The Atlanta Hawks held their annual Open Practice Saturday. Here are 5 things to take away from the action:
1) Al Horford and Paul Millsap are still the heartbeat of the team
Horford looked great early and didn't play much late in the scrimmages. He led all Hawks with 15 points and 7 rebounds on 6-12 shooting. Millsap also played well, scoring 11 points and grabbing 6 boards. The Hawks have no worries on the front line.
2) Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha moved well
Both Korver and Sefolosha spent the summer rehabbing from various leg injuries. Both players' minutes were monitored closely Saturday but neither appeared to show signs of limited mobility. There's still some rust on both of their shots, but that should wear off with more time in the gym this month.
3) Tim Hardaway Jr. and Justin Holiday can both shoot
The two wing acquisions both showed that they can help the team offensively. Hardaway went 4-7 and Holiday went 4-6, including 3-3 from three.
4) Lamar Patterson once again proved his worth defensively
Patterson has a leg up on the rest of the Training Camp invites because he's had 2 years to familiarize himself with Coach Bud's system. But as we saw in Summer League, his biggest impact on the game Saturday was defensively, where he had 4 steals and several other deflections.
5) No one should jump to any conclusions based on practice
For all the talk about what happened Saturday, fans must remember that it's still the first week of the season. Nothing should be polished yet, and the team has a ways to go, but there were a lot of good signs Saturday that the team is moving in a good direction early in the season.
Story by Jaryd Wilson