Lou Williams had considered retiring after the trade that sent him from the Clippers to the Hawks, but after Atlanta’s miraculous Eastern Conference Finals run, he’s thinking about coming back, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Blessing in disguise. ATL, thank you,” Williams wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. “I appreciate the warm welcome back. My teammates and staff was nothing less than amazing to me. Love. #6man #undergroundgoat #thinkimcomingback.”
The three-time Sixth Man of the Year is entering unrestricted free agency this summer.
We have more news from the Hawks:
- While the Hawks are open to bringing back Williams, Hawks president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk views the backup point guard spot as an area the team will try to upgrade this offseason, as Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. “It’s no secret that we’ve always struggled to field a consistent role is at the backup point guard spot,” Schlenk said. “We’ve had a couple of different guys. I think that’ll be one area where we look to shore up this offseason.”
- Schlenk expressed confidence in the team’s big men, including Clint Capela and John Collins, after Brook Lopez stepped up to provide a big offensive presence following the injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo. “When you get to the part of the season where we got to — the Eastern Conference finals — you’re playing against good teams and good players,” Schlenk said. “I have confidence in the big guys on our roster to be able to compete.”
- On rookie center Onyeka Okongwu, Schlenk said: “I told ‘O’ yesterday I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player improve so much from the beginning of the playoffs to the end of the playoffs… Told him he should be extremely proud. But there’s a lot more there. And ‘O’ knows that and we feel like that. He’s only going to get better.”
- Schlenk also touched on the roster-building challenges the team will face as a number of its current players get more expensive. “Obviously it’s a lot easier when you have guys on rookie-scale deals to build out your roster,” Schlenk said, “but once those deals come up, and those players start making bigger money, you really are limited on the ways to add to your team.”
Lou will is cold
Borderline HOFer, definitely 1 of the best to come from Atl
If Lou Will is a hall of famer close the place down.
Suns should trade Bridges for Okongwu
Why?
Suns don’t have tax room for Bridges and Payne.
If Bridges $25m and Payne $17m
Suns luxury tax alone is $147 million
This year Knicks are trying to sign Paul and Payne
Next year Knicks will target Bridges
2022-23 season
No one is giving Payne 17M.
You make no sense.
You have the most nonsensical posts on here. And that says a lot.
Nonsensical, like all the Sixers fans who think their team will get any value for Simmons?
Most Sixers fans aren’t expecting a 1 for 1 trade that brings back a superstar. They’re one of the more realistic fan bases around.
Stop commenting so much if this is the stupid bs you’re gonna come up with.
So that’s not true. I listen to Philly radio screaming about not wanting the “package” for Simmons. now some fans will accept the “best” they can get but that’s not the majority. they will get a workable trade though and I do believe it will make the team better. but they aren’t getting that 1-for-1 superstar (lol) trade.
Well… Brogdon and #13 set the bar dude.
Philly just turned down TJ Warren & a 1st for Bennie, wtf are u talking about
The Simmons slander is amazing. He’s obviously got problems shooting and with his confidence. He always has. Despite that being the case, he’s made the All-Star team 3 years in a row and his defense is a major reason Philly has been competitive. All these people trying to trade Kelly Olynk and two 2nd rounders for Simmons are so unaware
The Suns are not sending Bridges anywhere. They should sign Paul to a 3 year decreasing contract (so that it is friendly enough to pay Bridges when the time comes) and let Payne fly unless they can sign him for something like 8M (which is unlikely). Payne has been great, but sometimes he’s a bit hotheaded and it shouldn’t be too difficult to replace him with someone cheaper.
What would the Hawks do with Bridges?
They’ve already got more young wings than they’ve got minutes for.
In today’s nba, It’s positionless.
For traditional nba, Suns would have to trade Bridges for Reddish.
It’s about tax saving for Suns
#LemonPepperPrawns4Life
Hawks have Hunter. If he stays healthy for once they’ll be just fine.
The only way they can upgrade significantly is trading Bogdan or Gallo. They need to decide on John Collins, maybe it’s just match the offer, maybe its S&T. He isn’t a max contract guy, hes a near max contract guy tho. Maybe he becomes a max level player during the next contract tho.
They were my dark horse for a Harden trade, would have pulled the trigger if I were Houston even if I had to take back Bogdan.
We can & will upgrade significantly in numerous ways. We’ll have about $20M in cap space to work with when free agency starts. We can throw that at Nunn or Duncan to try to pry them from Mia. We can put Gallo, Dunn, #20 & a future 1st in a offer for Sexton & Love or Aaron Gordon & Markus Howard or something like that. We can even go after DeRozan (I wouldn’t) if we wanted to.. as far as John he’ll most likely be back for max unless some team like Sacramento is willing to give up Bagley plus #9 for him. He’s def worth the max, not only from the Hawks but numerous teams would be willing to give him the max… & had to take back Bogdan??? Lol Bogdan would literally be their best player
John Collins just averaged 13.9 pts and 8.7 rebs and less than 1 block, steal, or assist per game…on pretty decent shooting numbers…stats that are very comparable to what KP averaged…KP has a bad injury problem…and he looked much worse than Collins based on the eye test…but with similar stats, KP’s contract gets trashed, while Collins is treated like he’s definitely worth max or near max contract level. Perception is funny. Simmons career playoff stats are pretty near the same. And blogs are arguing whether Simmons is trash or a potential franchise player based on 1 play 1 dunk not taken. And I can’t disagree with the difference in opinion on Collins v KPs worth. Collins seems to have a positive energy and enthusiasm that KP lacks. I enjoyed watching the Hawks and how they played together as a team. While still making the big plays of a major star, Trae Young also seems to be able to defer better than Doncic…allow the other Hawks to shine brighter. KP looked turrible against the Clippers. How much of how good a guy is, is the system and fit with teammates?
Collins, KP & Simmons are all great players that are max contract type guys
Collins is smart and has made sacrifices while Porzingus is fritzy and is not supported by Doncic. Zinger could be affected by Kidd, good or bad IDK but Kerr would scheme for him better.
GSW & DAL have to get over themselves and trade before the season starts.
Sankara the max was made high to include the CPs & LJs, who were union leaders. It can weigh down teams that give it away to players that cannot take over on the regular.
Okongwu should change his number to 7….
That way we can start nicknaming him…
OO7…!
Very interested to see how they address the backup pg spot. This makes me feel like Kris Dunn probably won’t return but im wondering how much trade value he has coming off basically a lost season… Kendrick Nunn(free agent)/Dejounte Murray/Monte Morris would be my ideal backup pg but I’d be ok with Alex Caruso or Tomas Santoransky too