At some point the youthful Hawks will exasperate new coach Lloyd Pierce. His young players will make mistakes because of inexperience and inconsistency, and their growing pains will lead to lots of losses.
But that time is not now.
It’s summer in the NBA, when incoming rookies and second-year players take center stage on the courts. This is a time when youthful exuberance is an asset that can be used in unofficial games instead of a being a detriment to winning the games that count.
Pierce is seeking to take advantage of that dynamic as the Hawks practice in advance of summer league play.
“In summer league, you take advantage of their energy,” Pierce said Friday. “They are excited to be out here. They’ve got nervous energy. They’ve got excited energy.”
The Hawks are conducting a minicamp before beginning play in the Utah Summer League on Monday. They practiced Thursday and Friday and were scheduled to do so again Saturday and Sunday. The Hawks also will participate in the Las Vegas Summer League, which begins next weekend.
The Hawks opened a portion of Friday’s practice to media. It was a fast-paced affair that included a 16-second shot clock — eight seconds less than regulation — and lots of transition play.
“They are all young, so I don’t think we need to walk the ball up in summer league,” Pierce said.
Hawks rookies on the summer squad include new first-round draft picks Trae Young and Omari Spellman (Kevin Huerter is out with a hand injury). Joining them are two 2017 Hawks draft picks, John Collins and Tyler Dorsey, as well as in-season pickups Jaylen Morris and Antonius Cleveland.
The rest of the roster is made up of players who weren’t selected in the draft last week and two players who were in overseas leagues: Alpha Kaba, a second-round draft pick by the Hawks in 2017, and Zach LeDay.
Pierce said all the players on the roster would see game action but that the bulk of the minutes will go to Hawks draft picks and second-year players.
“We definitely have to focus on the guys on the roster and make sure (of) their chemistry, their cohesiveness and get a lot of minutes,” he said. “We want to collect as much info for all those guys and then give them a player development plan for the rest of the summer.”
As Pierce learns about his new players, the returning Hawks also are getting a read on him and his staff.
Pierce succeeded Mike Budenholzer as coach and only one assistant, Chris Jent, is a holdover from the previous staff. The other assistant coaches are Melvin Hunt, Greg Foster, Marlon Garnett and Matt Hill.
Collins said he’s already seeing a difference with the new coaching staff.
“It’s definitely a lot more lax,” Collins said. “A lot younger, so I think that helps a little bit communication-wise having younger coaches to interact with. You get it a little bit more than (with) older coaches because there’s an age gap.”
The full Hawks squad won’t officially gather until training camp in September, and summer league games are less structured than official contests. But Pierce already is teaching his younger players the concepts and principles he will emphasize in his first season as a head coach.
Pierce said the practices this weekend and summer-league games “also are step one of creating team, creating some chemistry.”
“Our biggest word is ‘touches,’” Pierce said. “A lot of high-fives. We want to have connectivity between our players, between our staff. We want to have connectivity with our offense. We are going to be running a lot of motion, especially in summer league, and everybody gets to touch the basketball. We want to have fun playing together and we also want to be connected.”
Collins and Dorsey are the most accomplished NBA players on the Hawks’ summer roster. Collins was voted second-team NBA All-Rookie, and Dorsey finished the season strong when he got regular playing time as the Hawks leaned heavily on their young players.
Pierce praised Collins for playing with the summer-league team after a successful debut season. And Pierce said that since he was hired as coach May 11, Dorsey has been at the team’s practice facility nearly every day.
“They are like serious vets compared to the rest of these guys,” Pierce said.
Dorsey said the new coaching staff is very “hands-on” with teaching players. He said the young players are quickly picking up on what Pierce wants.
“Offensively, just attacking early and moving the ball and having great spacing,” Dorsey said. “Defensively, there is different adjustments from last season that he likes to do. Playing more up-tempo, getting into guys more and playing ‘grindier’ on defense.”
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