Atlanta Hawks new $64M star sounds off on expectations for upcoming season

The Atlanta Hawks and their followers had been promised “management” by newly-acquired guard Dejounte Murray throughout his introductory press convention. And the reigning NBA chief in steal and one-time All-Star didn’t waste any time displaying that management, instantly setting the expectations for the upcoming season.

Murray talked about his pleasure to play with Trae Younger, a sentiment that has lengthy been reported as mutual. He added that, if he had not been traded to the Hawks, he would nonetheless be taking part in for the Spurs.

There are expectations of extra strikes, too, even after the Hawks moved on from 2018 Nineteenth-overall choose, Kevin Huerter, in a commerce to the Sacramento Kings.

Relatively than await anybody else, Murray is already locked in.

New Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray set the tone for the upcoming season

This commerce went from a faint whisper to a finished deal relatively rapidly. However the two had been kicking across the concept to play collectively for a while in response to Murray. The 2 had been discussing it for “about two, three weeks”, mentioned Murray. He added that Younger “pushed the needle” to get a deal finished.

Younger made his emotions on the matter generally known as nicely.

Many have questioned the match between the 2 gamers who’ve loved super success as on-ball playmakers.

Murray made it clear that the workforce’s success is way extra necessary than their numbers.

“I wish to win a championship. I wish to compete on the very best stage. I work onerous, that’s all I do. I take a number of delight in getting higher each yr. I take a number of delight in studying the NBA from no matter workforce I’m with to different groups we’re…competing in opposition to. However my most important purpose is to win a championship. If we win and we come collectively and construct one thing nice, then all people will get a bunch of success.”

Murray continued to say that he “desires to see the subsequent individual achieve success greater than” himself earlier than reiterating it’s all concerning the workforce.

Considerations over the match are warranted. Murray shot simply 34.5% on catch-and-shoot threes. Younger shot over 48% on his catch-and-shoot alternatives. However they got here on simply 1.0 makes an attempt per contest.

Equally, over 72% of Murray’s made area targets got here unassisted whereas Younger generated his personal offense over 83% of the time.

Murray has additionally been a plus-defender in three of the previous 4 seasons (4-of-5 to start out his profession), per Cleansing the Glass. That’s as a lot of a purpose for this pairing because the added scoring punch that he’ll present as a 20-point-per-game risk.

His management is an added and wanted layer.

This workforce admittedly didn’t take each sport as severely as they need to have this previous season after making a deep run to the playoffs.

One other vocal determine in that locker room to stop that may’t harm. And Murray’s assertion that nothing issues over the workforce’s success is one of the simplest ways to drive that residence. The Hawks want that resolve to be contagious.