The sound bites we hear in the first week of NBA training camps often fall into the same few categories: Every player is in great shape, no one is worried about contract situations, and every team expects to be in the playoffs. It makes it all the more difficult to get an interesting quote, but Lang Greene of HoopsWorld managed to get a few out of some Hawks, which he rounded up in today's NBA AM piece. Here are the highlights:
- Lou Williams admits that he was caught off guard when the Sixers decided they didn't want to bring him back: "Just to be honest, I was completely surprised. But I think they were in a position where they were trying to transition to a different style of basketball and that showed with them going with bigger guards and getting Andrew Bynum."
- After playing his college ball at Georgia Tech, playing in Atlanta is something of a homecoming for Anthony Morrow, who says he'd like to remain with the Hawks past this season: "I would love to be here long term. It’s like home for me. I’m familiar with here. It would be great. I’m looking forward to it, when that day comes. So I just want to come out and focus on having a great season."
- According to Kyle Korver, the Bulls' front office was upfront with him toward the end of last season about the fact that major personnel changes were coming in Chicago. Korver, along with most of the rest of the Bulls' "bench mob," including Omer Asik, C.J. Watson, John Lucas III, and Ronnie Brewer, are playing for other teams now, and Korver understands why: "It wasn’t anything about our play. It was strictly a business decision. They were way over the salary cap. Derrick [Rose]’s contract is a big one and it kicked in and you already have a lot of other guys locked in."