Atlanta Hawks

Lu Dort will come off the Hawks' bench after starting his whole career. He said he's had good conversations with Quin Snyder about it and is ready for any stint: "If it's playing 10, 12 minutes straight, playing 5 minutes, whatever it is, you know, I'll be ready to go."

Hawks rookies' minutes hinge on depth. Zuby Ejiofor hasn't gotten into some games, though Quin Snyder said he had a really good practice. Kingston Flemings, before the opener against the Magic: "If I play 8 minutes, I'm trying to affect it the same as if I play 20."

"We've got a group that had a lot of continuity at the end of last year. That's the way we'll start the season," Quin Snyder said of the Hawks. Preseason put health first, which he said made the rotation tricky to judge; lineups will keep being evaluated.

Quin Snyder has sat down individually with Lu Dort, Corey Kispert and Asa Newell about their Hawks roles, and said Kispert "had a terrific preseason." Asked if Newell needs reps, he praised his defense but didn't commit: "The problem is the game is 48 minutes."

Rookie Kingston Flemings on his Hawks role: defend, pressure the ball and "get downhill, get CJ, Nickeil the ball" — creating for CJ McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. His summer: workouts with LeBron James, who was "already in there working out" at 5 a.m.

Quin Snyder says the Hawks' starting five and rotation are still unsettled after adding Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins: "it's the course of the 48 minutes that's really important." On the Oct. 16 preseason finale, he named no one: "health can trump all that."

Kingston Flemings is directing the Hawks on the floor, and Quin Snyder said part of the process has been "getting him in situations where he could really defend and have an impact, but not foul." He saw a better on-ball presence and a feel for when to shoot and when to pass.

Jock Landale bled from the lip after a second-quarter play in the Hawks' Oct. 12 preseason game. "My lip's pretty sore right now," he said postgame, but called himself fine. He played past his usual 10 or so preseason minutes and said the extra time helped him find a rhythm.

Lu Dort said a knee contusion kept him "out for a little bit" before his first game with Atlanta. Quin Snyder has held one-on-one film sessions with him to teach the Hawks' terminology and texts him plays to study. Dort said learning it will take time.

Hawks teammate Jock Landale on Kingston Flemings: "Kingston is really like having a lot thrown at him right now because he's got a big role for us this season." It's a teammate's read, not a coach's minutes commitment.

"Coaches say 5s, 4s, they're mainly interchangeable." Hawks rookie Zuby Ejiofor on the power forward and center spots. On his preseason debut: few nerves, but "it's a big step up from college to the NBA." Rookie duties: he does Krispy Kreme, Kingston Flemings Chick-fil-A.

The Hawks' starting five is little changed and already has chemistry from last year, Onyeka Okongwu said. The work: "different units, different groups." The longest-tenured Hawk, roughly seven camps in, on the young roster: "you better get learning."

Corey Kispert went 4 of 7 from three Oct. 5 and credited a summer of "clearing my head, reestablishing my habits, getting back to what works." His arrival in a mid-season trade last year felt chaotic; after a full offseason with the Hawks he feels "more like myself."

CJ McCollum sat out the Hawks' Oct. 5 game; Quin Snyder said they learned that morning he couldn't play, no reason given. That threw Kingston Flemings, a 19-year-old rookie, into his first game. "He competed. Saw some really good things," Snyder said, with "room for growth."

Quin Snyder kept some Hawks who played the first half on the bench after the break Oct. 5: "we had made a decision that we were going to play the game a certain way, and I didn't want to deviate from that." He said the second-half group showed more of what the team wanted.