The Atlanta Hawks took the floor for the first time since falling to the eventual world champs in the playoffs, suffering an 85-81 defeat to the Boston Celtics. Luckily, this time was just the first Summer League game and won’t be held against them. Their next game will be on Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers.
In the meantime, their loss belies a game that was filled with encouraging moments from beginning to end.
The good vibes were flowing before the game even began as owner Tony Ressler was spotted courtside with none other than Hawks wing Cam Reddish. The third-year man out of Duke has been the subject of trade rumors for quite some time.
The Atlanta Hawks had several good things happen in their Summer League opener
Those rumors began again when it was reported he wasn’t going to participate in Summer League. This was after he was specifically mentioned by management as one of the players we would see. This had some speculating injury on top of the swirling trade winds.
We always figured it was more precautionary and got confirmation it wasn’t injury-related.
If isn’t enough, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin addressed Reddish’s absence.
"“There are two pieces, Cam was gonna play and Okongwu was gonna play, and you know the big O, unfortunately, is injured and had to have surgery,” Koonin said. “And the way Cam felt coming back from the playoffs he did not feel rest and we saw a great performance in the playoffs, so he asked to opt-out and we said great.”"
Koonin went on to say they didn’t imagine Reddish would play in Games 5 and 6 when the comments were made. Reddish had 21 points on 58.3 percent shooting and went 6-for-7 from downtown in the deciding game of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Atlanta Hawks Summer Leaguetakeaway No. 1: We got a reminder of just how good the draft was
We’ve been raving about the Hawks draft class since draft night and the players selected for even longer. In their first action as NBA players, Jalen Johnson made his first argument for being the steal of the draft while Sharife Cooper proved his slide was too far. Both were the stars of the afternoon, just as they should be.
Johnson kicked off the scoring for the afternoon with a simple leaner. It began an early Hawks run and likely helped the rookie to settle in after a couple of misses by both teams to start.
The 6-foot-9 Johnson showed a little bit of everything as he rebounded well, played tough defense, and was generally everywhere on both ends of the floor.
He finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson also had a pair of dimes, a steal, and a block.
Perhaps most encouraging is that he continued his efficient, albeit low-volume, perimeter shooting going 1-for-2 from outside (8-for-12 overall).
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He needs to clean up the turnovers — he had five of the Hawks 19 — and play with more control.
A couple of his fouls were simply the result of being overly aggressive, though the Hawks don’t necessarily want him to tone that down.
Cooper was shaky early as well, committing two of his six turnovers in the first quarter. He would return after subbing out much more settled and went on to put up 11 points and six assists while grabbing a pair of boards. Most impressive was his ability to put consistent pressure on the defense when attacking the basket.
The homegrown product went 5-for-11 from the floor, but missed his only attempt from the outside; a corner three that came before he settled in. Again though, his ability to finish through contact and over larger defenders stood out above all else.
Atlanta Hawks Summer League takeaway No. 2: Skylar Mays was a mixed bag in his first Vegas action
There was no Summer League last season thanks to COVID so this was the first time going through the festivities for second-year guard Skylar Mays. The 6-foot-4 guard out of LSU was the 50th-overall pick last season and found himself playing meaningful minutes for a team that wound up two wins away from the NBA Finals.
Mays saw most of his time before Nate McMillan took over, but it was more because injuries made him a necessity more than the coaching change.
Still, he made a good enough impression to get tendered a qualifying offer before free agency.
Mays averaged just 3.8 points and 1.0 rebounds in 8.2 minutes per game, appearing in 33 contests during the regular season. He did put up 20 points in a loss to the Spurs that saw him go 7-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
The kid can score.
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He, understandably wasn’t a big factor in the postseason, playing in only seven games and seeing more than three full minutes in just one which was a blowout loss.
Still, it was a little troubling to see him so inefficient shooting the ball in this one. He shot just 36.4 percent from the floor a 16.7 percent from deep.
He also had just one rebound and steal apiece; hardly enough to offset his two turnovers and three personal fouls.
Of course, no one was exactly great shooting the ball from distance in this one, though late threes from Boston is what won them the game. And we’ve seen Mays do big things on a bigger stage. He’s also transitioning after it seemed he might have a shot to be the backup point guard
We won’t hold this game against him.
Atlanta Hawks Summer League takeaway No. 3: A couple of unlikely contributors stood out
We came in expecting to hear Johnson, Cooper, and even Mays’ names called often. They are, after all, Hawks draft picks. But the play of DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and Ibi Watson was also impressive considering the environment. Neither player is under contract and they certainly weren’t expected to make many waves.
Akoon-Purcell was highly effective, dropping 13 points and snagging eight boards. He shot 66.7 percent overall and hit one of his three triples.
It is quite the outburst — again, albeit in Summer League — for the 28-year-old out of Illinois State. At 6-foot-6, he has really good size for a wing and was a double-digit scorer both years in college.
He still went undrafted and has bounced around between Europe and the G-League, having a seven-game cup of coffee with the Nuggets in 2018-19. He’ll have a hard time earning a spot with the Hawks who are deep on the wings. But he still showed he has something and could interest a team looking for a solid end-of-bench guy.
Watson had the most exciting eight points and two rebounds ever in Summer League action.
He was consistently there, as was Akoon-Purcell, hustling for possessions and cleaning up missed shots. He seemed to always be in the right spot at the right time.
A five-year collegian who split his career between Michigan and Dayton, transferring served him well. He went from a low-minute, low-output guy for the (National Champion) Wolverines to a 15-point-per-game scorer for the Flyers in just two seasons.
He shot 48.1 percent from the floor at Dayton and, as a senior, canned 41.6 percent of his triples. Still, he too went undrafted. Unlike Akoon-Purcell, however, he has yet to see the NBA.
Watson is the longest of shots to make this particular roster but his energy showed.
Atlanta Hawks Summer League takeaway No. 4: It was a disappointing debut for Jordan Bell
Normally, non-roster guys wouldn’t get this much attention. Especially if they didn’t have standout performances like those in the last slide. But Jordan Bell’s performance in the Summer League opener was nothing short of disappointing. And be clear, it can only be disappointing because there were expectations.
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Those expectations were set by Bell himself and revealed pregame. He was asked why he would be participating in Summer League as a 26-year-old who won a ring with the Warriors back in 2017-18.
His response was so he could show teams his love for the game was still there and that he can still help a team.
What we saw was a player still relying far too much on his natural athleticism and not any discernable developed skill.
Put simply, Bell looked not only like the player he was with Golden State as a rookie, but he still looks just as he did in college at Oregon.
The worst part is he might have had the best chance of any non-roster player to get the offer.
Despite signing Gorgui Dieng in free agency, the Hawks still have only two centers — him and Clint Capela — on the roster and one more spot. Bell would have been a nice third option off of the bench.
The good news is, he’ll get another chance to show his worth on Tuesday. The bad news is Johnson showed he might be able to absorb some minor minutes as a small-ball five.
Capela averaged 30 minutes per game en route leading the league in rebounding last season and Dieng will handle 14 to 18 minutes per game. So it’s not like the Hawks need a lot. It would have been a good spot for Bell but the likelihood of that took a hit if it ever had a chance in the first place.