Three things we learned from Atlanta Hawks open practice

1) There are no surprises in terms of the expected starters.

During the scrimmage at open practice, Nate McMillan set his team into two squads which consisted of Team Grey/Red and Team Black. Here’s how they lined up:

• Team Grey/Red: Trae Young, Aaron Holiday, Deandre Hunter, John Collins, Clint Capela, Jarrett Culver, Chris Silva
• Team Black: Tyson “Ty Ty” Etienne, Tyrese Martin, Justin Holiday, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu, Armoni Brooks, Malik Ellison, Frank Kaminsky

As many would expect, Team Grey/Red contained four of the consensus opening-day starters for the Hawks. Star guard Dejounte Murray would have likely featured on Team Grey/Red over Aaron Holiday, but coach McMillan confirmed in an interview at the practice that Murray is battling a “non-COVID illness.”

According to Brad Rowland, host of the “Locked on Hawks” podcast, Team Grey/Red won big, outscoring the bench squad by 27 points.

If there were any doubts about who might headline the first starting five of the rotation, tonight was a significant step in putting that to rest.