Lloyd Pierce has other things on his mind. He has other things to talk to his rookie point guard about in these early days of the first NBA season for each in their current position.
Sure, much of the talk about the Hawks home opener will be about rookies Trae Young and Luka Doncic. Fair or not, the two will likely be linked for the entirety of their careers.
The Hawks selected Doncic with the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA draft. By then, a trade had been arranged for the No. 5 pick and the Mavericks selected Young.
Young briefly wore a Mavericks hat upon his selection before a swap was made.
“It was cool watching across the stage with a Dallas hat on,” Young said Wednesday morning before the matchup between the teams and rookies. “It was better at the end of the night with a Hawks hat.”
While media and fans will get caught up in the comparisons, the NBA schedule makers didn’t pass on the matchup for the Hawks home opener in a renovated arena. Nor did the executives who made the game the Hawks only appearance on national television. Heck, the Hawks marketed the game with promos featuring pictures of the rookies.
Pierce said he didn’t have time to get caught up in the hoopla. He didn’t address the situation with his young point guard.
“I have so many things I have to talk to Trae about,” Pierce said. “That’s the last one on my mind. Does he know what we want to run tonight? Does he know his matchup and how to keep Dennis Smith Jr. from going left? He is not matched up against Doncic. If he does get matched up on him, does he know Doncic’s tendencies? It has nothing to do with the link. That’s for (the media), the fan base. That’s the NBA and that’s professional sports. Aaron Rodgers was always tied with Brett Favre as the backup. That’s just the way sports goes.”
Young, coming off a 35-point, 11-assist performance against the Cavaliers in the Hawks (1-2) first win, also downplayed the matchup. He did call Doncic “a really good dude” after the two met and exchanged phone numbers at the NBA’s Rookie Transition program.
“I don’t really get caught up in the matchup,” Young said. “I get caught up in team versus team. I will let y’all talk about the matchup. That’s just how it is for me. I don’t focus on the one-on-one. That’s just not me.”
Dedmon returns
The Hawks got one injured player back in Dewayne Dedmon. The center participated in his first full practice Tuesday after missing extended time with a left ankle avulsion fracture.
Pierce said Dedmon would play against the Mavericks, after missing the first three games of the season, on a limited basis off the bench.
Pierce said he’ll know when Dedmon needs a breather when he bends over and grabs his story. Dedmon said he expected to play about 15 minutes.
Even with the return of Dedmon, Pierce elected to keep his starting unit intact, meaning Alex Len would be at center.
“We don’t need any drastic changes,” Pierce said. “The guys have played well. He wants to get himself going. He knows there is a limitation to where he is now. … We are going to roll who we’ve been rolling with and figure out how to get Dewayne out there.”
Defensive issues
The good news – the Hawks average 119 points per game.
The bad news – they allow 122.7 points per game.
The Hawks defense ranks 26th in the NBA. Pierce insisted the Hawks’ issues were not scheme-related. Rather, it has been an issue dealing with the league’s new rules allowing players more freedom of movement.
That desired physicality that Pierce preached upon his arrival? They’ll need to adjust.
“I give our guys a lot of credit,” Pierce said. “They have picked up what we want to do defensively. The biggest challenge that we have now is adjusting on how the games are going now from an officiating standpoint with the, everyone is talking about it and it’s not a knock on anything, but there is an adjustment with how the game is being officiated with the freedom of movement.
“The freedom of movement is big. I came in and said we want to hit guys. Well, you can’t hit guys. They are telling you not to hit guys. From a scheme standpoint, from a coverage standpoint, the guys have been great in executing that. We know have to do it with the adjustment factor and do it from a positioning not a physicality standpoint.”
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