The Atlanta Hawks have a glut of talent at the shooting guard and small forward positions. Aside from being three deep at each spot, most of their guys can play multiple positions, both a luxury to have and a necessity to compete in today’s NBA. It’s led to some questions about who will ultimately stay or go as they begin to re-invest in their draft picks.
Heading into his third season, there might not be a spotlight brighter than the one on Cam Reddish.
The former Duke Blue Devil missed most of last season due to injury and his rookie season was impacted by COVID. Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk addressed both of those circumstances in his assessment of where things stand with Reddish.
The Atlanta Hawks just want to see consistency from Cam Reddish next season
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We’ve been breaking down Schlenk’s incredibly in-depth interview with The Athletic. He talked about working with Kevin Huerter’s representatives on a new deal, keeping an eye on any potentially available superstars, and the expectations for their home-grown talent.
"“He’s yet to play a full season — one, because of the pandemic, and the other because of injury. We’ve certainly seen flashes of what he could be, but what we haven’t seen is that consistency out of him to perform at that level. That’s the next step, which is building on that consistency every night. Having more and more flashes where that becomes the baseline and it’s not like Bitcoin. We’re looking for Microsoft stock here.”"
While noting Reddish’s lack of consistency, Sclenk does let on what they view his ceiling to be by referencing Microsoft. Even Bitcoin, for all of its volatility, is still very valuable.
Reddish has been the subject of trade rumors all offseason which were further fueled when he was conspicuously left off of the official Summer League roster.
But that was put to bed both directly and by his appearance with owner Tony Ressler ahead of the Summer League opener.
On the absence, Schlenk said, “Coming off that injury, we didn’t know we were going to get to the conference finals. We didn’t know he was going to come back for the playoffs”, adding, “Once he was able to come back and play those games in the conference finals, he felt good about where he was”
The soon-to-be 22-year-old averaged 12.8 points on 52.8 percent shooting (64.3 percent from outside) in his four postseason games. He added 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and .5 blocks as well, showing just how versatile his game is.
Not only does all of this reinforce the notion that a Reddish trade was always unlikely (at least this offseason), it also shows the Hawks still have high hopes for the former 10th-overall selection.