Official Game Thread: Wizards at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“Ooh, PLEASE let that be a Cybertruck parking down there. PLEASE!”

 

Living just enough for the city can be rough sometimes, especially when you’re tethered to four wheels and all the vital possessions that your life-wagons contain. Times can be just about as tenuous when our young ATLetes have to part ways, however briefly, with their prized possessions, leaving them to the environs and whims of the parking public.

Much like Sara Lee, nobody doesn’t love Younghoe Koo. But Falcons fans remember fondly the auto-bot Pro Bowler Koo had become, before his Jeep got snatched up, and the occasionally way-off placekicker we have now. It’s gotta be the cleats!

“Mfs stole my Jeep smh,” Younghoe posted in his longshot appeal to an Mf thief via The Gram on a hot summer day in 2021. He would’ve made-do if his Grand Cherokee found its customary way to Ye Olde Chop Shop, but for one essential pair of items. “Can you just bring my cleats back tho?”, Koo IG’d. “I won’t even be mad bro just bring all my cleats so I can go kick.”

It wasn’t quite Man O’ War suddenly missing his horseshoes, yet the NFL’s scoring leader from 2020 was never quite the same, as his would-be game-sealing fourth-quarter screwball toward the Tampa Bay pirate ship illustrated just yesterday. Koo has managed to be adequate enough to make fans not long for the olden days of Matt Bryant. But he might have a sculptor butchering his statue right now, but for those long-lost cleats and some clueless SUV swiper who was probably digging more for the types of items Gilbert Arenas might leave hanging around in the glove compartment.

Zaccharie Risacher hasn’t had as rough a go thus far in The City Too Busy To Just Catch A Bus. But the 19-year-old couldn’t leave his new vehicle behind for a single trip out of town without returning to an ATLdventure, courtesy of Dirty Birds of a whole different feather.

“It’s going to make you laugh,” the Hawks’ rookie remarked to the press as AJC’s Lauren L. Williams asked about his return with the team from a preseason excursion. “After the first road trip, I think all the birds in the city [Dellavedova’d] on my car.” Bienvenue! Among the unwritten rules of ATL driving -- never park your vehicle beneath a shade tree, unless you’re consulting a cheap mechanic.

Thankfully, Zacch can get by with a little help from his bon amis, Clint Capela and Skyhawks assignee Mo Gueye, as Kevin Chouinard reported via Twitter. “CC helped me to find a place to wash it real quick. That was funny at first and that was just ridiculous, and I had to make it right.” NBA vets have evolved from the days of filling unsuspecting rooks’ hoopties with popcorn, particularly the buttered variety. Capela has proven vital to Risacher in more ways than helping find the best drive-through car washes in town.

“We’ve got Zach, we’ve got me, and we’ve got Mo,” Capela told Chouinard when queried about Risacher’s language acclimation during his high-profile on-the-job training. “So that’s three, and we have BG (assistant coach Bryan George), one of the coaches who went to the Olympics with the French national team. So there are four of us.”

Keeping Quin Snyder’s schemes from getting lost in translation is half the battle.  “Sometimes I get to challenge him to speak more English,” Clint shared with Chouinard. Whenever we get in the huddle, (I try) to get him to do, ‘Together on three!”, or stuff like that.” Un! Deux! Trois! “I know he is not comfortable because it reminded me a lot of me whenever I was 20, I really didn’t feel comfortable at all speaking English.”

There’s no clean segue from here, so I’ll just be forward, as you’ll have to pardon my French taste in NBA prospects, s’il vous plait. Back in May, I had all the hashtags lined up with the Patent and Trademark Office and ready to go for Atlanta’s once and future basketball king. Sarr Not Sorry, Sarrcasm, Sarring Down South, Baby I’m a Sarr. And then, right before I could figure out how to stitch together a Sarrong, Landry Fields and Hawks, Inc. threw me yet another curveball.

I had zero plans on either Risacher or Alexandre Sarr in a Hawk jersey when last season mercilessly ended. For my Monopoly money, the best French player in this year’s Draft was bound to fall into Atlanta’s laps at #10, anyway, in the form of Tidjane Salaun. Yet the table-tennis-ball gods have a sense of humor, and once Salaun looked to be too much of a reach, my Sarr-gazing eyes fixated on the French kid, nurtured by the organization (run by Nique’s nephew!) who brought us The Thompson Twins of the NBA, a youngster who already knows the ATL like the back of his hand.

I’d be further emboldened when the media got a microphone in front of Sarr, who apparently spent time at the Kevin Hart School of Say It With Your Chest during his years on this side of the Atlantic. There was a clear contrast to the way Risacher would crack his winning smile and begin to wing-it with his responses to US media, the way I would if my job transferred my thoroughly uncultured behind to Uzbekistan and expected me to engage audiences in some kind of TEDtalk. Sarr may not be ready for Embiid and Porzingis, I surmised, but after his runs through Atlanta and Australia, he ought to do just fine yakking it up with Steve Holman after the games. Don’t overthink this one, Landry!

You can imagine the depths of my dismay when, four days after the Deputy Commissioner revealed Atlanta’s dumb luck, our crack contingent of Fields, Kyle Korver and Coach Quin were comfortably seated front-row in Bourg-en-Bresse, France to watch this lanky Risacher kid in the French Elite playoffs. Were you all too busy to see Sarr’s exploits over on 17^th Street?

It couldn’t have dawned on me that Sarr may have known too much about life in the ATL. Or, at least, he had too much intel about the NBA club there. Sarr had two seasons in town, with Overtime Elite, to watch the Hawks’ diminution from surprise Conference Finalists up close and personal. He had a brother, the undrafted Olivier, hooping in the upstart Thunder’s organization. OKC was on the come up, and surely by the time Alex came online in 2024, he’d be the last Lottery pick they’d need.

As we’d find out, the Thunder took themselves out of the Lottery picture. Still, perhaps a fateful chance at the bright lights and bigger city of Chicago awaited? Well, the Hawks did what they could at Play-In time to make that scenario less likely. Quelle domage.

As rumors would later swirl that the Hawks’ shopping around was tied to Sarr’s reticence to play in The A once more, I foolishly scoured The Internets for justifications. One of the more compelling claims was that Sarr, for whom MARTA was decidedly not Smarta, struggled with keeping his automobile secure, either in Overtime Elite Arena’s open-air lot at Atlantic Station or in the decks of whatever apartments they had him posted up to live in during the downtime. Surely, he’d have an easier time of things parking in a much safer place like, umm, The District of Columbia.

The best, or most obvious, reason to me was that Sarr wanted somewhere to go where he had a French Connection of some sort. If not with his grand frère in Oklahoma, then San Antonio, obviously, was The Move. Not just Wemby, and Sidy Cissoko, but the Spurs had done well with Tony Parker, and they did what Atlanta could not with the brutally deferential Boris Diaw. Then again, hey, Portland had just plucked Rayan Rupert the season before. Even better, Washington had Bilal Coulibaly to chum it up with!

Lots of fun and new options abounded, in Alex’s mind. Certainly, he’s on his way to Chi-Town, or Texas, or D.C., or…

Go look at that “Welp!” pursed-lip reaction from Sarr as the team draft cards were revealed back in May. Not exactly Zion-esque enthusiasm about the prospect of receiving easy-bake lobs from Trae Young for seasons on end. It didn’t soothe his ego that Fields hadn’t immediately revealed a SARR #1 jersey, or that the Hawks were swiftly seen scouting Risacher, in Europe, in ways they had not when he was hooping about seven traffic lights up the road. Alex tried his best, as the months went on without committing to a workout, and the Hawks and Sarr’s camp seemed to do all they could not to notice each other.

“I never said I didn’t want to be there,” Sarr said to ESPN about Atlanta, in the final hours before the Hawks sent in their first pick. I got a great team of agents around me. I don’t think it’s all about one workout.”

What Alex was trying to suggest, by “there”, was he’d never say he didn’t want to be The NBA’s Top Pick, and all the extra guaranteed largesse and marketability that top designation conveys. The Hawks, as his team of agents perhaps thought, could swing a draft-and-swap deal like the prior managerial regime did in 2018, which is how Trae infamously landed in Atlanta in the first place. His handlers knew that working out for the Hawks, and performing well, risked putting him in Cherelle’s awkward position of telling Atlanta, “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On.”

In the end, Atlanta purports to have gotten what it wanted, in Risacher. And Sarr gets to pal around with Bilal and the Wizards. What we fans in Atlanta cannot afford, in Sarr, is another Pau, another Luka, another Arvydas, another fable in the Hawks’ tortured history of The Ones That Got Away, International Edition. Please, don’t get #SorryNotSarr trending around here!

The foreboding sense of Sarr’s eventual potential, relative to Risacher, comes with another twist as their teams face off tonight (7:30 PM Eastern, FanDuel Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Monumental Sports in DC), and again on Wednesday in D.C. before a Wizards return to The Farm on November 15.

Sarr fell into the draft room of one Travis Schlenk, vice president of player personnel for Ted Leonsis’ wascally Wizards. Having had his arms twisted behind his back once too often on personnel decisions as the PBO in Atlanta, Schlenk arrived in D.C. in time to chip-in and take Coulibaly, a teen wing who became about the one player Washington fans looked forward to seeing, up until his mid-March injury exit, as last season closed with a 15-67 record under replacement coach Brian Keefe.

That Wizfan sentiment lingers on a team set up to fail, hard, from the jump. Keefe has no problem plugging Sarr into the starting center spot. But Alex has to share tipoffs with brutally inefficient vets Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole, not exactly defensive buttresses, and yet another rookie in Bub Carrington, the Pitt star filling in for the perpetually injured Malcolm Brogdon.

20-point and 19-point final deficits at home versus Boston and Cleveland were already to be expected. At least Coulibaly, already lauded for his defensive acumen, is beginning to seize the scoring reins a bit from Poole and Kuzma (3-for-16 FGs vs. CLE). Bilal was efficient inside and out from the field (4-for-9 3FGs, 5-for-7 2FGs) during Saturday’s 135-116 loss to the Cavs. Both Sarr (1-for-7 FGs, incl. 0-for-5 on threes vs. BOS; 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks, combined thru 2 games) and Coulibaly could fare better if they had veteran complements willing and able to set them up for easier looks.

Keefe, for now, does have other bigs at his disposal to alleviate Sarr, in Jonas Valanciunas, Marvin Bagley, and Richaun Holmes. But he has been satisfied at this point with the sink-or-sink-some-more approach applied to Sarr as he tilts with the likes of Jarrett Allen and Al Horford.

Alex and Bilal will have to absorb whatever opportunities they can glean from Poole (10-for-18 3FGs so far, 5.0 APG) and Kuzma, each of whom are tethered to the Wizards’ books through 2026-27 unless Schlenk can help Winger pull a rabbit out of his hat. But this is the course that Sarr, and his team of agents, crafted when they tried to Tetris their way to the NBA team of their choice, whatever the rationale. Perhaps Sarr would have thought differently had he been able to listen to Capela, en français, extoll the true virtues of living in Atlanta, and of being on the constant receiving end of Trae’s passes.

It may have worked in Atlanta’s favor that they drew a youngster who is open to listening and learning, with a sunny disposition, in lieu of some kid, after a year or two in Midtown, who imagines he has Atlanta, and the pros, all figured out. “Sometimes, you take a little bit off your personality,” Capela told Chouinard with respect to Risacher sorting things out, “because some of the things you want to say, you can’t really say because you don’t know how to say it. I just enjoy speaking with him, in French, and learning who he is as a person. He’s actually a very funny guy, too.”

Based on the Summer League, the preseason, and his first career start (13 points, 6-for-10 2FGs, and 6 boards in last night’s 128-104 contest that was looking fun for about three quarters) in totality, Risacher’s initial impressions have left little to laugh at, and little top complain about aside from wanting to see more of him on the floor.

Conversely, as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog would say, that’s a very nice start to your NBA career, Monsieur Sarr! A fine career start, indeed. For me to…

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Sarr won't have Onyeka Okongwu to push him around in the paint. Gwu Tang gets added to the Hawks' ever-expanding injury list with Big Toe Injury Management, joining Bogi (tendinopathized hammy) and Dre (inflamed knee) as Out for today's skirmish. Free Cody Zeller!

Schlenk ("Remember that time I fleeced the Pistons?") and the Wizards really must love them some Saddiq Bey, or at least maybe his contract???, as he will likely sit through this season after the ACL surgery he had while with the Hawks back in March. They also are just fond enough of Corey Kispert to hand him a four-year, $54 million extension, last week, to come off the bench as an offensive spark, behind Coulibaly. No idea who the Zards are targeting when their books start getting unclogged in 2027, but he must be awfully good.

~lw3

[REHawksFan]

29 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Gwu Tang gets added to the Hawks' ever-expanding injury list with Big Toe Injury Management

We finally getting a Nance citing??  

I knew the depth this year would be a HUGE improvement but I didn't expect to need it this early in the year.  

[JeffS17]

I don't get how Bogi only had two games in him.  Are we holding him for a trade?  He had no issues playing in the Olympics this summer?  Do we just have the most conservative medical staff of all time?

[hawkman]

15 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

We finally getting a Nance citing??  

I knew the depth this year would be a HUGE improvement but I didn't expect to need it this early in the year.  

Load management 3 games into the season is a bit concerning. Embiid and George were getting criticized for saying they were not playing back-to-back games, but it appears they were only getting criticized for saying it out loud. The Hawks have guys in their low to mid 20's who already appear to have chronic inflammation issues. We're not even a quarter into the season yet.

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

y [Dellavedova’d]

 Yesss!

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Sarr Not Sorry,

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Not exactly Zion-esque enthusiasm about the prospect of receiving easy-bake lobs from Trae Young

Da kiss  

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

And Sarr gets to pal around with Bilal

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Wizfan

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Keefe

The name still makes my body shiver then again I wanted baby Jordan

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Let’s Go Hawks!

 Indeed let’s go 3-1! You da man @lethalweapon3

Go Hawks!!! @TheNorthCydeRises I was able to pick up the and notch a win. I ain’t gonna lie you ️’d me GP!  

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

2027, but he must be awfully good.

Well they ain’t gettin Trae. jersey 4 life baby!  

[Spud2nique]

This might be the most majestic 2K pic of Trae I’ve ever captured! Is it just me or is it beautiful ? Looks like it should be a painting (not you Manning ).

 

He’s floating in the air like a butterfly  

 

Ice  

[Final_quest]

As 1/3 of our team gets injured and Jalen is slow to find any rhythm, just hoping to win vs a tanking team.  Sarr vs Risacher round 1.  

[Chrimturn]

Athletes in the 80’s…

Doctor:  Well Ronnie, you’re going to need a bone graft on that pinky and you’re going to miss the start of the 1986 season.  If you don’t let it heal properly, it could be a nagging injury that plagues you for the rest of your career.  Possibly leading to missing more time in the future.

Ronnie:  Dabnabit Doc.  I’m in line to make over $400,000 next season.  Do I have any other options?  

Doctor:  We could amputate the tip of the finger.

Ronnie:  Will I miss the start of the season?

Doctor:  Barring any serious infection or side effects you should be healed and ready to go.  But you may want to take some time to think about it.  Could be a decision you might come to regret in the future.

Ronnie:  Cut it off.

[gurpilo]

Bogi, Hunter, Bufkin and OO out, that is too much to lose. We can’t catch a break with injuries. 
 

Nance is a good replacement for OO, Roddy is a clear downgrade over Hunter, Matthews is a useful player but clearly worse than Bogi and we have a real problem at backup PG. This is really annoying.

[Final_quest]

21 minutes ago, gurpilo said:

Bogi, Hunter, Bufkin and OO out, that is too much to lose. We can’t catch a break with injuries. 
 

Nance is a good replacement for OO, Roddy is a clear downgrade over Hunter, Matthews is a useful player but clearly worse than Bogi and we have a real problem at backup PG. This is really annoying.

I like Roddy as a third string guy.  He actually seemed more effective than Jalen last night.  For what he gets paid, he is right where he needs to be.  Roddy and Garrison had some of the lowest plus minus numbers last game.  

I feel like we point to our third string guys as a problem when we have bigger problems higher up the rotation.  This is our payroll:

[gurpilo]

hace 15 minutos, Final_quest dijo:

I like Roddy as a third string guy.  He actually seemed more effective than Jalen last night.  For what he gets paid, he is right where he needs to be.  Roddy and Garrison had some of the lowest plus minus numbers last game.  

I feel like we point to our third string guys as a problem when we have bigger problems higher up the rotation.  This is our payroll:

I am not pointing to our3rd string lineup, I am saying is a problem having players like OO, Hunter, Bogi and Bufkin out and I am saying we have a lot of money on them and they really ar not available a lot of times.

in fact a 3rd string of Vit/Matthews/Roddy/Gueye/Nance is as good as we can get, our problem is a backup PG, starting C and  the injuries.

[Final_quest]

5 minutes ago, gurpilo said:

I am not pointing to our3rd string lineup, I am saying is a problem having players like OO, Hunter, Bogi and Bufkin out and I am saying we have a lot of money on them and they really ar not available a lot of times.

in fact a 3rd string of Vit/Matthews/Roddy/Gueye/Nance is as good as we can get, our problem is a backup PG, starting C and  the injuries.

I would love to combine two of our bigger salaries into a legit star.  If Trae, Dyson, and Jalen are long term starters, we need to upgrade somewhere else.  

[AtLaS]

LOL half the team is out and we are 3 games in.  This is the game for JJ to break out, and ZR needs to show Sarr who's boss. 

We still should win this game but DAMN these injuries.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[gurpilo]

hace 19 minutos, Final_quest dijo:

I would love to combine two of our bigger salaries into a legit star.  If Trae, Dyson, and Jalen are long term starters, we need to upgrade somewhere else.  

Well the Elephant in the room is the starting Center as Trae, DD, Risacher and JJ seems to be the long term starters. The 2 Big salaries might be Capela and Nance or OO. The target might be Ayton, Claxton, Jarrett Allen, Nazr Reid, an offensive Center, I would only consider Ayton as a true star.

2nd unit is a concern now. Bufkin is a questionmark, Bogi might be gone, Hunter is Ok but eats a lot of space, we lack a backup PF and a backup PG and Nance or OO might be ok as backup C. In my opinión I would keep Bufkin, Hunter and OO, I think Bogi is gone, I would sign a a backup PG as Delon Wright, Dennis Smith..., and will sign a stretch 4 and 5.

[JeffS17]

13 minutes ago, gurpilo said:

Well the Elephant in the room is the starting Center as Trae, DD, Risacher and JJ seems to be the long term starters. The 2 Big salaries might be Capela and Nance or OO. The target might be Ayton, Claxton, Jarrett Allen, Nazr Reid, an offensive Center, I would only consider Ayton as a true star.

2nd unit is a concern now. Bufkin is a questionmark, Bogi might be gone, Hunter is Ok but eats a lot of space, we lack a backup PF and a backup PG and Nance or OO might be ok as backup C. In my opinión I would keep Bufkin, Hunter and OO, I think Bogi is gone, I would sign a a backup PG as Delon Wright, Dennis Smith..., and will sign a stretch 4 and 5.

I would love Allen, smart player, good defender, will buy into the system and pair well with Trae

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[HawksNWaffles]

Late but ...let's get this dub