Atlanta Hawks: 3 final takeaways from an encouraging Summer League

The Atlanta Hawks wrapped up their time in Las Vegas for Summer League with a 104-85 blowout loss to the New York Knicks. But the time spent was much better overall and the pipeline of great talent acquired via the draft appears intact. That much was evident fairly early on though.

We’ve been raving about Jalen Johnson and Sharife Cooper from the opening tip.

There were some other, more subtle takeaways though than the straight-forward who has and hasn’t played well.

Many of the players on the roster had different goals from the outset, which can contribute to some of the disjointed nature of the games at times.

Some are just trying to work on their games, assured of a roster spot, others are trying to showcase themselves.

The Atlanta Hawks Summer League gave us a small snap-shot at the state of this team

Still, we will once again acknowledge the standouts from the summer, including one who will likely go largely unsung in DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell. He had another 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the loss to New York. Hopefully, some team has taken notice of his play as he has little chance of making the Hawks roster.

Neither Jalen Johnson nor Skylar Mays played in the finale. Sharife Cooper did return, however, he turned in his worst performance of the summer.

After missing the last game going through health and safety protocols he had just six points and two assists on 3-of-11 shooting.

Cooper was likely headed to College Park for the bulk of his season but that is just part of the story for the young guys and the rest of the Summer League squad.

Atlanta Hawks final Summer League takeaway No. 1: The rookies will make it hard to keep them down

This summer has been all about how impressive both Johnson and Cooper have been and how insane it was they were available for the Hawks. Despite knowing where both will be most of the season (Johnson with the Hawks and Cooper, who’s on a two-way deal, with the Skyhawks) we only have expectations for what their roles will be.

Johnson in particular is going to have a tough go of trying to crack the rotation. The Hawks are two and three-deep at every position. And all of them have proven to be capable of high-level performance in critical situations.

But he has a playing style that would fit very well in any number of combinations of current Hawks.

If he continues to show the knack for being in the right spot and making the right play, his ability to rebound and defend can take the pressure off of De’Andre Hunter and John Collins simultaneously in small-ball lineups.

And with the Hawks payroll only growing as they lock their own draft picks up long term, it would behoove them to see what the 6-foot-8, 210-pound Johnson can do.

Cooper’s path is admittedly more complicated. But he is going to put up monster numbers in the G-League for sure. We’ve already seen his quickness allow him to get to the cup with ease and finishing over bigger defenders hasn’t been a problem.

And while his 33.3 percent clip from beyond the arc is nothing to write home about, he clearly hit them when they were needed.

You can’t teach what Cooper has. And being a homegrown product, the spotlight could be even greater for a player that’s shown he thrives when the lights are brightest. It will be interesting to see what he does when he finally gets his chance.

Atlanta Hawks final Summer League takeaway No. 2: The depth of this roster is among the best

Another theme of the past year has been how incredible of a turnaround the Hawks made during the season. To go from their hot start to six games under .500 only to rally all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals is a testament to the foundation they’ve been build since Travis Schlenk took over.

As such, we need to point out how great of a turnaround it is to know that even the best performers (outside of the Cooper, Mays, and Johnson) had any chance of latching on.

Akoon-Purcell, being the first to come to mind, would be a tremendous end-of-bench addition. He just keeps working and makes a play more often than not.

We said he’d been one of the Hawks most consistent performers but, after the finale, it’s a designation that’s all his.

Admiral Schofield was one we were less than impressed with. But he apparently did enough to get some others in the media to take note of him. If that turns into another NBA opportunity for the 24-year-old, great. We really did have high hopes (perhaps too high) for him before the Vegas extravaganza began.

Then on Monday, Javin DeLaurier decided he wasn’t going to go quietly either and went off for 18 points, seven boards, three blocks, a steal, and two assists. His might have been too little too late anyway, but it just goes to show the quality of talent that Schlenk has been able to identify.

If Johnny Hamilton, signed from overseas with Onyeka Okongwu shelved until January or February, shows anything then it will just be another feather in Schlenk’s cap.

Atlanta Hawks final Summer League takeaway No. 3: Only a superstar is breaking up this group

Rumors of trades involving Cam Reddish and draft picks began almost immediately after the Hawks were eliminated by the eventual champs. Additionally, we were told there would be a bidding war of sorts for Collins’ services. Well, Collins had an offer from the Hawks immediately and, eventually, re-upped.

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Meanwhile, Reddish, who didn’t play in Summer League, was spotted with team owner Tony Ressler.

We also got wind from Schlenk that the team is interested in extending Kevin Huerter.

Hunter will be looking to put his stamp on this season as well as he’ll be extension eligible next year and headed for restricted free agency the year after if no deal is reached.

His performance will be one to watch as well as he could be better this season and still put up worse numbers thanks to the Hawks tremendous depth.

But we also know that Schlenk is one to monitor the status of the league’s superstars too. That much was clear after his in-depth interview with The Athletic.

With the Hawks talking new money with a good portion of their young core, it’s a rather safe bet that only a superstar would sway Schlenk enough to move one of the valuable assets he’s accumulated.

The bigger question becomes whether Johnson and/or Cooper would be enough to pry one loose, largely preserving the rest of the current core, and would the Hawks pull the trigger.

Championship windows usually close faster than they open and the Hawks showed they are a team that can contend for a title.