DeMarre Carroll departed the Atlanta Hawks during the summer and headed north of the border to join the Toronto Raptors. It was a move that came swift and forced Atlanta’s hand to make a decision on Paul Millsap.
While there was a time where Millsap’s future with the Hawks was in question, the team still found a way to bring back the forward that is expected to carry a little bigger role with the team.
Two players that will have to step up the most coming into the 2015-16 season are guys who are expected to somehow replace the production lost when Carroll left. Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha are going to be the two most important wing players this season, as soon as they both return to the team, fully healthy. Their return to full health begins as the Hawks gear up for training camp.
Following from Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Surgically repaired Hawks players Thabo Sefolosha, Kyle Korver and Shelvin Mack have all been cleared for basketball activities to differing degrees a week before the start of training camp, coach Mike Budenholzer said.
“I would say, to differing degrees, they are doing basketball activities now,” Budenholzer said Monday. “Whether it’s some 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 between now and camp there is the potential for some 5-on-5 in a limited kind of way. But shooting, working out and doing those types of things, they are making good progress.”
“They’ve all had very good summers,” Budenholzer said. “I think they are on schedule, maybe even a little ahead of schedule. It’s interesting even between now (and the start of camp), it’s another seven, eight, nine days. It’s an important week for them to see how they are going into camp. I’m sure we’ll be hopeful that they are cleared and ready to go.
“Even if they are, I think being smart and easing them into camp and into the preseason will most likely be the route that we go.”
The story of Sefolosha is one of the most under reported stories in recent memory especially considering what kind of circumstances surrounded his injury. An incident with the NYPD ended his 2014-15 season and it also hurt the Hawks a little bit in their playoff push.
For Korver, his season ended in the playoffs and he hasn’t touched a court since his last game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Korver and Sefolosha returning to the Hawks as the projected guard/forward combo on the wing will be key to the Hawks success this season. If they can combine to replace a little bit of what they lost in DeMarre Carroll then Atlanta will be in a good spot in the east.
