Paul Millsap. Demarre Carroll. Kent Bazemore. Those are 3 of the biggest steals that the Hawks have been able to uncover and develop into very good players. All of those guys were not highly touted as Millsap was a 2nd round pick, Carroll was a late-first round pick, and Bazemore was undrafted. The Hawks could now turn to another 2nd round pick in swingman Lamar Patterson, who has shown more polish to his game in this year’s Summer League.
A standout at the University of Pittsburgh, Patterson was viewed as a solid, fundamentally sound college player who did not have the athleticism to be a good NBA player.