ATLANTA — No matter how difficult it was to conclude that trading Dejounte Murray was necessary, Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields knows he faces more challenges this offseason.
The NBA draft brought Atlanta two players, including No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher. Saturday’s trade with the New Orleans Pelicans added four veterans to the roster, plus two future first-round draft picks, for Murray.
That leaves the Hawks with an overstocked roster and the possibility that more veterans could leave Atlanta.
Fields said Wednesday that the decision to trade Murray, who joined Trae Young in Atlanta’s high-scoring backcourt the last two seasons, followed the conclusion that “we wanted to reshape some things.”
“It was hard decisions, challenging,” Fields said. “We knew that where we ultimately want to be was going to require some challenging decisions. … So from now until the start of the season, we’ll have some more tough decisions to make.”
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The Hawks have not won a playoff series since advancing to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals and they finished 10th in the Eastern Conference at 36-46 this season.
The first step in reshaping the roster was Fields trading AJ Griffin to Houston and acquiring the rights to guard/forward Nikola Djurisic of Serbia in the draft.
Forward E.J. Liddell, a 2022 second-round draft pick who was part of the package of veterans acquired from the Pelicans, said Risacher “has got a lot of potential to be really great. He’s a tough shot-maker. He’s tall. It’s going to be really tough to contest his shots. And he can handle the ball for a guy so tall.”
Liddell, who also will play on the Hawks’ Summer League team, guard Dyson Daniels, forward/center Larry Nance Jr. and center Cody Zeller were acquired in Saturday’s trade. Daniels was a 2022 first-round pick.
The trade created a surplus of options at center. There has been speculation the Hawks could trade Clint Capela, who has shared time with Onyeka Okongwu. Fields said he was trying to reach an agreement with center Bruno Fernando to push back Wednesday’s deadline to guarantee Fernando’s $2.72 million salary for next season.
Bickerstaff confident he can turn around Pistons
DETROIT — J.B. Bickerstaff believes he can be the coach to finally turn around the Detroit Pistons, a once-proud franchise that has had the NBA’s worst record the last two seasons.
The Pistons, who have lost a league-record 14 straight playoff games dating to 2008, hired Bickerstaff after he was fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers, a franchise the coach helped improve over four seasons.
Bickerstaff took over the Cavs in 2020, when John Beilein exited with a 14-40 record. He led them to the playoffs in each of the last two years, winning a first-round series last season.
“I think the proof is there that we have the experience,” Bickerstaff said Wednesday when he was formally introduced as Detroit’s third coach in three years.
The Pistons were drawn to the 45-year-old Bickerstaff because he previously led three NBA teams, giving him a track record to help sell his vision to a mix of young players and veterans.
“You want somebody who can come in here and hit the ground running, and who’s done this before,” Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said. “Especially with a young team coming off a difficult season, positivity was important.
“We felt experience was important. The players needed to feel like the person coming in here knew what he was talking about.”
Bickerstaff, who twice finished among the top five in NBA Coach of the Year voting, was 170-159 in four-plus seasons in Cleveland and had six victories in the playoffs.
