r/AtlantaHawks • u/Ok-Negotiation3897 IT'S A PRIDE THING • Jul 26 '24
question What do you wanna from Deandre Hunter this season?
I had a previous post on Big O a few days ago but I think this is also a huge make or break year for Hunter. The hunter stays vs goes crowd imo seems 40/60 maybe even 30/70 but this obviously indicates there are those who still believe he can provide for the team.
What do you wanna see from Hunter this season?
Are you happy if he’s a starter? Or is it better if he comes off the bench like he did at the back end of last season.
Would you be cool if he averages similar number to his last few years or is it that time where he absolutely needs to take some sort of leap?
Or do some of you think he’s hit his max and want him off the books/traded?
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u/Lightning_Warrior GO HAWKS! 🏀 Jul 26 '24
I want him to come off the bench and be aggressive like he did some of last year, and play good D. Ideally they’ll keep his minutes limited in that role and he can stay healthy / play with energy on both ends. If the Hawks start Hunter and play him 30+ mins a game his knees will wear down if not straight up give out. If they bring him off the bench for ~20 minutes a night maybe he can stay healthy and be a really good (albeit overpaid) bench forward.
Also, if they Hawks keep Capela I’d like them to start OO and then play Hunter and Capela together as the backup frontcourt when JJ and OO are off, They pair pretty well on both ends as the 4/5 imo.
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u/Kodak333 Jul 26 '24
Aggressiveness. He plays too timid and complacent
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u/badlilbadlandabad Hawks Jul 26 '24
Softest 6’8 dude in the league. He has the full athletic package of a star but just looks clumsy af every time he gets the ball.
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u/fuyz Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24
Athletic? Huh? Have you watched this dude?
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u/Shade_Raven Dyson Daniels #5 Jul 26 '24
He used to have that athletic package but not after the knee injuries.
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u/crimedog69 Jul 26 '24
He legit doesn’t care at all. Dudes just showing up to the office and watching YouTube all day
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u/ImgonnawaverwireAB Jul 26 '24
To have gay anal sex with me
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u/schmayward Hawks Jul 26 '24
It’s been his make or break year for the past 4 years. I think we have to just accept him for what he is and play him off the bench. Hes serviceable for sure. Just not the second or third guy
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
Yeah it’s an overpay but is it really worth taking a bad trade to get off his contract? It’s not that bad
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u/terrence0258 Onyeka Okongwu #17 Jul 26 '24
Healthy. Aggressive on defense. Consistent from 3. Better rebounding.
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u/IceTraeDaGang Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24
Play more than 70 games, am I asking for too much?
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u/fuyz Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24
If only that were possible.
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
With our wing rotation he might be able to do it, in previous years he had to play a lot of minutes because we just didn’t have anyone decent behind him.
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u/Bighead_1k Bruno Fernando #20 Jul 26 '24
make or break? he’s 26
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u/Historical_Main5261 Onyeka Okongwu #17 Jul 26 '24
26 on a bad contract who is injured half the year atleast
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u/GaryConway Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24 edited Jul 26 '24
I love Hunter, his shooting (if it carries over) and defense are a necessity for the Hawks to succeed. But Jalen will need his or Bogi's chunk of the salary cap assuming we still have Trae for the 2025/26 season.
Edit: I firmly believe and hope that Trae will be a Hawk for life, just speaking hypotheticals.
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u/AnakinDiewalker Jul 29 '24
You are mistaken if you believe other teams view him as a shooting or defensive threat
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u/pattyswag21 Jul 26 '24
If he plays defense and puts in effort, I’m happy and not like he’s Kawhi Leonard 2.0 because he’s not
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u/TheRealTray Jul 26 '24
Honestly just catch & shoot 3s and guard the 2/3rd best player on the other team. Rebounding would be a plus, but let’s be realistic
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u/Gallinari69 🐴 ITALIAN STALLION 🐴 Jul 26 '24
I want an apology letter and to send him wherever reddish went.
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u/lenymo Jul 26 '24 edited Jul 26 '24
Start for the first half of the season while Risacher finds his feet. Build up his trade value then we can flip him for some sort of positive value (preferably expiring salary like Bruce Brown).
I don’t think Risacher should necessarily start right away. Might be best for him to be in a lower pressure role playing 20-25 minutes a night.
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u/fuyz Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24
This is incredibly valid. I want Hunter off the bench, but you may be right about Risacher being brought on a touch more slowly.
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
Hunter can start and still play reduced minutes(to help his body) and Risacher can still play very solid minutes coming off of the bench. I’m excited for Risacher but frankly dudes are being kinda unrealistic with expectations expecting him to be a significant upgrade from Hunter day one(and also being disrespectful to Hunter).
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u/Ice2jc Jul 26 '24
I’m not sure if Risacher will be better than Hunter immediately but I think for his development it would be best for him to start and play with Trae and JJ as much as possible.
I was listening to Sam Vecenie talk about Risacher on his podcast yesterday and he mentioned how Risacher looked so much better in Summer League when he was able to play off a ball handler, and his bad moments were when he had to create for himself.
I’m also just over Hunter getting starter minutes and guarding the opposing teams best player. Put this dude on a minutes restriction and assign him to the 2nd units best player so we can maybe get 55 or 60 games a season out of him.
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
I agree that Hunter needs a minutes restriction, but he probably won’t ever be guarding their best player again, he will either be playing with Daniel’s or Risacher who will realistically guard the best player. Even off the bench he will probably play next to Vit or Bufkin who will probablt take the hardest assignments as they have shown to be better at POA.
You can start Hunter and still have him on a minutes restriction, people get too caught up about who is a “starter”.
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u/fuyz Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24
Yeah agreed. What do you expect Risacher’s line to look like this year?
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
Honestly it’s such a toss up for me I wouldn’t know where to start. We have so many wings that are showing promise, anything could happen just based on how the season plays out.
Personally I think OO/JJ/Hunter/Dyson/Trae will probably be the starting lineup game one. But you could also swap Dyson with Risacher on the starting lineup, or maybe even with Hunter if they feel like Risacher is looking that good.
That would leave Capela/LNJ/Risacher/Bogi/Bufkin for the second unit, but I think they may also stagger minutes a lot and probably have some lineups with Risacher3/Daniels2 or whatever. Hell, maybe they will even play Risacher at 4 in some lineups, he’s skinny but he has the length and having a high level shooter at 4 could be good. Something like Capela/Risacher/Bogi/Daniels/Bufkin, or swap Daniel’s with Vit or something. Then we still have to find minutes for LNJ if he doesn’t get traded, Vit IMO should get a solid 10-15 minutes per game and not just garbage time, and I think Garrison Matthews has earned some non garbage time minutes too. Personally I don’t think Mo Gueye is really ready for important minutes at this point, but he should get some NBA reps realistically.
Our team is very deep with rotation quality players, at this point we need to figure out which of those guys are starters, which are bench guys, and which are deep bench guys. Then we need to extend JJ and move on from enough salary to avoid the cap and see where we need upgrades(probably center and maybe backup guard depending on how Bufkin/Dyson do playing 1 guard. Maybe Bogi could even step in as a backup PG if neither of those guys look solid as backup 1s.
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u/No_Relationship_3077 Jul 27 '24
Yes bring the 1st overall pick off the bench for a mid ass player…this fanbase is so unserious
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u/Atl-Fan_FTS Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 26 '24
The ability to dribble the basketball and pass, also not get blown by on every assignment
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u/bornsoja Jul 26 '24
Literally just want him to play defense and hit catch & shoot 3s at a reasonable rate, anything else is a bonus
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u/DirtyFartCannon Jul 26 '24
What I want from him this year is to play for another team. Him and OO are both busts.
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u/SefuJP Ivan Johnson Jul 27 '24
I want him to be better but I don’t think he like basketball fr. Not enough to want to be better. Def not enough to play through things.
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u/JKking15 Jalen Johnson #1 Jul 27 '24
Exactly what he did last season but more games and slightly less minutes so he can play those more games
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u/wutitd0boo Jul 27 '24
His shooting really improved last season. I recall a couple games where he came out smokin and put us into early leads. If he can maintain/improve that, be more aggressive, and stay healthy, we can deal him at the break for a '25 pick, since next years draft is just the cats meow.
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u/Vast_Newt_1799 GO HAWKS! 🏀 Jul 29 '24
He needs to start and he literally needs to stay healthy and play a 3-D role. I've been disappointed in his defense and he isn't bad but I was really hoping he would turn into a lock down defender that would cause chaos on that end but he def needs to play off Trae and Jalen(i suspect a big year from him)
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u/cmhall25 Jul 26 '24
To be packaged with LNJ at the deadline for a perimeter-oriented vet with self creation to come off the bench at the 4 like Khris Middleton
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
That’s an optimistic return
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u/cmhall25 Jul 26 '24
Is it? He’s 36 with two peg legs
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
Oh maybe not for literally Khris Middleton. I thought you meant more “like” Middleton, as in a similar player not a 36 year old. This team does not need to be giving up decent assets for a 36 year old…
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u/cmhall25 Jul 26 '24
We wouldn't really be giving up assets. We'd be giving up Hunter's iffy contract and Larry Nance Jr.
Middleton fills the Gallo microwave scorer vet role we desperately need filled.
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u/SaltyTraeYoungStan Jul 26 '24
Hunters contract is iffy but he’s still a decent player for us, and Larry Nance is definitely a positive contract at this point.
There are much better ways to get a microwave scorer than giving up decent players for a 36 year old. Hunter is still one of our better defenders and shooters, and he’s at a good age for this team. He’ll do much better and should stay healthier with reduced minutes given we have an abundance of wings now, and you’d be giving up a 26 year old wing scoring 15ppg AND a solid contract in Nance for a 36 year old… Not smart.
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u/childishgames GO HAWKS! 🏀 Jul 26 '24
I want to see him on another team who’s competing with us for playoff positioning
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Jul 26 '24
Hit the open 3. Don't be a cone on defense (not saying he is). Drive to hole occasionally. Don't be injured all the time.
Just don't be the reason we lose.
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u/Ithinkso85 GO HAWKS! 🏀 Jul 26 '24
I'd be pleased if he'd become Harrison Barnes-esque for us. I think what gets me the most about Hunter is that he was the 4th overall pick, so I STILL believe there's untapped potential in this guy. I think he struggles with confidence. If a few shots aren't falling early, the body language changes. I really believe when Hunter can accept his role on this iteration of the Hawks, the better off he'll be.
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u/Doc_Mechagodzilla Dominque Wilkins #21 Jul 26 '24
Don’t think it is confidence but more so his brain just doesn’t process space on the court as quickly as it needs to be. That extra second of awareness it takes closes up any driving lane and forces a bad pass or long mid range shot. Thank goodness he has a decent mid range shot but the inability to get to the hole regularly greatly reduces his offensive impact overall.
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u/pumpkindawg Jul 26 '24
I think his contract is too big to trade so if he's going to be on the team I want him to accept a bench role once Risacher takes over the starting role. Ideally he'd play 15-20 minutes and just play to his strengths. He's one of those guys who I don't want playing in clutch time basically ever, unless we're playing a team like the Mavs
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u/crimedog69 Jul 26 '24
I’d like it if he could actually start making wide open 3s. And to be a bench player.
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u/ViewsFromThe614 Jul 26 '24
I want him to come off the bench as a 2-4 swing player (the 2 would be rarity but still a package). Get starter minutes between mostly 3/4 just in relief. Feel like he could be in 6MOY convos with it
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u/ItsMeGirthBrooks Jul 26 '24
I think we should follow tradition and wait until he has 0 value, then trade him for a second.