Outside observers saw the players Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk chose in the draft last week and figured he was trying to build a team in the image of the Warriors, the franchise that he once served as a top basketball executive.
Point guard Trae Young, acquired by the Hawks in a trade with the No. 3 pick, would be Steph Curry: smallish point guard with seemingly unlimited shooting range. Kevin Huerter, the No. 19 overall pick, is a future Klay Thompson: a versatile, sharpshooting wing. Omari Spellman doesn’t look like Draymond Green now, but before the draft Spellman said his goal is to transform his body and model his game on Green’s.
Yet Schlenk insists he didn’t have the Warriors in mind when drafting Young, Huerter, and Spellman. Well, not exactly.
Clearly Schlenk would be elated if his newest draft picks developed to form the core of a championship team like Curry, Thompson and Green. But there are differences in talent and style among the players — for starters, Schlenk said Young is more comparable to Rockets point guard Chris Paul than Curry. Also, it’s obviously much too early to project that any of the Hawks trio will become All-NBA players, much less all three.
If Schlenk ended up with draft picks that resemble Golden State’s stars, he said it’s because the entire league is trending toward the offensive style that the Warriors have mastered while winning three of the last four NBA championships.
“As I’ve mentioned from Day 1, we are looking for skilled players,” Schlenk said. “When you look at the league today, you need guys out on the floor that can dribble, that can shoot, that can pass. All three of these guys can shoot.”
The three newest Hawks players were accurate 3-point shooters in college while taking a lot of attempts.
Young made 36 percent of his 328 3-point attempts during his one season at Oklahoma. He’d made 90 of 200 3-point attempts (41 percent) before fading down the stretch. Possible factors in Young’s shooting slump include fatigue, being the intense focus of defensive game-planning, lack of talent among his teammates and shot selection.
In an analysis at Cleaning the Glass, contributor Bjorn Zetterberg concluded that degree of difficulty was a factor in Young's lackluster accuracy. Zetterberg found that Young attempted 102 3-pointers from 30 feet or longer and made just 26 percent, compared to 41 percent inside 30 feet. The bulk of those shots were on pull-ups, which tend to be harder than catch-and-shoot attempts.
In the NBA, Young will play alongside players with more talent and he should find more space on the floor to operate. Opponents guarding Young in pick-and-rolls will have to account for his shooting off the dribble, which should create opportunities for him to drive and showcase his superlative passing abilities.
Young is the first player to lead the NCAA in scoring and assists.
“I see myself as a play-maker, not necessarily leaning one way scoring or assists,” Young said. “I see myself making plays. That’s how my game has always been. Try to make the right plays, score when I need to, get my teammates involved when I need to. With guys like these in this draft class, and even John (Collins), it’s going to make my job a lot easier.”
Huerter was one of the best shooters in the Big Ten during his two seasons at Maryland. His 61.1 effective field-goal percentage in 2017-18 ranked sixth-best in the Big Ten, according to Kenpom.com, after he ranked 16th in the conference as a freshman. (Effective field-goal percentage accounts for the higher value of 3-point shots.)
Last season at Maryland, most of Huerter’s 3-pointers came on catch-and-shoot attempts. He posted an excellent 57.8 eFG% on 129 catch-and-shoot attempts and 49 eFG% on 52 jump shots off the dribble, which is good efficiency for a college player.
Thompson’s offensive game blossomed when he improved his scoring and play-making off the dribble. Huerter’s height (6-foot-7) and wingspan are similar to Thompson’s, and Schlenk said Huerter has the ability to develop his game in a similar fashion.
“Great size for a wing, a good shooting stroke,” Schlenk said. “He also has the ability to put ball on floor to make plays for himself and others. In up-and-down game, he can get out in open court, knock down shots and put the ball on floor and get to the rim.”
Spellman was a prototypical stretch big man at Villanova. He made 65 of 130 3-point attempts (43.3 percent) while also producing as a shot blocker and rebounder. The Hawks envision Spellman becoming a more versatile forward once he gets in better shape.
At the scouting combine last month, Spellman measured just over 6-9 and about 254 pounds with 13.75 percent body fat. He said his goal is to get down to 240 pounds and 10 percent body fat, measurements that are like Green’s when he was a draft prospect.
Green was a pudgy post player at Michigan State before becoming a svelte, versatile play-maker in the NBA. The Hawks envision Spellman becoming a more versatile forward if he gets in better shape.
“Spellman, for a big, can put the ball on the floor, pump fake and get by his defender,” Schlenk said.
Spellman has some work to do before he can begin to shape his game like Green’s. Meanwhile Young and Huerter already fit the physical profile of Curry and Thompson, a duo nicknamed the “Splash Brothers” because of their shooting prowess.
The comparisons to Young and Huerter will endure despite Schlenk’s protestations that he didn’t have the Golden State duo (or Green) in mind when he made the picks. Young and Huerter both said they won’t shy away from the association.
“It’s definitely high praise,” Huerter said. “But what me and Trae have both said is we kind of want to create our own story, create our own path. Being compared to guys like Klay and Steph with what they’ve been able to do, the way they’ve kind of changed the game and made the Warriors one of the toughest teams to guard in the NBA — we want to have the a similar kind of effect. But we definitely want to do it our own way.”
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