LAS VEGAS -- New Hawks two-way guard Keaton Wallace impacts winning.
At least that’s what Hawks assistant and College Park Skyhawks coach Ryan Schmidt posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, to the world after reports of the team signing Wallace to a two-way contract. Schmidt expressed that same sentiment to Hawks summer league coach Ronald Nored.
“As we were talking about preparing for this, Ryan was super complimentary of him as a person, as a teammate,” Nored said. “And, you know, the thing he told me is like, if you need to put the ball in his hands at the end of the game, you can put the ball in his hands and he can make something happen. And I think we’ve seen that a little bit in the two games here. And now we’ll continue to do that with minutes going up for him.”
With the injury to summer league teammate Nikola Djurisic, the Hawks will have to lean on Wallace, as well as Jarkel Joiner, to help get them into their offensive actions.
Wallace has averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 assists in the two games the Hawks have played so far at summer league. He has made quick decisive reads as he has looked to get downhill quickly, as well as played hard on every possession.
He showed that off on Friday night when he shot 50% from the field and had six assists in the Hawks’ 94-88 loss to the Wizards. The game remained close up until the final three minutes as he tried to shred the Wizards defense before kicking out to teammates on the perimeter.
“I think his reads right now are pretty solid,” Nored said. “You know, the pick and roll reads really as your primary ballhandler in the NBA are kind of the thing. And so his ability to get into the paint, read a big being dropped or a big being up making the pass of the big if the big is up or late pass if the big steps up or just getting to his floater are reads that he’s able to make consistently and he’s had some positive results, because of it.”
Wallace played with the Skyhawks, the Hawks G League affiliate, last season. He averaged 12.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 37% from 3-point range. That time with them allowed him to improve his feel for the game and allowed him to keep gaining more experience.
Now, he gives the Hawks a little more depth at point guard, as well as one that is defensive-minded. He’ll get the opportunity to continue developing with the main club.
“I feel like I still have more to show,” Wallace said. “I can always be better in a lot of categories of my game. But I do feel like my work has paid off and it’s just a blessing.
“I think it could be great for me just trying to learn and be better and get advice from other guys and just leaning on my teammates to get better.”
The Hawks have dropped their first two summer league games. So it’s unlikely that they will make it to the summer league championship game. The development of the players on the roster remains the priority.
“I think the biggest thing is thinking of this as a development opportunity for our guys,” Nored said. “And so how can we number one, teach them decision-making? Decision-making is the number one thing to grow as a player. Another thing in practice is we want as quick of transference to the game as possible from practice.”
As the Hawks take on the Lakers and Bulls before waiting to learn their final opponent of the tournament, Wallace will look to take that preparation to help his team remain as connected as possible. Though he has made some solid decisions and Nored has been complimentary of him, Wallace knows he can be better.
“I think as a team we did pretty good,” Wallace said. “Myself individually, I think I could be better. Just getting more reps and things like that. So I think my reads could be better.”
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