Are the Hawks serious contenders in the East?

Are the Hawks serious contenders in the East?

Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for July 10th, 2025. Dave is sweating in Vegas and we welcome in Lauren Williams from the Atlanta Journal Constitution to talk the Atlanta Hawks. [Music] What’s up, guys? And welcome to the show, Lauren Williams. We’ve missed you. Thank you. So, I’ve missed you guys, too. What a pleasure. At at the finals, luckily. Yeah, true. We haven’t had her on the show in a while. So, and we definitely needed to have you on, Lauren, because a lot has been going on. The Hawks have been extremely active this off season. They’ve made some trades. They’ve made some free agent moves. And I mean, Dave is Dave, where do you put them for next year? I’m very high on the Hawks. I think that they have a good shot at making the conference finals. I mean, it a lot of it has to do with the East. East is weak. East is going to be down, especially next year, but I like the moves that they made. And I think this was already a pretty good team that dealt with some injury, you know, some poor injury luck last season. I think they would have performed better. Um, you know, we’ll see. And a lot of this is just I believe Trey Young can get hot in the playoffs. You know, I I buy that guy as a playoff performer. Yeah, he’s capable of being a villain in anyone’s story for sure. But Lauren, let’s look at some of these trades. I mean, these moves. Christopher Singes, of course, gets traded to Atlanta from Boston. They acquire NIL Alexander Walker. Um, they add in a new in the draft. I mean, there’s a lot of movement here, a lot of options in terms of the best moves, but I want to know your expert opinion. Which one did you like the most for retooling the Hawks? Honestly, the I think my favorite one is probably, you know, them doing the sign and trade to get Nquille Alexander Walker. Um, you add a guy who I think has a similar trajectory to what, you know, Tyson Daniels had last year. I’m going to put Nquille Alexander Walker in, you know, most improved race from right now just because of how similar their storylines, if you will, or their career trajectories have been. Both came from New Orleans, of course. Um, NA is a little bit older than Dyson, but you know, the fact that they’ve both, you know, hit multiple teams and then they start to have this sort of offensive explosion just because they’re getting a little bit more playing time, but they have the defensive background, it it’s just perfect. And I think if you’re a team that, you know, started the season as one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA and you get better, you’re in the middle of the pack thanks to everything, you know, that Dyson Daniels added to the to the roster and how he kind of upped everybody else’s defensive energy, you kind of have to double down on that. And adding NA to that, especially with how well he shoots the ball, I think they’ve just kind of gotten on an amazing track. Obviously adding in Chrisaps Porzingis is huge just because when you get a sevenfooter who you can have essentially as a one-year rental and see kind of what he can add. Um you know that’s great but because he’s a little bit older he turns 30 on August 2nd. He he’s injuryprone. It’s hard for me to say that that’s my favorite move just because you never know how much you’re going to be able to bank on him. But he does, you know, ultimately add a lot to this ro roster just because of how he can space the floor. you know, he leads the league or is pretty high up in the list of all-time blocks. I think he’s what, ninth or something like that. So, I mean, that’s pretty huge. Um, especially if you’re pairing him alongside a guy like Jaylen Johnson or Ano Kong. But, I’m going to double down and say NA is probably my favorite move that they’ve done so far. I mean, especially after you look at what he did in the playoffs for the Timberwolves. Like, he’s another guy that can make shots actually. Like, not just spot up and shoot from three, but you know, he can attack a close out. He can hit that mid-range, which is a a shot that I think Atlanta could really use a guy who can step in and shoot that. You What do you expect the lineup to look like? I’m really curious here because I mean, he obviously is a high level player, but he was in that bench role in Minnesota. You look at you look at what the Hawks have already, they’ve already got a lot of guys that they need to play. Like, is Naw going to break into the starting lineup or is this going to be a thing where like you expect Quinn Snyder, is he going to play around night to night? I mean, Porzingis, look, Let’s say all things go great for Porzingis. He’s going to play 60 or 65 games at best. So, you know that Aquangu is going to get a lot of rotation in there as a starter, but I’m really curious about how they’re going to stretch out the minutes with all these guards and and wings that they have to fill out. Mhm. I So if that’s the thing with Quinn Snder, it’s hard to kind of gauge what his lineups are going to look like because last season he would play anywhere from, you know, eight guys, especially when they were healthy and then it slowly extended out to like 9 10 as like injuries started to pile up. So, you know, in this upcoming season, it I think that, you know, NA is going to be a guy that comes off the bench because he and Luke Canard are going to be sort of that scoring punch. Um, I think, yeah, Luke Canard, they just made that deal official the other day. Um, but I think depending on what they need, it’ll be either Luke or Na as your sort of sixman role. Um, I do envision Porzinga sort of coming off of the bench only because you promote Ano Kongu after you move on from Clint Capella. He’s your, you know, he’s your starting uh, center of the future. He pairs so well with Jaylen Johnson that it’s hard for me to see Quinn wanting to mess with that starting lineup knowing how well it sort of worked early on with Trey Dyson, Zachary Reese, Jaylen, and then on Congu. So, I think it’s easier to sort of move the pieces around that sort of foundation versus trying to make something work right off the bat with Chris Stops at the five. Um, so can also protect him a little bit, right? Like if you’re looking for a little bit. Yeah. And I know some people look at that $30 million contract and say you’re paying a guy $30 million, but I also think it’s for one year and and you know what your foundation is, so why not sort of roll with that a little bit longer and then you adjust accordingly. It does feel like the Atlanta Hawks are taking a chance to figure out, can we capitalize on the talent that we have right now to the maximum ability and Trey Young now has all these tools around him to be able to produce something and you know I think we talked about this right before we jumped on like could they get to the conference finals for sure. I think one of the factors that’s kind of outlying of course Chris Hosp is people are talking about 30 million and they’re not just talking about from the perspective of just having money on cap. They’re also talking about the fact that he didn’t play a ton of games especially towards the end of that year and health is a factor for the Atlanta Hawks as Dave mentioned. Name that comes to mind Jaylen Johnson. I mean he was having a phenomenal season uh before you know heading out basically off of his injury playing about 30 games last year. Where do you see his trajectory in all of this and how impactful can he be for the Atlanta Hawks making that jump to a team that could end up in a conference finals? I mean, I think it’s absolutely necessary for him to make that jump even though, you know, he’s coming off of that torn labum injury that he had. He had surgery at the end of the season and he’s been like steadily working himself back. He’s been posting a lot of stuff on um social media showing his work and he looks like he’s kind of operating at mostly full speed, but it’s obviously hard to tell because it’s not opens, it’s not a lot of contact, it’s just a lot of like just a lot of drills. And so it’s really I’ve seen Ben Simmons social media highlights so I know to take all highlights on social media. That’s right. I’m just glad to see him running around you know and you know I think it’s great that you know Jaylen is operating at, you know, the full effort that he is. And so I think mostly, you know, what the front office has indicated is that Jaylen will be ready to go for training camp. So, if he’s ready to go for training camp, then that to me says that they’re banking on him having a big start to the season, especially because part of what, you know, made that team sort of fall apart a little bit last year is that they didn’t have him as that secondary playmaking option. And so, if he’s the glue guy and you don’t have that, well, that really does throw a wrench into a lot of different things. So, I think they’re going to bank on him being a guy that can be that connector. Um, obviously Kristoff’s kind of helps with that because that’s part of his strengths. He’s a connecting guy. Um, and so maybe that’s what they do in you know to start the season is that they kind of share their minutes a little bit more and and you see a little bit um, you know, more I guess split in terms of them playing the four, but then you also have a guy like it’s so tough. You have a guy like Mo Gay who had a great end to the season and you’re going to expect him to take another big leap. But to get back to Jaylen Johnson, I do think it’s going to be a big year for him solely because of just the versatility that he adds to the roster. Um you’re going to expect that he, you know, takes another step as far as being able to knock shots down from three. But what he can do inside the paint is just so important to what this Hawks team needs to do just because of how it opens things up for Trey Young to knock those shots down from, you know, 30, 40 feet, whatever Trey wants to do these days. Um, yeah. Go ahead. That’s the big thing. Well, no, no, no. That’s the big thing about Jaylen Johnson. I’m glad you mentioned his playmaking because one of the things that maybe we even kind of glossed over with Nquil Alexander Walker. This is some of the most playmaking that Trey Young has had available on the team at the same time that he’s been out there. And this guy is one of the three or four best passers and playmakers in the league. It gets overlooked because, you know, he is on the ball so much. But, you know, we’ve hit him traditionally. I have at least for not being able to play off the ball. I think that this is the season where the excuses have to go out the window because now you’re going to have guys that are capable of doing it. And I think that that’s a big thing for Quinn Snider to be able to take this team to the next level. That’s another thing too that I think gets overlooked with Luke Canard’s game a little bit. We saw it last season with him in Memphis, him playing with the ball in his hands a little bit more. So yeah, Trey has so many options around him that can help him kind of like take some of that playmaking load off of his shoulders and that should hopefully take some of the pressure off of him to start the season in terms of being able to score because over the last few seasons with the Hawks asking him to do so much in terms of trying to bring guys like Dyson Daniels and Zachary Reese Shay along, you could kind of see his efficiency going down. And so, especially with referees kind of looking at his game a little bit differently, they’re not maybe giving him a lot of the calls he was used to at the beginning of his career, I think, you know, maybe it’s going to help him if he can kind of take some steps further back from the basket and knock some of those shots down. And if he got has guys that can space the floor optimally for him, well, heck, that’s going to make things a lot easier for him. Well, listen to close on that note, of the 76 games that Trey Young played last year, he had 17 with 15 or more assists. So, people want to pick it up on what he’s dishing out, they should know with that stat. Let’s take a break real quick and we’ll continue on the other side of this break talking about the Hawks. [Applause] All right, we’ve talked a little bit about some of the moves that the Atlanta Hawks have made, but now it’s about what is it actually going to look like? And it really starts from the top, Lauren, particularly from the GM position, the person that’s pulling all these pieces together. Of course, we know Landry Fields exits in that role. Any CE comes in and starts incorporating his team and making moves so far from what you’ve seen for the team he’s brought on as well as the moves that he’s made. What’s the vision from the front office for the Hawks next year? Yeah, I think the vision is that they’re going to have a team that’s going to go out there and compete. And I think the key thing that ANIE has stressed or ANT has stressed to us and the media availabilities that we’ve had with him over the past three or so weeks is that they’re trying to build something that’s going to be long-term. And you look at in terms of the moves, um, you know, they they trade down and on draft night, move from the 13th pick that they got in that Sacramento trade, they flipped it and got a first round pick for the 2026 draft when they had a pick swap with the Spurs after the Dejonte Murray trade. So, by everything that we’ve seen, it’s, you know, they’re trying to make moves not only for the future, but they’re trying to set themselves up for success long term. And it’s not that they’ve just said that they’re doing that, but it seems like the actions are sort of lining up with every with the words that we’re hearing. And so I think getting a first round pick that’s not just a pick swap, um, you know, for the long term next year and a draft class that’s quite good. Um, I think that’s huge for the team. And I think, you know, depending on obviously how they finish out this regular season, you know, maybe into the playoffs, just because I I just don’t want to jinx anything. I believe my my words maybe hold too much power and I jinx things. But depending on how things work out in the playoffs, maybe they’re just one piece away from what they need in order to actually be a a finals contender. And so maybe that’s something that they address in the draft, who knows? Or next free agents class. So, uh, by and large, it seems like this front office is experienced. It has, you know, a clearcut plan that’s actually something that they can, you know, enact or act upon and move upon. Um, and just it seems like they’re very well respected around the league. And so I think that’s huge when you’re able to pull off moves again by moving down from 13 to 23 and getting a first round pick, especially um from a Pelicans team that who knows what’s what’s going on. They’re going to be awful. They’re going to be awful. This is going to be a high lottery pick most likely. Um this trade that they pulled off that the Hawks pulled off, I mean, the story behind it is is pretty insane where the Hawks don’t believe that this is actually being offered. I love this story so much. But the Hawks had to like call them and be like, “Are you sure about this?” For our listeners, it is worth breaking down again because you go ahead. You break it down. No, no, Dave. Actually, Dave, you go because I know you like telling this story. Yeah. I mean, it’s just funny that this is a trade that’s, you know, between the the draft day trade that where the Pelicans traded up and they give away this prize jewel asset that is going to be a high lottery pick in next year’s draft. It starts off as a conversation between assistant GMs. This is how business gets done in the NBA quite often. But the asset that was offered was so ridiculous that Anie Salet had to call Joe Dumar just to make sure that this was real. And it is I swear the funniest and most awesome front office story I have ever heard. Just don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re not qualified to do something by the way. That’s just my life advice out there after after you read about this story. Um but it was a home run. I mean, this is aside from the Luca Dona trade, it’s the if you’re looking at it from the Hawks perspective, it’s probably the best trade anyone’s pulled off in the last 10 years. That’s a really good point. I never mind you, this is the same front office that also swindled the previous Pelicans front office regime and got Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., you know, the pick for a second first round pick that they did not have before for this year’s draft that they then flipped in the Porzingis trade and moving parts. So, it’s just kind of like the work that they’ve been doing is crazy. This is what I want back to your point about the plan and how they’re planning for the future. This is what good front offices do, right? You look for good players where you can find them. You you sign them. You you get a Nikquille Alexander Walker. You try to improve your team and then you wind up lucking into some of these things that I mean, I wouldn’t say having a high lottery pick handed to you is on the margins. Those second rounders are on the margins, though. I mean, the Cavs, this Cleveland Cavaliers team was built on some good lottery luck and second round draft picks and all of these other things. I think the Hawks are kind of following that blueprint. It I mean, it fits cuz, you know, a lot of those guys are Spurs guys over there now. So, maybe that mindset of we can be good and also think about the future. Yeah. But this pick in particular, what if they’re really good this year and there’s a guy out there that they could maybe go get? Well, now they have a fat asset that they could offer. Do you feel like this front office would I this season may be weird and this team might not be good enough? Like this isn’t a team that I’m penciling in. This is a title team, right? I I think if they go on a great run, they make the conference finals, but we’ve seen that from teams before. But do you think that this front office would have the like the guts if at the trade deadline they’re like the two seed and someone’s out there and they could just go get him? Like I don’t know. Let’s Let’s pie in the sky. Let me be crazy. Like LeBron is out there and they could just I mean that’s a that’s a crazy pick. No, I know. I just got to throw LeBron into every single trade right now. No, but but is this a team that would maybe this year or or you think no, we keep the powder dry. We got to be smart. We say like cuz you know, we just watched the Thunder do this, right? Yeah. I think they got to be a little smart right now just because I don’t know just just bas solely based off what happened last season. Yes, I do think Zachary Reese and Mo, you know, are going to take steps forward, but I don’t know if they’re like contender steps forward just yet. You have to remember Zach literally turned 20 at the end of the season. Like he spent most of his rookie season at 19. Ace Newell is going to be 20. uh I believe in September. So, this team is so freaking young that I’m I just I don’t know if their trade deadline move to contender pipeline ready yet. I think they need one more season. Um, you know, you’ve got so many guys on this roster now that have playoff experience that are going to pour into these younger guys and them making it into the playoffs. You know, having as long a run as possible that they can have is going to be the experience that they’re going to need. And then I think next year is more the, you know, make a big move to contender pipeline move for this team. I just I don’t quite I don’t quite think that they’re ready yet. It would be early. I mean and plus like you said the vision right like being patient from the perspective especially with the the youth it’s not just a matter of like steps on the court physically um and you know and ability mentality right a maturity like the capacity to understand like yo we’re about to go do something really drastic because we think that you guys can take the step towards a title that’s pressure right and so there’s there’s still level of confidence building in those guys to be able to maybe take on a big name, a big star to incorporate at the deadline and then and then have the pressure to make something of it. So, that’s a really good point. I think they’re close though and it’s so fun and so unfair that you’re this close with that much talent and what you’re waiting on is maturity. Get in the weight room. We know that’s going to happen. Health. I was going to say, ask me again like maybe after the inseason tournament and maybe my mind might be a little different because I was going through all of the emotions when they went on that inseason tournament run just because of how solid they looked. But I would I think for me I would want to see especially Jaylen Johnson have at least as close to a fully healthy season as possible before I can say you know yeah let’s make let’s see the Hawks make that really big move right is he a guy we don’t even know yet really. Yeah I had him I had him as the most improved player before he went down. Yeah I think a lot of people had him in that category. Um, one of the things we definitely want to know though in terms of what you saw out on the floor for Atlanta, some of the positives, it helps that you had veterans like a Clint Capella on the team that ran that pick and roll really well. But we saw Akongu come in and be this active version of Clint Capella, this person that could take the ball on his own and be in that dunker spot and and elevate, but also be outside and stretch the floor a little bit. Yeah, there were so many aspects of this of this team that you saw their flexibility. What part of the Atlanta Hawks do you think is going to grow the most with this version that comes together? How does Kristoff Borzingis coming in, Luke Canard with the outside shooting, naw coming in with the defense and his ability to create? What part of the Atlanta Hawks are you the most excited to see grow? And what’s the vision there for you at least? Yeah, I think I feel like the answer is a little bit obvious just because of the pieces that they added like the the the three core piece or the three major pieces that they added to the roster can all shoot. So, I think the expectation is that that three-point efficiency is going to go up. And mind you, I mean, they were shooting 37% as a team last season, which is nothing to really, you know, sniff at or shake your head at, but I mean, Canard’s a 44% career shooter. Um, Naw was shooting 38%. Porzinga is shooting 38%. Uh, I think you can expect Jaylen Johnson to have a little bit more efficiency from outside. He may not necessarily be a high volume shooter, but because of the spacing, um, you know, he might get a few more open looks and you’ll see that confidence sort of take off. Same with Dyson Daniels. Um, same with Okongu, Zachary Reese, who toward the end of the season was shooting close to, I believe, 39%. So, I I think that efficiency is just going to continue to go up and up and especially because Quinn Snyder wants them taking sometimes they’ll say at least like 45 uh three-point attempts per game. Like that’s goting, right? Like you look at the box score and and they they shot like 39. He’s like, I wanted them to take 10 more. And you’re like, but they weren’t picking them. But he wants them to take it because as long as they’re good shots, you know, that’s all that matters to him. even if they don’t go in. And so just because of what that can do um to open up even the inside game, I think that’s going to that’s going to be huge for this team. So I think that’s sort of where I see them taking, you know, the next step forward, but then obviously defensively just because of the addition of a guy like Aquille Alexander Walker. Um you get Jaylen Johnson back so many steps forward on the defensive side of the ball. And then the expectation is Zach is gonna continue to grow as he kind of puts on a little bit more weight. So yeah, I think this is a three and D team and they’ve got that lineup flexibility too, right? Like they’re going to be able to play big. They’re going to be like I I imagine scenario where we see a Kangu and Porzingis at the same time, which is some incredible rim protection and floor space. I’m excited about the Hawks. I mean, but I was excited last year, too. Like I was high on them. Now I’m probably too high on them. It’s what I do. Was going to be I was going last year. I always said I never thought that the Hawks would be good, but I thought that they would be a fun team. And then this year, I’m like, I’m all in. I think they’re going to be a fun and a good team. So, I’m really excited to see what they’re able to to string together. That’s going to be a fun inside out game for sure. Quick question before we wrap up. Short responses from both of you. Okay, Dave, what is it going to take for Quinn Snder to win coach of the year with the Hawks? Oh, I think if you if they’re top three in the East, I think he gets a lot of buzz. Um, even with the additions that they’ve made, they didn’t land like this huge fish, right? This isn’t like they got Kevin Durant. And so, he doesn’t have that bias working against him. I think if they’re a top three seed, maybe just homecourt advantage team in the East, he gets some buzz. If you look at it, a lot of the people like OKC, you’re not getting coach of the year. Um, you know, Pacers obviously out of it, Boston out of it. I mean, it like it’s going to be a surprise team or a team that we watched get better and they they did better than we expected. So, I think top three in the East, he’s going to be top three in coach of the year. I like it, Lauren. What is it going to take for Trey Young to be a solid MVP contender next year? Oo, more than coach of the year, I would say. more than Yeah, agreed. Honestly, honestly, I for him to be MVP, I feel like the Hawks are going to have to be, you know, like top top two, right? Like top two 55 win team maybe, right? Like some odd wins. Yeah. Scoring or Well, he’s gonna be he’s gonna be 30 and 10, 30 and 12ish, right? He’s good. But the thing is those numbers have existed and that’s the those numbers have existed. I think I think the big thing is will he be able to do it efficiently because part of the knock against him has always been his efficiency because he’s had to do so much. He might be able to find his teammates but then um it’s just like the shots that he was taking just never seemed to really like align with what he should have been doing in the moment. Um, and so I think the big thing is that if he can get his efficiency up without necessarily needing um, you know, to get calls at the free, you know, get to the free throw line. I think that’s I think that’s a difference. I think that the whole knock against Trey, you know, is obviously his size. Um, but I think the big thing is it’s just going to continue being that turnaround and reputation, which he started last season. I think, you know, it’s going to continue growing. So, okay, we’re seeing him mature. I’m loving this. We’ll have to see. We’ll see what happens. Quinn Snder, you’ve got your task. Trey Young, you’ve got your task. Atlanta Front Office, apparently you’re doing the right things, according to Lauren Williams. And we appreciate you, Lauren, taking the time to talk to us before you head out to Summer League to join Dave in the wedding in Vegas. And I hope you guys enjoy uh the time watching a little bit of ball, watching a little bit of future play out. Guys, go read Lauren over at the Atlanta Journal Constitution and definitely check in with the the podcast cuz we’re going to be talking to people. Lauren, you might have to jump on while the guys are out at Summer League as well. Um, just let me know. Just tell me when. Of course. Of course. Thanks for joining us, Lauren. Thanks, Dave, for tapping in. And thank you guys for listening. Make sure you guys go like, subscribe, wherever you’re listening. We appreciate you joining. Enjoy the rest of your day. [Music] [Music]

The Atlanta Hawks have made major additions to their rotation and are looking to compete in a diminished Eastern Conference. Zena Keita and Dave DuFour are joined by Lauren Williams from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to discuss the Hawks moves, the inside story on their draft day trade with the Pelicans, and expectations for next season.

Host: Zena Keita
With: Dave DuFour & Lauren Williams
Executive Producer: Andrew Schlecht
Audio Producer: Grayson Moody

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/

Timecodes:
00:00 – Intro
00:45 – Dave is high on the Hawks
01:24 – Assessing Hawk’s trade business so far
04:04 – Expected starting line-up
06:25 – Jalen Johnson’s trajectory
09:36 – Playmakers surrounding Trae now, can he play off-ball?
11:34 – Changes in the hierarchy, new front office vision?
14:23 – Hawk’s wild draft day trade
16:06 – This is what good front offices do
17:11 – LeBron to the Hawks?
17:47 – Hawks still a very young team
20:30 – Where can we see the most growth next season?
23:54 – What does it take for Quin Snyder to win coach of the year?
24:45 – What does it take for Trae Young to be a MVP contender?

Thumbnail – Sarah Stier + Kevin C Cox via Getty Images Sport

#nba #hawks #traeyoung #quinnsnyder #pelicans