If the NBA trade deadline comes and goes without the Hawks making a move, Mike Budenholzer is just fine with that.
The Hawks’ coach knows general manager Danny Ferry is looking for ways to improve the team before Thursday’s deadline.
“In all honesty, we like our group,” Budenholzer said when asked if there was a position of need he would like to see addressed. “That is one of the messages to the team — that we like our group. I think Danny, and all of us, are looking for ways to get better. We tell the players we are looking. If this is the group that we take forward, I’m perfectly good with that.”
The trade deadline presents a new situation for the first-year head coach. Rumors are rampant at this time of the season. Budenholzer has never had to directly deal with the nearly constant wave of reports of players potentially on the move — some valid, some not so much.
“We just try to be honest with our players, and open, and communicate with them,” Budenholzer said. “That has been our approach to everything. I think it’s important this time of year.”
All-Star report: Paul Millsap and Pero Antic re-joined the Hawks after spending three days in New Orleans for the All-Star game.
For Millsap, it was a homecoming of sorts, as he is from Louisiana. The first-time All-Star acknowledged to some stressful moments of handling the numerous requests from family and friends.
“It was great,” said Millsap, who had six points, three rebounds and an assist in 15 minutes as a reserve. “It was amazing. It was something that I never experienced before at that level, and to see what goes into it, it was amazing.”
Millsap confirmed that Pacers coach Frank Vogel, who led the Eastern Conference team, did ask his squad to play some defense in the 163-155 victory over the Western Conference.
“He really did,” Millsap said. “I was really surprised.”
Antic was selected to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge, but could not play as he continues to rehab from a stress fracture in his right ankle. Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins, with Chris Bosh and Swin Cash, won their second straight Shooting Stars competition.
Injury update: DeMarre Carroll, who was listed as a game-time decision Tuesday, missed his second consecutive game with a left hamstring strain. Carroll also missed last week's game against the Raptors before the All-Star break.
It was the sixth game this season Carroll has missed — three because of the hamstring, two because of a right thumb sprain and one for the birth of his child. Entering Tuesday’s game against the Pacers, the Hawks were 1-4 without Carroll and an average margin of defeat of 17.8 points.
Cartier Martin started in place of Carroll on Tuesday.
Antic also did not play and has yet to practice with the team has he approaches the four-week mark of his ankle injury. The original diagnosis called for the center to miss two to four weeks.
