Atlanta Hawks: De’Andre Hunter 2024 player capsule, offensive game, strengths, weaknesses (Part 2)

Atlanta Hawks: De’Andre Hunter 2024 player capsule, offensive game, strengths, weaknesses (Part 2)

on today’s show it is part two with myself and Glenn Willis talking all things DeAndre Hunter and it’s coming to you 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 to episode 1739 of Lon Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Thursday into Friday here in mid June and today’s podcast brought by the folks at priz piics the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports the place to go is price.com lockon NBA and when you get there use code locked on NBA for first time deposit match up to $100 also encourage you up top of the podcast to make us your first listen each and every day find us anywhere you might find podcasts just search lockon Hawks at Apple and Spotify and YouTube overcast Etc and as a PSA this is part two of two with myself and Glenn Willis if you miss part one it should be in that same podcast Fe listening to this podcast on so go ahead and find that one I recommend starting with the beginning of this conversation but there you go that’s all I had to say about this one and part two is coming to you on DeAndre Hunter right now speaking of the offense let’s go there and I’ll just say I’ll leave with a positive statement I feel like the defensive portion of this was not super duper positive even though there was sprinkles of that I think Hunter had his best offensive season of his career pretty clearly in this last season the the numbers say that um across the board whether Advanced shooting efficiency scoring average if you want to use that points per game like it was his best offensive season of his career uh and that starts with the fact that I think he was a little bit more optimized with where he was shooting from and that’s part of the Quinn project right um a lot of focus of that was on dejonte for good reason de took a lot more threes he was better at them his efficiency went up as a result right uh and we all know just to say this out loud the Quinn project is not only shoot more threes it’s also it’s also get to the rim more which is part of this but some of deandre’s frustrating long twos turned into threes this year and he also shot them at a pretty high level at the same time he still has while I was just positive about this season that he had offensively he still has limitations we we sort of alluded to that in the previous conversation with the defense at the end um so I poisoned lwell by saying it was best offensive season because I believe that you don’t you have to agree with me if you don’t want to but what did you make of deandre’s offense this year in year five first year on the New Deal all that stuff you know first full year Quinn what did you see from him on offense yeah I agree I think I think what we saw from him this year was him trying to do the things that Quinn was asking everyone to do especially this is ball H right and like if you want to like insert a laugh track after me saying ball I almost interject it but I I wasn’t going to do it you did it for me that’s good but they still ran like what they call three out where they’ll give him a touch you know at the three you know three-point break with the screen there and you know stuff like that right so they you know he was still kind of you know in the periphery of being ball handler right and so but I think he sped sped himself up I think he made faster decisions I think he um simplified his techniques like it used to be catch the ball you know you know Triple Threat jab jab you know you know uh a fox kind of footstep you know and that took like it felt like 17 seconds for him to do all that stuff it was probably like two and a half but it just you know it feels like it’s an eternity because the whole defense is getting set while he’s doing that stuff and this year I thought it was more catch the ball and go catch the ball and go right if it’s a shot I’m gonna if I’m if I have a toe on the line I’m gonna get behind the line that’s progress it might feel like marginal progress but it that stuff matters right um if on a close out oh what’s the angle is he going to get here not going to get here which is how like old DeAndre this year is like if he’s coming I’m going if he’s coming I’m going if he’s coming I’m going right and you saw that that’s why he got the free throw line a little bit more this year that’s why he’s a more aggressive attack in the rim this year um and so I think he deserves a lot of credit for trying to kind of lean into that stuff especially considering how counter instinctual that all kind of seems like as we watch him is right he’s you know and that’s why I think deante similarly deserves a lot of credit we you know talk we’ll talk about that too but for me I just think he he deserves a lot of CRP for trying to kind of kind of lean in there I still think that you have to just like on defense you have to put him in the right role you have to give him the right amount of responsibility the right mix of responsibilities for him to be optimizing that in two because attacking a close out Defender he got way better at just I’m going I’m blowing by him right and when when you get just one Defender coming at you before the other Defenders are kind of rotating down to help you get past the closeout guy you’re not as a as much of a at risk for getting the ball stripped from you by a guy digging on you or whatever if you’re going that’s one of just one of the many reasons quins wants to go go go 0.5 is his his terminology right and that that was all there now now if I gu one of the top five defenses in the league that that you know um kind of recovers you know to the other side of the floor quickly the help Defender second Defender third Defender starts taking space away having him dribble down into that tight space danger Will r son is the you know it’s an old old show I’m referencing there Google it um but that’s where like that limitation I think is always going to be there having him try to you know dribble into tight space uh is is going to be risky and then he that’s when he kind of gets kind of backed into a shot that is ugly and oftentimes just is is not what you want he doesn’t have the ability to say I’m not letting you do this to me and there are offensive players in the league that are just like I don’t care if he send a second Defender like Demar d roen it coming all the time and he just shoots that spin to the Baseline side this I you’re not taking this away from me you’re not doing this to me DeAndre is never going to be that kind of offens I mean d first of all DeRozan’s one of the best offensive players in the league yes as much as you may ha a shot profile but just in terms of like dictating terms of of what’s Happening obviously DeAndre is never never going to be that but DeAndre is the kind of guy that like once the defense kind of says oh we’re going to do this to you Deandre and he’s like he doesn’t really have a counter or a set of counters that go to and that’s where Quinn’s like make your decision and go if you break if you get the closeout guy get past him if the second Defender comes kick it out you know and and have it be very process oriented and I think he deserves a ton of credit for how much more process uh how much better process execution he demonstrated this year does that mean that other stuff that’s Lim those limitations aren’t there anymore no but if he’s doing that stuff Quinn’s asking him to do more you’re going to get better results offensively and I think that was a part of himing a better offensive season this year I totally agree and I think that um SP of the Nuance gets lost because he still has some things you would like him to be better at that he probably won’t ever be better at like we’ll get into that in a second but he did take real strides this year like I have some numbers to just throw out there for you best shooting of his career 60-ish percent 59.5 is very strong it’s above average that’s what you want to be um career high three-point volume about nine for 100 possessions 38 38 and a half% really good number there Etc ET Etc career high I think free throw rate this year also create career high free throw accuracy this year like lots of stuff got better right and over overall improved at the same time and also by the way just just because you you mentioned shot profile his lowest mid-range frequency of his career which I hey Deandre now I will say I said this last year on on this same conversation we had last year 22 23 he was basically Kevin Durant from the mid-range he had this incredible mid-range shooting season that like it’s never been he’s never been that he can’t do it right like dear de rzan I think is an outlier you reference on purpose where like dard Rosen is like a he like one of the few guys along with like KD and de like that I don’t care when they shoot mid-range shots because they’ve proven that they’re good enough they can take that shot all day long Hunter is not quite on that but he actually can shoot mid-range jumpers and make them at a decent clip right um anyway so all that said like a lot of good shooting numbers right but also I could give you some skeptical numbers just right now um lowest Rim frequency of his career like shooting at The Rim volume not what you want he shot a little bit better there but he’s still below and for a guy who we rush on defense side of this is 68 225 or whatever he’s a below average finisher among all players at The Rim in the league that shouldn’t be the case for his physical profile but it is and it always has been it’s not it’s not an outlier and also this is my least I almost said favorite least favorite the hunter stat goes to processing speed this year down had 887 assists and 83 turnovers for the season almost one to one for his career sorry it’s not not not career last three years we’ll be fair to him last three years 249 assists 234 turnovers you don’t want to be one to one in that in that Ratio or one to oneish 1.1 to one or whatever you want to say it is so an assist everything but he’s not a what should say he’s not he’s not an instinctual pass ball mover we already po fun of the ball handling which he does not do very well for a small forward in particular so it’s this mixed bag it always has been like I wanted to start positive because it really was a nice step forward but at the same time you know he’s never been seen by the numbers or the advanced numbers as like great offensive player and there’s a reason why he makes life challenging not impossible because like he he can he can shoot and the fact that he’s able to make threes and take more of them is a really good sign but I have to say like he took three fewer threes per 100 possessions than like Deonte or I pulled some other guy like Jaylen Suggs takes more three possessions than Hunter does he’s not a bomber he’s not like it’s good that you can make him he’s he’s taking more of them but he’s not still to your point five he’s not just catching and firing a lot like he’s gotten better at that but it takes him a lot but by the way slow release still exists for DeAndre he’s kind of he shoots it high but it’s a slow release so I said a lot of things there but it really is man it’s this really nuanced offensive profile where like if you just look at some of the like key numbers that I value like shooting efficiency all it’s really pretty good but like you you watch it it’s like H just want you want a little bit more from him all the time T show is brought to you by Price piix turned $10 into $11,000 at priz Pi in a single game I’m watching your favorite sports this summer you can make a l of priz piix and just as little 60 seconds and that is huge if you’re busy like I happen to be all you have to do is pick more pick less than two to six players stat projections you are locked in from there priz is America’s number one fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members get on the daily action right now with your friends and become a PR a part of the price Pi Community right now today the fals mean even more price picks as well s of the star players you get boosted payouts on select basketball Stars you can’t find anywhere else when the finals are over the Hoops action does not stop at prize picks in fact women’s basketball stuff is ramping up right now including stars like Caitlyn Clark and Angel ree up to 100 times the cash just watching them ball out price is the best way to get on the action in more than 30 States across the country including California Texas and Georgia and they had quick withdrawals at prize picks as well download the prize picks app right now today and use code Lon NBA for first time m match up to $100 Again download the app and use code lot MBA when you get there for a firsttime deposit match up to $100 pick more pick less it’s that easy with prospects yeah it’s funny a couple things here one is you think about his offensive journey to where he is now right when they drafted him even as a rookie the plan for him was to basically or um it was the punish cross matches like when teams would put their big wing on Trey I remember his rookie year he was I remember there’s a game in Oklahoma City where he posted up Chris Paul four times and scored all four times on him right and and that was the kind of the goal for him and then as we as you know Nate you know switched up the offense to where it was try and dejonte driving all the usage basically right and that was I think DeAndre had a spot like well you know what am I doing here am I just spotting up right and that and that’s not me saying that that’s not what DeAndre might should be doing most should be doing instin yeah right and then now Quinn’s here and it’s 0.5 and like I felt like deante got about 0.65 across the season DeAndre is probably 0.8 0.85 you know but I mean the question you have for yourself is can he get closer to that next year and can he be even more process driven and play you know kind of through that there’s two things you’re looking for when you catch the ball close out Defender second Defender what’s the right read go you know shoot you know if you got the space and those things and and I feel like we just saw that get better and better this year I think the question you have to ask yourselves is is it is it gonna get to good enough you know that’s I think that’s a fair question and but I think that the role the role changes he’s had to Traverse and and a part of those role changes is time he’s missed as well because they’ve had to like figure out how to play without him a lot you know and so that’s that’s another part of it but it’s one of those things kind of we go way way back right when he played with Gallow Gallow made things so much easier for him shooting big makes things so much easier for a guy like DeAndre Hunter right and when JC at that time was was making shots lower volume than Gallow Gallow was much much more of a volume shooter but that stuff made like easier for dandre Hunter I think the Hawks have to ask for themselves like depending on what they do on draft night depending on what trade they do or don’t make right you roll back Clint plus dejon how in the world do you fit uh sorry I accidentally muted my mic there how in the world do you fit like de deante DeAndre CL like you know that’s just it’s it’s just kind of it’s kind of a mess and but it it has been interesting to kind of see him go there but again even offensively there you know he gets traded you kind of see some situations where it’s like hey Deandre we’re gonna ask you to do these two things right just these two things and we’re going to make this simple for you and all of a sudden like he looks like he better the other part you mentioned the assistant like the assist to turnover numbers those assists to turnover turnover numbers are not good enough for a center no that’s that’s why I gave the forward caveat it’d be bad it’d be bad for yeah it’d be bad for anybody I mean and you know look you can say and I would say just to be somewhat charitable he’s not a high turnover guy that you know so there’s at least that like I’m not excusing that because it’s still a very bad ratio you need to have more than like one and a half assists per game as a fairly High usage small forward like that’s pretty rough the only the only small concession is that he doesn’t really turn the ball over BL well now when he does it’s usually like of the Yaky sacks variety where he’s he can’t can’t dribble the basketball but to his credit he has I think had fewer of those funny dribbling moments in recent years he’s still has them every once in a while but you’re right I mean it’s it’s limiting and by the way that was one of the things about Deandre coming out coming out of the draft is that he didn’t really have I’m not like you know he could shoot a mid-range jump shot but he’s not a he’s never a playmaker on offense or defense like he’s always been kind of there’s the robot comparisons like that’s kind of the way he operates he’s not a he’s not a fi guy he’s not he’s not a high field player actually this is something I was gonna ask you I’ll just do it now it has always struck me and it struck me even more now in year five right well going into year six the H Hunter is like a proyal example of of a player who’s like okay at almost everything and not that great at anything and like there’s a limit to that because like I think I’m and I’m guilty I’m guilty of this too I want to know what you think about this because like I’ve always kind of thought especially in this modern modern landscape where like everybody wants 68 Wing player right and like there’s this thought process of a 68 Wing player that can like help any any team right and I think he can help any team but there’s a limitation if that guy doesn’t have a a high-end skill like he’s he’s pretty good at some stuff like we talked about a lot of it already he also is not very good at the passing stuff but does that make sense what I’m saying because I feel like he’s kind of a perfect test case in some respects for like yeah you would want a 68 guy and I think in a vacuum let’s just remove contract from the whole equation would most teams in the NBA be better if they had the hunter on the team yeah I they would be now at the same time I could also argue that maybe he’d be better as someone’s third forward like I’m not sure DeAndre Hunter is like a a full-blown starter all capital letters on a really really really awesome team and given that he’s making starter money that’s where you get into theot to the conversations of that are limiting but there’s a reason why I said throw the contract out because I do think that maybe even like a team okay let’s just use Boston as the ultimate example of like loaded team right if he was their ninth man would they would he be better of course they he’d make them better like he’s he’s better than I think he’s better than Sam Hower like he’s different than Sam Hower but you know what I mean like it’s one of those things where you know he better than what Dall Dallas is playing Tim Hardway Jr still in the playoffs like he’s better than Tim Hardway Jr he is but it’s one of these things where I’m naming eighth or ninth men on the on teams I’m not naming starting small fours on these good teams y yeah yeah it’s interesting because you you look at guys in other situations right where they’re trying to do more than they really should be trying to do or they expect their role like to me the classic is Jeremy Grant Jeremy Grant I think is seems convinced he’s an All-Star sorry Jeremy Grant you’re not an All-Star and he wants literally I mean literally just for people don’t know this made it be in the Hawks bubble Jeremy Grant literally took the same deal from Detroit that he that he got offered from Denver because he wanted to be the number one guy and look everybody wants their own thing but like if what we know about Denver versus Detroit like he was obviously gonna be in a better situation for his game and to win in Denver and he was like no I want the ball which hey to their own but and as best as we can tell when he’s in a situation he’s not getting that he wants to be traded somewhere where he can be the number one same thing now Portland he’s still he’s still he resigned in Portland same exact thing yeah yeah so like DeAndre doesn’t pursue that right uh example closer example sad Bay right in Detroit like a lot of a lot of guys on bad teams in during their rookie scale you know part of their contract getting it shots up right you know he had a 50-point game up there in Detroit since he came to Atlanta been super coachable coachable does the things they ask him to do focuses on the things like hey Sadi we need do this and this and this and this and he focuses on those things right jayen went out with injury Sadi we need you to drive more I’m going to drive more I can’t make threes anymore but I’m driving more so I’m creating space for POI while he’s on the floor right and so the thing one of the things that you can I think you can appreciate on DeAndre is that he doesn’t try to be something that he’s not capable of being right now every NBA player thinks the role should be a little bigger almost every NBA player thinks their role should be a little bigger their their usage should be a little higher their oppos should be a little bit bigger right and I think DeAndre thinks if I get a small guy on me I want to take him down on the Baseline and face up you know get to my face up game and go and think that at this point in time it’s like dandre that might be our plan C but it’s not gonna be our plan a or Plan B you know and dandre is like well it’s here you know it’s here if you want it but I mean he I know this SCS silly but I appreciate the fact that he plays hard uh it doesn’t looked like that when he’s rebounding so I want to you know put that little kind of you know disclaimer that’s there like I don’t who knows what’s not clicking with him as a rebounder right it’s hard to say but the team stuff is there um the connectivity is there and then the other thing like like Hawks F mad like it just you watch I you and I both watch a lot NBA like is there a guy that gets a worse whistle when he like you know just the constant frustration it was on it was on my list to bring up because you’re right I I think that uh I mentioned the the slightly Rising free throw rate this year um which is miraculous it seems yeah insert joke and look I I I try not to do the officiating thing because I think it could be very very overdone as far as like blame is concern about what but you’re right it does now and then it does but ites it does seem as though DeAndre does not get the most favorable whistle in the world and maybe it’s that he’s not a demonstrative guy like it’s actually funny to I like de re as as a guy from what I I’m we’re not friends but like I’ve talked to him a decent amount of times he’s very flat in his affect but he’s also kind of sarcastic and he’s he’s actually kind of an interesting guy um you know there was that weird thing about like he said he in a very clearly joking fashion that he didn’t work on anything last summer at media day and it got blow up this whole thing like obviously he worked on his game guys’s he’s a professional mball player um anyway it was one of those uh I wish he got a better whistle um just for of course for the Hawks sake but maybe it’d be interesting to kind of see how much that would matter but and I’m not saying that like ref’s hate the hunter but it just does seem like as someone watches every game you brought it up I I brought it up it is kind of funny like how bad it seems to be for today’s show is brought to you by LinkedIn when you’re hiring for a small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the roles that you have available and that’s why you should check out the folks at LinkedIn jobs they have the tools to find the right Professionals for your team they help you to do it faster and you help to do it for free as well I’ve been hiring people in the past from my day job a few different times and Linkedin jobs have been huge in making the entire process easier and much more efficient and know small businesses are often wearing a ton of different hats that makes things difficult sometimes when when it comes to time and resources needed to hire but with LinkedIn it’s not just another job board they have a network of more than one billion professionals that makes it the easiest and best possible place to hire someone gives you access the professionals that you can’t find anywhere else and they do it all by making the process easy and intuitive for you hiring is easy when you have that many qualified candidates at your fingertips and so easy in fact that 86% of businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours with LinkedIn jobs and again many ways to find to have the process be easier for you and two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn jobs for hiring purposes post your job for free by going to linkedin.com SL locked on NBA one more time that is linkedin.com lockon NBA terms Supply yeah that’s the thing it’s like overall I like DeAndre like I I I I appreciate what he does on defense I appreciate how he does a lot of dirty work I appreciate how much he grinds I appreciate how hard he plays does that make him like part of like critical path for the Hawks being the next really good version of themselves no it does not right there are scenarios where I see them moving on and and kind of doing something different at the position or turning him into a different form of value there are times where I see depending on other moves like him being there and making sense then if the Hawks somehow become like a 55 58 win team the next say four years or whatever do I think he’s starting on that team I think that’s unlikely right and and I unless unless you’re like you got three allst stars elsewhere if he your fifth starter actually this again it’s too too uh convenient of a point but I I was goingon to say that actually if you didn’t if he’s your fifth starter and like the other four guys are clearly better than him I think I think he can be your starter I’m not saying he can’t be that but as we kind of look to the Future a little bit at the end of this three years 70 million left on the contract again I mentioned this earlier in this conversation that isn’t an albatross but it’s not a positive and that that’s the feeling around the league I think they could probably move him um it’s all about urgency like there’s been this is probably year and a half now where like the Hawks have been rumored to at least be evaluating options for DeAndre Hunter it’s all about how badly you want to move a guy like that like I think if they if they decide right now on June whatever that they’re gonna that they’re gonna trade the enre hunter they’ll be able to do it if they want to how bad do you want to what do you want to take back because you’re right I mean look on on the roster right now there isn’t a guy that’s better than him behind him for this next for this current moment obviously Jaylen is better than him Jaylen is playing next to him jaylen’s the starting power four on the team right now sadique Bay is hurt curling on the roster I get it yes V had a really really encouraging few months I would not go as far as to say V is better than the honor hunter from what we know right now maybe V is better than the honor Hunter we would have we would have to see I’m excited about yeah I’m excited about V’s growth he is not better than the other hun right now yeah I would need to see that a lot more before I went there uh same with other guys on the Rost so again I want to ech Echo what you said 100% that does not mean you can’t move on in fact I would I’m not saying you have to trade him but I think that being very open about calls on him is makes a lot of sense it’s it’s similar to Clint like we’re not purposely bringing those guys together but they’re just undeniably very similar and like they feel like they’re not going to be on the next great Hawks team it feels like maybe maybe we’ll be wrong about that but I do think there’s a world and look the this is why the contract stuff matters I think if you could move forward thinking DeAndre is going to going to be our third forward and our like seventh man I’d be so much more comfortable with that than like the firm starting small four that’s a it seems like a small difference but but it’s not because of what you know especially next I don’t think he and Jaylen are a perfect fit together as you’re starting forwards and it’s not it’s not and by the way they’re not getting they’re not getting rid of Jaylen nor nor should they jaylen’s a much more interesting much more High sealing player much more talented player than DeAndre so if it comes down to it and you don’t love that pairing I know which one’s gonna go it’s not gonna be it’s not gonna be Jaylen yeah it’s interesting because if we kind of take the last minute or two here and think really really broadly right Hawks approaching maybe a roster shakeup right some things really some some things really broke the right way for them this year which sounds strange for because they were honestly they were a frustrating team to watch a lot this season I mean I’ll just put that out there right but here here here’s the thing the trait injury let Deonte play point guard for the last what two and a half months of the Season whatever it was right that I think maybe doubled Dante’s trade value as opposed to where it was when he was before the trade deadline right it was it was a nice reminder to the league of what Deon could do in a more appropriate role for what he wants to do the the second thing that changed in the Western Conference you got a deal with Shay and OKC Luca in Dallas what Phoenix is trying to do and sorry but I know Phoenix was kind of a laughing stock this last year but they’re going to try to kind of figure out how to put it back together and make more one more run at it you got to have like three or four guys like DeAndre is kind of Hunter to go out and take one of those guys like you know you know and so the Western Conference I think has a number of teams that are like what do we do if we Face OKC I don’t have someone that I can put on I don’t have a second guy to put on Sha for half the game or I don’t have a a primary guy to put on Luca and so in in that sense the teams that Rose the muster conference that helps I think DeAndre Hunter’s Market I think it jues it a little bit and the other sense if the if if the Hawks decide that they need to split up training DJ I think all the time that DJ spent there and then they got the first pick you know you know and so you the Hawks fans are so mad at each other about it should be Sor should be clinging it should be yeah and the reality is if we take a big step back some things really broke in a good direction for them if they do want to move Clint if they you know less so there but I think there are teams that are like yeah DeAndre Hunter can help me in the Western Conference still with LCA for seven games well and Clinton and Clinton expiring so in theory that doesn’t M that matters way less and part of the part of the thing with theor is is has three years left and look he’s 26 it’s not if he was 33 it would be a real problem to have three years left at 26 if a team’s if a team likes de R Hunter they’re gonna like they’re gonna like him enough to trade for him like that’s kind of where I would be again I think that’s if you pulled the league and said is this a good contract a bad contract or something in the middle it would be bad or in the middle no one’s saying that’s a good contract at this point in time but yeah Houston’s trying to be a serious team next year they don’t have anybody can deal with LCA they have literally no one right so there and again to not to drive it home too too much here but if you have not maybe watched DeAndre Hunter every game of his career my experience with people around the league whether it’s scouts or execs or even media people probably think about him in a a slightly higher level than I than even I do and I I’m probably higher on him than than hawks fans are so that because again he’s a for who can shoot and defend that’s a full circle thing but like a lot of people just see that and that’s fairly appealing yeah yeah but again if you make his rooll too big then you start to C create issues that unnecessarily right yeah probably my favorite you know I don’t I don’t really spend a lot but my favorite tweet I think I I made this year was when papovich went over to the mic and said stop booing and I and I said this is me defending Clint capella and Dows Hunter on the timeline every day right and so I’m I’m in last time might be the last time look there’s a chance they trade one or two of them and it might be our last time to talk about these guys in this in this and I’d like for the Hawks to do well I like for Hawks fans to be excited about their team like I said summary are there a lot of scenarios where it makes sense to move on from him absolutely right I don’t think he’s critical path to their next really good team in other sense is there is there situations where my me the optimistic person that I am then root for everybody love for the Hawks to do better love for DeAndre to be in a better situation for himself if he’s back and as long as long as he’s in the right role and there are defensive upgrades that are material that help him kind of get into the right role I think that’s totally manageable um but at the same time if they decide let’s trade him and get a different skill set mix on the wing I think what the way the Western Conference developed this year helps his trade market and I and I I think that’s significant yeah I will wrap it up just with similar what you said I I think that uh he they don’t have to trade him I would be fine if they did pending return I will not say that they they’re they could definitely make a bad D on 100 Trade that’s that’s I think for a lot of hawks fans it’ be it wouldn’t matter what the return was for me it would be like there’s a return where you could it could be bad um so they could move them or not I would understand either way I think he can help you I think that I think from anecdotal people are uh even the long holdouts of the baby kawhai comparison are probably off the off the ship now uh that’s and that’s probably appropriate he’s 26 years old old and you’re and you’re going into year six but um yeah I interesting player I think can be very useful and uh I I I do think they have you know just fit stuff we we won’t do this now but like I I’ve never thought he and Deon fit together at all they they don’t really fit together I don’t think especially as your wing as your quote unquote Wing tandem I don’t think that works I said that before about Hunter and Johnson at the forward spot so like again he’s the worst player of those three players by a pretty clear margin so there you go anyway uh all right Glen we we done an hour as we always do anything that you want to uh get out there I don’t know when this is running we’re recording this on Sunday it’s not going to run on Sunday it’s going to be going to be a few days keep that in mind with whatever plugs you do at the end of the podcast yeah so uh a couple things to plug one is today I I did uh episode with sport Sports ethos atlantahawks coverage Tim and Mikey so go go find that was a great discussion about how Trey and jayen specifically should impact the way we look at what the Hawks should maybe do and not do draft pick right so that’ll be good um at 29 we put out two episodes this week uh I gave Tyler I love Tyler love Tyler I give him crap because he says he’s not gonna watch the play the the finals and then I I I always think he he hate watches some of it you know I heard jump and say yeah I watch I watched the second half game one I was like all right all right yeah there you go uh but yeah no so so find us find us over there uh and you know we’ll continue to be putting some content out between between now and the draft I got a number of other podcasts requests that are were working on timing so just follow me on Twitter if you want to kind of you’re doing you’re doing Atlanta radio you were on you on the radio in Atlanta recently I saw with our guy our guy Caleb Johnson so you’re in high demand these days there there must be slim pickings out there because I’m get my my request volume is up uh but it’s fun and and like I said I I really love the broader landscape we have of content providers a lot of lot of young people but are just like learning like really really learning and it makes me so excited for the broader kind of content machine around the team and stuff like that so and the and the draft getting the first draft pick only only helps it’s it’s yeah it’s it’s coming Fast and Furious uh again I don’t know I don’t know when this is running but I can tell you for sure that there’s draft content in the pre- archive of this podcast and there’s more to come for whenever I’m running this so keep that in mind but yeah check out all the stff just at1 at29 is an awesome listen I’m an every show listener they’re all my friends but I really think it’s a really really really good episode really podcast of hawks talk and also NBA talk so thank you for being here Glenn uh we’ll do more player capsules probably not till later in the summer at this point because I think we’re gonna be all draft between now in the actual draft or whatever but uh I appreciate you doing all of these because it’s a lot of time and people should be uh notable of how much time you are giving me for the price of zero dollars so thank you for doing this my pleasure as for everybody else please subscribe to this podcast check out Glenn’s work see you all next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts episode No. 1739 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Glen Willis (@willis_glen) for Part 2 of a 2-part discussion. The conversation continues the 2024 Atlanta Hawks player capsule series with a deep dive into De’Andre Hunter, including strengths, weaknesses, future considerations, roster building factors, and much more.

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