Atlanta Hawks: Post-Summer League roundup with Tyler Jones, Caleb Houstan, Kobe Bufkin (Part 2)

Atlanta Hawks: Post-Summer League roundup with Tyler Jones, Caleb Houstan, Kobe Bufkin (Part 2)

On today’s show, it is part two with myself and Tyler Jones of ATL and 29 talking all things hawks here in late July and it’s 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 back to the Laugh Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Roland coming to you in late July and this is going to be part two of two with myself and Tyler Jones of ATL29. So stop right now if you missed anything from part one of this discussion. I recommend strongly that you begin with part one. It should be available in the same podcast feed right now. So start there, come back to part two if you missed anything from part one. But without any further delay, we’ll dive back in right now with myself and Tyler Jones. Uh just to get back back to Asa just overall. Uh yeah, the strength thing is is the is the big issue with him combined with um he he needs to be more he needs to be more in his stance consistently more often. Agreed. Especially if he’s if he’s going to be a switch guy, then you got to lock in there and you can’t just be standing up and just expecting your length to overcome, you know, a mistake or two. like that’s just not going to work on the NBA level because one, you don’t have elite length to begin with on the NBA floor. So, it’s like he’s got to be more technically sound there. But, there’s a lot to like overall just like his overall game. Um, defensive rebound is definitely going to be a concern. I know Hawks fans aren’t going to like hear that, but like it was a concern in summer league. It was pretty clearly a concern when it wasn’t like uncontested rebounds. It was a real struggle for him. He’s he’s getting moved. That’s what it comes down. He’s not able to get position. Not everybody can be, you know, the greatest defensive rebounder in the NBA, Jaylen Johnson, which is his best skill. Not literally, not there’s nobody. He’s He’s the best defensive rebounder I’ve seen in the Hawks uniform. Like, it’s ridiculous the type of rebounds he’s able to get there. Like, and he makes it look easy, too. Like, he makes it look a lot easier than it is. Like, you compare you compare Jaylen to like what Reese Shay looks like when he’s going up for contestant rebounds. what what uh and what Asa looked like this past season. Like it’s it’s like they’re even though they’re similar, it’s funny because they’re they’re not all that different physically, but like there’s just something about how Jaylen has just timing and like explosiveness. Well, I was going to say he’s he’s he’s a better athlete than all these guys, including and it’s a good athlete. Jaylen’s a better athlete than Yeah. And but it’s also like it’s it is timing. Like he reads the No, it’s more Yeah. He’s reading the ball better than those two guys are. That’s just what I’m seeing because like it’s not again it’s not like Jaylen’s the strongest guy in the world. Like he’s just a better athlete and then he reads the ball off the rim as good as it gets in the NBA. It’s also it’s also one of the reasons why he is a four. I know there are always people that want him to play the three. Yeah. One of the reasons why he’s a four is well honestly a lot of it’s offense but is defensively he is so valuable at the four as a rebounder. He’s one of the five best powerful rebounders in the league. Like, yeah, just like Cooper Flag. Just like Cooper Flag, Jaylen Johnson position is definitely in the four. And if you play in the three, it’s a problem for your team on offense because uh uh Cooper, by the way, uh they need to kill that point guard uh gimmick. Well, I think I think that’s uh actually a good thing to remember about Summer League because you’re right. I was I watched him play every minute he was playing. I was in the building for he um it’s a reminder that summer league is sometimes for experiment experimentation. Uh and they have guys do things that they’re not always going to do. I hope that’s what was happening with Dallas. I don’t know because Dallas also had a terrible summer league team that was a other than Ryan Nhart they had like nothing else. They were really bad. Um, and they had Cooper play a lot of on ball, but the Hawks does too. Not not necessarily this year, but in previous years when like they had like one or two guys that are like their guys, they will have them kind of do good example, you remember AJ’s second summer league when they had AJ handle the ball like a lot and it was like, oh, he can’t do this. And it was actually helpful to know that he couldn’t do it, but like they knew, and by the way, they knew he couldn’t do it. They wanted to have him develop and stretch in that way and that didn’t go very well. But like it’s happened for years and years and years on different teams like so sometimes it’s like hey we we know you um famously this actually happened in the NBA at one point. You remember Zack Lavine point guard? Uh I know Timberwolves fans have nightmares about that still but um I don’t know how much that actually helped him overall as a player. But that that was the point but that was the point. They they were trying to have him get reps and uh anyway we’re off the rails. It’s just one of those things where not always in summer league is it like this guy’s going to do this in the NBA. Sometimes teams want these guys to stretch themselves. Even last year at Reese did it sometimes. Like he had a couple moments last year I was like he won’t do that this year in the NBA which is fine. He was the number one option. He was the best player on the team in summer league and they treated him like it which is fine. Um I don’t know. It’s just a different it’s a different animal. Everything is about development in summer league. At least it should be and feel that way. But yeah, and and that’s where um you know, shout out to ESPN for having Jaylen at the three on that starting lineup and also some of these team like incredible depth charts are out of control. Like uh Jaylen will play no minutes at small for position. He’s not he doesn’t I wouldn’t I probably wouldn’t say zero. There’s a chance he would do there’s a chance he would do it, but I think it would probably take a Research injury. Yes. Well, only only because and this is actually almost brought this up earlier about about topping. So, we can go to that a little bit. It’s a question I get all the time and I wonder if you see the same question I get. Uh, basically who’s who is the backup three is a question I get every day. His name is Dyson Daniels. Well, and that’s my answer as well. My answer is take your pick of Dyson and Nikil Alexander Walker. You know, it’s funny. It’s funny. It’s like when people bring this up, I’m like, “So, you guys do realize Dyson Dan is like 67, well over 210.” He’s And by the way, and by the way, incredibly strong and known for natural natural wing size like this is not a like to me the backup wing spot is not really much of a concern here because like I 100% agree with you. It’s just one of but I you reminded me of because of the I’ve I’ve been on the death to traditional dev charts train for a while the like point guard shooting guard small I get why it exists it was always positions I just wouldn’t do it that way at this point in time and this is a great example of it obviously the Hawks know that their third wing is Mickey Alexander Walker like so either he’ll play with Dyson or he’ll play with Zack or he’ll play or Zach and uh Zach and Dyson will play together. And I know they have V2. Beat’s more of a two. Honestly, V has small forward height, but is not a strong physical player. Luke Canard’s a two basically only on defense. Offense, he actually plays one. Um, and yeah, Tophin could fake it at the three. Like, he’s a he’s the one guy on the team that’s sorry, the one backup on the team that’s a 34. He’s a three four. you and I both agree, we just talked about this, that he he’s probably more of a four offensively in the NBA. He’s not a huge like creator. He’s really a a spot of guy defensively. He has good strength and all that stuff. So, they have a bunch of fours and a bunch of two threes. And then they have Zach, who’s really the only three on the team. Like the only guy that I would say on the entire roster is a three, like for sure is Zach Reich. That’s it. And that’s fine. They have guys that can do it. You know, it’s funny you say that because I think they want to try to get him at at guard as well, Zach. I know they tried to do it. I mean, he could play, but you we agree, but also I to use the term I hate natural position. He’s his three. I mean, he’s a his three. That’s what he is. Yeah. Yeah. Zack Zack and Jaylen are like the most natural position players on the team where like Jaylen’s a pure four and Zach’s a pure three even though again they’re similar size players, but you and Tre and Trey’s a pure one. It’s everybody else could do whatever they want to do. Those three guys are in those spots. Um, speaking of natural position, uh, uh, oh, before we move on to maybe non severe league or whatever you want to go, uh, I heard 29, but um, and by the way, as we record this Tuesday evening, this is still not official. I don’t know the status of this. I do trust the reporting from Mike Scott who’s a friend of mine about Caleb Houston who is the closest thing to a three physically behind I mean Dyson we just talked about but Caleb Houston has small forward side like length and height 68 611 wingspan coming in on a I’ve heard it might be non-g guaranteed but almost certainly a minimum contract for one year but he even is not a physical player like he has the length of a small forward but does not have he doesn’t make plays. And by the way, I’ve been positive by that signing. It’s going to sound like I’m not. He can really shoot. That’s his calling card. But defensively, he’s more he’s more like Vit defensively. Like he has some strength efficiencies. Beat’s a smart player. I think honestly, if you want to. Yeah. And actually, I’ve watched more film. Uh he actually was had some pretty impressive like offball like help team defense moments last year that I’m able to see on film, which is actually encouraging because that was a a question of his at Michigan having watched him in college, but physical like on ball defender is not going to be his calling card. He’s going to be you’re hoping when he plays he’s the he’s the guy you’re hiding other than Trey. Like he’s the guy that’s going to be like the secondary defender and he won’t play a lot anyway, I don’t think. But it it is another thing we talked about earlier the length and the shooting. Sorry, the length and the versatility. This is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Summer Sports now are in full swing. Whether all about baseball under the lights, golf on the greens, or the high tech soccer action in your life, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting for you. 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And if you’re new to FanDuel, you actually get a new customer bonus right now with just bet they can bet $5 and get 150. That’s 150 bucks in bonus bets if your first bet wins at FanDuel. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com/lockedon. The place to go one more time is fanduel.com/lockton to get started. The other thing that we have to talk about this they actually have a lot of shooting now and they haven’t had a lot of shooting in a long time. I mean 2022 was the last time they had a lot of shooting. Yeah. And how many times in the last two years did you and I come on this podcast talk about how they don’t have a shooting? Like how many times? Yeah. Where every time we’re explaining like why is Trey like not like well he has no shooting and teams just load up on them. So it’s just correct. It’s pretty hard. It’s pretty hard when you’re small guard and and you have no shooting and and your your whole gimmick is on drives to the rim and there’s no space for you. So like the the and like I I I I look at Caleb Houston and and I came came to this conclusion. I was like, he’s the George Nyang replacement where I think he’s in a role that if Niang was going to be on the team still like let’s say if Porzingis was on the team magically and then Nang was also on the team like this is the role Niang was going to be in where he’s more of a playing the three uh instead of the four because I I I just think defensively um you know the Hawks realized pretty quickly like George Dan got the force It doesn’t matter what he’s doing on offense. We’re just getting eight alive and like he can only play with one like he can only literally only play with a Congoo. Like this is not going to work. So um I I I think Caleb fills that role and like the big thing with Caleb is like if there’s an injury to Luke Canard or Reese Shay, you still have some shooting you can go towards if you need to add some lineups and they and he won’t kill you on defense if he’s playing alongside bigger players. if if that makes sense. So like that that’s gonna be his role. I I would like to I I I do say that there might be some upside with him still um in a better offensive environment that is the Atlanta Hawks compared to what you know the I mentioned it briefly on the show when when he signed he’s the kind of he’s the kind of player that could benefit so much from Trey. I mean he’s never played with a point guard like that. Orlando famously yeah I know Paulo and France both pass. They both can, but like they’re not Trey Young. They’re not they’re not spraying the way that Trey is to shooters. And I don’t I don’t By the way, Brad, I don’t get the optimism with this Magic team. Like uh I’m probably not I think I think I’m higher than you are on them, but lower than the consensus, if that makes sense. They still haven’t fixed the offense. Like what? They they have more shooting now, but still don’t have a ball handler. They have one shooter. Well, they have more shooting. That’s more than they had before. They hired one shooter who’s probably going to shoot worse the worst of his career in a bad offensive environment. And unless they’re going to change the offense, like I I just think I like Desmond Bane go went from a a great offensive system in Memphis, you know, now he going to the dungeon. And so like I I’m I’m kind of curious to see how Bane’s going to look, you know, without, you know, Taylor Jenkins, you know, one of the goats out here that still doesn’t have a job for some reason. Uh, you know, set, you know, setting like respect to Mosley, but like his offensive system is trash. And like if they’re going to play bully ball on both ends for 82 games, they’re going to have injury problems again and they’re going to struggle to shoot the ball. like I just it’s easy to defend that team and until they fix that I’m like, you know, whatever that and this is my point with Caleb. I’m like they let go of real shooting and Caleb I I don’t I don’t understand. I don’t either. I think they I think they’re kind of in a corner. Um I actually want to know what you think about this. Someone asked me this today and I didn’t run it by you, but somebody asked me basically, did they choose Jet Howard over Kell Houston in Orlando? And the answer is kind of yes. Now, Jet Howard’s under contract for a guaranteed money, which I think is all it was. They they basically couldn’t have both of them and they said, “We already pay this. We already have this guy owed.” But like, and look, they’re both machine guys. I get I think Kale Houston might be just better than Jet Howard. Like J Howard, we you watched Jet Howard in the last Oh, no. He’s been bad. No, I know. He’s been bad. He’s been bad all terrible time. I know Jeff Howard on a guys in the last game. I know where both teams weren’t trying to win. Correct. Jet Howard was the MVP of like if I’m if my team needs to lose some games. I mean, go in. I can’t. But it’s it’s not good. I can’t believe he’s still on the NBA roster. Well, and I Well, and well, you know why? He was a lottery pick. Like it’s teams do not teams just do not want to cut literally cut lottery picks that fast. Like if they could dump them they would anyway not to to that yeah to that point look flawed player. He has some interesting like box score wise it’s basically like he does nothing else other than shoot. That’s okay. But you you mention an upside he is young still. He’s the same age as Dyson Daniels. He’s 23. They’re like within a few months of each other. Like he’s not he’s not old. He has a real NBA skill. His shooting is a real NBA skill. Like you can’t fake 39% on volume in the NBA for two years. Like that’s not that matters. To your to to your Nang point earlier, I looked this up while we’re talking. The Hawks still actually had a positive net rating with Nang on the court last year, but they had a 119.4 defensive rating with Fang on the court. the worst on the team. And look, it’s not all on him. He had some bad situations where he’s playing with bar. You remember the Barllo minutes? It’s not was not his fault. But to your point, they don’t have anybody like that anymore. Like there’s nobody other than I mean Trey’s bad obviously. We we we understand that. But they have nobody like that anymore. Caleb Houston isn’t a capital G good defender, but he is notably better than George Nang defensively. Jacob Toppen is way better than George Nang defensively. Like they don’t have anybody like that. Yeah. And I just want to, you know, just overall like Caleb’s not I don’t think Caleb’s a savior or anything or like even No, he’s the he’s the 14th man. Well, 13th man right now. I think he’s somebody who I’m more comfortable playing than what the Hawks have been before where it’s like Garrison Garrison Matthews. Well, that was my people ask me people kept asking me like is this is it just a Garrison replace? I’m like kind of like yes but four inches taller and it’s just like that matters so much where like Garrison I mean they have to scheme up looks for him to get open because he’s so short and like that’s the only thing that Garrison I think does better than Caleb Houston is shoot on the move. Yeah. Movement shooting. Yeah. Garrison’s a real movement shooter. But to your point he’s six I’m sit next to the guy. He’s listen he’s not 6’5. He’s like 63 and a half. like he’s a small shooting guard size player and Caleb Houston is a legitimate two-3 size player like four inches taller, bigger wingspan. Again, not a great athlete. He famously has not dunked the ball in the NBA. I get that. But that has more to do with him never going near the rim than it does with like being unable to dunk. Like he could dunk the basketball. He’s not Trey Young where he’s never going to be able to dunk. Yeah, I think if he were to play enough with Trey Young, he’s going to dunk. He would he would dunk. Well, it’s like that’s I will probably do a I’ll probably do a bet with somebody or something on the show in October like will Caleb Houston dunk? Yes or no? My answer will be yes. He will he will dunk this year. I’m pretty confident in that. Yes. Um that that’s that’s just the point with Caleb where he’s depth and like quality young talent who young if he pops you might you might have something there. You know, you never know with these big wing shooters like Duncan Robinson famously went from a zero to a hero. Uh it’s role it’s opportunity. And it’s confidence. It’s like are you in a confident are you a confident player? Are you in a good offensive environment for you to be confident? And so and I don’t want to overweight it too, but like I said on the show, people Dando like swear by the kid’s work. like he’s apparently like extremely hard worker and look everybody work most most guys I shouldn’t say everybody most guys in the NBA work hard so it’s not like that is the only thing you need to do but to hear that him being like described to me as an outlier worker gives you some optimism that like he can find a little bit more you know what I mean it’s just another data point it’s one more thing I like that signing it was it was it’s not a big deal it is Keen Walls coming back like these guys those both those deals were similar to me and that was like hey that’s like a move I like it doesn’t change your But it’s like, hey, in a vacuum, Caleb Houston on the minimum. Yes. In a vacuum, Ke on a two-way. Absolutely. Yes. Like the thing is, if there’s like massive injuries, these are guys you’re okay with playing for a game or two. They might win you a game. Yeah. You should rely on 15 20 plus in a season, but like five to 10 games that that it’s good to have. It’s good to have options. And like I’m glad the Hulks are getting out of the David Rody morass. I I wasn’t I wasn’t going to bring it up, but you did it, so it’s fine. I wasn’t going to bring By the way, Brett, when the Hawks reacquired David Rody. No, I I showed you I took some screenshots. I showed you a few things. My mentions were unbelievable that day. Like, by the way, including from you. Including from you. Yeah. Yeah. cuz I was like, I never want to see this man play well NBA game ever again. I’m sorry. I was actually showing I showed some people around the league and they thought it was funny. But I mean, and I get it’s my bit to be like, “Guys, it’s it’s going to be okay.” But I actually felt that way. But I also understood why Red is so mad because it was really bad. It really was. It was really bad. It was really bad. It was as bad as Cam Reddish was his third year. So, hey, there are so people that want to bring Cam back and with a straight face. I hear about them. I hear about that all the time for people. People want to sign Cam again. Cam Reddish, AJ Griffin just like what? Oh, AJ. AJ, before we get out of here, because then you got to watch the you have to go watch the dream. Uh, anything else you want to get into? I mean, we didn’t talk much about Uraic. We did a little bit on that. Let’s talk about a little bit. I I I I did wanna I didn’t want to leave without talking about him because I feel like we talked about Kobe like this this ultimately this environment is not where Kobe’s Oh, one one Kobe question. One Kobe question. Uh we both kind of poked fun of it on social media, so I think this is fair to say. I thought the negative reaction to Kobe was like so far out of line. And that isn’t to say he’s going to be and people have kind of confused that with me saying he’s gonna be good. I I don’t I think I’ve I’ve tried to acknowledge repeatedly like the guy’s been hurt for two years. He didn’t blow me away at some league. I thought he was the best player on the floor in the first game and then for a couple more stretches later, but like I thought he was just like fine. I didn’t think it was great nor was it bad. But I also think this guy wasn’t first round talent when he was drafted. That guy is still there. He has a archetype of a role. And I I just don’t You’re not that you’re the only fan, but like you are much more of a fan than I am. I don’t understand why people hate Kobe so much is basically what I’m asking you. Do you understand it? Because I don’t want Is it just because he’s been hurt? Is that all it is? You’re asking me. I’ve been asking you offline. Like, well, I know, but like I I don’t get it. What is the deal? Kobe Kobe shoots four for 12 and it’s like, oh, this is the worst basketball player of all time. Like, and the the hate is so like misplaced. Like, it’s it’s just misguided. I think he might, by the way, again, he might not be good. Like that, that is possible. One is that the Pascal Siakum rumor is just gonna dog him for the rest of his life, even though which by the way, I have refuted that multiple times. Like, how many times how many times you got to say like Kobe has nothing to do with Pascal not being Look, the Hawk the Hawks I’ll say it again now. People missed this before. The Hawks did not look the Hawks have always valued Kobe to some degree. They have if they didn’t he would have been gone by now. He also was not the reason they didn’t trade for Pascal. He would have been in the deal probably at different times but they they had different ways to trade for Saka. It wasn’t like hey we will never trade Jacobe Buffkin for Pascal Saka. That was not what happened. And that’s how it was framed because I know it like that because like well Quinn wants to keep I’m like guys that’s not Quinn likes him but that’s not that is not what happened. It’s just not besid I I don’t get it. I I personally don’t get it. Like his rookie year, his point of attack defense was incredible. If he didn’t get That’s the thing. If he just didn’t get hurt, he has shown, right? I think it might be as simple as that. It might be as simple as it’s the it’s the rumor. It’s the rumor and he’s been hurt two years in a row. Even though Jaylen’s been hurt. Even though Jaylen being hurt has literally ended the season both years, but the Hawks fans are like, “We love To be to be fair to be fair, we know Jaylen is good, which is makes it different. Um, I had to ask you that question. Now, we’ll go back to Nico and then we’ll get out of here. So, Urchic, the first day, just scene a little bit. The first game he signs his deal that he’s been waiting, he’s been waiting to sign for a year. The first day before the game, I I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt to some degree. I have posited that that might have been part of why he was really awful in the first game. Uh like effort-wise, like his defense was so bad. I was like, man, this is not good like at all. Like this is not not good. Now, the rest of the week, we made fun of him being out of shape at time. Not maybe not out of shape, but like not having his wind, we’ll say. Other than that, it was what you want to see from him. He He was breaking the paint off the dribble. The shooting is a giant question. I people in the organization still are like I don’t think he can shoot which is not a deal breakaker but I wonder what you think about this because I’ve said it twice now but not to a person on the show. I am of the belief of with Nico Uruch that he either has to shoot well which he does not currently do or he has to defend well which he does not currently do. If he does neither one of those things he can’t really be good. Like I I don’t want to see it as as good as he is breaking the paint because he really is like he has the size and the creativity off the dribble that everybody’s looking for. Like 67 real ball handler breaks the paint. But if you can’t shoot and you can’t defend then you Josh talking about well Josh Yeah, I will say Josh Giddy by the way I’m not a fan of Josh Giddy at all. Josh Giddy is a is a much better passer than Nicole. like that. Yes. I’ll just say this about Nico. Like I hear you about about the defense and the shooting and all that good stuff, but like the drives, the ability to get to the Well, that’s why he’s on the team. It’s the drives. Yeah, he can do that. You know, I I think I think even if he his I one I want to talk about his defense when he’s in better shape. I just, you know, there were flashes in his defense. Had enough defense. Yes. Yeah. The first game was really, really, really bad. And I’m sure they were like, “Hey, man, you can’t play like that.” Um, and then the next game it was notably better. Like, I’m not saying it was good, but he was much more aggressive, much more attentive. Still made mistakes, but he was at least showing his because he’s a pretty he’s a decent athlete. He’s not a great athlete, but he’s fine. Like, he’s good enough. He like when he when when he’s when he’s in good like he showed he can move his feet. He showed like he was blocking shots, jump shots too and like stonewalling guys at the rim. SW I mean he had a big block. I forget which game like a clutch help moment on offense. Same thing like he he shows some burst. Yes. Sometimes he has real well he has legit burst. You see that in offensive like his first step is one of the better ones you you’ll see in in a summer league seven and like you know outside like outside of Trey Young not that many drivers and like he is a legit and so that’s actually funny it reminds me because I had a similar experience with that I had with Kobe during the week uh early in the week I had people that were basically like I don’t get it with your like why are they signing him he’s bad and I’m Okay, it’s hard to explain that like it’s much more about a future bet with him than it is a current. We already we talked about it earlier, but like he’s not going to play this year. I don’t I mean barring like multiple injury like he’s he’s the last guy on a full contract that’s going to play I think pretty comfortably, but that’s not why they signed. They signed him for two years from now team friendly contract and we just talked about it. Those guys who are 67, and he is, he’s legitimately 667, who can handle the ball and break the paint and drive are really valuable. Now, I have to ask you this. Is he a point guard? No. But I don’t think so. I don’t think so. But he is somebody you’re okay with running the offense for sure. I I agree with you. And they’re different those are different things. And it’s it’s a it’s a little bit of a nitpicky thing, but on those famous depth charts we just talked about earlier, he’s always been a point guard and I’m like, he’s not a point guard. Like, they’re not going to play a point guard because the other thing is he can’t defend point guards. Now, in Atlanta, there actually is a unique setup where the Hawks have three guys on their team already who can play the two and defend point guards. Dyson, Nquille, and Kobe. Like Kobe’s I think Kobe people have forgotten that already. I get it. The one thing Kobe has proven to me at least relatively is that he can defend. Like we’ve seen Kobe play defense well at the NBA level. That’s happened. We’ve seen that offensively much more uncertain, but people have kind of memory hole that Kobe was like really shining defensively. Like that was a thing that happened. So obviously the Kobe’s much lower level than Dyson in the heel. But if let’s say three years from now, two years from now, Uric is like a proven commodity bench guy, but like a secondary ball handler type big guard, there’s some lineups you can dream on with him and Dyson in the back court or him and aquil on the back court that make total sense where it’s like he becomes one of these one of the myriad ball handlers. This year’s version of Luke Canard, honestly, different player, but Luke Canard this year will be I will call it now. I’ve said it before, Luke Canard will be playing point guard this season. Oh yeah, with Dyson or Nil next to him. That’s going to happen. Write it in pen right now. Write it down. He’s playing point guard a decent amount this year. That’s going to happen. And Nico would be a similar to that. Different archetype of a player, but a bigger ball handler who can’t defend point guards, but who could play point guard on offense. Yep. That’s that’s his, you know, probably his ideal role. like defensively I I he can become a good defender but like that’s one like how you know and I said this on David’s p and I I’ve said this on a tense woman it’s like how like how much do you want it you know and that’s my that’s really my honestly even beyond anything else my concern with Nico is like how much do you want it because like there’s opportunities available if you’re willing to take them there are opportunities available with your talent level. He goes into G-League and he shows consistent defensive effort and then his offense is like there as well where he’s just bullying guys at the rim and like doing what he did summer league where he’s setting guys up for his mid-ranger which looked pretty good. Uh there’ll be opportunities for him in the NBA like the Hawks need another drop. Like the Hulks need somebody who can get from point A to point to the rim like flat out. They don’t have they it’s Trey and a bunch of may on that regard. Like Nico is a better driver than a lot of these guys. So like I think he he has an opportunity but like how much does he want it? Like is he going to be in better shape in October? Because that’s I assume so. And you know, he did play in G- League games last year, so it’s a little bit different, but he’s also the kind of guy where, and look, most guys are like this, but he came up, he was always the guy with the ball in his hands. He was always kind of the in the star. He was, he was in the star role at a lower level, like everywhere he went. And that’s different. You don’t have to defend the same way if you’re if you’re the primary ball handler. Like people you you’ll get grace for that. That ain’t going to happen in the NBA. If he didn’t guard, he ain’t playing. Quinn won’t play him. If he can’t hold up defensively, he isn’t going to be good enough offensively to not defend. It’s just not going to happen. I again, we I both I believe in his potential offensively. I really do. But he isn’t gonna be I don’t think he’s be a star on offense. So like he’s got to be able to defend. But on the bright side, like I like Lukard a lot. Luke Canard just can’t defend like physically, you know what I mean? Just physic like has physical limitations where he can’t defend. Urchic does not have that. Urchic is actually again 67 and actually a pretty good athlete. There’s not an excuse for him to be able to not defend. Like with Canard, it’s like, hey, he’ll give effort and he does, but he’s also like 6’5 with like a 6’4 wingspan and he’s not a good athlete. Like there are clear limitations to his athleticism. Nico doesn’t have that. Like Nikico’s actually a real wingiz player with like some juice. He can defend. He should be able to defend. And and and that that goes to my point was where it’s like even getting to Kobe like there are opportunities for Kobe because I I do think there’s going to come a point during the season where Luke Canard’s defense is so bad and Kobe has opportunity there. So that that’s just there will be a time when they cannot play and hopefully it’s in the play like look hopefully this isn’t a playoff team that we’re talking about but you know I’ve heard some people that I’ve in fact in Vegas has happened people that I were like dream thinking about playoffs with the Hawks. like can you play Trey and Canard together in a playoff series? And the answer basically is always no. No. So, and that’s fine. In the regular season, cool, no big deal. But in the playoffs, if you’re eighth, the regular season, the Lucar Trey minutes are going to go nuclear. By the way, destroy team. They’re going to have like a 125 offensive rating. But no, it’s going to be similar to the Niag minutes like but maybe more like more more extreme like number one offense in the league, 30th defense in the league when they play. And that’s fine. They’re minutes yards in there or whatever. Again, this is the Porzingis angle where it’s like as long as and we’re getting too much in the weeds in this, but like I think I think there are ways to construct construct lineups with Trey and Luke and the defense is still good. if that makes sense. Put them out there thing though. But like I absolutely think they can get away with they’re going they’re going to want to play those two together because like No, they’re going to do it. And you’re right. Uh we’ll save this for October, whatever. But you’re right, Trey Trey Canard, but with like Dyson, Jaylen, and Akongu. Yeah. Like you can probably defend enough in a regular season in the playoffs when things slow down and you can game plan. Now you have two spots to attack and like teams will kill you eventually. But that’s different. We’ll put that to the side. Uh Tyler, go watch the Dream, play the Aces. We’re recording this Tuesday. It’ll be This won’t be out till after the game’s over, but I I told you I get you out of here. We’re gonna We’re going to do that. I know I know you have something to recommend because you always do. So before we get out of here, what we got? Anything besides Michael Penn. All right. So I’m reading 12 Kingdoms. They just got a reprint. The first book is out. You can get that on Bars of Novo. It’s great. Unfortunately, I have bad news though. It was broken up. They broke up the f first book into two different sections. So, like the second book’s not coming out until October. That’s the bad news. I just Okay. All right. Okay. Good news for me is I have the first book in the original print. So, I’ve just been reading that. I have But like I I I don’t have book three, so that that’s 12 Kingdoms. But, it’s a it’s it’s it’s a great anime as well. It’s a classic. Um, go watch it. I think it it should still be on Crunchyroll, but like it’s it’s it’s one of the classics. Um, other than that, the new stuff that’s out, I liked what I seen the first couple episodes of Silent Witch. Um, Dan and Dan, of course, you got to be watching that. Like, that’s must watch, of course. Uh, and uh, The Summer uh, Hearrew Died is great. Uh, give that a watch. It’s on Netflix. Um, that’s probably the It’s not the best new thing out, but it’s the it’s it’s one of the more hyper hyped up projects and like the first three episodes have been absolutely fantastic. Uh, watch it with the lights turned off and in and your sound up as well. So, to give you a little spook, it’s it’s a little scary uh on for some I could see people getting a little scared about what’s going on, but it it’s good. It’s good. Um, there there’s a like this is a great season for anime, by the way. Uh there’s a lot out. If you want more recommendations, just, you know, follow me on Blue Sky at uh Anaz2X4 over there. Uh but yeah, I I I probably The wreck right now is like the summer Hearu died is probably what you need to be checking out. Uh but the other stuff I’ll let you know about. All right. Well, we’ll we’ll do it again. I will not bug you for a little while probably, but we’ll we’ll do an August or a September or something in the dead zone podcast about whatever we feel like talking about. Um, you and I could I feel confident in saying this. You and I could talk about the Hawks for an hour any day of the year and we and we and we would probably offline if nothing else. But no, it should be a fun team. At some point, we’ll do like a bigger, you know, preview and all that stuff about what’s going to happen. But I appreciate you doing this. Huh? Hawks NBA chance 2526. You heard you heard the odds. I gave it to you earlier. It’s if you want it the long shot Hawks Falcons parlay. If you throw, by the way, I did the math. If if you bring it full circle, if you throw the dream in too, it’s like you win like $4 million at the front. But like the thing I I feel less likely on is the Falcons. I don’t trust their defense though. Well, they are the Hey, for the first time in a long time, the Falcons are a longer shot to win than the Hawks in the betting market. The Hawks are plus 3100. Falcons are Falcons are 60 to1. So, how the hell have the Falcons been juiced like that? Well, because the Hawks haven’t been, you know, since the since the first year after the after the conference finals run, they’ve been in that like, you know, it’s the NBA. They make all the teams that are not the big teams. They’re they’re long shots. That’s what it is. The Hawks have some juice this year, though. I mean, they’re they’re up there. Well, I I’ll do a I’ll do a FanDuel show pretty soon, but their overunder is pretty high and people are liking the people like the Hawks right now, as they should. It’s a fun team. Uh oh, also, I don’t know if you saw this or not. if you didn’t atl29. Tyler is one of the co-hosts on that show. I am a every show listener to that podcast. So Tyler, Glenn, and some guy named Kevin that I talk to occasionally as well. Kevin’s okay. Yeah, we went pretty deep. We we went pretty deep on summer league. So like we talked about the deeper guys. I think we we touched on Kobe Johnson even a little bit more. Nelly Junior Joseph, baby. Glenn and I Glenn and I love Nelly Junior Joseph. I sat by Glenn for a quarter in Vegas. He was a good player. He was a good player. Um he he has a house NBA. So yeah, we we open we open with that earlier, but they did a good job on the margins in Summerland. Absolutely. These guys are like if they can’t get him in College Park, it’s a mistake. They should be trying to sign a lot of those guys in College Park. Junior Joseph, Kobe Johnson, etc. All right, Tyler, thanks for doing this. I appreciate it. Check out 29. Follow and subscribe to Locked on Hawks anywhere you get your podcasts. And we’ll see everybody next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 2028 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Tyler Jones (@Jonesy2x4) for Part 2 of a 2-part conversation. Topics include the Summer League takeaways for the Atlanta Hawks, the addition of Caleb Houstan, Keaton Wallace’s return, extension negotiations for Trae Young and Dyson Daniels, and much more.

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