The priority are players who will be Hawks next year.
The Hawks have 17 players on their Las Vegas Summer League roster but the majority of the playing time has and will go to the group that will go beyond the tournament.
“During the practices, some guys have earned some minutes,” said Hawks assistant Charles Lee, who is coaching the summer league entry. “You can’t play 17 guys in a game. We have Taurean Prince and DeAndre Bembry on the team that are going to get some high minutes in the summer league. … The priority is the Atlanta Hawks guys – John Collins, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Bembry, Tyler Dorsey, Alpha Kaba. All the guys who have contracts with the Hawks and could potentially being playing in the regular season next year, that’s who is going to get the minutes.”
Those core of players dominated in a 75-55 victory over the Bulls Monday at Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. The Hawks end the opening round of the tournament at 2-1. They will be seeded Tuesday night following the remainder of the pool play.
Here are several observations from the victory:
* The Hawks starting unit finished a combined plus-100 in the wire-to-wire route. Prince and Bembry were each plus-21.
* Bembry finished with a game-high 17 points. He was 6 of 11 from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
* Collins had a second straight double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Again, the first-year draft pick had several highlight-worthy dunks.
* Ryan Kelly also scored in double figures with 13 points and six rebounds.
* Prince continued to struggle from the field. He was 1 of 10, including 0 of 5 from 3-point range, and finished with four points. He was a defensive presence and had three steals.
*Diamond Stone played his second game and finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
* The Bulls were awful. They started the game 1 of 16 (although the Hawks only led 10-3). For the game, they were 16 of 73 with only four 3-pointers. Denzel Valentine and Lauri Markkanen were a combined 0 of 18 from 3-point range.
* Nate Britt and Winston Shepard made their summer league debuts. Tyler Cavanaugh, Quincy Ford and Trent Lockett did not play.
* The Hawks held a 44-16 points in the paint advantage.
