Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce put it succinctly — at this point, there not much the team can do about its 20-47 record last year, cut 15 games short by the coronavirus, or their lack of a national stage this year.
“We don’t have a lot of (national) TV games,” Pierce said. “There isn’t a whole lot of respect & no one gives a s*** that we weren’t in the bubble. We have to find our own way to be productive this year from start to finish.”
The league released the first half of teams’ schedules Friday, and the Hawks play on ESPN just once (at Dallas on Feb. 10) and play on NBA TV three times (at Memphis on Dec. 26, vs. Minnesota on Jan. 18 for the MLK Day game, at Milwaukee on Jan. 24). The Hawks, who are no stranger to not getting many games on national TV, do not have any games scheduled for TNT. The second half of the schedule will be released near the end of the first half, and there will be time allotted for makeup games.
With a revamped roster and what many players think is the right balance of young talent and experienced veterans, the Hawks think they’ve got a solid shot at making the playoffs this season. They’ve added strong offensive players in Danilo Gallinari and Bogdan Bogdanovic and an excellent defensive talent in Kris Dunn, and added overall depth with guys like Rajon Rondo and Tony Snell. Their young players in Kevin Huerter, Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter have gotten a little older and more experienced.
Because of the Hawks’ lack of recent success, it’s not a huge surprise they wouldn’t have a ton of national TV appearances.
But, not getting more of them comes as a disappointment, per Trae Young, who was an All-Star starter in Year 2 and is looking to start winning more games in Year 3. Young is using it as motivation, as are others on the team, he said Monday.
“I wish we got more respect, but that comes with wins and that comes with what you do on the court,” Young said. “For me personally, I use that as motivation and I know some of the guys in the locker room feel the same way.”
With their recent roster turnover, the Hawks, who have missed the playoffs for three consecutive years, feel they’re nearing the end of their rebuild. For Young, this year provides an opportunity for the Hawks to garner more wins and therefore more respect.
“Of course we believe that we have the talent to do that this year,” Young said. “We have the talent to make a lot of noise this year; it’s all about going out and doing it. Knock on wood there’s no injuries, and anything like that can happen, no positive (COVID-19) tests, hopefully nothing like that happens, but if all that is in our favor and everything goes well, I can definitely see us making a lot of noise.”
John Collins, who is going into his fourth year, echoed Young’s disappointment, especially considering the leap the Hawks are hoping to take this year.
“Hell yeah, it’s definitely disappointing,” Collins said. “It’s just disappointing. You feel like you work hard for these types of things, for these moments. We feel like our team turnover, with the way our team has been able to regroup and rebuild warranted something, but obviously, like I said, you look at that stuff, and you get mad in the moment, but you use it as fuel because I can’t control that, you can’t control any of those decisions… You look at it, and you can say it’s disrespectful, and use that as fuel to just play harder.”
Clint Capela, who is finally fully healthy and will be able to make his debut this season, said something similar on social media, tweeting “The disrespect has been noted.”
Ultimately, though, as Pierce pointed out, the Hawks must focus on what they themselves can control as they try to turn the franchise around and incorporate nine new players into the mix.
“I just want our guys to understand it’s a no-excuse mentality,” Pierce said. “We can’t worry about being respected or disrespected, we can’t worry about someone feeling sorry for us or thinking hey, you guys should have been there. Our whole approach has to be, we can’t worry about the things we can’t control, and so we’re going to stay focused on the things we can.”
One Hawks player, Solomon Hill, recently played on the biggest stage in basketball as he joined the Miami Heat toward the end of its season and playoff run (Hill played in four NBA Finals games vs. the Lakers in October). When talking about the Hawks’ schedule, though, he recalled his days playing for the Pelicans (from 2016-19) alongside Anthony Davis.
Davis, obviously, was and is an NBA star, but the Pelicans weren’t getting the kind of national TV attention they are now that they’ve got Zion Williamson, who New Orleans drafted at No. 1 overall in 2019 and who has become one of the highest-profile young players in the league, despite being injured for much of his rookie season.
“As soon as AD left and they drafted Zion, they put Zion on the Christmas (Day game), I believe, or a prime time game… (AD) didn’t say it, but I was thinking, as many years as I played here with AD, he didn’t even get that game, so you have to understand that the NBA’s a business,” Hill said. “If we want to get those games, we have to show why we have to get those games.”
The best thing the Hawks can do to raise their profile and get more national TV games is to have success and meet their team goals, Hill said.
“We just have to kind of put that chip on our shoulder,” Hill said. “I think we have a lot of young guys who want those games or want those opportunities and we have to take that chip and put it on our shoulder and carry it throughout the season.”
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