Atlanta Hawks 2025 NBA Summer League Preview, Kobe Bufkin, Nikola Djurisic, Adam Flagler, and more

Atlanta Hawks 2025 NBA Summer League Preview, Kobe Bufkin, Nikola Djurisic, Adam Flagler, and more

On today’s show, an annual tradition with Glenn Willis of ATL29 joining the podcast to preview Summer League in two-part fashion. Part one coming up right now. You are Locked On Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello friends, welcome to episode 2018 of the Lot on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Tuesday evening into Wednesday and today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at Monarch Money. Take control of your finances right now 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 a locked on hawks your first listen each and every day. Check us out and subscribe to the podcast anywhere you find your podcast. You can find us on Apple and Spotify. We’re also on YouTube, so please like this video as you are watching it and tell your friends about the show as well. I’ll be joined in a moment by my good friend Glenn Willis of ATL29 for a two-part edition of the podcast. We do this every year. This is actually going to be part one and part two will be available in this same podcast feed as soon as part one is finished. With that said, there is one news item to hit on quickly at the top of the show. Um, not having anything to do with the Hawks doing media on Tuesday. We’ll hit on that later on this week if we need to. No huge huge news out of that. But within only moments, less than an hour after the last episode was posted, episode 207, David Rody was waved by the Hawks. If you heard that show, you will know that I referenced on that podcast that it was a chance he could be waved between when I recorded it and when I posted it. That didn’t quite happen. I was able to get it up and posted for about 45 minutes and then he was waved right after that. So, no surprise at all. It was kind of funny the way that it all transpired and uh my apologies on the timing of that, but there you go. The podcast is relevant for a few hours and uh David Rody no longer on the roster and the Hawks now have technically two official open two-way slots as I record this podcast on Tuesday evening. All right, the rest of the show will be focused on summer league. Stay tuned. Here we go with myself and Glenn Willis and part one of two. I am joined once again by a great friend of the podcast. This is now basically an annual ritual of some kind. We look forward to it. This is the ultimate sicko content. I would say a summer league preview episode in real deep fashion. Glenn Willis is here. Hello, sir. How are you? I’m good. Uh apart from the day job craziness. Uh been managing a cyber incident since Wednesday and still still going on. Um but this will be a nice break uh from that craziness. Uh and this is one of my most fun pods that we do. every every single year. Hopefully, um, you know, Hawks fans enjoy learning a bit a little bit about players that are on the on the roster and what we can expect and all that. Yeah, I did sort of an over they announced the roster on Thursday, which is right before July 4th, and I kind of did a a one segment, one and a half segment overview of the roster, just be like, hey, this has got announced and there was some uncertainty about who’s going to play. And I kind of thought it was funny and I told some for office guys this. They were very cloak and dagger like I would say unnecessarily so on and who was going to play summer league and who wasn’t like I was just it’s okay it’s not that it’s not that serious. So that was more of what that was like was like hey this is actually who’s going to be there and then today we’ll kind of dig in a little bit more and um I make the joke often but you are one of the few people actually in the building in Las Vegas that is like really watching all of the basketball. It’s definitely like an NBA convention especially after the first few days it’s like kind of not a die it’s really die hards only that are watching and I know you are. So, I I appreciate you digging in in this preview. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We Kevin and I talked a little bit on ATL and 29 last night and I said one of my one of the two things I enjoy the most are going to the small gym and sitting right behind the bench and because I mean even now like terminology is changing. They’re calling the things an act an offensive action they were calling something three years ago. They’re calling something different now. So, it’s a great way to kind of keep up with that. Uh and the other thing is just to see the players react to to the coaching. you could see, you can visibly see some guys are processing the coaching instructions just like that. Other guys, uh, you know, especially if this is their first time in the NBA context, what does that term mean? Do I really understand what the coach is asking me to do? Uh, and then but if you take a step back, if you and I like to pick three or four teams and watch them through the week and see the players get a little better at the things they’re being asked to do from game one to game two, the to game three to that’s that’s real sicko level stuff. But it’s that’s so much fun to to see these guys and and you have an appreciation for the the young players that are really trying to take to heart what they’re being asked to do and and all that sort of stuff. So, uh, if you enjoy, if if you’re going to just watch kind of flashy stuff or whatever, then have fun. That’s totally fine way to watch basketball. But for me, it’s really more around, uh, watching these these young guys kind of grow right before our very eyes across a week and a half a time or so. Yeah, this will come up for sure on some of the players talk about, but I was I wanted to ask you at the top like what people not necessarily should be looking for, but could be looking for like what what can we learn like how does summer league basketball work? Like for instance, this is just one example, but I was talking to someone the other day. It’s like it’s kind of a guard. It’s kind of a guard league in summer league. Like it’s kind of hard for some guys to really pop if they’re not on ball players in particular. That kind of that’s like a long-h held belief. It’s like it’s basically it’s it’s not pickup. Like there’s they’re running stuff, but it’s not like the same NBA actions that you would normally see run perfectly, all this stuff. So like big picture like what can you observe? What can we learn about you know any of these guys as far as summer league is concerned? Yeah. I mean, I I I think back about like all the different things I’ve seen across the years that I I’ I’ve been there. The interesting thing is is you watch a team and you can pretty quickly realize kind of what they’re prioritizing. Some teams will take their top two to three players is trying to get specific types of game experience, certain types of reps for them, and that’s what they’re prioritizing. On the other end of the spectrum, the Hawks are trying to run concepts and want their players to really kind of buy into that. um feels like as the Hawks put this team together, uh they really are trying to prioritize players that will come in and buy in not to just what their individual opportunity is, but what they’re trying to run as a team, uh and all those sorts of things. And so you see different things and some teams are like, “Hey, we have two guys. We’re really just trying to develop them. Everyone else is a supportive role and our secondary or tertiary priority.” Other teams like the Hawks are trying to build up certain habits and concepts uh and all that sort of stuff. So, it’s it’s it’s a mix of this team might have priorities that look like this, this team might have priorities that look like this, and uh still enjoyable to kind of kind of watch whatever context the team is uh trying to emphasize for for their team. Yeah, this is an interesting group the Hawks have, and we’ll talk about the players, but they have some older guys. Got some in their upper 20s that it’s, you know, that have been around, played in a lot of different leagues and settings, and that’s helpful. You got guys who are returners to the reg to the organization who’ve been around for a couple years but know the stuff, know the systems. This is the same, you know, coaching staff that’s been there for, for instance, like Buffkin’s entire career. Um, you know, Uruchic has been around. Even someone like Dwight Murray, who’s just a College Park guy last season, like has been around, like knows the system very well. I did want to ask you because it was probably I joked about it when I did the podcast the other day. The number one thing I got questions about was who wasn’t playing. I I wonder if you have any any thought at all about like Risha and Mo Gay not being I guess Katon Wallace too, but Katon’s a free agent so like we just can’t know what’s going on there in the same way. But right is playing in France this summer. I’m sure that was part of this too but Mo Gay like did you were you alarmed? Were you like hey I understand like did you have any strong reaction to those guys not coming to Vegas? I mean not not really. You know, I think um for me when you think about both of those guys, my guess is what they’re prioritizing this off season is strength, developing their body. And if the Hawks felt like, you know, pausing that system, if you will, that what they’re working through to add muscle, add weight, get stronger, if this would disrupt that, that they didn’t want that to be disruptive to that. So, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. They’re like, “Hey, Zach, just keep, you know, eating whatever calories a day, stay in the gym, keep lifting, all that sort of stuff.” And the same for same for Mo as well, is, you know, uh, he was dynamic at times defensively last year. Think of like, I don’t know, seven games or so where he was very impactful defender and other games where they’re going up against a veteran physical team. Little different challenge for him uh, in that way. So, I’m speculating here, but my guess is, you know, they’re just prioritizing developing their bodies, you know, for those two guys. Still wouldn’t be surprised if they’re both there from a leadership standpoint. Some guys who aren’t going to play are going to be there and still be vocal and supportive and all that sort of stuff. Uh, so it didn’t it didn’t bother me at all. Um, I know the league sometimes like will try to put a little pressure like can you get Reay into one game, you know? That was Yeah, that was my main thing. Like honestly, the reason why I thought he might go was exactly that. And yeah, they’re not going to make you take him, but because he was the number one overall pick, it’s like, hey, maybe a nudge. But I think because he’s I think because he’s playing, at least he’s on the roster for your basket later this summer. It was like that might have been a lot for him. And with Mo, I mean, going back to what we just talked about a second ago, actually, like with priorities and stuff, it does not strike me as the best environment for Mo to like do certain. I mean, not that it would be useless for I’m not saying that, but like he doesn’t really feel like the player that’s like best utilized in this set that would get a ton out of this. Like I think he’s kind of he he has stuff to work on. No one’s saying otherwise, but as far as like development, I don’t think this is like his best setting. That’s my opinion. Yeah. I mean, you get some players who are don’t really know what they’re doing in some some cases in this, you know, which is nor which is normal. Uh I and I continue to joke like the number one skill he has to master is learning how to stay on his feet. I mean, when he gets the rebound, you know, he gets he he he’s on the floor a lot and so that, you know, that might be a thing is creating a stronger, you know, lower half of your body and all that sort of stuff. So, uh, I do think it’s it’s, uh, it’s a setting where, you know, injuries can happen if you’re around a player that’s, you know, kind of learning, uh, what what he should be doing and all that sort of stuff. So, doesn’t bother me at all, uh, that either of them are playing. Do I enjoy watching these those two guys play basketball? I do enjoy watching those two guys play basketball. So, uh, but it’s still going to be fun to watch these other guys have opportunity, you know, to, uh, come in and and show what they can do. Today was brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever wish that managing your money felt just a little bit easier? Well, with Monarch Money, it absolutely can. Whether you are growing your savings or putting a big purchase, Monarch Money puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over all of your finances. And Monarch Money is more than just a budgeting app. It’s instead a complete financial command center. You track all of your accounts, your investments, and your spending all in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth at the same time. Having all your financial tools in one place makes things easier and more convenient. So, you’re actually not wasting any time with juggling multiple apps. If you’re anything like me, honestly, you might have a ton of subscriptions piled up, for instance, from the past whenever you’ve kind of accumulated along the years. And Monarch Money can help you clean them all up in a very, very fast time period. Take control of your finances right now with MonarchMoney and use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com. 50% off your first year. That is monarchmoney.com. The code is locked on NBA for half off your first year. I want to start the player breakdown with a familiar name. We could we could go with new, but and we’ll get to him. I promise. He’s the first round pick. I get it. He’s the headliner. But Kobe Buffkin is for me the most interesting part of summer league. That’s a combination of somewhat sicko and somewhat like very kind of mainstream. Kobe has been around and he’s everyone knows he’s not been able to stay on the court. That’s the big thing with Kobe. He hasn’t played in a competitive setting for a long time. Um he missed last slasher summer league. People kind of forgotten that he got hurt, right? He got hurt during practice before summer league last year. He ended up playing again during camp, but he basically has been functionally out for a year. Like he played a little bit in camp, but was never right. And everyone said that like until you had the surgery, he just wasn’t 100%. And I wonder even, you know, broadly speaking, what you’re looking for from him because there’s there’s a trope that’s probably somewhat true about year three guys in summer league. If they don’t look good, you start to really worry. And, you know, he’s not a typical year three guy because he hasn’t played that much basketball, but it’s also he probably needs to look good to sort of offset some of the potential concerns. Yeah. I mean, I wonder how many games he’s gonna actually play, you know? Agreed. Yeah, that’s a thing for me. But, uh, I think it’s I think I think he’s, as you you and I know, he both has a lot of leadership capacity, and I think that’s going to be good. He’s a local guy. He’s a team guy. Um, and it’ll be good for him to get out there. I hope they play him two games at the most. I don’t think there’s really a need to kind of play him more than that. Um, but, uh, it’ll be good to kind of see how he’s moving, see if he looks like he’s 100%. You know, all those sort of stuff. I know if you if you follow just kind of sort of the social media slice of Hawks fandom, everybody it seems like 80% is like, “Ah, I’m out with this guy.” You know, uh that sort of thing. So, um which I think is uh I mean, I understand fans frustration with a guy who’s missed a lot of time. That’s, you know, I don’t know that that’s really unusual. U but I still think the Hawks really believe in him and I think he has a lot of upside. But again, while acknowledging it’s going to be tied to his ability to stay healthy. Yeah, I I don’t know if he’s I don’t know if I reported or whatever, but I did share on a recent episode that I’ve heard some good buzz behind the scenes as they start to have practices. You know, there’s the informal, you know, workouts that guys are around. Guys are around the facility all the time. Now, they’re not all around all summer. you know, guys want to get away and live other places or whatever, but pretty much the entire time during the summer, somebody’s in the building working out, getting ready, playing, there’s runs going on, and then around summer league practice time, they had the formal practice with the team for for for Vegas, but also a little bit before that, some guys get in. And so, I I’ve been hurting I’ve heard some good things about Kobe. Now, I also said, and I’ll say it again now, like the Hawks are incentivized to say good things about Kobe. So, it’s not like I’m saying that’s gospel. We don’t really know, but I haven’t heard anything bad. And I do, you already you just said this, but I do think that they they’ve always liked Kobe. I know Quinn has always been a fan of Kobe’s dating back to the draft. It’s a new front office. That matters. You know, Auntie wasn’t in the building when they drafted him two years ago. But I think that the Hawks do believe in Kobe if I had to say one way or the other. You’re right. Like he might he might be a perfect, you know, one or two games and done kind of guy. I think if he had been playing the last two seasons had been healthy, he wouldn’t be playing. I think that’s most guys that are first round picks, if they’re like in the rotation for a while at some point, they don’t really play in year three. But because he hasn’t played enough basketball, they kind of have to see what they have in him. By the way, a small decision that’s not so not so small for him. By October, they have to choose whether he gets his fourth year team option picked up. And that’s a decent amount of money because he’s a first round pick. So, this won’t be the reason that they go one way or the other, but like they there were only so many opportunities for the Hawks to see Kobe in a competitive, you know, external scenario, and this is this is one of them. I mean, of all the guys, I will probably make I’ll probably say this a lot. I we tend to overrate summer league because it’s the only thing that we can see. Like, these guys are playing basketball all summer long and they’re developing all summer long other places. But for Kobe, it’s like, hey, this is the one time they’re going to actually be able to see him. And I would understand it a little bit more if there’s a little bit more pressure is the wrong word, but like if he struggles, there’s going to be a reaction. And I would understand I I will always push back on the injury-prone label two years in. Like he’s had some injuries, yes, but like we don’t know he’s he’s always going to be hurt. That’s kind of silly to say, but it would be really helpful for him as well. Well, I’ll frame it in a positive way. It’d be really helpful for him and the team if he looked good in Vegas and like in the way that he’s supposed to basically. Yeah. And it’s interesting too because if you if you kind of zoom back over to free agency, but if if they’re sort of evaluating Kobe on like can we pencil him in as the backup point guard next year, they might want to see him, you know, in this setting. How does he feel? How does he look? Does he look rusty? Um does he make it through two games without, you know, having a freak injury? You know, that kind of thing. And so it I mean I I mean that might be like a third or fourth kind of priority, but they might just want to see him before they make a decision on how they’re going to further supplement the the guard spot on the roster or not depending upon um what he shows. I totally agree. And they uh you know, again, they’re not choosing only based I will just say this a 100 times, they are not going to choose anything based on one or two games entirely. It’s a data point. It’s not the entire data point. It’s all we can see. But keep that in mind like they’re seeing this guy up close in the building and they’ve been seeing him the whole time. They know where he is way more than we do. Like if he if he has a bad shooting game in the first game in Vegas, but the process stuff is good. No one in that in that building is going to panic about that. Fans will. If he shoots three for 16 in his first summer league game on a bunch of good looks, fans are going to be burning the place down. And I think honestly company will be like, “Oh, he like process-wise like he did this well, this well, this well.” And there’s a difference there. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but uh you know, just being a little bit more nuanced is probably uh for the best when it comes to summer league. He’s the guy I wanted to lead with, but like there’s a bunch of guards. I actually want to kind of if you’re if you’re okay with this, let’s talk about the guards. Like the guys who will have the ball in their hands in some in some form of fashion. Kobe is of course one of them. If I had to guess, the first game you’ll see Kobe Buffkin have the ball in his hands maybe the most of anybody in the first game because he’s the returning guy. But they have a bunch of other guys like in no order. You have you have N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Nah Yurich, their second round pick from last year. You have a guy in Adam Flaggler that I was like shocked to see on the roster because he’s like really overqualified for a summer league guy. Um Lamont Butler who has already been reported to be uh on a deal of some kind. I’ve walked this tight rope a little bit, but uh it may be a two-way, it may not be. It was reported as one by a bunch of people that cover college basketball, but no one covers the NBA that said that. I don’t know, but he’s going to be there. I like him a lot. Uh Devon Smith is a guy who’s local as well as well as Flagler is also local. And then Dwight Murray Jr. not a huge prospect, but a guy who’s in College Park last year. If you watch the Skyhawks, you would have seen him play a bunch. That’s five, six guys, five guys who can all like handle the ball and like be comfortable in actions. And I already said it once on this podcast, it’s kind of a guard sport in summer league. So, uh do you have a a preference as to who we talk about next after after Buffkin? Let’s talk about Nico. I mean, um, you know, it was it was fun to kind of watch his growth last year. Again, the Hawks really do put a lot of emphasis on the intel they get on will the guy come in and work, will the guy come in and be coachable and those things. And, uh, we saw in some when we saw him in summer league before he got hurt last year, the defense was pretty rough, you know. Yeah. Uh, and that lined up with what we saw in some of his European play before the Hawks drafted him in in the second round last year. Um, but I think the Hawks having a veteran center like Tony Bradley for him to work with, uh, really helped him, uh, and shouts to Tony Bradley for his great work across the playoffs with the Pacers. Uh, and and the Pacers being smart to to bring him back. Um, but that that helped if he had a first year center, for example. And that’s why you go if you go it takes a it takes a sicko mindset to do. If you go look at G-League rosters, you’ll see that almost all of them have at least one veteran kind of center on the on there because you can’t have a guy who’s still learning how to, you know, set a screen, roll out of the screen, dive to the rim, all the timing, all that nuance and stuff like that. But I would expect we’ll see Nico on ball, you know, a good bit as well. Uh and and then defensively, you know, he has good size and athleticism. it’s a matter of learning um kind of the technique and sort of this team scheme stuff to kind of put that athleticism and size uh to use. So I I’m probably as excited to watch him as as any player on the roster just to see how much of the improvement he showed the last maybe 10 games or so he played with College Park if that’s carrying over into the summer or not. Yeah, it’s also a big summer for him. all the all the things I already said about Kobe Stan as to not putting too much pressure on results, but it’s a weird situation. Like he had the injury last year, pretty much exactly a year ago. He missed four months after surgery. He came back, but it’s a it’s like hard to explain even like the path. Like he signed a G-League only contract, which is not something you hardly ever see for a second round pick and like he was basically stashed in College Park, which is not a what you normally see. Um, but they they obviously like him. they drafted him a year ago in the second round with a very similar front office. Um, and he’s a talented guy. Like he’s a legitimate 67 ball handler. Like I’ve seen people that don’t really either don’t know him that well. Like he’s not really a wing. He’s really a guard. Like he he he’s he played point guard at at lower levels. I’m not sure if he’s going to be a point guard in the NBA, but he is a guy who’s comfortable with the ball in his hands. I would not call him like a small forward. I know he has some small forward height, but also a 68 wingspan. Like he’s not a huge guy. like he’s got some thickness to him, but he’s not a big, you know, rangy guy. But on ball talent for sure. Um had some big games in the G-League down the stretch. Took him a while. Like if you watch some of that early film, like I always say, I don’t watch every G-League game, but I did go back and watch a bunch of a bunch of your shitch after he came back. It was kind of rough. He hadn’t played in a long time. Like early on he, you know, again, like a four month surgery for a 20-year-old coming over, like understandable, but it got better, which I like to see. Yeah. and and and Kevin would tell you Kevin who you know watch us as much College Park as yeah more than I did for sure that he when he came back it looked like he probably came back a little early and wasn’t moving that great so but they they were running out of season so you they get him back on the floor and those sorts of things he deserves a lot of credit for that so yeah yeah a guy that I’m looking to see a lot again especially if if they end up with Kobe not playing the whole week I think you might see even more uh more of your as far as featured um because we don’t we just kind of don’t know. I I I do think if I had to guess here in early July, he will be on an NBA contract of some kind this time around. Y whether it be a two-way or one of those second round hinky special kind of deals, but that hasn’t happened yet as we’re talking right now. And I’d like to see him in the setting and just another data point like you know him being healthy be big. You’re right, long way to go defensively. The shooting has always been kind of an open question. Like it’s he’s got some stuff to work on, but he is a talented player. So, a guy that I I don’t want to gas up too too much, but I I think it’s I’m being fair when I say that Adam Flaggler is like I was surprised to see him on the roster for one reason. This is a guy who was on a two-way for the Thunder the last two seasons and like played in 37 NBA games last year for the Thunder. Now, a lot of that was mop-up duty because the Thunder were blowing everybody out, but he was on the active roster like almost the whole season with the eventual champion Thunder. He’s 25. He can really shoot it. 63 guard. Like, I don’t know if I think it might be because the Thunder doesn’t they just have a numbers game there. They have too many players for him to be back with Oklahoma City. But for me, he’s like a very obvious two-way player or even better than that. Like, I think he if he’s not on a two-way somewhere or better, I’ll be surprised. So, I was like, wait, why is he on this roster? He’s a local guy, which maybe is the reason he ends up in Atlanta. And the Hawks do have a, if you want to squint, like they have some guard uncertainty. Um, I don’t know if a pure point guard, but he’s played point guard in college, played there with Oklahoma City. He’s more of a scorer than a distributor, but um, like for instance, last year, I don’t know if you saw the Thunder in summer league. I know I did a couple times. He averaged 25 a game last year in summer league. Like he averaged 25 a game in the G-League, too. Like he’s a big-time scoreer shooter type. uh overqualified for being on a summer league team. We’ll see. But what do you have you seen much of him? I I know he’s not he’s not a Hulk, but have you uh prepared much for Adam Flaggler? Well, and you kind of, you know, when you recognize, you know, are they going to bring Garrison back or not? You know, that that sort of thing. Is is he could he be a cheap replacement, you know, in that type of, you know, in the bench role there? Uh because the shooting is really high level. Uh and he’s better on ball than probably some people would would realize as well. not not a really high level passer, but I think the thing the Hawks value is the ball doesn’t stick. It moves. He’s 0.5, you know, he executes 0.5 on the catch. Uh and it’s just a you know, pretty high level uh processor. The thing for him, he’s not the biggest guy, you know, and so the on defense, how do you kind of make that work there? That has to come from technique and good team scheme execution. Uh keeping yourself out of bad spots, asking for help when you need it. you get you get uh in transition you get matched up with a 610 guy who’s got to park you under the rim and and try to you know do that sort of thing and so he’s got to keep himself kind of out of trouble on defense but the shooting is an a true NBA skill like his shooting is a true NBA level skill um more so than probably anybody else on on this roster. Yeah, I mean just to say the number of 41% in the G-League from three across two seasons and he shot 40 plus percent in three seasons at Baylor where he won the national championship and like he’s basically been a 40% three-point shooter on some real volume for five years now across two levels. So that’s a real real asset and again I was surprised to see him but if if you’re the Hawks and that guy will sign with you for summer league like you automatically do it. It’s a it’s a low bar but you you’ll take it. Um, a guy that I know that you are gonna like honestly is Lam is Lamont Butler. I I’ve given the preamble on another show about I don’t know what deal he’s going to be on. There’s some there’s been some mixed reporting, but at the very minimum, I think he’s going to be at least in training camp with the Hawks. Maybe it’ll be a two-way. We’ll see. But, you know, hard-nosed defender at the guard position is like right up our alley, Glenn. But, uh, it’s a five-year guy in college, a winner, high level guy at San Diego State, Kentucky. I’m interested. Uh I’m I’m assuming you like Lamont Butler as well. Yeah, I mean this is this is uh the vin diagram of Brad and Glenn liking defensive players is almost like a perfect circle, you know. Uh and he it’s hard for me to decide like is is Kobe Johnson going to be the best defender on this team or is Lamont Butler? I mean Kobe Johnson’s more of a wing defender. Lamont Butler is going to be more of a guard defender on ball. Yeah. but, you know, had a a billion stills in his college career and and he’s, I think, a little better shooter and playmaker than some people might realize. He’s really known for his defense. Um, but he’s he looks like the kind of guy when you watch him on offense, like, yeah, it’s up and down. It’s there, not there sometimes, but you throw him into an NBA development environment and they’re going to help him kind of, you know, have a process that’s step one, step two, step three, step four, that stuff. He looks like a guy who that that could come along uh uh pretty well. So he’s a, you know, you hear the term kind of the glue guy defender, the, you know, all that sort of stuff. High level, really, really high level defender. It’s going to be fun to kind of watch him play there. And I’m anxious to see offensively, is it slow? Is it choppy at first? And then each game, does it get a little bit more smooth uh along the way? Because as we know, Hawks want to play fast. They want fast decision-making. They want high level processors. Uh, and on defense, his processing is elite, you know, for sure. I mean, he really knows what he’s doing on that end. Um, and if if it’s a little choppy on offense, I would encourage fans to understand that. Um, that’s how it goes, you know, first first time in NBA setting in context for some guys. And my hope is that like game, if he plays every game, like game three, it’s like it’s you’re starting to see it click a little bit and because that’s and that’s usually what it takes. Yeah. I mean, he’s 6’2 probably. He’s he’s point guard size, but you’re right, a really really really good defender. He played on that San Diego State team a years ago. People might remember this that are not even college sickos that made the final four. Made made the made the title game. I was actually that at the at that final four and was one of their better players. Not a ever going to be a super high volume offensive player. He had one big game this year against Louisville at Kentucky where I think he literally shot 10 for 10 from the field and had 30 points or something like that. But he’s not that’s not what he’s going to be. Um it’s more that he but he can’t handle the ball. I was actually looking back a little bit more film of him for Hawks purposes. He’s a pretty good ball handler. Like he’s not gonna be a dynamic guy, but like he isn’t someone that that you could just press up on too much, I didn’t think. But I don’t know if you saw anything there that was alarming or better, whatever. Yeah. And this is a deep cut, but Brad Roland never minds seeing Louisville men’s basketball take one on the chin. Uh yeah. Well, that’s that’s true. But no, I I I don’t know. I like Butler. I I don’t people are going to compare him to Katon Wallace because that’s just what happens. Like you you compare the guy to the most recent guy in that kind of mold. I think Katon is a more talented offensive player than Lam Butler. But Butler’s a better defender than Katon. Yeah. I think at least at the same age anyway. Like Keaton’s three years older, so Yeah. Yeah. So Katon I mean I’m a huge fan. He’s he deserves a ton of credit for how hard he’s worked to kind of develop himself into the player that he is. Um and you know and he had there there were what three or four games the Hawks won last year that they don’t win except for what he kind of produced in those matchups. Um so you know I hope he has a you know five to eight year NBA career in a supportive role that you know 12 13 14 spot on the roster. I mean he’s a he he a legit fine fifth or sixth guard for a team depending on how deep you want to go there. Uh, and he’s a guy that, you know, if you’re if you need one more, like you have a game where another team’s, say you’re going up against Oklahoma City and you need one more guy to take eight minutes against Shay, you know, whatever it’s going to be, he could handle that stuff. But as you and I know, like you’re punting some offense, you know, in that in that case. Um, but that’s a calculated decision a coach can make in a game is like, okay, worth the tradeoff uh here there. Um uh so so so for me, you know, Butler just looks more fluid with the ball and so for to me he looks like a guy who could uh really thrive, you know, a sense of sustained exposure to an NBA development program and might surprise some people. But like I said, if if fans are like, as sometimes happens, the first quarter of the first game, it doesn’t look like super awesome. Ah, I’m out on this guy, you know? That’s not how it works, you know, at all. That these guys need time to acclimate to what they’re being asked to do. Uh, and for Butler, it’s going to be playing faster, fast decision- making, and that’s not going to all be there in game one. It But, you know, like I said, if you’re looking for 10% improvement from game one to two to three to four, that that’s what you’re looking for. Yeah, I like Butler. I think defensively he’ll be able to play right away. Offensively, he’s a work of progress, and we’ll see how that goes. Uh, two more guards quickly before we move on to the front court, guys. Um, probably going to be further down the depth chart, may not play a ton, but Devon Smith, another local guy from Grayson High School, was at Georgia Tech for a while, actually played at four major college programs in his college career. Um, but actually led a pack 12 assist one year at Utah. Like just a weird college career, but a useful player. And then Dwight Murray Jr., who I mentioned before briefly, but a six foot guard, who was with the Skyhawks last year, so if you watch any Skyhawks, you probably saw him. Um, anything to look at with these guys? I think one of them probably just won’t play at all, if not both, but because there’s just only so many minutes. But what do you make of these guys? Well, for Devont Smith, I mean, it’s the athleticism. He’s a real pretty high level pretty high level athlete. Uh he’s not the biggest guy. I think he’s 6’1 or so. And uh but the the funniest thing that you go find when you watch him play is like he’s a ridiculous rebounder for a guy who’s 61. It’s it’s it’s crazy. Like he’s a he’s a great athlete. He really is. Yeah, he really is. And he he has great instincts. you know, as a rebounder, commits to that side, plays hard, you plays with a lot of intensity, uh, and those things. Um, pretty pretty good passer and creator for where he is right now in his career. There’s now the NBA level of defense and, you know, so summer league would be a good setting for him, you know, for him to maybe kind of lean into a little bit more of that, but I expect him to play a decent bit of point guard uh, on this team, but he’s also just um, you on defense just a lot of a lot of agility. you know, plays with a nice low center of gravity, generates a ton of ball pressure, stuff the Hawks value, you know, and so I think in that way he’s he’s a good fit. I think he’s going to play a a good bit. Um, and I’m I’m looking forward to watching him play because, you know, just you, like I said, that van diagram of guys that can defend on ball, you know, that we we both like is that that should be fun. Um, hard to know for um uh for Dwight Murray Jr. like you know the what he offers is continuity right from from last season and that’s really helpful to have on the team. So even if he’s not playing a lot he’s there to kind of explain what they’re looking for, what they’re doing and stuff like that. So he’s a he’s a you know reasonably high floor guy who like I said knows knows the system, knows the scheme inside and out. Um, but the Hawks probably want to get, we’ll see, but the Hawks probably want to prioritize more uh exposure for some of these new guys to see what they have and don’t have in these new guys. Yeah, I would guess that’s true. And um I think, you know, having a bunch of guys who can hang on to the ball is always a good idea in summer league. Like if you shut down Kobe, for instance, after a couple games, somebody gets an injury, you don’t ever want to get in a spot where you don’t have any you have no point guard play because you just have to have it in summer league for every everybody else. like to evaluate everybody else, you kind of need guys who can at least function at a point guard. Um, and having, you know, five of them on this roster, uh, is probably the reason why they’re doing that, I would guess. All right, that is all for part one of this two-part chat with myself and Glenn Willis. Part two should be available in this same podcast feed right now. So, please stay tuned. Please subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Follow the show on x/ Twitter at Lockdown Hawks. Follow me there at BT Roland. Follow my non-podcast work as well at patreon.com/bt rolling. One more time, part two available right now. We’ll see you all next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 2018 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Glen Willis of ATL and 29 for Part 1 of a 2-part conversation. The focus is 2025 NBA Las Vegas Summer League from the perspective of the Atlanta Hawks, with the first part centering on the backcourt options, headlined by Kobe Bufkin, Nikola Djurisic, Adam Flagler, and Lamont Butler.

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