Notes and Quotes From Day Three of Atlanta Hawks 2024 Training Camp

Atlanta wrapped up their three days in Athens today and two players and head coach Quin Snyder talked with the media afterward

Apr 6, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) shoots over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) and guard Reggie Jackson (7) in the second half at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-Imagn Images / Michael Ciaglo-Imagn Images

Training camp rolled on for the Atlanta Hawks today and the finished up their time in Athens, GA. The team was in Athens for three days and will be headed back to Atlanta now and start preparing for their first preseason game next week.

After practice, it was the first time that we got to chat with new addition Larry Nance, who of course came over in the Dejounte Murray trade earlier in the offseason. We also chatted with center Onyeka Okongwu and head coach Quin Snyder.

• One of the first questions that Nance was asked pertained to what the benefit might be for No. 1overall pick Zaccharie Risacher to start vs coming off the bench:

"I think that's all, you know, that's all obviously, you know, Quinn ane the staff's decision. But I think for him, whether he starts or doesn't start, I think his development's going to be just based on how the patience. Yeah. I mean, there's nobody there's very few at age 19, born in 2005. Very few at 19 can come in the league and just, I'm here, I'm arrived, I'm arrived, like it doesn't happen like that. So, you know, whether it's starter or off the bench, like, I don't think that should be the key focus point. I think it's more so just long -term development. And, you know, the dude is going to have a long, successful career. So, you know, just patience with himself and we're going to have patience with him. Obviously, it's going to be an adjustment. You know, the NBA is the top league in the world and there's some grown men out there. So we're going to help him through the ups and downs. And as long as he's willing keep going out there every night, it'll be just fine."

• Nance also talked about players who are impressing him so far, including Jalen Johnson and Vit Krejci:

"Yeah, I mean, the two that come to mind right away, obviously, last year being in in the West, I only got to play against JJ twice, hit last year. So, you never know what you don't know. I just thought kind of an athletic dude, run like a deer, didn't know the skill level and then seeing him up close and first, he dominated practice today. He was awesome, knocking down three, he's transitioned. He's been really, really impressive and I'm trying to push him more and to speak and see more and leading the group and breaking the huddles and stuff like that cuz he's gonna be a guy in the sleeve and you know with that come heavy is the head that wears a crown so he's, he's gonna wear the crown one day and he's being grouped for that but the other one is Vit. Vit has been awesome. Honestly, I didn't know much about Vit before I got here. The dude can really play like past dribbles he's shooting it, he's shooting the heck out of it and he defends like a true 6 -7, 6 -8. He's been super Impressive."

• Snyder also talked about the possible benefits of Zaccharie Risacher being in the starting lineup for the Hawks:

"I don't know that is a benefit to making a decision based on a situation that is not It's really-- if you think about it, it's the same question as like, what's the benefit of not starting? So I think the question really is, how does our team function? And the other part of it is people will focus on the first game as like a definitive statement about something. We have an 82-game season, well, we'll have to focus on that in the first pre-season game. We could start anybody we want, and there'll be different starters throughout the year based on a lot of things. There'll be different line lineups. It's something we have to continue to observe and see how guys play together, see who compliments each other, see what rotations look like, do you want certain get into a situation where the other team can dictate what a lineup looks like. You may start a lineup So that you have a lineup that fits what you're trying to do at the end of the quarter. You may play Trae the first seven minutes and put him back in so he can play at the end of the quarter. You may play on the entire first quarter. You may start three centers. You probably wouldn't do that. But you can go big, you can go small. And I think that the real thing that hopefully people can take out of that you know, very cryptic answer is that we have versatility and we have size in some positions where we didn't have as much size last year. So that changes a lot of the combinations that you can play with.

And what we saw in the last couple of days was a group, you know, there's a lot of different guys that can play together because of that. Because, because it was ability to read the game and see how things happen in real time"

• Snyder also talked about what he is looking for out of his team in the first preseason game:

"As you said, it's one data point, you know, I think more than anything, you know, I want us to, I want to see us execute on the defensive end with the same focus that we want to execute on the offensive end and really understand, you know, the connectivity between what we do on offense and and really understand, you know, the connectivity between what we do on offense and how it impacts our defense. You know, something as simple as a guard drives to the basket and lays the ball in, suddenly we have an unbalanced floor. The other thing, the overlay on that, in my mind, is just our communication. And that's something that I think is a challenge, generally, to get guys to get out of themselves.Part of it is knowing what to say. So I would say that relationship on both sides of the ball and how communication really affects your level."