Tag: Bogdan Bogdanovic

Sarah Spencer: Hawks Have “Caught Fire”

April 28, 2021 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Trae Young’s growth in his third year has propelled the Hawks to a top-five playoff seed. (AlexanderJonesi/Flickr)

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Going into the 2020-21 season, the Atlanta Hawks revamped their roster, hoping a few high-profile veteran additions would help their talented young core finally make the playoffs. The plan didn’t exactly work out as intended, as the team incurred a slew of key injuries and fell to 14-20, which triggered the firing of its head coach, Lloyd Pierce. Under Nate McMillan, however, the Hawks have completely turned it around, playing high-quality basketball that’s put them in prime position to achieve a top-five playoff seed. And their veterans are excelling, including Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari and Clint Capela, who was acquired via trade last year. In the process, they’ve learned how to close games, most recently registering a 41-point fourth quarter to defeat the Greek Freak-led Bucks Sunday night, all without the services of a banged-up Trae Young. Joining Aaron to discuss this spirited group, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sarah Spencer makes her first appearance on the pod. Near the end, she also touches upon what beloved Atlanta-based journalist Sekou Smith meant to her and her paper.

18:26–20:02: “The biggest factor for them has been [Clint] Capela. He’s been a good fit on both sides of the ball too because he gives Trae Young another rim-running target. … They needed someone to kind of organize and get things moving. I remember having a conversation with Kevin Huerter about this, and he said, ‘We want Trae to do that on offense; we want Clint to do that on defense.’ That’s what you need. You need guys to be vocal. And this was a pretty quiet team last year.”

26:02-26:28: “In the first half of the season, the Hawks were really pretty dreadful in the fourth quarter – that’s how they lost a lot of games. In the second half, in the fourth quarter, it’s pretty much been the exact opposite, which has been crazy how dramatic that turnaround has been. And I think Trae’s been a part of that. He’s had a few games where he’s come alive and been really steady in the fourth quarter, and that’s what you want to see out of a guy like that.”

Jared Weiss: The Nets “Have a Giant Frickin’ Laser Beam”

December 23, 2020 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

For Jared Weiss, KD and the Brooklyn Nets will have to get by Giannis’ Bucks first. Still, he places them just narrowly behind in terms of their potential to wreak havoc this season (Globalite/Creative Commons).

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Just in time for the start of the season, The Athletic’s Jared Weiss broke down the most striking storylines around the Eastern Conference with an emphasis on the Boston Celtics, whom he covers so closely. Among a slew of timely topics, Jared discusses his favorites to emerge out of the East, Jayson Tatum’s next expected leap, how good the Heat actually are and the new-and-improved Atlanta Hawks who seek to get back into the playoffs after a three-season absence.

*Due to dynamic advertising, time stamps may vary:

5:14-5:40: “I think it was Ryan Ruocco. I’ll give him credit for putting them as…they’re basically like the Death Star. And the Death Star very famously had a major vulnerability that allowed you to blow it up. And so if somebody can nestle right in there between Kyrie (Irving) and KD (Kevin Durant) and make the chemistry fall apart, this team can really, really fall apart . But they’ve got a giant frickin’ laser beam basically when it comes to KD and Kyrie.”

15:57-17:30: “And then in the playoffs, he (Jimmy Butler) flipped the switch. So I do think he’s gonna start performing like a top-10 player in the NBA or even top-five player, like he was last year, when we get to the playoffs. And Bam Adebayo will be better. He’ll hopefully be healthy for the entirety of the run, but Bam Adebayo, as great as he was last year, there’s still a lot of improvement for him to make. He still isn’t even a threat outside of 10 feet. Continue reading

Drafting and Dynasties With Pesquera, Ibañez-Baldor

November 17, 2020 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Guest Javier Pesquera believes LaMelo Ball is the 2020 draft class’ top prospect and accordingly expects him to go No. 1 to the Timberwolves (Foxlifevisuals/Creative Commons).

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Javier Pesquera, roving NBA draft analyst and occasional consultant for The Stepien, returns to break down the fast-approaching 2020 draft. Then, after the break, Agu Ibañez Baldor stops by to discuss his book, “Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Teams in NBA History.”

*Due to dynamic advertising, time stamps may vary:

Javier Pesquera at 7:28-7:39: “At No. 1, I do have LaMelo Ball in his own tier by himself, and I think LaMelo Ball is gonna go No. 1 unless Minnesota actually finds a trade that they like, which I don’t think is happening at this point.”

12:25-12:42 (JP): “I think there are a lot of doubters as well. I do like him [Obi Toppin]. He has as much potential as anybody in this class, and that’s related to his physical tools. … The comparison to Amar’e Stoudemire pops in your head right away because of the way he leaps off the floor and the way he finishes in transition. He has that type of ability.” Continue reading

Trevor Magnotti: Luka Doncic’s “Brilliant Passing” Draws CP3 Comparison

September 24, 2017 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Luka Doncic’s breakout EuroBasket performance helped solidify his case to be the next No. 1 overall pick, argues Trevor Magnotti (Tuomas Vitikainen/Creative Commons).

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Led by tournament MVP Goran Dragic and impressive 18-year-old Luka Doncic, Slovenia upset the perennial favorite, Spain, on its way to a EuroBasket Gold, the first medal of any kind in the tournament for the small country of only about 2 million people. Trevor Magnotti, who covers all things EuroLeague at The Step Back, joins Aaron to break down the most important takeaways from EuroBasket, including the draft implications of Doncic’s performance and the possibility of new young powerhouses in Latvia, Slovenia and Finland replacing the longtime European mainstays of Spain and France. Of course, Aaron also gets Trevor’s viewpoint on how some of this season’s European rookies, such as the Clippers’ Milos Teodosic and the Cavaliers’ Cedi Osman, may fare in their transition into the NBA. Tour through the episode with these excerpts below:

6:51-7:35: “[Lauri] Markkanen came in on this [Finnish] team, and he immediately took charge of the situation. He was a massive part of their success, basically single-handedly beat[ing] France in the group stage in that big overtime upset that was by far the game of the tournament to me…He both kind of helped his team to a lot of success and also helped himself a little bit. I think that he’s a guy that I’m now much more excited to see at the NBA level, whereas I wasn’t really before, because he didn’t look as solid as we had hoped in his one year of college.”

13:23-15:11: “The fact that he [Luka Doncic] is 18 and he’s playing this big of a role on a team in this tournament, which is basically like the second tier below the Olympics in terms of international basketball, that’s never really happened before. Really the only player that I can think of who has played this big of a role on a EuroBasket team at his age is Pau Gasol, and that’s no small comparison. Continue reading

Joe Morgan on Pro Scout School and “Belief in the (Kings’) Future”

July 15, 2017 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

A commitment to the youth movement and De’Aaron Fox’s impressive summer league performance give Joe Morgan optimism for the Kings’ future (Photo: Joe Morgan).

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The NBA world has taken over Las Vegas for the last two weeks, and while the main attraction has obviously been Las Vegas Summer League, where teams test out and try to develop their new talent, with so much of the top brass in one city, there are bound to be auxiliary events as well. One such event is TPG Sport Group’s Pro Scout School, which our guest, Joe Morgan, was able to attend this week. He details the highlights of what he learned there, from experts like Fran Fraschilla, Bobby Marks, Tony Ronzone, Drew Hanlen and more. Of course, Joe is also co-host of The Kings Court and covers the Kings for SacKingsNation.com, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t also get his views on Sacramento’s eventful offseason so far. Scout out these royal excerpts below:

7:15-8:11 Joe speaks on gaining an insider’s perspective from front-office personnel and other experts: “They talk to you more openly than they would during the season when they’re busy. They give you that insider’s view of ‘Why did this move happen?’ …I could not figure out why Oladipo went to Indiana, and somebody made the point in the class that he’s a Hoosier alumnus. So do you think that helps them sell tickets for the team that was 22nd in attendance last year?… Basketball teams only convene to do two things: win games and make money. As a fan and even on the commentating side of it, generally, you only look at the game-winning side of it. We forget to add in that this is a business.”

11:26-12:20 On how modern teams are able to use both advanced analytics and traditional scouting in conjunction for player evaluation: “In the class, one of my favorite sentences that came out of the whole thing was: ‘Analytics is just evidence-based decision making.’ A guy has to pass the eye-test; you can’t watch a guy and think he’s horrible and then want him on your team. But analytics gives you something that helps you watch for specific patterns… It gives you another way to fine-tune what you’re looking for. A lot of these guys, you only get to watch once or twice… so if you have an analytics team give you some notes beforehand, it really helps you out as a scout.”

Tag: Bogdan Bogdanovic

Sarah Spencer: Hawks Have “Caught Fire”

Jared Weiss: The Nets “Have a Giant Frickin’ Laser Beam”

Drafting and Dynasties With Pesquera, Ibañez-Baldor

Trevor Magnotti: Luka Doncic’s “Brilliant Passing” Draws CP3 Comparison

Joe Morgan on Pro Scout School and “Belief in the (Kings’) Future”

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