Kicking off 2024 with an Atlanta Hawks mailbag (and a preview of Hawks vs. Thunder)
On today’s show 2024 is here we’ll begin the new year with some mailbag questions as well as a preview of Wednesday’s game between the Hawks and the Thunder and all of that is coming up 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 1622 of the L on Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Tuesday evening into Wednesday here in early January Happy New Year to everybody listens to the podcast as always and
Today’s Show is brought to you by Price piix the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports and the price to go is prix.com lockon NBA and use PR code locked on NBA for first time deposit match up to $0000 check it out now at Price piix also I encourage you
At the top of the podcast to make us your first listen each and every day please subscribe to the podcast anywhere you get your podcast places like apple and Spotify on the audio side as well as YouTube on the video side and Today’s Show will begin 2024 with a bunch of
Mailbag questions as well as a a bit of a preview of Wednesday’s game as the Hawks return to action against the thunder on Wednesday evening we sort of end the podcast with that but all that said lots of mail mailbag questions to answer on today’s show and certainly
Want to encourage folks to send those in there are different ways to send podcast questions in uh one is via email locked on Hawks gmail.com also you can send them to me on Twitter SLX BTR Rolland is my personal account or at lockon Hawks for the show account also if you want to
Leave leave a festar rating on Apple podcast and leave the question in the comments certainly able to do that on on there as well and the final place might be if you are a if you are a patron of my written content at patreon.com BT Rolland so all that said
We’ll dive through a few of these and hopefully start 2024 on a positive note when it comes to podcast content okay first things first a question from Jonathan who says what do you think of the OG obrade could the Hawks have beaten that offer and what impact does
It have on dejonte Murray as a Knicks Target obviously three questions in one here so shout out to Jonathan for that but uh it’s a hawks podcast obviously I’m not going to do a full breakdown of the trade itself but quickly I think it makes total sense for the Knicks I think
It’s defensible for Toronto uh that’s kind of the way I would put it right now the ncks get the best player in the deal in anobi who’s least in my mind what I’ve heard so far is very likely to stay in New York given given that his son
Sorry his agent is the son of the GM of the Knicks that’s usually pretty helpful uh he’s a CIA client when the Knicks like those guys um anobi is also very very valuable on the court as a two-way guy the way he defends in particular obviously an awesome player on that end
Of the floor New York also gets maybe some issues out of off its books they were kind of maybe facing some questions about whether they were going to pay Emanual quickly uh what he’s worth because of jayen Brunson already kind of being there those guys are a little bit
Small together Etc I’m not the biggest RJ Barrett guy in the world but he’s fine it is what it is for Toronto I would have probably preferred some draft comp compensation in the deal more than they actually got but quickly is very good that’s worth kind of noting if
You’re not a big sort of follower of Nicks basketball quickly is very very good I will note that he gives something that also they don’t really have previously in Toronto with his shooting at the guard spot and Barrett again is just kind of fine I think the Raptors
Probably Bing on him a little bit more than something might be because he’s from Canada but certainly a young guy with some talent and some pedigree Etc so that’s that part of the question as to whether the Hawks could have beaten the offer for anobi I think they could
Have beaten it probably not likely to though in reality it seemed like Toronto really wanted quickly which obviously the Hawks don’t only have someone like that to offer least that they were willing to offer at this point in time maybe if you want to say deante in that
Spot but I never really got Intel that the Raptors were super in on Deon even D back to the summer when there were some Rumblings about SE yakum before J sign the extension it didn’t seem like Toronto was like in on Deon as a prospect as a prospect for their for
Their team uh and the stuff also again like the Hawks the stuff that they’ve been rumored to offer for SE yakum in the last six seven months is similar to what they probably would have been offering for anobi and that stuff like I.E Hunter I.E AJ Griffin Etc looks
Worse now value-wise than it did back this summer um the Hawks could have offered a package like you know Hunter Griffin or Bay or both buffkin and the Kings pick and 20 29 first round pick that’s a pretty good offer that’s a better offer than what the Raptors
Actually got but I don’t think the Hawks actually would have offered that so the answer like could they have beaten it yes would they have I don’t I don’t really think so because quickly is pretty I would say a better established player than what the Hawks would have
Been offering and it kind of would have been kind of down to what Toronto prefers and Toronto is pretty interesting in terms of how they approached this stuff under Messiah uiri uh last but also of note in anob an expiring contract which would have limited something of what the Hawks
Would have offered I would had to imagine um the thing with the Knicks is that because he is a CA client and the Knicks are very tied into CIA they probably have a lot more Intel about what he might be willing to sign for and maybe stick around the Hawks would have
Been kind of Flying Blind on that which is a little bit more difficult at this point in time last question uh on this one before we get to Deon and the NS it’s kind of his own question but a few folks also asked me what I think of dejon scrubbing his social media
Accounts of hawks references first I will say that there’s usually way too much stuff sort of made of this kind of thing generally um so it’s not something I’m gonna make a huge deal about on the podcast at the same time I do understand Hawks fans noticing
It and asking questions because of the combination of that plus the Rumblings and the rumors that are kind of out there now about deante being tied to the Knicks and tied to the Lakers and whatever else so no one has reported any discontent on the record so far which is
Noteworthy I think it is probably fair to ask if Deon is thrilled with the role and the way the Hawks are play playing all that stuff and why the rumor kind of started to churn a little bit in the first place often that could be an
Indicator of a player or an agent or both kind of helping get it out there a little bit or it could be the team it could be both it’s certainly Fair all on those fronts touch on that sort of more later on I would say sometimes it’s just
Kind of just Rumblings to be Rumblings but it seemed like kind of a a smattering of deante rumor mill stuff in a short period of time and often not always but often that means the player side is at least part of the conversation um in the meantime by the
Way scrubbing social accounts does not mean the sky is falling in Atlanta when it comes to Deonte but maybe throw that in with everything else and it becomes more eyebrow raising I’ll certainly acknowledge that even if I would always stress not to panic about that kind of
Stuff that’s sort of on the margins because look stuff happens behind the scenes this is this is basketball these guys are all human beings Etc uh the last last kind of part here is far as far as how the Nick’s trade for OG impacts the potential deal for the jante
Going to New York I would say that it makes it less likely but certainly not Impossible by any means so I said a little bit after the deal happened kind of right away and admittedly I thought that there was going to be more draft compensation going from New York to
Toronto ended up being a second round pick only in the deal which got changes a little bit um I just I wasn’t reporting it just kind of using my Common Sense brain then Mike Scot of Hoops hype reported that quote while losing quickly seemingly hurts a potential trade package for Murray on
Paper Murray remains a player the Knicks are interested in acquiring end quote so in some ways that sense because they don’t have quickly anymore so the Knicks are like kind of down a guard now it’s kind of Jaylen Brunson is the only real engine guard they have and the Knicks
Theoretically kind of need Murray more than they did before in some ways now there’s that angle but also think it’s notable that the Hawks probably would have asked for quickly in a deal for Murray and they can’t do that now obviously he’s now been traded and
There’s just kind of the history and the reality of the NBA it’s it’s not unprecedented by any means but it would be pretty wild if the Knicks were able to make two separate transactions for anobi and Murray during the same six week period in season um all while not
Trading Brunson or not trading Randall or not trade Mitchell Robinson Etc like it’d be again not unprecedented but certainly pretty aggressive and interesting and nuanced doesn’t mean it’s impossible though it certainly is possible I won’t go crazy on scenarios right now but the Hawks could have realistic interest in guys like Josh
Hart or Quinton Grimes like not needle movers but guys who would be valuable role players I love Josh Hart I always have Quinton Grimes really interesting valuable young role player in the back court the Nicks also have a a big expiring contract in Evan forier who is
Not going to bring positive value on the court right now for you but he can kind of match salary in a way that’s not super damaging for the future which is obviously helpful and the big thing is still as kind of alluded to before the Knicks still have a lot of first round
Picks that they can offer most of them are not fantastic picks they’re protected the the ones they have coming in are protected picks but they have like three or four extra first rounders plus all of their own first rounders in the future so if the Hawks were dead set
On getting some a lot of draft Capital back to kind of recoup what they maybe lost in the Murray trade theix would make it interesting partner if they wanted to trade all that stuff so broadly speaking I would kind of always say that a deal for Murray to New York
In particular was not terribly likely because trades are hard in the NBA they all that always gets underplayed fans in particular I I get why it’s kind of fun to make fake trades but trades are hard to make and it probably is for me anyway less likely that’s kind of what Mike
Scot got into as well it’s less likely now but it’s not something I would rule out at this point in time there is still some level of smoke about the Knicks liking D jonte there’s the agency stuff that was covered by Ian Begley about how like clutch and CIA aka the Knicks are
Not on the best terms but the Knicks are still sorry the Hawks are still 13 and 19 and they should be considering a lot of different things right now B Murray can’t be traded for another week still by the way he’s still in that six- Monon period where he’s not allowed to be
Traded but once that day passes in about a week from now there’s going to be some discussions I think again my position on this if you missed it before I think the Hawks should and I think will make him available and at least take calls on De
Jon that does not mean they’re going to trade him this is by the way not not just the Nick I think the Hawks should make him available to whoever calls and if they get an offer that’s good enough to trade him I think it makes some sense
To trade him um but they don’t have to do something I don’t think um it doesn’t seem like the partnership between the Hawks and Murray is going like perfectly or anything like that certainly there’s lots of like recalibration that can be done on the Trey Murray partnership and
That trade I think that it’s not really like a hot take but I think it’s pretty plain right now that um at least if it was me I didn’t love the trade in the first place I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it any either and I think
Right now it is certainly not a deal that I would ever do again right now going back if I’m the Haw because of all the all what they traded for him and how it’s gone but my Baseline as we’ll probably get into a little bit more
Later on on this on this podcast even is that essentially everyone and I mean everyone other than Trey and Jaylen Johnson should be available on some level that doesn’t mean you have to be traded but and there are obviously teers of availability I’ll say that probably a
Lot in the next month or so but like for instance like I wouldn’t be like looking to give away Ona Kongo for instance or guys like that um but I think that certainly there are levels of availability but everybody should be not something that you hang hang the phone
Up on basically other than Trey and Trey and Jaylen should be kind of off limits and everybody else we will see in the future so that’s a long answer to a three-part question but there we there we go on that one and the deante stuff I’m sure will keep bubbling up in the
Next month and we’ll kind of talk about that multiple times I would I would be pretty sure at this point in time anyway we’ll have more coming up in a second but first a work from our sponsors on today’s podcast Today’s Show is brought to you
By the folks at priz piix and priz piix is the largest DFS platform in North America and the best and most easy and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports at Price Pi you pick two to six players and then choose whether they have more or less a certain number of
Projections in each category and you can up 25 times of money on your entries at prospects they have common projections they allow you to combine different players and sports and leagues together in two or more things to have the common projection and they have a huge selection of sports and Stat types not
Offer anywhere else they have the NFL NBA college basketball college football MLB NHL PGA and many more and they have also a reboot policy in prac is the only DFS platform right now that has an injury insurance policy of any kind and I’ve really enjoyed checking out
Prospects for quite some time now I’m a big fan of the service I’m digging in all the time to all the projections all the numbers in the NFL and the NBA of course on a daily basis and I’ll be doing that all year long and on the
Whole the experience is easy it’s fun and it’s recommended by me at the highest level and the place to go to check out all of this stuff is at price.com lockon NBA and use promo code locked on NBA when you get there for first time deposit match deposit match I
Should say up to $100 one more time the place to go is prix.com lockon MBA and use promo code lockon MBA when you get there check out daily fantasy sports Made Easy with priz picks all right more questions from you the listener and viewer of this podcast
And I’m kind of put two together at this point in time actually on this segment of the Pod uh and they’re both about sidik Bay so I’m G to combine them kind of into one deeper question but one from Austin was up to this point is sadique Bay worth resigning this summer that’s
The question and another one from Garrett who asks if ba should be a trade candidate so will be a free agent coming up this summer so we’ll do them both here at the same time and start with whether he’s sort of worth resigning is the way that was put from Austin uh
First this is I know this is kind of a boring answer but it’s G to come down to what his Market actually is um if ba is going to get starter money so 25 million a year from somebody I would not want to do that as the Hawks right now that’s
Too much for sadik Bay but if he gets squeezed by by the market in restrictive free agency as many guys often do and would kind of come back on a contract that makes sense for a Ben Ben player like a sixth man or a seventh man then
That makes sense because for me Sadi Bay is kind of what that is um for instance ba is a very useful player I think there’s like a interesting Nuance discussion about b as a player I won’t do the whole thing now but you know EPM is my favorite Advanced metric right now
He that that service has b as the Hawk’s sixth best player on offense and six six best player overall on the on the team this year I don’t want to Overstock that after 32 games but that kind of feels right to me in some respects on offense
B has real value he’s not shooting terribly well this year from three um 35% now for the season but he’s also he’s also taking less of them which which I don’t love but with that said he’s shooting 31% on quarter threes this year and that number is going to come up
That is way lower than his career Norm he’s getting way too many good looks to have that be the percentage from the corners and uh that’s a point of potential positive regression coming up for sadik in my opinion elsewhere he like he he’s a good mismatch hun on
Offense he plays so physically he’s a very strong player he’s a good rebounder at the three not really at the four but pretty good stout at the three uh defensively I’ve talked about this a lot he’s not great I think the metrics are poor defensively and if you watch him I
See the same thing he’s not as bad when playing next to Jaylen Johnson especially when his Jaylen and a center but that would probably help most most players I would say he does generally compete which I do like about sadik he’s a very physical guy something that the
Hawks kind of kind of need because they don’t have a ton of like that brute physicality on this roster but he’s very shaky in space he doesn’t protect the rim at all he’s not very long athletic Etc so this is too simplistic but I do think that he’s probably more of a bench
Guy on a good team in the future so maybe fifth starter that wouldn’t be unreasonable like he is kind of right now or he’s obviously the fifth best player in the lineup with DeAndre Hunter out he’s starting that makes sense but he’s obviously like their weakest guy
And that makes that’s kind of where he probably should be so what does this all mean um all the buzz dating back to Detroit was that ba kind of wanted a start level contract which is maybe why he didn’t sign an extension with the Hawks I think he was kind of asking from
What I heard he and his agent it’s not it’s not just the player it’s him and his agent were asking for a lot of money and I don’t blame them but um if I was the Hawks I would not have pay a lot of money in extension and they didn’t do
That but again I wouldn’t want to pay him as a starter I think that he’s kind of worth an investment as a six sth man but the tough thing it is it only takes one team to make a silly offer in free agency if you’re restricted um and that
Kind of puts the team in a bad spot and you kind of then are evaluating whether kind of match a bad deal or let a guy go for nothing which isn’t great um an example in semi- recent fashion for the Hawks was that Tim arway Jr got a massive offer sheet
From the Knicks when he was a free agent with the Hawks and the Hawks just had to let him go like it was a bad beat but at the same time it was an easy decision because it was way too much money for him and Hardway is a flawed player but
You don’t want to lose guys like that for nothing if you can help it and that brings you back to the to the triade question so to bring things full circle here I’ll give the same answer now that I would have usually give and that’s
Kind of I would listen to baay I would listen on deals for Bay at the very least you don’t have to trade him I think if a team wants to give you first round pick or like a starter level package for sadik Bay I think I’d probably do that
The Hawks of course paid five second round picks for him last year last year at the deadline I think if the Hawks were to flip him for that kind of similar package I would not mind that but like he is a positive asset in a
Trade and I think that he doesn’t make a lot of money right now that’s kind of one of the reasons why he got to Atlanta in the first place last year was that he he’s pretty cheap contract so you know there’s a lot of nuance here but I think
As like maybe a piece of a bigger trade he makes some sense or if a team’s trying to pick him off to be a bench guy on a contender or whatever that makes some sense as well so like I’m not overwhelmed by sad Bay as a future asset
Because you have to assume that he’s going to be probably properly paid next year which I don’t think you have to like Panic though and trade him for nothing so I think he’s kind of like a lot of the aw guys right now unfortunately um or fortunately maybe if
You want to view it more optimistically like I think he’s a pretty good asset he’s on a good he’s on a good contract right now but in the future maybe overpaid kind of a weird role play player but um I do think that he’s going to fit fairly well and has fit fit
Fairly well with Jaylen Johnson so playing more next to jayen the next few weeks could help him but we’ll see kind of how that goes and I think as far as like the the clean answers to the questions I would not want to pay him a
Big number this summer but I would I would match a reasonable one just to retain the asset and when it comes to trade stuff um same answer that I’ll given a lot of guys I think he should be available but you don’t have to trade him because you don’t want to pay him
Like I think at a guy a guy at this level if you lose him in free agency for nothing it’s not great but it’s understandable in a way that it wouldn’t have been for guys that were making more money and have bigger investments in the past all right question from Keith who
Says how long will it be until the Hawks are playing Kobe buffkin and AJ Griffin I think we’re all tired of the other backups sorry um honestly that’s a funny question but I also get this kind of thing a lot from fans I don’t blame you
At all uh it could happen as soon as Wednesday it wouldn’t shock me as I’m recording this podcast on Tuesday night buffin is still in the g- league so that’s worth noting but he could be recall that wouldn’t Stun Me between now and Wednesday um the
Sky Hawks do play home games on Thursday and Saturday so he might stay there for a little bit longer but Kobe looks great in the g- league he’s averaging 30 30 points a game 55% shooting in three games um I wouldn’t get carried away by that necessarily because it’s the g-
League the numbers are going to be inflated there but he definitely looks good which is certainly more encouraging than anything else he’s been playing under control all the stuff that I liked on film about buffkin in college he’s showing it again now which is good to
See on the age front I think it probably helps the Hawks that they that they actually practiced today on Tuesday he should be easing back in Quinn is never going to come out and say AJ’s gonna play on Wednesday he’ll never say that but I think that as he gets more and
More ingratiated again with the team he’s more and more likely to play um I think that him just kind of being around the team again gets him closer to speed um as for like being tired of backups just to answer that part of the question
I don’t blame you at all I really don’t like the Hawks have not been playing guys that you love to play and that in those eight nine spots right now on the rotation like West Matthew’s been out rotation last couple games his offense is a problem I love Wes’s defense but
Offensively he’s he’s a big negative I think Garrison Matthews has been their best of these guys he’s not going to kill you on offense or defense but he’s not great on either end of the floor by any means he’s more of a depth piece if
Sort of an ideal spot he might be your 12th man right now he’s been their eighth man for a while Patty mills’s impact is limited on a team that has trained de Jon he’s kind of playing a small role in offense Trent Forest I love for his defense but offensively is
Obviously limited so not great options we all we all kind of know that understand that I think at this point in time but and there’s also the development side of things so you obviously want the last two first round picks for the team to get minutes and to
Be on the floor to get experience and get better and better and I’m not trying to dwell on this but the Hawks are 13 and 19 like it’d be different and easier to understand or grasp or really just kind of you know except if if you’re a
Hawks fan if the Hawks were 19 and 13 and they were rolling and they were the four seed in the the east or whatever to have your young guys not playing and now obviously buffkin was hurt for a long time and AJ was gone for a long time so
It’s not like they’ve been around the whole time and just not playing that would have been way worse in terms of like being understandable I get why the Hawks have handled over both guys the way they have so far but I think as the season goes along provided they’re
Healthy and around the team you want to see more of Kobe you want to see more of AJ and they’re just more talented than the other guys again that talented does not always mean better on an NBA court especially for young guys cuz the mistakes can happen I think it’s
Certainly understandable to play some older guys over these guys but as the season goes along that talent and that pedigree I’d like to see them play more so I think you’ll probably start to see them both play more and more now that they’re back in the mix I think Kobe
Would have played some already if not for the injury given how weak they’ve been in the backourt at times especially when anything happens to try or Deon but I don’t love the way they handled AJ so far necessarily before the personal absence but still I think he would have
Played some while he was gone so schedule’s pretty home heavy in the future as we’ll talk about in a second and I think that you’ll see more and more of those guys I’m not sure it’s going to start on Wednesday but they will be I would guess into the rotation
At some point in the next couple of weeks and obviously we’ll be excited to see all that when they arrive okay we’ll have one more segment come uh talking about all things when it comes to the schedule have a question about that and then some Hawks Thunder talk at the end
Of the podcast but first it work from our sponsors on the show today’s show is brought to you by fandu sports book at the n regular season is now wrapping up and there’s still some plenty of time though to get on the action at FanDuel America’s number one Sportsbook right now new
Customers get 150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet at FanDuel that’s 150 bucks in bonus bets win or lose and the app at fandel Sportsbook is so easy to use there are so many different ways to bet at FanDuel they have live s parlays you can make a
Parlay in the parlay Hub and the best way to find P parlays is right there you also find bets in the new explore tab at FanDuel and they have all the point spreads over unders money lines player props future bets and much more that you come to expect from FanDuel Sportsbook
The app is safe it’s secure and they cover the entire range of sports as well that includes the NFL of course and the NBA college football and MLB WNBA college basketball golf tennis soccer boxing MMA auto racing it’s all there for you at FanDuel and they also have
Hawk stuff related as well including the Full Slate of offerings for the game on Wednesday between the Hawks and the Thunder player props the line all that stuff and and Futures and much more player Awards Etc and now is an awesome time to set up with Folks at FanDuel
Sportsbook and the place to go and do that is fanduel.com lockon and make your first bet a layup with FanDuel one more time that is fanduel.com lockon F offici partner of the NFL all right and one more mail question on today’s podcast it comes from Dale
Who says how is the Hawks schedule in January it seems to be pretty tough so far this year so yes pretty tough so far this year is accurate it’s not been a total utter Gauntlet but it’s been a little bit challenging so far for the Hawks at the very least um in January
They have 15 games of course the first one coming up on Wednesday it’s actually tougher than average if you look only at the winning percentage of the opponents they had some tough games in terms of like who they’re playing against they play the Thunder on Wednesday Thunder
Really good the magic twice they play the Sixers they play on the road in Miami they play on the road in Sacramento they play Dallas they play the Lakers Etc so not like full of easy games necessarily but the situational stuff the under the radar nerdy stuff in
The schedule game is much better for the Hawks in the coming month than it has been so far this year that’s where kind of it’s been bad so far for Atlanta this year is like they’ve had a lot of rest disadvantages they’ve had a lot of tough
Schedule spots a lot of uh quick turnarounds Etc a lot more Road games than home Games Etc but in January it’s 10 home games and five Road games and yes the Hawks have sucked so far to put it very plainly at home but there’s still better to be at home than on the
Road even with their schedule so far far even with the results so far everyone will tell you you want to be at home more than you want to be on the road uh they also get the Wizards and the Spurs at home this month nothing is a layup or
Guaranteed in the NBA but those are obviously favorable games they have Toano at home that’s a favorable game there are a few pretty pretty solidly good spots for the Hawks and also only two backto backs all month long so it’s not a cakewalk by any means but some of
The underlying stuff is much better there are less spots where you’ll hear me say on the podcast this is a bad this a really bad spot for Atlanta um and look doesn’t guarantee anything but given how bad they’ve been so bad at home like it it’s actually St again
They’re four and nine at home this year that won continue I don’t think but we’ll have more on that as we get going here and that’s sort of a good bridge to end the podcast on this note they play the Thunder of course on Wednesday in Atlanta and this is another spot here
Where it’s actually a pretty good schedule spot so it’s a back-to-back with travel for OKC and they play the Celtics tonight as I’m recording this podcast so again speaking of that previous question a really good spot against a very tough opponent so keep that in mind um again I’m recording the
Podcast basically during the Celtics game against the Thunder keep that in mind if they suffer any injuries anything like that we I won’t know about it but OKC has been awesome this year that’s worth noting as I record this podcast they’re top three in the West in
And whenn loss record they’re number one in the West in net rating top three in the whole league in that rating they’re nine and four on the road um offensively they’ve taken a huge step forward this year top six in offense um they’re Elite and taking care of the ball um they have
A huge jump in shooting this year um they’re number one in the league in point percentage right now 39% top four or five field goal percentage they’re actually number one free throw shooting here’s a crazy stat for you the Thunder currently have the best free throw
Percentage in the history of the NBA 85% the alltime record is 83.9% so they have a decent chance of actually doing that that’s just something to keep an keep an eye on in this game um they have one weakness on offense and it’s kind of the same on defense they don’t rebound the
Ball very well the Thunder are not good on the glass they play pretty small pretty light and that’s an area where the Hawks maybe can win some in this game but defensively the Hawks have their hand handsful big time in this matchup Shay is an all NBA player he’s
Awesome at the point of attack he’s number one in the scouting Port obviously for the Hawks but now they have ched hren who’s a very Dynamic player can shoot for them versatile Etc Jaylen Williams is a really good player Big Time guy the Hawks of course wanted
Him in the draft he was uh went flying off the board before before they had a chance at him but uh he’s averaging 18 points a game in efficient fashion for the Thunder um we’ll see what the plan is on Shay between Deonte or Jaylen Johnson maybe at the start of the game
But they’re probably they might even need to use Trent Forest as a specialist in this one because that you know Shay is so good and um we’ll see um they’re not really a lot of hiding places defensively against the Thunder really at all so keep an eye on that um and
Then defensively they’re also really good they’re top three or four in the league in defensive rating maybe a little bit Lucky in opponent shooting if you look at that stuff a little bit closely but here’s my number one sort of key Beyond I think rebounding is probably the easiest key because the
Hawks have a clear Advantage there but the Thunder are number one in the league at creating turnovers defensively now the Hawks are also quite good at not turning the ball over which is a positive thing but they have committed more turnovers this year than they have
In the past this year they’re like more like League average in turnovers maybe a little bit better than that in previous years they were like top five um they cannot afford to turn the ball over in this game because the Thunder are going to run and run and run and again they’re
Not good on the Glass OKC um but so they’re they are arogas to exploit they’re actually prone to fouling a little bit over the Thunder this year um and I think the Hawks are going to be able to score I have to say because the Hawks offense is pretty good obviously
But they’re going to need to win The Possession battle in this game because the Thunder are the better shooting team the Thunder are the better offensive not better offens better defensive team a lot so yeah a tough matchup I think it’s interesting because of the Nuance involved with the schedule spot kind of
Going the other way like I I’m prone to telling people maybe why there’s a bad spot for the Hawks but this is one where like the Thunder are better than the Hawks like very obviously so far this year but the gamees in Atlanta the Hawks have days rest before it and the Thunder
Have a back toback with travel so like a little bit of a Level Playing Field in fact the folks at FanDuel make the Hawks a one and a half Point Underdog in the game right now as I’m recording this podcast on Tuesday evening that actually sounded small
To everyone that I think I’ve that I talked to about this so far but again I think if if the Thunder were not playing tonight and having a travel it might be three or four in Atlanta but it’s one and a half because that’s a real thing
It’s a tough spot for the for the thunder so winable game for sure but as I’ve said a lot this year the Hawks have been very bad at these coin flip kind of games and it seems like there be another one on this night and the Thunder are
Very good so they’re going to have to rely on a playing well for one thing and and also unless the Thunder suffer an injury tonight or arrest somebody tomorrow the Hawks are the team that has the worst Health again now they actually have improving Health Seth Lundy is
Actually questionable to play with a left ankle Sprint after he’s missed the last couple games but hunter is still out and Hunter is by far the best player that is still out for either team the Thunder are pretty much at full strength um notably aong wo is back after missing
The game over the weekend with illness he’s not on inj report at all so the Hawks should be at relatively full strength minus hunter in this game and uh certainly you don’t want to overemphasize anything but uh it’d be a game that’d be good to get I mean
Obviously the Hawks would like to win any night right now but given that they’re 49 at home given that the Thunder are a team that is it would be a juicy positive like momentum building win if they were actually able to get one at home in this spot and we’ll have
Full coverage of that game coming up after the game on Wednesday I’ll be in the building for it as always and stay tuned for all that and a breakdown etc etc okay that’s all I have on today’s podcast please please please subscribe to the show anywhere you get your
Podcast places like apple and Spotify on the audio side as well as YouTube on the video side and please tell a friend about the podcast as well or share it with someone in your life that might enjoy Atlanta Hawks basketball I would be very grateful if you would help me
Spread help us spread the word about the podcast help us to grow the audience a little bit in the coming days and weeks happy New Year one more time and uh that’s all I have so we’ll see you after the game on Wednesday
Brad Rowland (@BTRowland, DIME on UPROXX) hosts episode No. 1621 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. The show breaks down Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards, including a slow start, a big second quarter run, a solid second half, a bounce-back from Dejounte Murray, a career day for Jalen Johnson, and much more.
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOHawks?sid=YouTube
Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA
#AtlantaHawks #NBA #traeyoung
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Hungryroot
Hungryroot is the easiest way to get fresh, high-quality food delivered to your door. They’ve got healthy groceries and simple recipes, all in one place. Just go to Hungryroot.com/LOCKEDON, to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies.
BetterHelp
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Terms and conditions apply.
PrizePicks
Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnba and use code lockedonnba for a first deposit match up to $100!
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.
FanDuel
Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
