Hawks rookies experience ‘great competition’ in first NBA training camp

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Just like that, the Hawks have wrapped training camp. Now, two of their youngest pieces, guard Kingston Flemings and forward Zuby Ejiofor, embark on the first set of NBA minutes after some long lead up.

“It was a fantastic few days for our team,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.

“With a new group, it was good to get away, come together, focus on basketball but also some team bonding, and Vanderbilt created a tremendous first-class environment for us.”

For Flemings, Ejiofor and rookie center Henri Veesaar, their first NBA training camp came with an abundance of information that will serve them for years to come.

“I think because those guys have been together from the beginning of the summer, like some of the younger guys have a better feel for themselves and one another than maybe you would think,” Snyder said. “I think some of it is them having an opportunity to connect with some of our vets, and you know their demeanor is such, and they’re sponges.”

But the Hawks also tried to strike the right balance in how much information to share.

“They wanna learn, and I think it’s important not to overload them,” Snyder said. “I always worry about expectations, particularly when you’re on a team that has some pretty good vets that’s had a little bit of success, and I think it’ll be important for us with those guys to define success properly. And for me, what I’m seeing right now on the court is that.”

For Flemings and Ejiofor, some of that early success looked like leaning into the competitiveness of camp. Throughout the Hawks’ four days in Nashville, “intensity” and “focus” have been common words used to describe the action on the court.

“It was great competition from everybody,” Ejiofor said. “So, as far as rookie training camp goes, I have a lot to be excited about this upcoming season. And yeah, guys were really competitive, and that’s something you want out of training camp.”

That ferocity will translate into the physicality that the Hawks want to play with this season. They, of course, acquired wing Lu Dort, who has gained a reputation for his physical brand of defense.

But the rest of the Hawks have played with that mindset throughout training camp and Flemings has had to adapt.

“I would probably say rotations, really,” Flemings said when asked where he was challenged the most defensively in camp. “I mean, rotations, (and) just being more physical on ball.

“I think times when I lose physicality, people start getting downhill or fighting over screens. So, I think definitely working through those things and then just continue to get better every single day. But I think I did pretty good.”