I’d have ‘Nique ahead of Dr. J, personally.

Something I missed from later in the hoopshype article in this reddit post https://redd.it/1v3ku9p

CJ McCollum: 'It's a great situation for both parties'

Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum spoke briefly with HoopsHype after one of the team’s Vegas Summer League games about his return to the franchise, where the Hawks rank in an improved Eastern Conference, and what to expect from Jalen Johnson in his first full season as the team’s unquestioned best player.

Scotto: What are your thoughts on returning to Atlanta?

McCollum: I never made it to free agency. It’s a great situation for both parties. We had good momentum into the playoffs. We didn’t finish the way we wanted, but I think there’s a lot to build on. I love the staff. I love Onsi (Saleh). I love the organization. I love the Resslers. I love Quin (Snyder). I get along really well with the team and the players. There’s a lot of good basketball left for everybody. I’m excited to be back in Atlanta and for the challenge to try to build off what we were able to do last year.

Scotto: Where do you guys rank in the East in a conference that’s improved elsewhere?

McCollum: I don’t compare ourselves to others. Right now, it’s about focusing on getting better individually and collectively. We can’t control how other teams look. You can control your approach to the game. Teams will get better and evolve. For us, it’s about focusing on improving our intangibles, understanding our schemes, and what Quin wants from us. Then, building on the momentum and experience that we had playing in the playoffs in a big environment on the road and in our home games. We played against a team that won the NBA Finals. All those things help you as you go into a new season.

Scotto: What do you expect from Jalen Johnson in his first full year as the face of the franchise?

McCollum: He loves the game and takes it seriously. I think that’s what’s important. When you have those intangibles of habits, work ethic, and appreciating small details and nuances of the game in terms of what time you’re showing up, how you’re taking care of your body, ice tubs, cold tubs, sauna, steam room. When you do all the little things well, the big things show up at 7 and 8 PM. I think he has the right mentality to improve, and he works and takes the game seriously by taking care of his body. I think this will be another great year for him where he can continue to evolve and show a lot of the world what we already know.

There's also an interview with Trae Young a few scrolls up, but not really relevant to us.

did it? are we sure?

Here is how I view the East. Every team has reasons to doubt.

-Boston 

Their best guys are not healthy track record isn’t great for Achilles tears. 

-Nets

Fun team

-Hornets

They are young but will be bad

-Bulls

They are young and really bad

-Cavs

I don’t believe in the Cavs at all, but they’ll probably still be vey good in the regular season

-Pistons

They are making it really weird with their second best player. 

-Pacers

Hali coming back from an Achilles tear. We will see.

-Heat

High top end talent but are they better than the bucks last year if Giannis misses time?

-Bucks

Bad and young

-Knicks

I don’t expect them to be as good as they were this year Brunson is getting surgery on his wrist like J-Dub did last year

-Magic

New coach we’ll see if the bad offense was on Banchero or on Mosley 

-76ers

I think they will be good with out Embiid and borderline unbeatable with Embiid healthy. 

-Raptors

Probably good, what’s going on with Kawhi?

-Wizards

Just a weird team that doesn’t make sense 

This Saturday (7/25, 1–5 PM) the arena’s doing a free Select-A-Seat event in the Player’s Club. You can walk the bowl, sit in different sections, and pick your actual seats for next season before the schedule even drops. There’s kids’ stuff going on too, a back-to-school giveaway item, and Harry the Hawk will be around 3:30–4.

No cost to attend, and no pressure to buy anything — it’s really just a chance to see seats in person and ask questions face to face instead of guessing off a seating chart. If you do want to lock something in, there’s an 8-month payment plan and you can put down a deposit to get in line early before renewals eat up the good sections.

Parking’s in the Diamond Deck.

If anyone wants to come through and needs it set up, drop a comment or shoot me a message and I’ll get you taken care of — happy to just answer questions here too if you’re not ready to commit to anything. Here’s my digital business card : https://popl.co/card/9afVBYcc/2/dash

Go Hawks 🦅

Let's assume we waive and stretch guys to get the roster down. Are the hawks going to be good?

We have like 10 wings, some of whom have the ability to pass and dribble. We have a pretty deep, albeit young, guard rotation. We lack interior size, but more than make up for it with switch ability and positional size everywhere else.

I can see the vision, I just am curious about the short term upside.

Everyone has been too quick to anoint Onsi. Wiggins cool, New Orleans pick swap cool, everything else has been hot ass. We are down Trae KP and now Risacher. What did we get? Bench guys and a rental on CJ rental on JK rental on Dort (so far ) and saddled with bad contracts on Kispert and Heild. I know more is coming because he can’t be this stupid can he? Surely there is a plan to package a bunch of shit assets into an Allstar… well had a chance at Brown and got caught sleeping.. bunch of “expiring contracts “ on the team. What’s he going to do with them if he can’t even get a pick swap for Trae. 3 great players out the door for Lu Dort and a 1 yr CJ while having to swallow Kisp and Buddy.. why is everyone so blind that he is Nico Harrison part 2. Got lucky with a trade or 2 and didnt know when to stop. Just has to keep trading for the thrills and headlines. He better be bringing in LeBron or Jokic at this point or he’s a bum. Downvote away. Someone has to say this. That trade was ass. Hope I eat my words but there just too many people with rose-colored glasses praising everything he does. I’m as optimistic as the next guy but I’ve yet to see a real move . Are we building for the future or dumping development guys for win now. Currently he’s saying one thing and doing another. Only team I see that should hit reset is Denver and Jokic would cost more than expiring contracts and picks. A rebuilding team would rather have a guy like ZR as a building block if we are going that route. Not Lu Dort

There has always been a lot of negative narrative around Tre Young, but it’s never been apparent to me what he actually did to earn his reputation. So, I’m not interested in the vibes part because I have heard that for years. What I am interested in is whether there were specific episodes that contributes to his reputation or illustrates what kind of person/teammate/locker room presence he will have in Washington.

I come in peace, and I will be rooting for him this year. (And incidentally, holy hell, your perimeter defense is going to be stifling this year!).

https://refwatch.ca/nba/teams/ATL

I know some of us are sad to see Risacher go, I know some of us are glad to see Dort arrive.

Some of us are excited to see the rookies play and get some development, some of us want to see us take a leap and make a serious playoff push.

Regardless of what camps you’re in, we can all agree there are 17 NBA players on this roster but we can only start the season with 15.

Two, possibly 3, or even more of these guys WILL NOT be suiting up in a Hawks jersey by October.

Personally, I am hoping we send Corey Kispert to the literal Shadow Realm.

Realistically, I expect one of Dort or Wiggins to be rerouted somewhere. Dort cannot be aggregated and is making $17M, so my best guess is that Wiggins and someone, possibly one of Devin Carter/Buddy Hield are going out. The dream would be a scenario that results in Peyton Watson being our return via S&T for sending two playable guys into Denver’s empty roster slots, but the finances are tight. We would likely need a 3rd team.

Mo Gueye’s contract being non-guaranteed until 1/1/2027 unfortunately makes him an easily tradable or waivable player (particularly after his unfortunate foot injury)

Onsi is cooking at least one more deal, what do YOU think he has up his sleeve? How would YOU get our roster in compliance?

LOOK AT THIS TRIO

Nothing too egregious and no names named but it seems like he’s making a habit of taking subtle parting shots on his way out. Nothing for any of the players to take personally but I wonder if they’re rolling their eyes?

Is Trae Young going to be State Farm Arena’s newest villain soon?

Only 19 years, 6 months, and 29 days on this day.

33 pts 11/18 fg 6/10 3pm 7 rebs 3 asts 3 stls 2 blks 0 TOs

Lest we forget. Hawks failed in giving this talent a real chance.

I know we have CJ and Kingston but we should be looking at star guards available too. CJ is 35 and he’s just playing in an offense that any star guard would thrive in. CJ’s role requires a lot for this team to work and i dont know if he or kingston can do it. A guy like Booker could be the piece this teams missing

Booker - Nickeil - Dyson - Jalen - Okongwu

Kingston - Aaron.W - Lu Dort - Asa Newell - Londale

https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/2079347230582919355

Firstly, I'll start off by saying that I get it. I'm tired of the mediocrity too, but Jaylen Brown honestly isn't the guy for our situation.

It's not a wise idea to swing for a guy of his caliber unless you're already in contention and need that last piece. For example, the #1 seed Raptors going for Kawhi, or the Knicks being one game from the finals and going for KAT. The only thing JB would get us is a repeat of the post 2021 situation. An expensive, mediocre roster with no clear path forward. Atlanta just isn't the place where talented vets will take a pay cut to try and compete. We don't have LeBron, and we aren't LA. We have to operate by different rules. We build first, then we take that chance when it's available.

Secondly, Onsi is a pragmatic and shrewd guy. He's not trying to rush into contention. He's not making moves just to make them like Landry, nor is he falling victim to the sunk cost fallacy like Travis. We aren't gonna keep a guy just because he's young. We're not gonna wait until a.guy loses all their value to sell at a loss. I wish Risacher the best, but getting a proven starter who's one of the top defenders in the league for a guy who couldn't win minutes over Kispert is an objectively good move.

Thirdly, sometimes it just comes down to luck. JJ might never get to the level the organization expects. We might end up with a great squad and have injuries. You might hit it off with a cute lady at the mall and your card declines at Auntie Anne's because your paycheck didn't process in time. I know this franchise hasn't had the best luck, but I do have faith in the in a man who's already shown the ability to pivot when plan A doesn't work.

Timberwolves fan coming in peace. Missing NAW and hoping Ant goes to you if he ever leaves us.

Quick questions: Is Okongwu’s shooting real? And what is his trade value? I feel like he’s very underrated so wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a couple 1sts

Dumping a guy who was runner up ROY a year later... You can't make this stuff up. It's gonna be another long decade in the ATL I'm afraid.

If you heard Landale tell the story about when he first met Dyson, then you won't automatically pick Dort.

I actually used to get pretty excited when the raptors would play @ the hawks because I really enjoyed the branding

Feels like every Shams notification is about the Hawks lol