Atlanta Hawks: Onyeka Okongwu 2025 scouting report, deep dive, offensive game, and much more

Atlanta Hawks: Onyeka Okongwu 2025 scouting report, deep dive, offensive game, and much more

On today’s show, we dive back into player capitals with Glenn Willis and today it’s on Yaka Akongu. It’s a two-part conversation and part one is 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, this is Brad Roland coming to you with a slight addendum to the show today. I am aware of the Hawks coming to an agreement with Infolly Dante, but this is all recorded before that happened and I am unable to record a podcast edition to this. So keep that in mind. I’m aware of it. I will touch on it in full when I get back from vacation. And here we go with the rest of the podcast. Hello friends. Welcome back to the Lot on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Roland here in mid August and I’m actually traveling right now as a PSA. So, if anything has happened in the last couple of days, I don’t know about it, but I want to get you some podcast content and a lot of fun actually to talk to Glenn Willis of ATL29. He joins me today for a two-part conversation on on Yeka Aongu. Before I get to all of that, today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. I also want to encourage you at the top of the show, as I always do, to make Lock on Hulks your first listen each and every day. Check us out, subscribe to the show anywhere you find your podcast. Also, please tell your friends about the show. Again, Glenn Wils will be joining me in just one moment for a two-part conversation. So, this is part one you’ll listen to right now. Part two will be available in this same podcast fe as soon as part one is over. So, stay tuned for that. Subscribe to the podcast, tell your friends, and here we go with part one with myself and Glenn on on economy. I’m joined now by good friend of the show, Glenn Willis of ATL and 29 fame. Glenn, it’s player capsules. I don’t know when the last one went up. I don’t know when the last one was recorded. Time is a flat circle. How are you? Uh yeah, I’m good. I always enjoy seeing you fielding uh feedback about your Michigan bias. So So that’s always fun. The comments are always fun. That’s funny. We were talking before we started recording. You didn’t say that to me. That That was good. I’m glad you held that for the actual show. Um yeah, I I thought it was amusing. Expected that we would get a little bit of heat for Kobe Bucking. Um, but I I think people haven’t followed me long enough to know that I don’t like a lot of Michigan prospects. Uh, it it is what And also I did enjoy I’m not sure if you saw this on YouTube. Someone immediately was said, “Wait, Glenn is a Michigan bias.” Which made me laugh quite a bit. Um, at any rate, here we are back again and we started, this is the first one I will say that’s like we’re starting to ramp up these player castles. Now, we’ve done VET. Ve’s a rotation player. Moay rotation player, but this is I’ve called it the Hawks having seven starters basically right now, and we’ve reached the first one of you and I talking about them in this form. And that’s on Yak Kong Woo. A very, very interesting basketball player. A guy in for a already had a bigger role last year as we’ll get into for as big of a role, maybe even bigger of a role comparing’s health looks like, which I’m sure we’ll come back to later on. in this discussion, but um you know, Kong was 24. He be 25 in December going to year six. Like we’ve come a long way. We talked about him in this form several times. Honestly, he’s been around for a long time now. He was drafted in 2020. It’s been a journey for a Kong Woo. But um I say all that to say, where’s your head at with a Congo at this point as he heads um from year five to year six and uh you know, contract in place. No drama around him. He’s just a good basketball player. Yeah, he is. He is good. I know. I mean, I know if you go to the corners of social media, you you know, some percentage of the fan base is like, he’s not tall enough and, you know, that that never end. That conversation never ends. And, you know, whatever. You can kind of kind of think what you want. I do think I do think uh his lack of size causes you need to build your roster, the roster around him, the right way. And I know we’ll talk about some of how they’ve done that for the roster coming up this season. We’ll get into that. Um, but for me, the off the the offensive versatility and kind of how broad his offensive game is. Last year, he added the above the break three for the first time. still not like a volume shooter from three, but he, you know, you and I talk all the time that what Quinn wants is don’t hesitate. If you’re open, take that shot. And that he he’s bought into that philosophy. It’s gonna for me it’s interesting to see like, you know, with Jaylen back, you know, do they how much do they run 14 versus five pick and roll? How much they get into short roll? I think he has good hands, good decision- making, good processing. But, you know, they did that a lot of that with Dyson last year. Guard guard, you know, pick and roll and things like that. So, so it’s going be interesting to me to see if with Porzingis potentially playing some next to him, it’s hard for me to guess how much that’s going to happen, you know. Um, but when Jaylen back, that certainly takes the pressure off. Jaylen’s ability to put a lot of pressure on the rim and Yaka put a lot of pressure on the rim himself as well, uh, and such. But to me, he he can do a lot of different things offensively. Um, and and I think that’s that’s helpful. It allows you to lean into different action, different you based upon the matchup, you can kind of go to one thing or go to the other thing, whatever it might be. if the field team’s going to play small, he can attack guys in front of him, you know, and he’s he’s pretty strong, you know, in that sense. Um, and so for me, I I enjoy watching him. I still I still think there’s some growth. If if you I put out a about a 25m minute video on him on Patreon, and one of the things I talked about was getting stronger with the ball, finishing through contact, you know, some of those things. Um, and but overall I think he took a big step forward last year and I think he’s I think he’s an asset, but I do think defensively there’s some careful uh roster construction, lineup construction you have to account for. Yeah. And look, if you were someone betting on who would bring up the Aong Woo True Center size thing first, it was it was not me. It was Glenn. Glenn brought it up first uh on the show. But no, um, we’ll get into all that. And if by the way, if anybody’s new to these discussions, Glenn is gracious enough to join me way too often, honestly. Thank you in advance. Uh to discuss kind of every angle that we can think of, not every single little thing because that would be a three-hour conversation. And as much as we like to joke about it going long, it won’t be that long. But um you know, give him the whole picture of a player. And with a guy like Kongu, it’s almost easier because we’ve both I think watched if not every minute of his career close to it. you know, um, he’s been around, he’s been with the Hawks the whole time, etc. Um, and look, this is it’s it’s big. Well, you know, a lot a lot is changing with the Hawks. You already referenced Porzingis. That’s going to be a factor. But with a Kong Woo, he is coming off of careerh highs in like basically everything last year, including minutes, starts, minutes per game. He averaged 31 minutes a game in the last 40 games of last season. Now, part of that was that they had nobody else behind him because Capella and Nance went down at the same time. But he he proved over a half season he can carry a Stars workload. That’s a big factor. I think, you know, there was I wasn’t worried about him being a starting level player before last season, but there was some worry. He had never done it before. That was kind of the big thing. So, you see a guy do it, he hasn’t done it, and now we’ve seen him be a full-fledged starter for a half season and kind of a part-time starter for longer than that. He’s a really good player. Um, and yeah, there’s things to iron out. There’s there’s concerns and maybe questions he can answer areas where he’s not the strongest guy. The size does have, especially we joke about he does have limitations because of that. Like in a perfect world, you wouldn’t have your center be six almost at 69. He’s really probably 6’8 to be honest. He’s he’s very small. Um, but he’s got a lot of strength, a lot of length, all those things. Glenn, I normally would maybe steer one direction or the other. Uh, but I find I find both sides of the floor really interesting with a Kong Woo. And I want to give you the dealer’s choice on which side we go to first a little bit. Yeah, I I feel like we should save defense for last because I think that’s going to be maybe the most interesting part of what’s different this season. I don’t think offensively I think I think if when he plays next to Porzingis, he’s going to have more opportunity to attack the paint, attack the rim, those sorts of things. Um, with Jaylen back, it’s interesting to see, you know, Jaylen and and Yeka in a sense when they’re playing off ball have a little bit of skill overlap. Jaylen can handle the ball a little more and kind of, you know, self greet a little more. You know, that’s still average maybe at best for Jaylen. Um, but but offense, I I just think there’s a lot of different things that he can do. Um, and a lot and I think it’s going to be interesting to see him in a completely different context. They have way more shooting on the roster coming into the season. Like night and day difference in the amount of shooting they have on the roster coming in. And it’s going to be interesting to see if that that opens up more one-on-one opportunity to attack the paint, attack the rim forka because last year the you know except for when like Nang was on the floor and maybe uh Garrison was playing that game. I mean teams just sunk five guys, five bodies to paint on defense like all the time. So one Reese’s Trey could get to the rim ever, you know. Uh and so so that just the spacing is going to be completely different and it’s gonna be interesting to see how he takes it how he might take advantage of that uh different dynamic this season. This is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook and August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day. It’s a brand new holiday football fans who live for bowl predictions and preseason hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel’s giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP award winner, eyeing a long shot division champion, or just ready to crown your Super Bowl champion before week one even kicks off, this is your moment with FanDuel. And for example, you take a flyer right now on the MVP race in the NFL. I’m looking at the board personally, and I’m actually looking a little bit at Joe Burrow as interesting value at plus 600 or higher to win his first MVP award with Cincinnati. Also, you can go with longer odds on young quarterbacks perhaps like Michael Pennix or Drake May or even Trevor Lawrence if you want someone to go maybe crazy this year, break out and provide that longot value. Also, you can cer champion right now in August. I think the Chiefs are always good value at plus 800. They might not win it, but with Mahomes there, they’re always in the mix. Baltimore is appealing as well. If you want to go crazy on the Falcons, they are plus 6,500 right now at FanDuel. Or you can even parlay your favorite division winners together. And honestly, if a dark horse is even better, if you’re a Falcons fan like I am, you might have your eyes on the NFC South as always, and they have real chance this year. Plus, if you want to go a little bit crazier, the Jags and the and the AFC South at plus 300 is pretty appetizing as well. Visit the FanDuel app today and start playing your future events right now because future day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. I want to go kind of broad and then we’ll get into all the dynamics, but I mean just to say it out loud because I think it’s been said, I’ve said it, others have too. He became a starter full-time on MLK day a year ago. He played the last 40 games in that role. Aongo averaged 15.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game in that sample size. He was only like there’s only like I think it was like 12 or 13 guys in the league to average a double double with 15 points or more over that sample size. And importantly he did it while shooting 65% true shooting which is elite obviously. Um over that sample size he shot 65% on twos 36% from three on an everinccreasing volume which we’ll talk about of course and you know some of that was the up uptick in minutes and usage. Honestly, they ran a lot more through him, which we’ll talk about, than they than they ever had previously. But I just want to kind of just say that out loud and say, look, we don’t know he’s going to do that again. Those numbers, I mean, the second half numbers, 15 and 10 on elite efficiency, but the fact that he did it for 40 games is a good starting place. And we like to get more granular than points and rebounds in these discussions and we will. But I wanted to just say that out loud like he basically performed at a level of I’ve kind of termed it like at a minimum like top 15 level center in the league for the last 40 games of the season. And I know there’s there’s limitations and things, but like he has done that now in a way he had never done it before over that large sample. So I feel like I should say that out loud. 15 and 10 for 40 games on great efficiency. Pretty impressive. Really impressive. And it’s kind of funny. I break down last season. I remember, you know, he missed some time first half of the season. He had a couple absences, I think, if I remember correctly. And when he was coming back, you could see the rhythm wasn’t there. You know, the prior season, I mean, he’s just his touch around the rim has always been really high level. And for like, I don’t know, felt like November, December, maybe part of January, it was like just hit and miss on that. It’s like where has his touch gone, you know? Um, but he looked like his he was transforming his body. I mean, he got so much he got to me a little lighter as the season went on and a little bit more uh a little stronger, you know. So, it sounds and I think he may have even talked like behind the scenes about maybe a dietary change or, you know, something that, you know, something that he did uh in that area. So, he just looked um physically better. And I think that was part of his production was having a different kind of body that that was kind of serve him. And 31 minutes is a lot for a center and and beyond that it’s a lot for what we might say is a bit of an undersized center. That’s a lot of minutes for a guy like that. Um but credit to him for you know really kind of um maybe you taking a different tact with how he’s maintaining his body, taking care of his body and those things because they needed every minute he could play down the stretch especially when both Capella and Nance were were missing. Um and they had really no one else that could play center. Yeah. And you know, traditionally, and it’s not always the case, but traditionally smaller centers are, you know, energy guys, you know, and usually those guys are not playing 31 minutes a game. And I I’ve done this bit a lot, but for it really applies to this purpose. Basically, the only centers in the modern NBA that play that much are like stars. Like most of the time teams have two centers, which the Hawks of course now do and they did last year too to an extent, but like there’s kind of a dividing line in minutes played where like 32 and above is basically the era where it’s like only the only Allstars play that much minutes other than maybe like a guy like Zubat played that much last year, but he was basically playing at an all-star level for the record. Um yes, he was. You get you get you know your jokices your you know Rudy’s kind of tailed off a little bit with minutes as he gets older but he’s he was always in that range was a star player and B when he was healthy bonus is a fringe all star but has been an allar multiple times plays a lot of minutes like you don’t see a lot of guys who are you know more like typical like average starters which is not a shot average starter is a good player that play that much and I think this year Porzingis is healthy he’s gonna a gonna play 32 minutes a game I I don’t think um But it is a real testament to him that he was able to do that um and not wear down and and actually see his play if anything improve. Like he was clearly in great shape by the end of the season like you just alluded to and also played a full year. I mean he played 74 games that I mean know Kongu it’s not like he was he was Porzingis but he had some injury questions early in his career. He had he had some injuries stuff and to go out there. I’m not say he’s he’s answered all of them with with that season, but he’s now played two of seasons where he’s played 74 games or more. Um, and the other year that was was one of the shortest seasons where he played 50 games. So, like he’s had a couple years where he’s like in the 50s, but he’s been durable and I don’t want to overstate it again, but playing the style you have to play when you’re that size, playing as hard as you have to play when you are that size and being able to hold up is a pretty impressive factor. Um, you already highlighted this and you don’t have my notes in front of you, but I have basically the same thing I have written. Always has been a highle finisher in my notes. His touch is fantastic. Over 70% at the rim in his career. I pulled a stat right before we started recording that I share with you, but I want to share it now just to kind of outline how efficient Aongu has always been and still was last season. Anaka Congo is currently the Hawks franchise record holder for career field goal percentage, two-point percentage, effective field goal percentage, and true shooting percentage. He’s number one in the history of the franchise in all four of those shooting percentage categories. And again, he’s been here his entire career. So, it’s five years. It’s not like it’s a one-year sample where he just like flipped into this great season. So, yes, he’s a center. It’s the modern NBA. Percentages are higher. I get all that, but like that is a pretty good indicator of how ridiculous his touch is, especially because he wasn’t like a three-point shooter until second half last season. Like it’s basically for four years it was almost all within 15 feet and like he just makes and also you throw in the the free the free throw shooting which is actually a differentiator where he shoots like in the high 70s as a center a good thing to have when you get down there. So I can go on and on but it is kind of crazy when when I say that it’s like this has been a franchise for decades and decades and decades. He is the most efficient shooter and scorer and finisher in their history. And most centers who are in that spot are like predominantly plate finishers. And that’s not what he is exclusively. Now, now he he finishes around the rim well. They run high pick and roll, middle pick and roll, get him to the rim, he finishes well, but he has a good push shot. He can dribble into a push shot. He could dribble into like little he has that half turnaround shot that he’s very good with. Um, and he has a little kind of step through that. He last year he kind of added a little a bit of a step through as well when he kind of sets up a defender that can’t really keep him in front and so he’s you know he’s you can tell he works on his craft and he works on his game. Uh and like I said most guys who are in that range are like a you think about Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan that are just like all they do is kind of finish you know shots at the rim. Uh that’s not what he has. He has some self-creation you know for for center level. He has a decent amount of self-creation. Um and and he’s confident in that part of his game and I think that’s a big deal. Yeah. And I I’ll come back to the three-point shooting because that’s definitely a huge dynamic that we’ll talk about in a second. But on the self-creation front, like his usage rate was a career high last year. Only like 17 18% like not huge usage, but they did run more through him. There was more of him at the elbows. There was more of him in the short role. Um part of that’s just a natural evolution, I think. But I wanted to ask you like what you think about that as a as something that they could maybe even do more of or utilize because you know famously in the half court they haven’t had that many go-tos. It’s been Trey and then it’s like all right what else are you going to go to in the half court? Um that’s an area where he might be able to offer like for instance he shot 40% from Florida range last year. Like that’s good. That’s a really good number for Florida range. Like the passing we can get into that as well. Like he actually had his career high assist rate last year by a pretty good margin. He’s a good field passer. like what do you make of that as a potential growth area that we already saw some of from him last year but like how should the Hawks think about utilizing his secondary you know creation for lack of a better term. Yeah. So I mean is I’m interested to see how much they changed offense this year considering the personnel they’ve added. Right. Last year I think they were about league average in pick and roll volume. Um and they but they both with and not really when Capella was on. Capella was mostly screen DHO but that was pretty limited to that. But when Nance or Neca was on they run a play that they call wham which is you know kind of you dri you put the center say at the left side of the of the free throw line or maybe one step or two steps higher. Dribble right move the ball to the weak side and then you have cutting action and split cut actions off of that. And he was very good like in that action. good good fill passer just like you said Nance was really good at that stuff too and it was when Capelloa was not playing it was nice that they didn’t have to change the offense you know whether Nance was on or Yucka was on but I thought his passing came I thought his passing’s always kind of been there but I thought they put him into position uh to feel very comfortable and kind of know exactly what he’s doing um he did cutters really really well good timing passes aren’t late they’re on time they’re in the right place uh and all that sort of stuff so I think I think he’s you know above well above average passer for for a center. Uh then but it’s going to be interesting to see like you know with the different personnel what do they add to the offensive you know scheme this year and you know I’m going to be um in town for the two preseason games uh you know that are there and so I’m I’m going to come you know anxious to kind of see like what are we watching here you know what’s different what’s new and all that sort of stuff. So, I’m I’m eager to find that out. But they can lean into a lot of his different skills and passing is something that I think always was there, but he had a chance to show more of it last year than maybe he had years prior. I’ve you and I have talked hundred times. People probably sick of hearing me say it that while Capella was a starter for a long time, they asked and to fit into the Capella offensive template and that sacrificed so much of what he can do, right? And now when they made him the starter and especially when Nance was playing as well, it’s now the Inka template and then they’re leaning into a lot more of his, you know, diverse and broad set of skills. And I think I think that’s going to be fun to continue see him lean into that and make the most of it. So, one of the areas and this is not the only area. One of the areas in which the Hawks have focused and that it might change with the Kong Woo as kind of the incumbent starter versus Clint and stylistic things is that the Hawks don’t have a single player on the roster as we’re talking right now in mid August when we’re recording this that is not a shooter of some renowned. Now, there are different levels of shooting um but they don’t have any clinkapellas anymore. they don’t have any non-shooters on the team. Guards, wards, centers, everyone on the roster can shoot to some degree. And a Congo was part of that. Um there was always this thought dating back to when he was drafted in 2020 like maybe he’ll shoot one day. Like there was always the natural touch. It made sense. Free throw shooting, all that. But it never really um materialized until last season. I mean, I guess two years ago, he shot a little bit more from three. There was some flashes early last season, like this most recent season, he shot 22% from three in the first 30-ish games of the season. He couldn’t make a three. It was funny like I remember sitting next to our mutual friend Kevin Shernard like is it should he keep shooting these? Like it was it was so bad percentage-wise. It was like I don’t I don’t know, man. You kind of you’re kind of testing the balance of the ethos that the Hawks say and that I pass along that they want everybody to shoot when they’re open. Yeah, it was really bad. And then the light came on. His mechanics cleaned up, which he’s talked about. I know Quinn talked about he got more comfortable, but he shot 40.4% from three on like three and a half attempts per game in the last like month and a half of the season. No, not a huge sample size at all, but you mentioned before briefly, it was above the break as well. That’s a big difference. Like it was only corners before. He took almost almost as many above rig threes as corner threes which is like shocking for a guy playing only center where he was last season. So he only shot 32.4% for the year. And I think if you read nationals like people like kind of notice a little bit le the end of the season he was making him or taking more of them. We noticed a lot and this I’m not one mistake that people make including me sometimes is overweing the end of the season versus the beginning of the season. It still matters the beginning of season two. Like you don’t suddenly I’m not saying he’s suddenly a 40% 50-point shooter. He probably isn’t. But there was real growth there and real confidence there from the team side and from him as a shooter. And I wonder what you think of that. Like is it pick up where you left off, let it fly on, take No, he’s never going to be like Porzingis bombing from 35 feet, but like is it gonna be same similar? I imagine it’s gonna be the same similar green light. Honestly, it unlocks so many things when he’s playing center, but also as we’ve kind of teased a couple times now, he might play with Porzingis some, and if they could both shoot, that’s part of the appeal of having those guys play together, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I and I think for me, I think Porzingis, I would expect Porzingis can take a small guy, go in the mid post, and kind of doing stuff down there. he can, but when they’re when the other team’s playing a big center, I don’t think you want Porzingis taking that wear and tear of trying to go up against a physical guy like, you know, it’s a Zubot or a Bobby Portoris or whoever it is, you know, and those things. I think Porzingis is going to live a lot, you know, like he always has kind of be on the three-point line. And it’s going to be interesting to see if if that impacts three-point volume or not, you know. Um, but last year it was clearly they were just like, “Hey, we have confident.” You could just see we have confidence in you. Take that shot. Take that shot. Take that shot. And as you said, Quinn preaches that all the time. If you’re open, shoot it. If you’re open, shoot it. And there’s something too hearing that message over and over. I don’t care. You’re shooting 22%. Like, yep. You take we believe in you. Take that shot. And when you um kind of coach with and instill that kind of faith and validation in your players, they’re more likely to say, “Okay, I I’m I know I can make these shots.” And the shot came came along. Uh and he was uh you know great like last 30 games of the season whatever it was. He you know just was just confident and no hesitation and that’s half of you know maybe half of what it takes to kind of be successful on the three-point line. It’s just not caring if the last three you miss you know or whatever it is. You just like I know I can make this shot. I’m going to take it. And that I mean confidence is a big big part of being able to kind of continue growing your game. I mean, you could see that confidence building with just with him and growing and growing across the last couple months of the season. Yeah. And we’ll get to this talk with defense. I would say even more because for me, your position is more about who you defend and how you defend than your offensive game in the modern NBA, which is always kind of misconstrued, I would say. But the fact that you have a guy who can play 30 minutes a game at center, who can space the floor, and gives your whole team that element, it’s not only about him. It’s about having nobody that can’t shoot. Again, not to go back that well one more time, but for guys like Trey, for guys like even guys like Dyson and Jaylen who do like to drive and have driving lanes and have space to be able to do that. Um, even for Ankoa, like having space around him that allows him to be more of a threat going to the rim on some of those secondary actions and things like even Reese, name your player, everyone benefits from having more space. And when a Kongwoo especially because late in the season he started getting guarded more like obviously you’re not gonna guard him like you would Trey or like like Forzing with like full attention at three point line but if he gets more respect as a shooter that also stretches everybody out. It’s there’s a gravity aspect to everything that matters. So I don’t know what I project for him to like shoot from three this year. um probably somewhere in like the low to mid-30s still, honestly. But he’s taking more of them. He isn’t suddenly a specialist, by the way. He’s taking more of them. He still only attempted, I think it was like 20% of his shots last year from three. So, he’s still much more of an um at the rim short roll option than he’s ever be. He’s never going to be a bomb away guy, but I think it’s a huge development. Um but I also don’t want to overstate it, too. So, I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave with that because it’s it’s a development. It matters. changed a lot, but he’s still a guy that I would say focuses much more inside the arc and he does more of the more of the center stuff. I almost said traditional. He’s less traditional because he is so skilled with the ball in his hands and defensively we’ll talk about it too like the versatility of it all. I think that’s a big word for him in general is the versatility he brings. That was also that was always a theory of a con like you draft him in the lottery in 2020 not because not to honestly not to put him in the Capella template like we just talked about. Like that was not the idea of doing that. They did not think they were gonna have Capella for five years when they drafted a Conwood in 2020. That’s it’s been a joke for a long time. This is the first time we’ve ever done this one of these without Capella being around, but they wanted him to be it’s I know it’s a different regime now, but the appeal of him was always more of a guy who could do a lot of different things. Scheme versatility, being able to switch, being able to hedge, all those things defensively and then offensively making plays, maybe shooting eventually, which he actually does do now. So, it’s the theory of him, but it’s also like what’s the practice have been? that we kind of see all those ways he could be deployed and again the versatility of being able to bring in a center who’s a clear starter in Porzingis and have it not be a big deal like honestly like honestly part of that’s Porzingis being kind of a unicorn and he’s the original one of those guys but if you’re a Kongwoo like I can imagine there’s maybe part of him I’m not reporting this but that’s like man really another center like he brought in another big- time like highly paid veteran center but the fact that he his versatility allows for it honestly For sure. Yeah. And it’s and it’s to me it’s I I remember this is kind of going a little bit in the wayback machine, but uh I wrote his draft profile for piece for huge. So you have to remember it. The only three-point shot he made in college was like a 60 foot heave at the end like right before halftime and he was ecstatic it went in. But like his lower anything that wasn’t under his lower half was just a a mess, you know, just footwork was you know and he was young. he played with the Ball brothers in in in high school and then like they’re like, you know, get your tail down in the paint and by the rim, you know, and stuff. So, when you think about kind of what he was at USC and all of the lack of um uh kind of structure in his as a shooter at the college level and you look what he is now, I mean, you have to look at and say he has worked really hard to embrace the coaching, work on the technique that they’re giving him, all that sort of stuff. And I just think he deserves a ton of credit because I don’t think I think there was a huge question like in college you can see he had good hands like you could see that for sure but like any sort of kind of shooting form or whatever it it was the lower half that was just never consistent. The footwork was never consistent. Um but as I as I say a lot of times people hear me say I think NBA teams believe they can teach almost anyone to shoot. you know, as long as they’re coachable and are open to reworking the, you know, the footwork, build it from the ground up, all that sort of stuff. And I think I think he deserves a lot of credit for how much effort he’s put that part of his game because it’s a dimension that that matters. If a team’s going to try to really sink five bodies in the paint, having Porzingis is off the floor, have still having a guy who can take that shot and make it often enough is helpful. Yeah. And you’re right about the going back to the draft and it was there were argu I remember vividly there were arguments that was of course the never- ending draft cycle. It was the it just kept going forever because of the pandemic. But there was arguments everywhere like oh will he be able to shoot one day? And no one could tell you yes for sure because he he had never done it. But there was a theory and I think the Hawks subscribed to it. It was Travis back then and I heard this from them like they thought he might be able to shoot one day because like you said there’s some of that you could teach a guy but also the natural touch. Like we live with that. I want to end with it to some degree on offense. His touch is fantastic and that provides optimism for that. Um, also sneakily I want to just mention this. He’s a very good offensive rebounder. Like he’s never gotten the credit for that because Clint because Clint was an allworld offensive rebounder, but Kong was really good at it. Like he he’s a really good offensive rebounder. I think like 90th percentile or so in that category on a percentage basis. That’s another weapon that the Hawks don’t have a ton of beyond him. So that’s actually and Jaylen does a little bit too. Um, Porzingis is not a great rebounder as we as we’ll probably talk about when we talk about him later on. That’s one of his weaknesses for being as tall as he is. He’s never been a great rebounder. A Congo taking a step forward there being a crash guy when they want to have a crash guy. He might be the only one that crashes a lot of time like one that jumped out to me is uh that free throw rebound against the Knicks. So basically, yep. Save the game like got them back in the game and you know and and so his just activity and his willingness to work down there and so you have a guy with a motor and a guy who wants to make plays. I think that’s that’s part of having, you know, a guy that just goes out and just just gets after it all the time. I think that’s another part of his kind of character that the Hawks value. All right, that is it for part one of two with myself and Glenn Willis on Congo. Part two should be available in this same podcast feed right now. So, please stay tuned. Please subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Follow us on social media. We are on XLT Twitter at Loton Hawks. I am there at BT Roland. I’m also on Blue Sky at BT Roland and also on my non-podcast work on the Hawks can be found at patreon.com/bt rolling. Again, one more time, part two available right now and we’ll see you all next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 2039 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Glen Willis of ATL and 29 for Part 1 of a 2-part conversation. The show begins with a brief acknowledgement of the addition of N’Faly Dante before continuing a 2025 Atlanta Hawks player capsule series with a deep dive into big man Onyeka Okongwu. The discussion includes his strong end to the 2025-26 season, his top-tier touch, rebounding prowess, overall versatility, role for the upcoming season, fit with Kristaps Porzingis, and much more.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOHawks?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#AtlantaHawks #NBA #TraeYoung

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)