This is the easy part.
Discussing progress made in the offseason, the upside of rookies, the chemistry this young group has already started to develop.
As Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce put it at media day Monday, “the goodness is all happening right now.”
The more challenging part starts in the preseason and grows even more difficult when the regular season tips off Oct. 24 in Detroit, once games start to matter, and when the Hawks will begin to answer the question on everyone’s mind. How big a leap can this group, in the midst of a rebuild around its young core of Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter, with the addition of rookies Cam Reddish, DeAndre Hunter and Bruno Fernando, take from last year’s 29-53 finish?