National Basketball Association

Positive Day One Takeaways Of Atlanta Hawks Training Camp

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Training camp for the Atlanta Hawks is underway. There were plenty positive takeaways from their opening practice.

The Atlanta Hawks officially opened their training camp yesterday at the University of Georgia. The roster underwent plenty of changes, but none were bigger than the signing of free agent Dwight Howard.

Howard is heading into his 13th NBA season and looking to revitalize his career after spending three years with the Houston Rockets. It’s well-known by now that Howard’s fit in Houston wasn’t ideal next to James Harden. The two couldn’t co-exist offensively and it was impacting Howard’s presence as a defensive force.

Kent Bazemore already spoke highly of Howard after their first day of practice to Chris Vivlamore of the AJC:

“We just have a big dominant guy down the middle in Dwight (Howard). He had a large presence today around the rim. It feels good when you can throw the ball down low and watch somebody go to work.”

Bazemore continued to talk about the first day:

“The energy and intensity today was where it needed to be,” Bazemore said of the first workout. “Everyone in the gym, from coaches to players to management, is excited to be here today. The anticipation lived up to the hype. We had a great month of September with all the guys there, stayed in the weight room and battled on the court. It carried over. It’s what we need this year. A group that is going to show up every night and be competitive. I think we have that.”

The addition of Howard calls for a new landscape offensively for head coach Mike Budenholzer to brainstorm. While they may have not touched too much on that end of the floor, Budenholzer did state that defensive concepts were a focal point:

“Right now, you have to start teaching. You have to start building those foundational blocks, especially defensively, your roles and things that are non-negotiable. Get into a little bit of the detail so you can get them back playing as quickly as possible and at as high level as possible. There is a lot of detail that goes into training camp and these types of practices.”

As training camp continues, we will be able to see how this team gels as a unit. They take the floor in their first preseason game next Thursday when they travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies at 8pm ET.

Additional Tidbits: Paul Millsap was very limited, while Jarrett Jack participated in non-contact drills throughout the first day.