Last night the Hawks played the Bulls on a back to back with travel in Chicago, historically we haven't had it easy against the bulls, last year especially, but even this year we were 1-2 in the series and had to have a 50 point quarter to take the win at the end of 2024.

Although I will always back my hawks to win against any team, a back to back with travel is one of the worst spots to be in, coming off a win or not. What made me really doubt us was the potential of Jalen Johnson and Dre Hunter, not playing having missed last game, and in Johnsons case, multiple games beforehand on a very difficult part of the schedule where you want to have your best guys available.

The Injury report we actually got, was way worse.

Trae Young and our rookie Risacher, both ruled out due to injury. While, as I suspected, Dre and Jalen were both still ruled out. this left us with a projected starting 5 of Bogdan Bogdanovic, Dyson Daniels, Vit Krejci, David Roddy and Clint Capela. up against a pretty much fully healthy Bulls squad with a Zach Lavine who has been on a tear lately. We were rightfully placed as underdogs by Vegas.

Im from the UK, this means im regularly having to stay up till 3 in the morning, watching basketball while still being in Highschool preparing for College/University. So when ever I see a game I view as one that unimportant to me, I usually skip it. Recently this has led to me missing some very big moments which I would've loved to have been able to watch. This Bulls game was nothing different.

Keaton Wallace: 27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, 10/18 Field, 4/7 Three, +/- 29 points

Daeqwon Plowden : 19 points, 4 rebounds, 7/8 field, 5/6 Three, +/- 9 off the bench. NBA DEBUT

BOTH ON TWO WAY CONTRACTS

I haven't watched the game in full on rewind but, I've seen some chunks of play some highlights but just based off what I can understand form what I've seen. Im gonna break this down.

Now I've been familiar with both these guys, I've seen Keaton Wallace play earlier on in the season, he's a very able combo guard but he never really shone. He's Cason Wallace's brother and is definitely the lesser known off the two. I never really liked his game as a point guard which is the role he had really been forced to play up until this point, but now he had Vit Krejci (I'll get back to him later) to carry some on ball duty and playmaking, and this really helped him. Keaton was efficient and was able to focus on getting a bucket off the dribble finding spots and doesn't have to be too focused on finding guys open. He also looked lock down on defence, giving guys trouble. Now it wasn't like he guarded Lavine in this game who was limited by this hawks defence (Thankyou Dyson Daniels) but he wa s very comfortable guarding some very talented ball handlers, e.g. Josh Giddey who's primary use is as an on ball creator and has been somewhat underrated for what feels like media reasons.

Now on to Daeqwon Plowden, a lot of people might not be familiar with his game but have seen the highlights. He is a human highlight reel in every sense of the phrase, every game you'll see something in the g-league, a poster, good handles but something will find their way on to the Hawks IG page. I first got introduced to Plowden when doing some research in to each teams roster over the summer. at that point he was with the warriors G league affiliate and was having a big summer league. Plowden is the type of bench wing you like, just straight buckets. he will find one off the ball or on the ball. I like these type of guys as bench players. Especially when a lot of players off the bench usually lack the ability to get their own bucket so having a guy like that is important to the team.

One thing that this really confirmed to me is the Hawks being one of the best g-league recruiters out there. and it's really shown. we have been able to draw in unproven talent to the Skyhawks, due to us showing a willingness to play our two way guys and give opportunities. one of the most recent examples is Vit Krejci.

Vit has establishes himself as a very significant part of the Hawks rotation, he shone during a very tough period of last year, when Trae was injured and all hope was lost for the year. He used impressive ball handling, passing and flashy moves to find opportunities for other guys. His ability to contribute during this period, allowed him to get a payday this year, a $10 million 4 year deal. This was really big for us, it showed a willingness to give guys opportunity and reward them for it. Rather than using the G-League to develop talent, we've primarily found success finding talent.

I think this should really shows how to operate two-way deals and a g-league affiliate effectively. being able to add guys who could play on any night and be very effective, and in our case, our best player on a night.

The Hawks have actually preferred to play their two-way guys over some people with full contracts, Mo Gueye is an example, he's had some good moments but he's primarily there to develop and get game time.

What next for the Hawks ?

I'd love to see them develop this further and become the hub of the g-league for talent spotting, the injuries are still here and we have two big games against the Celtics and Knicks which will be very important for us. Coming out of there with 1 win would be great. We do have a few days rest and the Celtics are going to be coming off a back to back in the next game, but don't expect all our guys to come back from injury in time for this one. We need to capitalise off the Celtics current position which has looked quite vulnerable at times, and continue to put up good performance against the Knicks. Again I'll never doubt this team. I love the guys on this roster. Let's go make the playoffs. we are only 1.5 games back now.

I would love to dive in to teams who do very similar things with their affiliates, if you enjoyed this drop a comment and give me some teams to research into or some cool case studies. I enjoy this stuff.

Come educate me on anything man im always open to researching any team, player etc. etc.

Hope you enjoy this.