Our biggest sleepers

[sillent]

Last year Solo, Snell and possibly Hunter for some were our biggest sleepers/surprises in my opinion. 

This year is a little different. 

I think our biggest sleepers will be Delon Wright, Sharife Cooper, possibly Jalen Johnson and Cam Reddish for some reason.

I understand those that might be sleeping on Wright but I have no doubt he'll be a pleasant surprise.

I can understand why some could/would sleep on anyone of our rookies. I think once people start to understand how close Sharife is to a Trae clone as far as running our offense everyone is going to question letting him slide to #48. Even in a draft this deep.

Cam being doubted is questionable to me. Not because I haven't seen his offensive inconsistencies but because I have seen his defensive efficiency. When it's all said and done Cam might be the best defender in the league. His defense gets his offense going and even better he's more likely to get a clutch steal and dunk at the end of a game than any player currently. Once his offense gets efficient which I definitely believe it will because Cam puts in the work we could be looking at the next elite player. 

He has the size, the wingspan, the talent and most importantly the will especially on defense. It's been a long time since I've seen a player that really just had that dog in him on defense consistently. Gary Payton comes to mind and look how long ago that was and the size Cam has compared to GP. Cam actually likes playing defense it's a fun part of the game to him and that's rare for a player that's also so offensively gifted.

I cannot stress this enough Cam is 20 yrs old and will just now be going into his 3rd season. Guys like Trae, Luka, Zion, Donavan Mitchell and even more of our own like JC & Hunter have spoiled the expectations of young players.

Look at the players we look at as elite currently. Besides LeBron, AD & OKC (trio) most like Kawhi, Paul George and other elites took 4-6yrs before they actually started becoming the players we know today.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kawhi+leonard+stats&oq=kawhi+leonard&aqs=chrome.4.69i57j46i433i512j0i433i512l3.4883j1j4&client=ms-android-mpcs-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Players typically don't reach their primes until about 26. After their body matures, they get more comfortable with the nba game, added many extra skills over yrs). 

 

This yr our sleepers will be different because they are a sizeable upgrade over what Snell and Solo brought for us last year. 

This is the year to completely change the narrative (media/fan wise). From a team standpoint to our individual players. Trae has pretty much done that although I'm sure he knows he has even more to prove efficiently and defensively. I could have included JC on this list because people act like he won't get any better than his 22/23yr old self. They both got their bag though so nobody should be sleeping on them.

 

[KB21]

I don't know if this is really a sleeper situation, but I think we see Kevin Huerter gain the consistency we are looking for and becomes the player we saw against Philly on a consistent basis.  

[NBASupes]

8 minutes ago, KB21 said:

I don't know if this is really a sleeper situation, but I think we see Kevin Huerter gain the consistency we are looking for and becomes the player we saw against Philly on a consistent basis.  

I don't know about sleeper. He's a top 125 player in the NBA but if he can build on his under Nate McMillan performance in the RS and playoffs, he could be a legit starter at the wing. 

Cam is more so do for a coming out party more than being a sleeper. No one is sleeping on him, he's extremely up and down leaning down. He just has to become consistently very good which is possible for Cam considering he could be special.

Cooper likely won't see much time in Atlanta in year 1. He has Trae in front of him, Delon, and Lou. That's a lot of good players. 

Jalen could surprise us. Interesting to see if and when he cracks the rotation. Gallo gonna miss some time. We aren't the deepest in the big rotation. I expect to see him sooner than later.

[Sothron]

Just to point out that Cam is 21 about to hit 22 on Sept 1st.

I don't see how anyone can be sleeping on him but considering how many fans from other teams had him as a toss in for trades maybe they are sleeping on him.

My biggest sleepers are our two rookies and Dieng. The rest of our roster proved themselves to me last year. OO was more advanced than I thought he would be when he finally got his legs under him in the playoffs. But he's about it.

I think Dieng with his good all around game will surprise some folks. He gives us size and is a good defender. he will fit in flawlessly with our offense. The two rooks are wild cards because of how much behind they will be on minutes not counting injuries. Delon Wright is a very good backup PG that can also play SG if need be. Jalen has so many forwards ahead of him that his getting PT will be an issue. Cooper has Delon and Sweet Lou ahead of him. 

[Spud2nique]

5 minutes ago, Sothron said:

My biggest sleepers are our two rookies and Dieng.

Ya this sounds good. Cam and Huerter too.

[KB21]

34 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I don't know about sleeper. He's a top 125 player in the NBA but if he can build on his under Nate McMillan performance in the RS and playoffs, he could be a legit starter at the wing. 

Cam is more so do for a coming out party more than being a sleeper. No one is sleeping on him, he's extremely up and down leaning down. He just has to become consistently very good which is possible for Cam considering he could be special.

Cooper likely won't see much time in Atlanta in year 1. He has Trae in front of him, Delon, and Lou. That's a lot of good players. 

Jalen could surprise us. Interesting to see if and when he cracks the rotation. Gallo gonna miss some time. We aren't the deepest in the big rotation. I expect to see him sooner than later.

Gallo is going to be trade bait at some point with his contract.

[NBASupes]

1 minute ago, KB21 said:

Gallo is going to be trade bait at some point with his contract.

I doubt it. Too much salary to just take on more salary. There is a great chance he just walks. Same for Capela. Bogi is the one player I can see Atlanta thinking twice about 

[sillent]

21 hours ago, NBASupes said:

I doubt it. Too much salary to just take on more salary. There is a great chance he just walks. Same for Capela. Bogi is the one player I can see Atlanta thinking twice about 

I would agree but Travis has shown us that's something he could flip for immediate expiring contracts and draft picks. On the same note though I agree nothing needs to be done any time soon.

[JayBirdHawk]

9 minutes ago, sillent said:

I would agree but Travis has shown us that's something he could flip for immediate expiring contracts and draft picks. On the same note though I agree nothing needs to be done any time soon.

The Rondo trade was an example of this - I thought we'd have to give up a 2nd round pick to offload Rondo, instead he got 2 picks.  However, Gallo's $20 million maybe be a tad more difficult to get a straight expiring but his $5 mil guarantee on the last year can be attractive to a team.

[Gray Mule]

Sleepers?  Well, gee whiz!  The entire Hawk team qualifies.  Just check with the "experts" who rate the NBA teams.  Atlanta is currently ranked #10 in the NBA and no higher than #4 in the east.  This must mean that we are not considered a very good team or we don't have a very good coach or a very good GM.

Atlanta ended the playoffs tied for 3rd place in the NBA.  Thud!  Here us fall down?  From #3 to #10 !!  Guess we didn't draft anyone or sign anyone that matters.

Who is not a sleeper on the Hawks?  We did make the top 10.  Better than last place.  Oh, well....