The Atlanta Hawks will be starting training camp tomorrow, and there is a different feel about this team coming into the season. Around this time last year, the Hawks were seen as one of the youngest teams in the league, but still had expectations of being competitive. A lot has changed since then, and even though the young core is still a priority, general manager Onsi Saleh made it a mission to add some more experience to this year’s roster.
Outside of bringing back CJ McCollum and Jock Landale,
the Hawks traded for Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort during the offseason. Of course, they’re not old, but they bring something to the team that they didn’t have much of over the past few years, and that’s championship experience.
Saleh talked about those additions at his preseason press conference and the impact they could have on the Hawks.
“Bringing in Lu and Aaron from a championship team- guys who played in the finals a couple of years ago- we needed that pedigree in our room,” Saleh said. “With our group, we felt like it was going to make us better on the court, but those guys will also make us better through our player development program in a lot of ways.
“When a guy like Jalen Johnson goes up against a guy like Lu Dort in practice, Jalen’s going to get a lot better.”
Going up against someone like Dort should make the team better, and he feels like a guy you hate to play against but love when he’s on your team. Everyone knows the kind of defensive prowess he brings to the court, and those are the types of things that help teams in the playoffs.
Saleh noted that the team wanted to be physical, and having Dort is just adding another piece to the puzzle.
“If you guys watch all the playoffs from the first round to the finals, it’s a very physical and different environment,
Saleh said. “We felt like Lu can guard and be physical, bring that tenacity on the court every single moment he’s out there, and it’s going to help our guys.”
Wiggins has the same intangibles, which helped him become a mainstay in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s rotation over the last few seasons.
“Aaron is a three-level scorer, a guy who can guard. He brings something to our group and our rotation that we felt like we didn’t have a lot of last season,” Saleh said.
These moves weren’t just about what these players could do for the Hawks on the court, but it was to help the other players on the team learn how to compete at another level. That’s important for guys like Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor, who are just getting started in their NBA careers.
“When we added CJ and Jock last year, their voice and experience, and even Nickeil last year, who made a couple of Western Conference Finals in Minnesota. Adding those guys helps our other guys who haven’t quite done that yet learn how to win,” Saleh said.
“They fit every checkbox we wanted. [Lu and Aaron] were unbelievable adds to our group. You can feel when they come into our building; there’s a sense of respect,“ Saleh continued. ”When you win a championship and are a part of one of the best programs in the NBA, you step into our gym, and that just elevates the competitive environment of our group.“
Right before training camp, the Hawks also traded for Dorian Finney-Smith in the deal that sent Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard to the Charlotte Hornets. Finney-Smith has playoff experience as well throughout his career, and he’s another person the team can lean on in certain moments.
With more veteran leadership and players on the team who have been where the Hawks want to go, this should be a very competitive roster this season.
