[Game] Kings @ Hawks, 11/23/2022 4:30pm Pacific 7:30pm Eastern

How many points will Huerter score tonight?


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Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
Kevin Huerter makes his first trip to Atlanta as a King on the dreaded second night of an away-away back-to-back. It's hard for most teams to win these games EVEN when they aren't the Kings with a long history of failure in these situations but the Kings have won seven in a row and De'Aaron Fox, who is currently playing like a top ten player in the league.

The big focus in the wind up to this game (and rightfully so) is Kevin Huerter, who followed up Kevin Durant putting him over to Splash Brothers levels with another ridiculously efficient shooting night and who also only wound up on the Kings because the Hawks owner back off of his assurances that he'd pay for a winning team and playing in a Trae-centric Nate MacMillan offense devalued Huerter so much that we were able to get him for Justin Holliday, Moe's contract, and a protect first round pick that probably wound have never wound up being as good as Kevin Huerter anyways.

With this being a shorter post (damn my ridiculous schedule), in honor of Kevin's big Hawks homecoming, here's my top three Hawk Huerter moments as a simple Kings fan who largely finds the Hawks to be unwatchable.

3- Huerter is the Hawks best player in game seven of the Eastern Conference Semis in the infamous Ben Simmons Pass Game.

If there were any indication for the Hawks that the guy was pretty good and probably not someone you should just give away for luxury cap reasons, this was it.

2- That time the Hawks decided to unveil their new MLK tribute jerseys with Kevin Huerter of all people.

1- The time the Hawks gave Huerter away to the Kings.
Not even on the first year of his extremely affordable 4-year 65 million dollar rookie extension, the Hawks decided that elite floor spacing/secondary playmaking were not things they wanted on their roster anymore and somehow failed to find a better offer for Kevin Huerter than Monte's offer of one of the lesser Holliday brothers (maybe he tricked Schlenk into thinking he was getting Jrue?), Moe Harkless, and a protected first.

Having just turned 24(!), Huerter is still young with room for improvement and already thriving in an offensive system that allows him to do more than just stand in the corner and wait for Trae to pass him the ball (also he and Domas have already developed an insanely efficient two man game). So this Thanksgiving, I'd like to thank the Hawks for being cheap. Thank you for giving Huerter away.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#7
I'll bet when the schedule came out, the Hawks didn't have this circled on their calendar as a "statement" game.
The big focus in the wind up to this game (and rightfully so) is Kevin Huerter, who followed up Kevin Durant putting him over to Splash Brothers levels with another ridiculously efficient shooting night and who also only wound up on the Kings because the Hawks owner back off of his assurances that he'd pay for a winning team and playing in a Trae-centric Nate MacMillan offense devalued Huerter so much that we were able to get him for Justin Holliday, Moe's contract, and a protect first round pick that probably wound have never wound up being as good as Kevin Huerter anyways.
On the other hand, he does get to go home to Jami Gertz...

3- Huerter is the Hawks best player in game seven of the Eastern Conference Semis in the infamous Ben Simmons Pass Game.
Jesus. He ****ing cooked Seth Curry; I can't believe that Doc waited until late in the fourth quarter to put Thybulle on him.

*I'm lying, I can totally believe it.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#8
Defense has been mediocre.
Murray has looked poorly.
Mitchell's shot has been poor.

So, given a seven-game win streak are those things good or bad looking forward? I look at the glass half full. The team isn't close to maximizing its potential. The defense will improve. Murray will improve. Mitchell's shooting will improve. And what will the Kings look like then? It's fun to think about.
 
#10
This seems like it would be a hangover game and especially tough because the start time is less than 24 hours from the last game but this being Huerter’s revenge game I’d expect him to be up and go off. Still a very tall order just on scheduling and travel alone. Leaving Memphis probably around midnight, settling into a hotel, and trying to get enough rest for an early evening game (early afternoon pacific) is a tall order
 
#12
One drawback of Mike Brown using early timeouts frequently, is you can end up with none left for a challenge late in a game. You gotta save one or two for the last few minutes of the 4th.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
#14
I might be wrong here, but I figure the biggest reason Atlanta's owner felt that he had to let Kevin go is that the big contract his GM gave to Bogdan Bogdanovic (after blowing up our sign-and-trade with Milwaukee) would have pushed them way over the luxury tax threshold this season once Dejounte Murray was brought in. Obviously any team will jump on a chance to add an All Star in the prime of their career so that put one of Bogdan or Kevin on the chopping block. In other words, the pendulum has swung back on Monte's decision not to match the offer sheet Bogdan got from the Hawks. Bogdan is now 30 and injured while Kevin is 24, shooting the lights out, and signed for the next 3 seasons at below market value.

With Red Velvet pulling for the Beam Team and Bogdan trying to get his knee right, Atlanta is currently the worst 3pt shooting team in the league. In a season where every single game has the feel of a potential statement game (case in point, next on the schedule are conference leading Boston and Phoenix squads), this looks to me like a matchup we should win as long as we don't come out flat and continue to execute on offense. The matchup between Capela and Sabonis on the boards could be a deciding factor. I think Huerter gives us 24 points with Dejounte Murray focusing on stopping Fox.
 
#15
The poison pill trade kicker in Bogi's deal is what put it over the top for us not to match and then swiftly bit them in the rear within 1 year when they decided maybe they didn't need him after all. Just gross mismanagement on ATL's part but frankly they deserve it. I hope the pick they get from us is trash.
 
#18
The Kings can't play that defense they did on pnr last night for sure. With Young and these athletic lob threats you'll be toast if they do. They have to make those over the top passes tough and the shooter coming off the screen has to feel them.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#19
. In other words, the pendulum has swung back on Monte's decision not to match the offer sheet Bogdan got from the Hawks. Bogdan is now 30 and injured while Kevin is 24, shooting the lights out, and signed for the next 3 seasons at below market value.

.
The pendulum was always on Monte’s side here. Any big money for Bogi was an awful idea from day one. People fall in love with the idea of Bogi, not the actual player he is on the court.
 
#20
The pendulum was always on Monte’s side here. Any big money for Bogi was an awful idea from day one. People fall in love with the idea of Bogi, not the actual player he is on the court.
For me the issue was he never took any offseason to rest and was continuously an injury risk/breaking down midseason.

It's hard to believe they borked the deal to MIL and threw all that money at him when they had Huerter under team control. They aren't the same player but Huerter is more or less the player we wanted Bogi to be.
 
#29
Tonight’s gonna be a tough one with the Hawks who are a solid team, right around average on both defense and offense. I feel like the result may hinge on Trae’s efficiency, because if he torches us and we struggle to grab boards over Capela, it may be a long might. Won’t be sad with a loss tonight I hope we can keep it close.
 
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