Atlanta Hawks add Caleb Houstan, win 4th straight game in Las Vegas Summer League

Atlanta Hawks add Caleb Houstan, win 4th straight game in Las Vegas Summer League

On today’s show, the Hawks add a new wing to the roster, plus the fourth summer league game for Atlanta. And spoiler alert, the Hawks are 4-0 in Las Vegas. We’ll get into all of what transpired, the Houston signing, and more coming up. You are Locked on Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. Hello friends, welcome to episode 2024 of the Lock on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Ralden coming to you on a Thursday evening into Friday here in mid July. And today’s show is brought by by the folks at Monarch Money. Take control of your finances right now with Monarch Money and use code lockedNBA 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 Locked on Hawks your first listen each and every day. Check us out and subscribe to the podcast anywhere you find your podcast. That includes 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. Later on in the podcast, I’ll be discussing the Hawks fourth summer league game. And by the way, they are now 4 and 0 in Las Vegas. We’ll get into all what transpired in that game, where they go from here and more. But first, a non-S summer league topic and it’s a roster topic and a signing that was reported today that we I feel like it’s a big enough deal to begin the podcast with it in the first segment today. And that that is good that good my good friend Mike Scott of Hoops Hype who reports very well. Mike Mike does a great job of breaking news and gathering things, etc. He reported Thursday morning that the Hawks have agreed to a one-year deal with Caleb Houston. Notably, this is still only a report. Usually I try to give you all the details about like what’s official and what’s not. The Hawks to date have not confirmed this deal to me or others. Um I do trust Mike who does a really good job. So I think this is correct, but we’re still in the report phase and I want to be be very clear about that. This is not one where I can go ahead and confirm details for you. I don’t have them right now. This is a report from Mike and I just want to note that I am pretty confident for making calls that um it isn’t going to be more more than than the minimum for Caleb Houston. So, if this gets done, as I think it’s going to uh and announced, it’ll be the minimum. In fact, it could even be non-G guaranteed or partial guaranteed. Um, you know, all that stuff’s kind of in the ether right now, at the very least, it’s a one-year deal reported by Mscato for Caleb Houston. And notably, his minimum would count the same against the cap, about $2.3 million as any non- rookie. Basically, um, any veteran with at least two two years of experience has the same number against the cap and the tax. So, we know right now basically what he will be making on a minimum contract if that is the case for Atlanta. And I want to say at the top of this discussion, I like this signing. The Hawks are realistically kind of limited what they can offer to outstanding free agents right now. And I I use the word realistically on purpose because they have other mechanisms, but it seems like for all the world, they will be under the tax once again. And that was predicted and not noted by basically everyone coming into the summer. But aside from air Coffee, who I’ve been talking about for a while, who I do think is a little bit better than Houston right now. Houston is by the way younger than Coffee and I still would have had Houston pretty high on my list of available wing guys that I would at least offer the minimum to. So in a vacuum, I would have offered Caleb Houston the minimum. And the Hawks have done that. So that makes total sense to me. And uh by the way, Caleb Houston is spelled with an A instead of an O at the end of his name. That will be misspelled by everyone for all time, I’m sure. But Caleb Houston is apparently going to be joining the Hawks. Um, just for his bio, he’s 67 68 wing with a six 611 wingspan. Um, he was a the 32nd pick of the draft out of Michigan in 2022. Spent his first three seasons with Orlando. Played in about 170ish games, made 23 starts with the Magic in three seasons. He’s only 22 years old, roughly the same age as Dyson Daniels. So, this is a guy who could have been like in this year’s draft. like he is younger than some guys who were drafted in the first round this year. So keep that in mind. Also, this is kind of an interesting note, he was in the same college recruiting class as Kobe Buffin at Michigan. They came in at Michigan at the same time, played as freshman together. Houston went to the league. Buffin went back to college for one more year and here they are back back together again in Atlanta. And look, I’ll just be clear about this. The number one appeal for Caleb Houston by a wide margin is his three-point shooting. He is a good shooter. Um, he didn’t shoot great as a rookie. Um, rookies are generally bad, as I say all the time on the podcast, but the last two seasons with Orlando, he has shot 38.5% on threes, and that’s on 11 attempts per 100 possessions. That’s a lot of volume and a lot of accuracy for a young guy with size. Um, that’s a big time shooter basically on real volume. By the way, he’s also attempted 89% of his shots from the field have been from three in the last two years. So, he’s basically just been a specialist. Like the closest comparison on the Hawks recently is Garrison Matthews. They’re not exactly the same player, but certainly somewhat similar. If people are making that comparison, I can’t blame you for that. Um, at least the role as far as like specialist wing shooter is kind of the same. Um, to me, he definitely profiles as a guy who will benefit from playing with Trey Young. He has never to date play with a big-time kind of set you up point guard. Orlando is built around their wings and Paulo on Fron, even Jaylen Suggs. Um, Trey is different than those guys, a much much better better better passer than those guys are. And, uh, that should help someone like Houston. And just generally speaking, Houston adds another guy to the Hawks that has to be defended and creates space and gravity for his for his teammates, for himself on offense. That’s the by far the biggest thing for Houston. And look, big picture, I would say shooting has been very clearly a massive priority for Auntie Cle in this front office so far. And honestly, it should have been. Like I’ve been banging the drum for a while. I would say multiple years now that the Hawks just have not had enough shooting on their roster. And it’s made everyone’s lives more difficult on offense with the way they want to play. Quint Snder likes to take threes. Not only threes, he also likes shots at the rim, but they like to have space. They like to play fast. And having more shooting helps everyone through that lens. Now, basically, they have no one on the roster right now that can’t shoot. Like literally no one. Last year, the only guy on the team that could definitely just not shoot at all was Capella. Right now, they have no one like that. The closest might be like Ellie on a two-way, but Kongu is a developing shooter. Porzingis is an elite shooter, etc. They brought in, you know, three big time shooters now with Porzingis, Canard, and Houston, who are obviously Houston’s well below his guys as far as like being established NBA player, but as far as shooting is concerned, he’s a big time shooter. Plus, Nikil Alexander Walker is also a good shooter as well with a proven record of being a good shooter over the last couple seasons. And look, to be honest, Caleb has not shown a ton else in his career so far. Famously, he has zero dunks in his NBA career in three seasons. It’s actually kind of hard to do. Um, I will say he’s not quite as bad of an athlete as that makes it seem, but he doesn’t do really anything near the rim right now. And he isn’t he’s not a great athlete by at all. Like I I will definitely say that not not a great athlete. does have good size and just doesn’t really attack the rim at all off the dribble. Um, the size does help. He is a bit thin. He does have small forward like length with a 68 or so, 611 wingspan. I would say he’s definitely still closer to a 23 hybrid than a 34 positionally, but certainly can play the three a little bit. I would generally say, by the way, I keep seeing these really, really bad depth charts that have the five traditional positions listed, point guard, shooting guards, ball forward, etc. on broadcasts and on the internet. Number one, they’re all bad, which is fine. NBA TV’s today had Katon Wallace on it who’s not been signed. They had Ellen at center. They have Porzingis at four. Like just lots of weirdness that I would not endorse, but generally speaking, I think it’s not the way to do it anymore. Like you’re either a wing or a forward. I get it. There’s different positional designations, but uh Houston would probably slot at the three if you’re doing a traditional depth chart. I just wouldn’t because look, here’s a spoiler alert for you. The Hawks are going to play Dyson Daniels and Aquil Alexander Walker at the threesome. That’s just what’s going to happen. It’s fine. Those guys are primarily not threes, but they can definitely play there. Say, you know, Rish is a three. I get all that. Anyway, we’ll leave it there for now. But he’s more of a two-3 than a 34, I’ll say. Um, defensively, he’s improving. From what I’ve been able to glean in the last few hours, making calls, people in Orlando who covered him closely. He came into the league very skinny and I saw him play in college a lot. Like, he was definitely not developed physically. Um, combining that with a fact that he’s not a great athlete again and he was 19, he was young. It was pretty ugly as a rookie defensively for sure. He has gotten better from there. I heard a lot of positives about his offball defense and the and the growth that he’s made there. Um, particularly last season. His some of his some of his kind of advanced metrics improved defensively last season in Orlando. He doesn’t really create a lot of havoc. It isn’t is not a great onball defender, but I think he’s like okay from what I can see now. I will be trying to watch some more film on him in the coming days, but I think he’s not going to be a stopper by by any means, but hopefully just be able to be out there and be okay and have some good length as a wing player. Um, rebounding wise, he’s pretty bad, particularly as a three. Um, his ste was up last year. That’s a good sign generally speaking, only to a modest level, but um, that’s his defensive profile. Offensively, again, doesn’t do much besides shoot, honestly. Decent cutter at times, but a below average passer I would say for the wing. Again, people were talking about Garrison Matthews. He’s probably the closest thing that that the Hawks are going to have to garrison on on the roster this season. They’re not exactly the same. He is two or three inches taller than Garrison and a lot younger, by the way. So, there’s more potential juice. I would say a lot more upside than Garrison brought, but a similar kind of archetype as a you know, specialist kind of wing player. Um, and he has he has played a decent amount, but not a ton. For example, last three years he was 11th, 13th, and 11th in minutes played for the Magic in each season. That’s kind of the role he’s gonna be in in Atlanta. Like if I were to guess right now where he finishes in minutes without knowing anything else, injuries, etc., I would say probably like 12th, something like that, 13th. So that makes sense. That’s kind of what he the role that he should be in in some ways. I would say um if everyone is healthy coming into the season, I would say he will not play on opening night because he’s not probably one of their top nine or 10 guys. That’s fine. He’ll probably battle with someone like Verachche for minutes in that kind of secondary um wing position behind the likes of of course you know Trey you got you got Trey Dyson Nquille and Canard that will all play plus Risha those five guys are going to play perimeter minutes so you might get one more on most nights whether it’s Kobe Buffkin or it’s V cr or it’s Caleb Houston there are names there for you but like I would say he isn’t going to be in the top nine or 10 opening night in fact right now he is the second to last guy I would on a full contract. Um, I would put Yurishic below him in the pecking order, but I would certainly say he is not ahead of anybody else that’s on a full contract with the Hawks right now because these guys are all kind of entrenched to some degree. Um, a funny quirk before we move on, his career best game as an offensive player came against the Hawks in January 2024. He had 25 points and seven threes in a game against Atlanta, if you remember that one. Well, and again, big- time shooter. And uh one more thing here. Um the background on him is fantastic from what I can glean. Um the feedback about his work ethic. Like someone told me today who covers the magic that he was regarded as the hardest worker on the entire team. That’s obviously a good sign. A guy who’s going to try to get better and try to you know he’s still young. Again, 22 years old should get should get better hopefully in the future. Already has gotten better in the last couple seasons. So a lot to be positive there. again slots in behind Dyson, behind Nquille, behind Risha, behind Canard, among the wingy guys, maybe behind re, for me, probably behind Vit as well. Um, and again, for me, broadly speaking, this is a good depth signing with some upside. He’s still young. He has a real marketable skill with the shooting. That’s the only thing that you can definitely be sure about with Houston right now. But it’s not a deal that you throw a parade over. But look, simply put, there are guys that are available that I think are better than Caleb Houston. Just put that out there. With that said, it takes two sides to sign a free agent. You can’t just choose the guy you want and say, “Here you go.” And he has to sign it. Like I mentioned before, Amir Coffee I think is better than Caleb Houston right now. Not by that much, but better. Um like for instance, the best guys that are available right now probably like Al Horford, Chris Paul, some of the old guys. You can’t just snap your fingers and say you’re signing. Like you’re hoping to get those guys maybe. I know that I talked about Horford earlier this week. It’d be great the Hawks sign Horford. Maybe they still will. I would guess it’s probably not super likely, but it’s possible. Regardless, you got Houston to agree to a deal. It’s a good signing on a minimum for me. And they still have a roster spot available right now. One open roster spot plus one two-way spot. You got Keaton Wallace kind of in in the ether out there. Obviously, I’ll get into some of the finances later on, maybe into next week, but they’re still under the tax. They could sign another player under the tax with the minimum. And uh that’s kind of my broad breakdown of Caleb Houston at the at the beginning of the podcast. So, I went a little bit longer than I plan to, but it’s interesting signing. Hopefully, I’ll get some details on the um on the deal itself. Again, I heard it was what it was reported as one year from Mike. I heard it. It’s probably the minimum and it could even be non-G guaranteed. We’ll see. But stay tuned for more on this, but big picture again, I like the move. It isn’t going to win you a championship, but it’s one that I would endorse in a vacuum. And we’ll leave it there for now. All right, more to come on this podcast when it comes to the Summer League Hawks and their fourth victory of Las Vegas. We’ll get into all that and more in just one moment. session is brought to you by open phone. If you’re running a business, you know, every miss call has money left on the table. Think about the last time you actually had an urgent need in your own life, perhaps for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person that you called didn’t answer, did you actually wait on them? You probably didn’t. You probably moved on. And that’s why you need open phone. Open phone is the number one business phone system and it’s built to streamline. It’s got customer communications all from an app on your phone or on your computer. And open phone, they let you manage your business calls and your texts in a single app. And they have a shared inbox feature. It’s an absolute game changer. Your whole team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat at all. And they have Open Phones AI agent. 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Long story short, this changed a few years ago where they’ve made the tournament shorter to make the event shorter uh in an older duration. The Hawks would have been still playing for the title as of Friday or Saturday, but now they’re going to be done and we’ll play only one more game that will not mean quote unquote anything for the standings. But it’s summer league, not really why you’re there anyway. But 4-0 is 4 and0 and it’s been a nice week for the Hawks in the desert. Um, for the record, Jacob Tophin did not play in this game after he left the game on Monday with a hip injury. I covered that on the podcast earlier this week. And by the way, I discussed a lot of things with Lauren Williams of the A. So if you missed that, that was a fun chat earlier this week about Summer League from Vegas. Um, on top, no more updates right now that I’ve heard about his seriousness of the injury, but he can go today. Um, they started Kobe Johnson his place and they had Noah Junior Joseph play at center. Um, 11 guys played at Fort Atlanta in this one. It was the starting five of Buffkin, Uraic, Kobe Johnson, Asa Newell, and Nell Junior Joseph. And the bench was Adam Flaggler, Jack McVey, Jack White, um Jake Stevens, Javin Johnson, and the first um first debut of Devon Smith who’s been injured this week, the point guard that was actually put spent time at Georgia Tech among among other places. Mah came into the day with a chance to advance and they were winning comfortably in the second half. They were plus 28 point differential. Um, there have been a lot of blowouts in summer league this year. Usually the Hawks profile of 4-0 with a plus 32 point differential would be enough to make the to make the final four, but this year there’s been a lot of undefeated teams and they just didn’t quite do it because they weren’t able to get a blowout win here. But as for the game itself, um, they had some sloppy starts in this one. They actually turned the ball over four uh, sorry, twice in the first possessions. They had four straight empty trips. They were actually down seven nothing. Um, there was some bleeding stopped by the Kobe and Kobe duo of Johnson and Buffkin. They had the first eight points of this one for Atlanta. Um, defensively it was kind of mixed I would say and kind of bad at times early in this one. They allowed 20 points like six and a half minutes. They allowed four offensive rebounds and some breakdowns defensively. They did make four threes in the first quarter and then actually cooled off a lot. They had four in the first quarter but only only uh four the rest of the game. So it was uh actually five in the first quarter and three the rest of the game. My apologies. Um Jack McVey though stayed really hot. He was the uh scoring leader for the Hawks in this game with 20 points and 11 shots. It’s two games in a row now that the 29year-old forward from Australia has been the hottest shooter and that was the case in this game. I thought the bench unit play with a lot of pace in this one. It was the first time all week that zero of the roster guys and when I say that I mean Uric Buffkin um anybody that’s on a contract basically none of those guys on the court at all. They went with a totally backup unit for the first time all week and that actually played pretty interestingly. Um, it didn’t last too long. I thought Acea Newell was good as the game went along, but struggled early on. Um, had some rookie mistakes early, missed some short roll reads, missed four four first five shots. Um, defensively had a couple couple breakdowns, but he after that point in time was really good in the second half, which was good to see him bounce back after that slow start. Um, offensively, it was productive in the first half other than 10 turnovers. And second half, they kind of flipped. They shot really well in the first half and turned the ball over a lot. The second half, they couldn’t make a shot and then stopped turning the ball over. So, what are you going to do? It’s summer league. Um, after halftime, uh, Yurich was really quiet in this game, like all the way around. Um, but he was more loud, I would say, in the second half. So, in the first half, he took one shot and was really kind of invisible. And they took three shots in the first 90 seconds of the second half, which is kind of funny. I was impressed by Ace Newell’s motor a lot in the first half. He changes ends really well and just doesn’t stop running, which I love in a big man. Um he was great in the third quarter kind of flying around using his his energy and his tempo to kind of create some advantages for the Hawks. He beat his man down the floor for an easy bucket that what honestly he just created out of nothing because it should have been and you know he just ran faster than his opponent which is nice to see. Um ball movement wise was pretty good. They actually went by 14 late in the third quarter and up 10 going to the fourth. The lead was got the league got down to like six or seven early in the fourth until Buffy got a three-point play. McVey had a jump shot um actually cutting up layup as well. The rest of the offense in the fourth quarter for like the first seven or eight minutes was very rough. They started three of 13 from the floor in the fourth. Couple turnovers, there’s free throws. It was kind of sloppy. And there’s a 100 run by Memphis. The Hawks were up by 10. They erased that lead entirely. And I tweeted in the moment, and I honestly, this ended up being right, that that little mini run by the Grizzlies basically ended the Hawks chances of making it to the semi-finals. They kind of had to win by like 15 plus probably to make it. and that they as soon as that happened it was like oh they’re not gonna do this and uh it ultimately it wouldn’t have mattered because Charlotte blew out um San Antonio but alas um late in the game they did bounce back Kobe Johnson split a pair of free throws for the lead um then Memphis did score but back toback the biggest offensive plays of the entire game were um coming up. So after a nice drive by Buffkin that ended up being a swing swing for a wideopen three the Hawks missed it and they go down by three points. I was like oh man they’re going to lose this game aren’t they? And then um this sequence actually won it for them. So Newell has a big block at the rim when they’re down by three with like 110 to go. That kind of salvaged things that if that if that shot goes in, they’re down by five. It isn’t over, but they’re definitely teetering. But that was a nice play by Buffin. Sorry, by Newell at the rim. And then Buffin got the ball, drove, and scored to go down by one. So a four-point swing there. Then they get a stop again. And then Adam Flaggler hits what ended up being the game winner on a nice pull-up jump shot in the lane. Like a 12-footer for the lead with under minutes to go. Um, and then they got another stop after a nice contest at the rim by Newell again. And then the Grizzlies had a foul. Kobe Johnson makes both free throws to go up by three points. Um, then Brian Bailey, the head coach for Summer League and the assistant for the Hawks, has them foul intentionally up by three. It almost bit them. It was close to being a three-shot foul. It was ruled to be on the floor. Think it was the right call, but uh risky to be sure, but they foul. Memphis misses the first one, makes the second one. So the Hawks are up by two. All they had to do is get the ball in bounds, and they did that. McVey make both free throws and that was the end of the game. But again for me the three biggest plays of the game, the new block with 110 to go, Buffkins drive for a bucket and then Flaggler’s game-winning jump shot. That three that free play sequence ended up winning the game for the Hawks in addition to McVey being awesome off the bench and certainly a team effort for the Hawks. But so look, as I always say, the results are not really what’s important in summer league, but it’s much better for everybody’s kind of morale if you win. And the Hawks again won their fourth game here in a row. And all of them at times they kind of scuttled a little bit and had to bounce back and that happened again in this game. So, we’ll get into the player-by-player stuff in a second, but I wish that’s my big takeaway is that, you know, look, they won’t be advancing, but they definitely deserve to advance. They played really well these first four games. They’ll have one more to go, but um you know, even with all of that, they had a nice balance win today and a nice little uh way to leave things if they uh shut guys down or whatever after this. So, we’ll see. But stay tuned. In a second, we’ll have the player-by-player evaluations from Newell, from Buffkin, from McVey, and more in just a moment. This is brought to you by Monarch Money. You ever wish that managing your money felt just a little bit easier? Well, with with Monarch Money, it absolutely can feel easier. Whether you’re going your savings account or planning a big purchase, Modern Money puts you in the driver’s seat, it’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. And at Modern Money, there’s more than just a budgeting app. It’s instead a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, your investments, and your spending all in one place. 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And I said before, but I also want to just emphasize there’s a chance that these are kind of last games for some guys, but hey, they’ve been trying all week long. Maybe they’ll have everybody playing game five. We just don’t know just yet. And uh broadly speaking, we do not know as I’m recording this podcast on Thursday night when their fifth game is going to be. They are eliminated from the actual quote unquote playoffs, but they will play a game. It won’t be it will be Friday. They’ve already announced Friday schedule. So, it’ll be either Saturday or Sunday. They will play one more game TBD on that, but we’ll have to you have to find on social media or wherever post recording because I want to get this podcast out on a Thursday evening. With that said to the players, I won’t go through everybody as I always would not in summer league, but um 11 guys played for Atlanta. Um couple observations here. Devon Smith played his first minutes for the Hawks in summer league after the uh he had the lower leg injury earlier on this week. Looked pretty good to me. Had a couple nice passes, three assists, four rebounds, sorry, four four points, three rebounds for Smith, but a couple of nice looks. Just was under control. Did his job back up point guard in this game. Um Jack McVey was awesome again. Um people asking me if he’s gonna make the team like I would guess not on that but hey anytime this is a guy and as I said in in the preview with Glenn Willis last week or two weeks ago now Jack McVey was on a two-way last year with Houston like he’s a fringe NBA player and I I mean that in a positive way like he’s not a zero prospect he just happens to be 29 years old so it’s kind of a tough sell but like he’s a big- time shooter like a proven big time shooter at 68 or so um kind of a combo four type of 20 points on 11 shots just buckets doesn’t do a ton else honestly one rebound, zero assists. Like defensively kind of not the best, but hey, you have a job for a long time playing basketball when when you when you’re that tall and you can shoot. And McVey will be playing professionally somewhere. I don’t know if it’s going to be in Atlanta or College Park or anything like that, but we’ll see. He was really good in this game once again. Adam Flaggler, biggest shot of the night for the game winner. 10 points, three rebounds, two assists for Flaggler. Had a steal as well in 15 minutes. Um two of five on twos, two of six from three. He’s a big time shooter as well. Same thing I would say about McVey, like clearly a fringe NBA player, if not better than that. We’ll just have to see if he lands in College Park or somewhere else, but um certainly had a decent week so far. Kobe Buffkin, 14 points, six rebounds, two assists for Buffkin, one steel, only two only two turnovers in this game. Um the starters didn’t play a ton in this one. Like he he played the most. He was four of nine on twos, one of five from three. So wasn’t super efficient in this game, but I thought he played under control. Like played better than he did the other day. He just shot a little bit worse today than he did on Monday, but a totally fine game for Buffkin at the point of attack and then had that nice drive at the end. That was a big shot. Kobe Johnson had a nice game. 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, um active defensively. He’s a, you know, limited offensive player, but certainly made his shots in this one, which is good to see from him. Asa Newell was probably the standout in this game. 14 points, eight rebounds for Asa, two steals, good activity. Like I said before, the first half was kind of mixed, especially the first like quarter and a half, but from the end of the first half to the second half and beyond, like he was really good for about the last two and a half quarters. Like really good activity, and that’s what I care about most. Like he looks like he looks the part. He didn’t make a three in this game. He was 0 for two, but the stroke looks fine to me. Like he missed four free throws. That’s an area to be a little bit worried about. But I think that offensively like he was active, sprinting, and then defensively making the right reads. like a couple nice couple like unfortunate breakdowns I would say um for a rookie big which is totally fine but I thought he was pretty good the last two and a half quarters I thought Noah Junior Joseph was solid in this one two points five rebounds in 20 minutes and then your trip was kind of quiet I will say like not bad um so my distinction that I would draw was the first game of summer league he was really like actively bad most of the game um today he wasn’t he was just kind of quiet just didn’t do a ton um seven points on eight shots three rebounds three fouls two assists, three turnovers. Like he wasn’t good, but he wasn’t bad bad either. So that’s okay. You kind of live with that and no big deal in a summer league setting. So all that said, that was a lot of information, but four games down, one more to go for the Hawks in Las Vegas. Again, don’t know when the game is going to be yet. It’ll be Saturday or Sunday, according to what I’ve been told by the uh by the league in prefacing the tournament schedule, etc. Friday’s schedule’s already been announced and the Hawks are not on it. So I’m assuming that means they won’t play, but hey, that could change, too. So stay tuned. Social media is the best the best place to find the real-time updates on all that stuff. But um we do know officially as I’m recording this podcast on Thursday that the Hawks are not advancing. So we’ll have one more game and that’ll be it in the desert. Um as for the podcast, we’ll have coverage of that game no matter what and then we’ll be kind of in offseason mode. Um if you’re a new listener to the podcast, we do not go away when the season quote unquote ends. In fact, I’ll be doing multiple episodes each and every week all summer long. A lot of podcasts kind of go dark from the mid July until camp window. It’s like two and a half months of quiet. Not for us. We are still rolling all the time on this podcast. So please go ahead and subscribe to Loton Hawks anywhere you find your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Follow the show on XL Twitter at Loton Hawks. Follow me there at BT Roland. I am also on Blue Sky BT Roland. And you can follow my nonpodcast coverage of the Hawks in one place and it’s patreon.combtoland. All right, everybody. Enjoy your Thursday evening into Friday and we’ll see everybody next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 2024 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. Topics include the Atlanta Hawks adding a new wing in Caleb Houstan, a full breakdown of the team’s fourth straight Summer League victory in Las Vegas, where things progress from here in the desert, and much more.

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