It still is so bizarre for me to see Nickeil Alexander-Walker being one of the stars for the Hawks. He’s their legit scorer, was always known for versatility and defense but his offensive game is very unexpected. You can’t sit Nickeil when Trae come back, does that mean Risacher is going to the bench? Can see that.

Jalen Johnson proved himself to be 1B to Trae Young as 1A. He’s a legit star. Hawks’ biggest challenge right now is lack of bench, they need to shore that up. Perhaps one of the players will be on the trade block to get that players swap? I can see that.

That being said…

No Harper- no worries we have Area 51. No Wembanyama, okay- at least we have Fox and Castle. Boom, Castle isn’t playing. Holy shit. We hung on right there. This team is LOADED! Don’t remember the last time we can say that about the Spurs- maybe 2016-2017? I don’t like the depth for 2017-2018, that bench was overrated and the beginning of Spurs’ decline.

I thought Vassell would have a big game, but our other two wings did! No complaint here.

Thought we would win by 6- won by 9, good job!

Three things to think about:

Keldon Johnson is a legit 6th man. I believe we all, including myself thought his role would reduce with competitive minutes on this roster, but Keldon’s stats stayed relatively same! More effective! I’m loving the efficiency from the Spurs squad.

Love Jeremy Sochan, but… We may have to accept that his ceiling is Thaddeus Young. Not a bad thing, but he’s not going to start? He’s going to do little good things all around, but nothing elite except for his perimeter defense but even so… Sadly, this makes Carter Bryant’s pick even more valuable.

You know you gotta give the due when it’s earned- down few stars on this roster and Mitch still have this team prepared and going. Mitch just might not be so bad after all!

Lastly, I know it’s not three! but… De’Aaron Fox is showing his value more than ever now that he doesn’t have a true star beside him. The last time De’Aaron Fox didn’t play with a star and had 21+ PPG and .500+ eFG was in 2020-2021 (pre-we-didn’t-know-Haliburton-was-that-good era). The next closest to star was Harrison Barnes and Buddy Hield. This was the year everyone started noticing Fox, good for him! Keep going!

BoboforHoF:

Thad Young was a starter in his prime. 7 straight seasons (age 24-30) starting all but 9 games (531/540). He had over 700 starts before coming to SA at the end of his career. 9/12 seasons starting majority of games before becoming mostly a bench player for 5 seasons. 726 starts out of 1,172 games over 17 years. Pretty good career, I say.