The Hawks kicked off the NBA’s Media Day season this morning, with general manager Landry Fields telling reporters that John Collins is “still here for a reason” after a summer of trade speculation, tweets Atlanta reporter Brad Rowland.
Trade talk is nothing new for Collins, who has seemingly been on the block since signing a five-year, $125MM deal last offseason. There were numerous rumors involving Collins leading up to this year’s draft, and he was reportedly part of the package the Hawks offered to Brooklyn in an attempt to acquire Kevin Durant.
Fields said Collins understands the situation and has remained professional (Twitter link). The GM added that Collins has expressed his opinion on the constant trade talks, but he understands what the team is doing (Twitter link).
There’s more from the team’s media session:
- Fields said negotiations are continuing with De’Andre Hunter and the team hopes to have an rookie scale extension in place before the October 17 deadline, tweets Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. According to head coach Nate McMillan, Hunter has been able to go through normal workouts this summer, which he couldn’t do last offseason because of a medical procedure (Twitter link).
- Fields also provided health updates on a few players, saying Bogdan Bogdanovic is “not going to be 100% for training camp” after having surgery on his right knee in May (Twitter link). The team is focused on getting Bogdanovic back to full health at some point during the season, Fields added. He also said first-round pick AJ Griffin has been “full go” for a few weeks following a foot injury that prevented him from playing in Summer League (Twitter link), and second-year power forward Jalen Johnson will also be ready for camp after a non-surgical procedure on his left knee (Twitter link).
- McMillan was in constant contact with Trae Young as the Hawks worked out a trade with the Spurs for Dejounte Murray, Williams tweets. The coach added that Young is looking forward to having a chance to play off the ball this season. Fields admitted having two traditional ball-handlers in the backcourt might be “a little clunky at first,” but he expressed confidence that Young and Murray will figure out their roles (Twitter link).
- Fields plans to keep the 15th roster spot open due to luxury tax concerns, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. The Hawks are about $1MM over the tax line, and Fields indicated the team’s performance will determine whether he tries to get back under the threshold. “It’s going to be a day-to-day thing,” he said.
Hawks offer
John Collins, Hunter and only 1 draft pick for Durant
Collins is overpaid
Hunter is injury prone
Nets asking price is sky high
Dont bother making that call with that offer.
The newest King, Killa Kev just slicing & dicing Seth & Furkan in the biggest game of his career. Scary part for the Sixers & the rest of the East is that the Hawks are gonna be even more dangerous without Kev this coming season… link to m.youtube.com
*** CORRECTION: McMillan said HUNTER could participate in workouts*** Fields is the GM
Our forwards, Dre/John/Jalen especially, are gonna break out this season. A bunch of our shooters from last yr are gone & more touches/shots are gonna be available for those 3 guys. Jalen will have to outplay Harkless to get in the rotation. Not gonna be easy but def doable. Attention to detail is his main issue in my eyes. If he continues to make progress there he’ll eventually be looking at a payday similar to what John & Dre are looking at. John is gonna be our 2nd leading scorer again & I wouldn’t be surprised if he was up near 20-24pts/gm again this yr. Only thing with John is his mangled finger & if he can continue to be a great shooter
Good thoughts, always respect your Hawks perspective cause you obviously follow them better than I do.
Just a few points, can’t see all three of those guys breaking out. As you said more touches and shots available with Gallo, Kev and others gone but DeJounte will take a lot of touches away from these guys too. Murray isn’t a great shooter so I think the guys you mentioned will have to space the floor a lot more and learn to work off Murray instead of working off Trae.
I think the big difference will be instead of coming to Trae for screens it’ll be about keeping your space in the corner and cutting and moving at the right times.
Also you mentioned Mo Harkless, I doubt he gets many minutes at all. I see Justin Holiday and AJ Griffin getting minutes over him.
I really like the defence and depth the hawks have added. Murray Holiday Dre Capela these are top top defenders. Then to go with them you have Trae one of the best offensive players, Bogi who scores at will off the bench and Collins who is a difficult match up for most guys. That’s probably the top 7, but behind them Onyeka, Jalen, AJ, Aaron Holiday and Kaminsky. That’s a good looking side
I see Dejounte helping those 3 forwards & providing them w/ better looks way moreso than taking touches away from them. We have 2 elite pgs starting for us. Both can get in the lane & find open shooters/cutters on a consistent basis. Having an extra pg out there instead of an extra shooter is gonna mean more/better looks for Dre, John & Jalen. They’ll have to learn how to work with DJ but the great thing is we got everybody signed up long term (as soon as Dre gets his extension)… as far as Harkless, he’s def gonna get mins. I see us going from Gallinari to Harkless as a big upgrade & it’s not surprising at all that most ppl are sleeping on that. Harkless has advantages over JuHoliday & Griffin in size, toughness, experience & most importantly, ability to guard bigs, specifically 4s. Jalen is a guy that (IF he can tighten his defense up) is big enough to guard 4s. But he has to show on the court during camp/preseason/1st month of the season that he’s a better option than Harkless to get that trust from Nate & his teammates… overall I agree this is a really strong squad. The defense should be much improved no doubt. Hopefully the health stands up a lil/lot better than the past cpl yrs tho
I foresee lingering knee issues on the horizon for Bogi. He’s already had knee problems the past couple seasons to boot. Thankfully he won’t be asked to be a primary ball handler now, so maybe he can just stand at the 3pt line and shoot now lol
The avulsion fracture is No Nonsense and a very tough injury. A tendon pulls a piece of bone off from where it should be so surgery to reattach and time for healing can be lengthy.
Plus I think he had soft tissue swelling which might mean meniscus is compromised and that could possibly be pretty difficult on it’s own. About the only thing you can do to recover from a mess like that is time. Maybe a year after initial surgery?
Maybe just me being someone who loves to think about how teams could improve and make moves. But I really like this Atlanta roster and don’t see many moves to make them much better.
I love Trae getting to play more in an off the ball role at times, like Curry does for the GSW. Will still get loads of touches, be the focal point of the offence and handle the ball but will have more open shots and create better looks for others too.
Love the bigger emphasis on defence with DeJounte DeAndre Caplea, the two Hokiday brothers and even in the depth with Mo Harkless.
Love the depth on the wings/forwards AJ, Jalen, Justin and Mo. Even Kaminsky as a back up floor stretcher it’s smart.
Only a could concerns, firstly Bogi and the injury history. He’s the most important part of the bench and come playoffs he’s been huge. There isn’t really a clear go to option without him. That’s where I would’ve liked to see them have Lou Will as a 14th man. Great for the locker room and the culture but if Bogi goes down he can be that go to scorer at the 2 spot for 15/20 games or something.
Then the other one is back up centre. Haven’t seen much of Onyeka and when I have I haven’t been blown away. I know a lot of fans love him but I don’t see it. He’s small at 6’8 and he doesn’t shoot the three ball and more often then not the hawks 3rd choice centre in previous seasons often takes over his role at times. Be it Deing and Cam Oliver last season or Bruno Fernando his rookie year. I see that as being a risky area for the team, especially when you have quality names still out there in FA. Dwight Howard, Tristan Thompson, Hassan Whiteside, Boogie Cousins and Lamarcus Aldridge.
To fix these two concerns the cheap no thrills way is simply get Lou Will and idk Dwight Howard. Cheap vet min deals, happy to play very small roles, great locker room guys and it’s settled.