The Hawks have one exhibition game remaining before they embark on the regular season. That doesn’t mean coach Quin Snyder has seen all he needs to.
“You always want to see more,” Snyder said after Thursday’s practice. “But I think, you know, we’ve had a chance to implement some of the things we want to do. Now it becomes a question of execution as much as anything through competition, you know when another team is trying to make it hard on you. But I think it will be good to play against someone else.”
Throughout the exhibition, the Hawks have experimented with plenty of different lineups as they manage player fatigue and minor bumps and bruises.
The team also has looked to execute their new system under Snyder, which includes some constant movement off the ball. They’ve had to focus on good spacing habits, particularly as they look to speed up play on the offensive end of the floor.
That speed has been evident when the Hawks backcourt tandem of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray have run the team’s offense.
The two guards, along with starting center Clint Capela, sat out the team’s penultimate exhibition against the Pacers on Monday. Through the team’s first four exhibitions, they have yet to show what would be their full starting lineup, with forward De’Andre Hunter missing three of the four games played so far.
Hunter made his exhibition debut Monday, and Snyder liked how he attacked the basket and got to the line.
So, with the last exhibition game ahead of them, the Hawks have one last chance for their starting unit to play against another team.
When asked if there was a chance that the Hawks would play Hunter alongside Young and Murray in Friday’s exhibition finale, Snyder did not commit to an answer.
“There’s a chance you might see that,” he said while smiling.
The Hawks have not named their starting lineup for Wednesday’s season opener, but third-year forward Jalen Johnson has averaged 21 minutes across three exhibition games. He played one game off the bench when the Hawks experimented with fourth-year center Onyeka Okongwu at power forward in the team’s game against the Pelicans.
Both Johnson and forward Saddiq Bey could play minutes as the team’s starting power forward this season, depending on the Hawks’ matchups.
As the Hawks wrap up their exhibition season, they understand that the work to improve does not end with it. But, they tried to make the most of the time that they spent in training camp.
“Well, we try to get some concepts that we want to be about just kind of schematically, whether it’s pick-and-roll coverages or how we’re helping one another, transition defense and things that we refer to as our absolutes,” Snyder said. “Things that you can consistently do and if you do them, you’re going to have a chance no matter what the scheme is.
“So, there’s, I think that installation of the mindset and accountability within those things. You know, you play a game, you get a chance to look at how you did, measure yourself and then some of the different schemes you can never cover everything. You know each game we played against. A little bit of isolation post. Up before you get spacing played against pick-and-roll. So it’s given us a chance to touch a lot of things, but coaches always want more time, but sometimes also you need to play, you know, to make that time worthwhile, you know, to work.”
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