Interesting Article on Player Development through the Developmental League

[KB21]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/doing-development-the-right-way-a-look-at-four-model-d-league-teams/

This is an interesting topic to me for two reasons.  First, the Hawks will have their own "D League" team for the first time in 2017-2018.  This is something that current Hawks owner Tony Ressler pushed through and is something that Mike Budenholzer and Danny Ferry pushed for given their experience in the Spurs organization and the Austin Toros/Spurs "D League" team.  

This article is a little dated from 2014, but it highlights 4 teams/organizations who are considered the "models" for doing development the right way and how to utilize the "D League" with their own affiliate.  

This leads into my second reason for being interested in this.  Of the four teams highlighted in this article, the Hawks are looking at/interviewing general manager candidates from three of the organizations: Travis Schlenk from the Warrios, Gersson Rosas from the Rockets, and Troy Weaver from the Thunder.  It will not surprise me to see Brian Pagua's name emerge as a potential GM candidate.  Pagua is currently the Timberwolves assistant GM, but he was the GM for the Austin Spurs and Director of Scouting for the Spurs prior to this job.

Another name that has been mentioned in conjunction with the Hawks GM job is Trajan Langdon.  He broke into scouting with the San Antonio Spurs, and one of his main assignments as a scout with the Spurs was scouting "D League" talent.  Trajan Langdon is intriguing to me for a couple of reasons.  First, he came up in the Spurs scouting system, which I feel is the way Budenholzer wants things done in Atlanta.   Second, Trajan has extensive experience playing internationally as well as scouting internationally, and international scouting is a big aspect of the Hawks scouting department.

It will be interesting to see how having their own "D League" team will effect the Hawks drafting.  They may be more willing to take the raw, 19 year old prospect now that they will have a team that will be so close to the Hawks when they move to College Park, GA, in 2019.  Malik Rose is the current GM of the Hawks D League team.  The Hawks will set up the coaching staff of the Erie Bayhawks in 2017, and if they go by the models presented in the above article, this team will be running the same style and system as the parent team.  The Hawks are already great at developing talent, but I think this will make them even better.  As I said above, it may allow them to take a few more risks in the draft as well.

 

[Guest]

Great find @KB21.

If you notice, our players have mostly been assigned to the Spurs or Jazz DLeague teams in the past since they run a similar system. 

This is important for the Hawks, combined with the new practice facility.