Atlanta Hawks: Kevin Huerter Thinks “Core Group Should be Enough”

A quick peek at recent comments made by Kevin Huerter about the future of the Atlanta Hawks with the team’s young core.

After hitting two home runs with the #19 overall pick in the NBA Draft, Atlanta Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk has a strong young core built around those two picks (John Collins and Kevin Huerter) as well as lottery picks Trae Young, De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish and second-round selection.

That is among the most tantalizing young cores in the game, with each player in their early 20s (most are on average 21 years old right now), and they also all have room to improve – especially seeing as three of them will be rookies in the 2019-20 season.

One player that will not be a rookie is Kevin Huerter, and he believes, per a HoopsHype story by Alex Kennedy, that the team’s young core “could and should be enough” for the Atlanta Hawks as a team going forward.

This quote comes in a question about free agents wanting to come play with himself and his young teammates once the Atlanta Hawks start winning more games. Huerter agreed that key free agents are important, but he believes the young talent that the Hawks have accrued over the years should be enough to take them to the promised land in the NBA playoffs:

“Hopefully; any team that wins becomes pretty attractive to free agents. You see that happen a lot. But for me, our core group of guys could and should be enough for us. That’s the way that winning teams are built, at least in the old days. When you want to want to build something that lasts, it’s homegrown guys. But, again, hopefully if we win, [players will want to sign here] and we can figure out which positions we need moving forward. Adding free agents down the line won’t be a bad thing, but first you need to win and then everything else comes with it.”

It’s good to know that one of the team’s core building blocks has such confidence in his teammates, and Huerter is certainly a part of that young core that all Atlanta Hawks fans should be excited about.