{"id":96215,"date":"2024-09-17T08:52:46","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=96215"},"modified":"2024-09-17T08:52:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:52:46","slug":"hawks-trade-candidate-larry-nance-jr-hope-upcoming-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/17\/hawks-trade-candidate-larry-nance-jr-hope-upcoming-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks Trade Candidate Confesses Hope For Upcoming Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Hawks forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nancela02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Nance Jr.<\/a> hasn\u2019t said much about his new team since being <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/26\/new-orleans-pelicans-offseason-a-review-to-date\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">traded in July<\/a>. Many believe that he\u2019s even one of the Hawks\u2019 primary trade candidates, as his age (31) doesn\u2019t appear to fit their timeline. However, the nine-year veteran has high hopes as they prepare for the 2024-24 season.<\/p>\n<h2>Hawks\u2019 Larry Nance Jr. Confesses Hope For Upcoming Season<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI was thrilled to get out of the West, because that 1 through 6 \u20141 through 15 \u2014there is brutal,\u201d Nance tells ESPN\u2019s <em>The Hoop Collective<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if you look at the East, we got a number of teams that aren&#8217;t looking to make the playoffs or care more about their draft stock than wins, and we&#8217;re not one of those teams. So, hopefully, if we do what we&#8217;re supposed to do, we&#8217;ll snag an 8-seed (or) snag a 7-seed, surprise some people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Hoop Collective Homecoming LIVE SHOW In Akron! + Larry Nance Jr. joins \ud83d\ude4c\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PmQ5RMSmKsk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, we\u2019re not (tanking),\u201d Nance says, agreeing with Brian Windhorst. Windhorst aptly notes that the Hawks don\u2019t have control of their own first round pick this season. As a result, there\u2019s no benefit to them purposely or strategically losing games, as many teams do when jostling for draft position.<\/p>\n<h3>Can The Hawks Make The Playoffs?<\/h3>\n<p>The East\u2019s landscape isn\u2019t a pretty picture. At the bottom of the conference are the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, and Toronto Raptors. Each of these teams are in a rebuild, and each won fewer than 33 games last season.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of these franchises, namely the Pistons and Raptors, could improve dramatically next season. Detroit has added another lottery pick to their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/05\/its-too-soon-for-pistons-to-pivot-away-from-plan-a\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">talented though ill-fitting young core<\/a> and several key veterans this offseason. Toronto will have a full season with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/27\/1-goal-for-each-of-the-raptors-rising-stars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">their remodeled Big 3<\/a>. Nonetheless, there\u2019s a legitimate reason to believe that the Hawks could at least challenge for a play-in spot.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, that\u2019s if Atlanta hasn\u2019t regressed this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>Offseason acquisitions like Nance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/daniedy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dyson Daniels<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/risacza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zaccharie Risacher<\/a> could pay dividends for them. Each of them projects to make a positive impact with their defense and versatility. However, they don\u2019t offer the firepower of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a>, who posted 22.5 points and 6.4 assists per game last season.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, if Nance and Daniels\u2019s 2023-24 scoring averages were combined, that number (11.5 points per game) would almost be half of Murray\u2019s scoring production. That\u2019s alarming, even if assuming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Johnson<\/a> will take the next step in his development. As a result, the Hawks will need a lot of internal improvement, and not just from Johnson.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huntede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a> has to be a more assertive scorer. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/capelca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clint Capela<\/a> needs to become more active defensively and improve his ability to guard in space. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> can be more of a two-way playmaker. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> should look to maintain his defensive intensity from last season and empower his teammates as scorers.<\/p>\n<h3>Larry\u2019s Leadership<\/h3>\n<p>Nance, who was presumably brought in to play a leadership role, could help them do that. He\u2019s not afraid to speak his mind about where or how a teammate can improve. However, some players aren\u2019t going to listen to Nance just because he wants them to. He has to earn that respect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFunny enough, of 30 teams, I probably know three to four people \u2014players \u2014on each team,\u201d Nance says. \u201cBut the Hawks, that was the one team that I know I have no prior previous relationships with anybody. So I\u2019m going down there like, \u2018How you doing? I\u2019m Larry.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Hawks forward Larry Nance Jr. hasn\u2019t said much about his new team since being traded in July. Many believe that he\u2019s even one of the Hawks\u2019 primary trade candidates, as his age (31) doesn\u2019t appear to fit their timeline. However, the nine-year veteran has high hopes as they prepare for the 2024-24 season. Hawks\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":96220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,10,62,3,36,14],"tags":[1262,526,596,1382],"class_list":["post-96215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-pistons","category-nba","category-news","category-podcasts","category-raptors","tag-dejounte-murray","tag-larry-nance-jr","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-nba-trade"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}