By: @KLChouinard
The young Hawks are ready to take off in Las Vegas, even though one of their leaders himself is just a teenager.
Nineteen-year-old AJ Griffin is, by comparison, the grizzled NBA veteran ready to lead the Hawks' draftees through NBA 2K24 Summer League 2023. The Hawks will face Sacramento, Denver, Minnesota and Philadelphia as Hawks fans get their first chance to see Kobe Bufkin, Mouhamed Gueye, and Seth Lundy in a Hawks uniform.
"They're joking around," Griffin said of the rookies. "They're saying stuff like, 'You're a young vet. You're a young vet!' It's crazy to hear that in your second year, but it's just crazy to see how time is really and truly fast."
Griffin also noted that he wants to get extra repetitions of three things during his time in Vegas: being more vocal, ball-handling, and defense. Ball-handling may be a duty that Bufkin, a 6-foot-4 guard whom the Hawks picked with the 15th overall pick in the 2023 Draft, shares with Griffin on the trip.
"I think I'll be doing a bit of both: on- and off-the-ball," Bufkin said. "We have guys like AJ that can play on the ball, and I'm looking forward to seeing what those guys can do."
Even as Griffin fine-tunes his skills, running the offense should be a new wrinkle for him, as he spent most of his rookie season as a shooting guard. For his part, Bufkin only took over running the University of Michigan's offense midway through his second and final season, but Griffin and Lundy both noted the pace with which he plays when the ball is in his hands.
"Kobe's change-of-pace is incredible," Lundy said. "His versatility, his defense – all of the above."
For the rookies, a number of adaptations await. The rules, and the styles and the level of competition all change when the Hawks hit the floor Friday.
Bufkin is going to get to try out his pace-changing skills with the longer three-point line and more spacing.
"You could feel the spacing in some situations, but obviously the people are bigger on this level, so they cover a little bit more of the space," Bufkin said of the Hawks' practices this week. "But you can definitely tell the difference in some situations."
Lundy, whom the Hawks selected in the second round (46th overall), finished sixth all-time in school history at Penn State with 229 career three-pointers while making 40.0 percent of his attempts as a senior. He will be adjusting to bigger, faster defenders, new terminology and even things like the basketball itself.
"The NBA ball definitely feels lighter, and the newer balls don't have any grip, honestly. They get more grip the older that they get," Lundy said. "As soon as the season ended, I started using the NBA ball to get used to it."
Gueye, the 6-foot-11 forward whom the Hawks acquired by trade after the Boston Celtics chose him with the 39th overall pick, brings a little bit of everything to the court: size, shooting, playmaking, defense, and at the same time, that versatility means that he also has learn a lot of things all at once.
"My position, first of all," Gueye said of the adjustments. "The strength, the level of basketball, and the shooting. In college, I was – and I'm still – a great defender, but here you're required to have your hands up all the time, know your closeouts and know everything. It's a different level, for sure."
Griffin had some strong praise for his rookie teammates.
"They all work hard, so that's perfect for the dynamic of our team, just being able to work hard and come here with that mindset of wanting to get better and do extra stuff."
And even though he is the veteran on this trip, he isn't yet sending out his rookies on quests for things like doughnuts and chicken sandwiches.
"I'm going to wait until the other veterans get here," Griffin quipped with a laugh. "The real vets."