in the Eastern Conference because I I think the New York Knicks are still going to be up there as a dominant team. I think the Cleveland Cavaliers as far as a regular season team are still going to be in that conversation. I do think like even though Boston is taking a backseat by selling off talent and eventually like obviously this past season or this upcoming season I should say not having Jason Tatum, I still don’t know that they’re going to take an absolute backseat in the entire conference. Uh I certainly do think the Indiana Pacers do because you have no Tyresese Hallebertton and you did lose Miles Turner as he signed a deal uh and you know kind of shocked a lot of different people with his ultimate destination of going to the Milwaukee Bucks. But the Bucks, who were a team potentially up in this mix, uh, if they have Giannis, decided to release Damen Lillard and stretch out his contract over the next, I believe, five seasons. And apparently that upset Giannis Antmpo, he potentially could ask out. So, is there a trade scenario in which the Atlanta Hawks could acquire Jiannisko? It’s possible. It’s certainly there. The framework is there. You’d be giving up a lot of draft picks. you’d be giving up Jaylen Johnson, probably on Yako Congo as well, if not more players. Uh, but the framework is certainly there. But I think the expectations even before doing some kind of blockbuster deal like that are skyhigh for this Hawks team. And it concerns me because I just don’t I do not think that the Hawks have handled expectations particularly well in the past. Uh, and with a Detroit Pistons team that’s getting better, an Orlando Magic team that’s gotten better in this off season, there there are a lot of teams that are going to be up in the mix and I think the Hawks are certainly amongst that mix, but they haven’t shown us so far that they’re a good regular season team. And I think at this point, they’re going to have to prove it to us. So, I know some people believe them to be and and I even mentioned that they have the potential to be a top three team, but let’s go from a team that was ninth in the East a year ago and say let’s just simply make the playoffs without having to be in the playin round. Let’s let’s leave the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat in the past and not be in that playin type of scenario uh and find yourself fifth or sixth in the East. And I think you will look back on this as a successful run, especially if you’re able to get to the second round of the playoffs. That’s the part that I’m more paying attention to is whether or not the the Hawks are a top two or three team in the East, I think unlikely and also not incredibly important, but whether or not the Hawks are able to advance past the first round into the second round, I think that is where they are going to measure their success far more than anything else. That’s going to do it for my time here on Atlanta Basketball with Caleb Johnson. Please make sure to tell your friends, tell your family, tell your enemies, tell anyone about this podcast. Give it a follow. Uh, and as always, do all of the the rating, the subscribing, the fun nitty-gritty stuff as I mentioned at the top. Uh, that gets me all of the thumbs up from my bosses. Uh, but for my time here on Atlanta Basketball with Caleb Johnson, you guys take care and we’ll talk again next week.

In a busy week the Hawks acquired new talent through trades, free agency, and the draft. With Onsi Saleh at the helm, the Hawks new players have brought a new sense of expectations from many national pundits who see Atlanta as a top team in the East. Is that really a fair expectation given this team lived in the play-in tournament the last three seasons? We’ll cover who is and is not a part of this new team moving forward, as well as needs the team still has in this week’s episode of Atlanta Basketball with Caleb Johnson.

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