With just a few weeks left in the summer, training camp in the NBA is slowly but surely approaching, and this is the time when players start to ramp up their preparation and do more basketball-specific training.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off a season in which they took a big jump forward in the standings, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs to the New York Knicks.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks, who had reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, went just 41-41 and exited in the first round against the Boston Celtics.
Two of the teams’ big stars — Trae Young and Donovan Mitchell — were recently seen playing pickup ball in New York City, via ClutchPoints.
Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell, and Obi Toppin showing off at this NYC open run 😮💨
(via @Cbrickley603 / IG)pic.twitter.com/2PtcZY31aO
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 4, 2023
Mitchell is originally from the New York City area, and last summer, when he asked the Utah Jazz to trade him, there were incessant rumors that he was headed to the New York Knicks.
But in the end, the Cavs won the Mitchell sweepstakes, and it took them from an upstart team that was on the bubble of making the playoffs to one that looked like a dark-horse contender.
They found success this past season on the defensive end, as they finished first in defensive rating, an impressive accomplishment given how young their roster is.
The Hawks, meanwhile, seem to be stuck in the middle, as they have a nice guard tandem in Young and Dejounte Murray but not a whole lot else in terms of significant help.
Young shot just 42.9 percent from the field last season, and improving his overall shooting would help Atlanta be more competitive this season.
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