Hawksbeat Podcast w/ Atl Hawks content creator @dlee4three11: Risacher, Summer league & roster talk
what’s up folks this your man e for the Hawks speat podcast in today’s episode we got my man David AKA d43 Hawks content creator this is the first of a two-part episode we’re going to be talking Zachary Reese summer league and roster construction make sure you tap in to both episodes Hawks be podcast starts right now let’s go Kevin herder to get it in everyone standing at State Farm Arena [Music] herder looks plays it into Trey two seconds one Trey floer good with point one and the Hawks are going to win this game I was going to rip his heart out I’m the best ever I’m the most brutal vious and most ruthless Champion has ever been there’s no one can stop me Lynx is a conqueror no I’m Alexander he’s no Alexander I’m the best ever there’s never been anybody I’m Sunny list I’m Jack Dy there’s no no one like I’m from n claw there’s no one that can match me my style is impetuous my defense is impregnable and I’m just ferocious I want your heart I want to eat his children praise be to Allah you are now listening to the hwks beat podcast with your host [Music] e what up what up what up folks It’s Your Man eel for another edition of the Hawks Beast podcast hope everyone out there is doing well in uh podcast land wherever you may be listening to the podcast um I got a special guest with me to man today uh my guy David uh otherwise known as D le for three on Twitter and all these other spaces man you guys know I normally don’t do a lot of guests but uh this guy’s doing amazing work on his platforms and his content creation man so I want to come in and chop it up with him and uh D what’s up man how you feeling man I’m good I’m good and I appreciate you uh you know giving me the opportunity to come out here and speak to the people and thank you so much for that compliment you know I’m trying to do my best in this space you know uh so that means a lot yeah man yeah you know I always try to try to reach out to to the younger folks now I can I can say that as the old grizzled veteran you know I’m about to start my 11th year covering the Hawks but um I’ve been peeping out your stuff and your content I met you last now last year was your first year as a credential content creator right covering the team like being in the building right yeah talk to me for well first of all talk to me about like that journey of of getting into content creation and and the things you’re doing for the Hawks for sure so honestly I’ve always wanted to I’m just a Die Hard Hawks fan I’m from Atlanta I’ve lived in this city my whole life so um the team means everything to me and I’m like well I’m investing all this energy into it like why not talk about it um I always I’m always watching basketball I’m talking about basketball so it just made sense to try and monetize it and I ended up uh avoided getting covid for the first like year and a half and then my siblings gave it to me when I went home and I figured well this is a great time for me to like begin making my first or taking my first step into making content so I made a YouTube video and then started making Tik Tok started trying to grow on Twitter and then eventually so um my parents run a the first black newspaper uh based out of Baltimore it’s one of the oldest black businesses in the country the afro and um I sort of approached him like well I have this sort of passion for covering Sports and I would if we’re based in Atlanta at least what my mother is and um so I figured why not why not apply for a credential and ended up getting approved and it was a dream for me like to be able to ask those questions directly that I’ve always wanted to ask and then you know speak directly to the players the coaches um so it’s been fantastic so far I’m not sure if being a reporter is something I I necessarily want to do long term I’m in school for industrial engineering um but as for right now it’s it’s amazing it’s really a dream come trip yeah man there I always tell people and like I said this is my I’m going on my 11th year doing this and it’s just something different about covering the games in person talking to the coach talking to the players and it just gives you a different perspective man so uh Kudos man keep on doing your thing man I I I I I think you’re doing doing wonderful stuff man out there but um want to chop it up with you man just about some Hawk stuff going on um there is a bit of news but we’ll kind of get to that a little bit later uh Vic Ki uh back into the fold he signs a fouryear $10 million contract we’ll talk about that uh Bruno’s contract extension got moved back further uh to August 1 and uh they had media availability today at Summer League I mean for the summer league Squad and uh we’ll kind of touch on that um first things first man you did a your latest video man uh it’s going crazy on Twitter man it’s got like 10,000 views uh you did a video where you talked about about Zack you talked about AJ you talked about uh Nia man you you ran the gamut man but uh talk to me about just your journey on uh Reesa [ __ ] you know because it it it appears to me and correct me from wrong it appears to me like you kind of wanted in the beginning you kind of wanted the hwks to draft Alex SAR which was kind of my pick in the beginning but I want to hear what was your experience like yeah I think journey is the perfect word uh that’s really what it was because um just to be candid it it took a while for me to accept the pick for what it was and it’s not necessarily an indictment on Reay or or even the Hawks front offic it’s more so I felt like we had an opportunity to get that versatile big man that we really haven’t had since honestly I would say Al Horford and that’s before he even sort of morphed into becoming even more versatile um we’ve kind of had these one-dimensional big men who are heavily relling on Trey offensively and then also sort of onedimensional defensively outside of Ona kongu but I thought SAR would be that opportunity to get that guy you know a higher upside guy than I think the Reay he’s not without his questions I don’t think there’s very few prospects that are ever without question and he was no by no means uh like the consensus number one pick but I do think for the Hawks situation where we have an older Center and some things should be changed at that position I thought it made sense to get a big man um and to my understanding as well with the whole reporting around him not wanting to work out for the Hawks that was not Hawks exclusive you know like it wasn’t just the Hawks that didn’t want to play for he wanted to be in Washington so um it appears that he didn’t want to work out in Houston either so I I think at some point the Hawks were like okay well if if he’s already sort of indicating that he doesn’t necessarily he’s not excited to be here I think re Shan made sense once you sort of put him in the context of all the other moves the Hawks made now if they would have took Ray and kept the John on this team and ran it back I would have been a lot more upset at that pick but once you sort of see the entirety of the vision of the new front office and I think that began with the 2023 draft with Kobe buffkin and Seth Lundy and mohamd gay sort of length versatility two-way players guys who are skilled with the ball in their hands but can also hold up defensively um I think you start to see a pattern you start to see a plan coming into fruition so I talked about in my video but I don’t think ret is a conventional number one pick but that might be okay with the way the Hawks are building and I also feel like it’s it’s reductive to put a ceiling on a young player he just turned 19 he may have not shown that self-creation that you’d want to see from a number one pick but ultimately he does provide instantly a lot of the things that we are missing on this roster which is size which is defense and which is shooting and at 69 shooting 40% over a decent sample size I’m not saying he’s gonna do that in the NBA but he immediately sort of steps into that role as a as a jumbo siiz shooter which every team in the NBA would love to have also about what he can do to sort of add on to what he’s already proven he can do but yeah man journey joury is absolutely the way to describe it but I think I’m I’m still a little bit cautious about it and I honestly don’t agree with the philosophy that got him to be in number one pick conversations in general but Hawk and so I’ll support him but I’ll also you know I’ll be CED about his flaws as well yeah I I I I was I was for me and a little bit like really quickly I am I’m I’m I’m not really the a Hawks fan like you like you’re a fan you know I’m I I’m I’m a fan I want them to win but I don’t I don’t have the emotion and stuff like other Hawks fans and so I kind of have a angle from it you know I wanted them to pick SAR because he was number one on my board he was like the best and kind of very similar to what you saw um and very similar to like once I’m like yo this dude’s not working out like this dude doesn’t want to be the number one pick like I didn’t like that from like a personality standpoint that’s a good point you don’t want an extra four million you don’t want the notoriety of being the number one pick like I don’t yeah it’s it’s definitely question yeah so like now I’m questioning your character and like you know and you know um Landry’s on this big hawks DNA thing and you know and I get it like it’s a selling point all he’s really saying is like he wants High character guys and I’m okay with that like it gets kind of redundant hearing him always say that but like it is what it is you know what I mean um and I was I almost up to the day I was like look man if that’s your guy that’s your guy like you know what I’m saying if he’s no one on your board you pick him but like once they drafted him and once it kind of came along I was like you know what there is value in a wanting to be there right like there is value in a guy wanting to be there and another guy like is your typical number one pick no no he’s not but everybody knew that like we knew that we knew what we had to work with in this draft um you are a a very analytical guy you have a lot of facts and figures and you’re very breakdown and I like that about you because I’m not like that and and I and and I love the content creating space because there’s space for all of that right you know listen to Hawks podcast My Guy Brad uh my guy Glenn and and and uh they all do an amazing job but we all have different types of podcast and they’re all different areas you know so there’s lanes for all of that when you look at Zach’s tapate once you start to like kind of dive into it what like what popped out to you like what are a few things that popped out looking at Zach’s tapate I think what instantly popped out to me is he’s not just a shooter and I think that’s something that’s really important you have a lot of guys who are um very rigid in their play style so if you talk about sort of he’s exclusively looking to shoot the ball off the catch or he’s exclusively looking to run off screens and look for a shot um he has moments where he can drive a close out he has moments where he’s going to cut to the basket off ball and I think that’s really important when you’re assessing a prospect’s feel so if he was consistently always just SPAC to the corner and not looking to sort of float into these gaps and make himself available to his ball handlers I think that would be a little bit of a red flag now the actual functionality of him driving Closeouts is not there right now now he shot like under 30% driving to his left out of spot up situations and around 33% driving to his right uh but the thing is he’s he’s doing it and I think that’s something that with a Hawks team where you have someone like Trey who creates advantages you need people who are going to be able to maintain those advantages and not just sort of be static off the ball so I think movement is really important that’s what jumped out to me and I think what also jumped out to me defensively is his ability to be a Team Defender and he’s really good at positioning himself in help against big men um taging rollers getting his hand on the ball that’s where I think his greatest strength is and and I like the fact that he’s not afraid to be physical around the rim but not necessarily when the like he’s not gonna challenge a shot at The Rim but he’s gonna meet the roller before he gets the ball and I think that’s important in a team defense context because then allows your big man to recover and so from that I think he’s very functional as a team player at this point but I don’t what definitely didn’t jump out was self- creation or any sort of um I I don’t feel confident about his offensive ceiling with the ball in his hands but outside of that I think he’s a excellent SE player yeah I I I that was goingon to be one of my things too this this the lack of of self-creation but um I I I do have faith in the hulks um ability to uh what’s the word I’m looking for like grow their players you know they brought Ryan Schmidt onto the coaching staff who did a great job developing those guys in College Park last year so I’m right and they had tape of him like working with Zachary today and like they were just like at practice Schmid was with him working on a few things so he’s already going to work and so that is promising if you are Hawks fan um do you think that being that his game is not a traditional like a number one pick type game do you think that he might get some blowback by the fans and by blowback we all know how Hawks fans are you know you’re self- included you know but we know you know there’s levels to Hawks fandom right like you know you got your regular fans you got your your your your your pessimist you got your Optimist you got your yahoos fans are fans right yeah do you think he’s gonna get any blowback being the number one guy that his game isn’t really that sexy yeah and I think that’s something that I’m trying to temper the expectations of anyone who will listen to me and it’s not that I’m trying to detract from his game but it’s just more so like he’s not going to come in and average he might not even average 15 and I don’t think that’s he might not average over 10 if I’m being honest and it’s like I was saying when we had the potential to draft SAR I was like he might not start people were getting mad at me and it’s like well who’s who’s the last number one pick not start and I’m like this is a completely different team it’s a different context like it’s it’s a lot of different things that you have to sort of consider when you’re looking at a prospect if and I I’m not gonna lie like it may be a lot of games where people are gonna be really mad at him for not doing certain things and it’s like that’s not his game you know he’s still super young and what’s really interesting is he’s never been a ball dominant player at any point in his career don’t expect them to start running the pick and roll and go ISO that’s not happening you know so I I think it’s gonna be that type of thing where people are GNA learn what type of player he is and he’s gonna be but we need team players like we haven’t had guys who do the Dirty Work like really like really since d right left we’ve had nobody besides well Garrison Matthews but besides d right we haven’t had someone in the rotation who’s like doing those little things this good team player and so that’s what I’m excited for I’m not looking for him to go heesy tween pull up from 25 feet I’m being honest that’d be nice but that’s not what I’m looking for that’s not him like shout out to D Wright you know shout out to my guy Brad Roland I always say him and I are the the official President and Vice President of the Delon Wright fan club and hope he has a great season but yeah I feel you and it’s going to be interesting to just see the fan reaction come summer league because I don’t I don’t think like his game fits like summer league I don’t and that’s not nothing bad like it’s just like summer leag league is more like for those guards you know who you know go side to side it’s not sexy you know what I’m saying so I and and I said in my podcast I was like hey man I was like I normally tell y’all not to O not to OD on summer league and y’all go with these expectations but this year I’m not fighting it y’all go crazy you know I mean go go crazy with the expectations because it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be uh I think he’s a good kid I I I think that uh the language barrier is a lot for him to be honest with you um I spoke with him on draft night and just watching his interviews uh today like it’s tough like it’s tough like doing all of this in a second language you know so uh and then you have the language on the court you know so all of those things as well yeah terminology and everything but for what it’s worth I think he’s a good kid I like the skill set um I I I see what the Hawks are trying to do now is to be longer and to be you know more dominant on the defensive end as far as like just surrounding Trey with like big wings you know what I’m saying so uh I I I’m I’m down with the kid I I I wish him the best you know what I mean it’s interesting to hear you say you don’t um you’re not really high on him in summer league I’ll say and I’m curious how you feel about this I think Kobe will make it a lot easier for him that if Kobe wasn’t there because one thing about summer league is it’s typically not good guard play and one thing about Kobe is he’s very methodical he can get guys shots and as much as I want to see him grow as an offensive player I think having the presence of mohamd gay even Nia durich to like a lesser extent as well like they’re all really gifted shot creators so he’s not going to be pressured to go out and create now if he was the only prospect on our team I think it be really ugly but I’m you think he’ll have a little bit less pressure on him because of those guys that he’s playing next to well I don’t think less pressure is a thing when you’re a number one pick man there’s gonna be pressure there and it’s not going to be fair you know what I’m saying and and I think he’ll do fine but I’m saying according to what people probably expect as a number one pick what fans expect what the media is going to expect as a number one pick I just don’t think it’s I think he’ll do I think he’ll play good but like I don’t think it’s gonna pop that’s kind of what I mean by that but and I think to your point I think Kobe being there is going to be uh really good for him I think Mo being there is going to be good for him Mo was talking today about him uh today and just saying how the guys are finally starting to kind of get some camaraderie and stuff and um man there’s so many interesting storylines surrounding this team uh just beyond like the number one pick and everything but um talk to me about your guy Nia now he was the guy that they picked up in the second round uh I did see you had a little bit on uh his on on your YouTube video uh for me uh very athletic guy very aggressive guy very raw you know he hasn’t they haven’t offered him a contract yet I personally think they’ll probably get him on a two-way um I don’t think he’ll be a draft and stash Al that they could but I think that he’ll eventually be on a two-way spot with this squad uh what you think what you see with Nia I think is Jers jurich Jers I’ve been slaying his name for like two weeks yeah I think it’s I think it’s jerisich but it is definitely hard one of them I just call Hima like that’s the easy one I can do yeah uh man he’s he’s super skilled I’ll say that for sure like when it comes to shot creation he I think he can get to pretty much any spot on the floor um I really like how much height he gets on his jump shot I think um not only does it look good but I think it’s it helps when you’re shooting off the catch when you’re able to elevate also helps when you’re elevating over contest he’s 68 but he doesn’t have a plus wingspan he’s got about a 68 is wingspan you mentioned his athleticism he’s he’s a step above sneaky athlete you know people love to throw that on white guys but like he’s he’s actually functionally athletic he’s got some strength he can get Above the Rim he will dunk on people and he also like gets off the floor really quick and that’s also important because he’s not a super big guy like I said his wingspan he doesn’t have a plus wing span uh but he will dunk on you I’ll say like some of the flaws in his game is well the thing is like the context of the team that he’s playing with he was playing with the number 12 pick Nia topic and topic is a point guard ball dominant but a great pass great playmaker and jerisich was not an impactful player when topic was on the team and once topic left and jerisich was running the offense then he would he exploded he had like he was averaging 20 I want to say around four or five assists it was above 62 true shooting percentage so his efficiency went up his scoring went up but the fact that he was not scoring well off the ball is a little bit concerning because you would think with his jump shot he’d be a little bit better off the catch but he really wasn’t he was below 30% um some of like the I saw a little I saw a twing of frustration when he was playing with topic as well when he wasn’t getting the ball I think he’s a like similar to re I think he has a great personality from what I’ve seen the interviews the way he’s talking about re I don’t think he’s a selfish guy by any means but I think there was a little bit of frustration with him not getting the shot creation volume he thought he he deserved and he showed that he did deserve it once topish left but I think the biggest questions with him is okay you’re in the NBA now you’re not going to run 10 pick and rolls a game so what are you g to do to be impactful outside of that and then defensively again he doesn’t have crazy length but he’s pretty much in the right Spate the right spot most of the times and then um the shot because the shot is pretty but the results weren’t there so like will that translate to the NBA um I don’t know but I think he’s got in the second round when you just took a guy with a high floor with number one pick I think he’s one of the best takes of the second round because he has a wide range of outcomes I but like you could do that in the second round and it was good to see the Hawks spend money to move up to get him and get into a draft that they didn’t have a second round pick in so it was encouraging for that at the very least yeah I hatte I hated to see um AJ go and I know you hated to see AJ your guys and the little bit of hair that I had last season I was just like it it was just frustrating I won’t go into all of that but um I I kind of want to spend my time on the guys that are are here uh shout out to AJ though man like that is when I tell you like that is a good kid like that is a good kid man like inside outside like he is a good kid and and even though he’s not in Atlanta I will always pull for that kid man he’s got a great smile and just like and I’ve been doing this for 11 years and I can’t say that about everybody that I’ve come across like but when you see good kids you you really just want the best for them um I want to go in a little bit into the roster Construction now um again they resigned they resigned vit they moved Bruno back a little bit um as far as the roster is concerned um there’s been a lot of talk about uh Clint and DeAndre Hunter probably being the next dominoes to fall as far as maybe trading those two away what is your take on that like do you think they’ll get rid of both of them you think they’ll get rid of one of them what is kind of your take on uh the next move for the Hawks yeah um I mean apologies to Brad I know he loves Clint but I do think that’s the the most logical decision for them to make now whether he gets moved man I don’t know but I think with the way this roster is going Clint’s value just as a as an older center it’s going to be declining with the next couple years um I’m not GNA say he’s a bad player because he isn’t you know like he you had a sneaky good season like he had sneaky good season but it’s it’s the everything’s what’s going to stand out is those misses at the rim of course you know because they’re they’re like gut punches you feel like you just got shot by a shotgun because he missed a wide open layup to win the game but at the end of the day Elite offensive rebounder still a plus room protector and they’re asking him to defend in space a lot more than he was used to they were asking him to playmake a little bit more as a dribble handoff Hub and I think there were some moments like I even asked him I was like look you look pretty good out there when you when you did a fake drible handle I was like I didn’t even know you had that in your bag and he said he’s been working on it um but I think remember when you asked I think I think that functionally it makes sense to move him also you have four centers on the roster right now and then I think DeAndre hunter in a bench role is a lot better than he is as a starter we saw that last season um where he has a more simplified role just go and get go and get Buckets and play solid defense as opposed to like go and guard the team’s best player now you have Dyson Daniels for the guards um as Ray matures maybe he can be that primary Defender Jaylen Johnson against those bigger wings and forwards so like he sort of you you shifted his role a bit with some of the moves they made so personally I would be advocating that unless we’re packaging both of them for a star or not even a star but like a secondary ball handler or a secondary playmaker I would move both of them but outside of that I think I’d be looking to move Clint and then make moves alongside the margin um but that’s probably where I’m at right now where are you at I I think that Clint is probably the most obvious Domino to fall next I think of the two he probably has more value than DeAndre yeah I think the whole DeAndre Hunter thing and and I know the Hawks want to move him but again they’re going to move the guy who’s easier to move first um yeah I think with DeAndre is gonna be a little bit harder to move not that you can’t because of that contract right so that contract is a very hindrance and that that brings your value down and so what you have with DeAndre you got a guy that you kind of would rather have a little bit more value if you have to move them right because you’re paying them so much money um right I think you move Clint and you’ll probably get some pieces back I don’t know if they’re looking for draft picks or another whatever I think Clint will be up out of here but I think DeAndre will probably be be on his team until maybe here’s the thing maybe and I don’t think this is the worst thing because I’m kind of higher on DeAndre the most like I know he gets in the hug Twitter but like DeAndre Hunter is okay with me like he’s not a superstar but like he’s just okay with me like I’m okay I don’t like the contract but like having a guy like him with his skill set at 68 it’s fine right and so if you have a guy like DeAndre Hunter to start for like first half of your season to let Reay kind of come along I don’t think that’s a bad thing then you move him at the trade deadline so the hope is that maybe you let him play a half of the Season hopefully he can stay healthy hopefully he can increase that value and then you ship them out and say all right Young Blood the three spot is yours now like that’s kind of how I’m thinking of the whole DeAndre Hunter thing but if they move both of them then I I don’t see them moving both of them together because I just don’t know who they would do that for like I don’t know you know I don’t think I think those types of moves are done like I think DeAndre I mean the jontay Murray once you made that move like that was a splash move like that was a splash move so I don’t know man we’re gonna see but I can see DeAndre being here on opening night and just you know hopefully they try to get his value up and then they move after that you know but I don’t know like what are your thoughts on DeAndre so and I wish I could show you this but I’m looking at a chart right now um it’s the value and added the value added and the value subtracted from each Hawks player based on the contract value and I want you to guess who Last by a a sizable margin yes it’s DeAndre Hunter and it’s like when you talk about him as a player he’s not a bad player by any means he is not contract man but the he is not producing at the level that he should be on that contract and that’s not even his fault that’s the Hawk’s fault yeah that’s that’s the we’ve had issues with these extension if anything kudos to my guy for getting that bread I’m off getting that bread yeah I can’t like I can’t blame him for the Hawks thinking he’s worth more than he was they did it with John Collins they’ve done plenty of extensions that were heads scratchers at the time but it just comes down to the contract value and it’s like well that’s just bad asset management but if you can get him in a reduced world where he’s a little bit more impactful I’m not mad at that I think think Clint is the bigger issue like and it’s it’s because I think Clint is when you take Ona conu with a sixth pick that’s significant draft Capital invested in who should be the center of the future and I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how he hasn’t been able to outplay Clint but you gotta I don’t think he’s had the opportunity I think there were a lot of games where he should have closed and he didn’t absolutely and that’s and that’s also because like well if you’re benching Clint capella and you’re looking to trade him next season it becomes a lot harder so I’m not saying that’s why but I think there is a little bit of politics with with him being an older player and on a higher contract so it’s like Ana’s On A fouryear $64 million deal I think he should be getting I think he should be playing the majority share of the minutes that’s that’s where I am right now so that’s also another reason why I’m an advocate for moving Clinton yeah and and if not get rid of him like I mean like it doesn’t make sense to be paying two centers like that to me like you can’t be paying two centers when there’s only one you can’t be playing them both starters money and just having one to be on the bench like you got to make a choice like you have to make a choice so like the obvious choice is Clint because he’s making more and that that money is going to fall off the books A’s younger I mean I know there are some durability issues with a conu that I have but I mean play you know play the younger guy and bring another offensive rebounder in here somebody that does maybe some similar to what Clint does but um they definitely got decisions to make as far as the centers are concerned to keep on pushing Bruno’s uh date back I think that might be a good sign for him maybe they’re trying to keep him maybe they want to trade Flint before they push that back so that could be a good sign for Bruno um I’m not gonna spend all day talking about a third string Center but like I like Bruno man he’s he’s a fun guy I mean I covered him when he first got drafted man he’s a good kid um
Welcome to the Hawksbeat Podcast.
In this episode we are talking with Atlanta Hawks content creator David aka @Dlee4three.
This is part 1 of 2 so make sure to listen to part 2 which should be in our feed as well.
Topics discussed:
Hawks #1 pick Zacharrie Risacher
Summer league
Hawks roster construction.
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