In his second year as the Hawks GM, Danny Ferry is finally able to make moves tailored toward his vision for the franchise. He has already brought in his coach Mike Budenholzer, who he had previously worked with during his days with the Spurs’ organization. With him, Budenholzer is bringing over a more structured offense that is predicated on the pick-and-roll. This will put pressure on the point guard to make good decisions and facilitate the offense for the team to have success. This is one of the reasons that the Hawks matched Jeff Teague’s offer sheet with the Bucks. Ferry also saw it fit to add a young point guard in the draft to begin grooming in hopes of having a franchise leader for years to come.
This player is Dennis Schröder, a 19-year-old point guard from Germany. He has drawn comparisons to Rajon Rondo and the way he plays shows that he is the type of player who makes those around him better. In his few games during the Las Vegas Summer League, Schröder has shown a knack for finding the open man and putting his teammates in positions to score.
With his second first-round pick, Ferry took a seven-footer out a Brazil who has garnered more attention for his hair than his play, but Lucas Nogueira is looking to reverse this with his performance in Las Vegas. Dennis and Lucas have already developed a chemistry together and are putting on highlight worthy performances on the offensive end.
In their first game together, Schröder threw a perfectly timed lob for the Nogueira finish, which was the first of two ferocious alley- oops finished by the Brazilian.
Joining these two youngsters in the Las Vegas Summer League are sophomores John Jenkins and Mike Scott and third-year player Shelvin Mack. So far this summer Jenkins and Scott are both showing signs of strength and polish added to their game during the offseason. With a season of working with Kyle Korver learning how to develop into a professional shooter, Jenkins appears to have learned the tricks of the trade creating more space to get off his deadly shot.
Mike Scott has also added new dimensions to his game, including extended range and a variety of posts-moves, allowing him to create mismatches whether guarded by larger power forwards or smaller wing players. Together with Jenkins, Mack, Schröder, and Nogueira these young players form a youthful collective that may never develop into superstars, but will be a solid compliment around whatever pieces Ferry looks to bring in.
This offseason along with Teague, Ferry has brought back Korver to continue knocking down shots from behind the arc creating space for the pick-and-roll to operate. He also went outside of the Hawks’ own free agents by signing Paul Millsap to a two year deal. Pairing Millsap with Horford on the inside will allow two viable options to set screens out of the post and make midrange jumpers that have become an important asset in the NBA.
The past couple weeks have allowed Ferry’s vision to come more into focus, there is still some uncertainty about what the final goal is. With there being little communication between the front office and the public has created frustration among fans, especially with the Hawks missing out on free agent prizes Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. Even with the stars signing elsewhere, the Hawks have put together a competitive roster for next season and there are still a few decisions still to be made.
The latest addition was Elton Brand and that leaves one spot for a frontcourt player to make the roster and that could either go to Nogueira or a veteran big allowing Lucas to continue playing oversees and developing. There is also the dilemma of who to start at small forward. With no true small forward on the roster who plays there will depend on whether Budenholzer would like to go with a big or small lineup. It can be assumed that Korver will be the primary starter given his proficiency for the three-ball.
Loading ...
