NBA Notes: Hawks, Stoudamire, Nuggets, Pistons

The Hawks are coming off perhaps the most surprising run in an NBA season that’s been full of them, and they do indeed intend to try to run it back.

But team owner Tony Ressler admitted that keeping everyone won’t be easy.

“It’s complicated, of course, because what we’re trying to convince people is we’re building something, but let’s not kid ourselves, our job is to run a good business,” Ressler said, via Chris Kirchner of The Athletic. “What we are trying to achieve is literally keeping our best players, as you could imagine, trying to make clear that we’re going to have to spend a lot more than we have this season. We fully expect that.

“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to keep every single player that we want to keep. Pretty good bet, pretty good assumption we will not. But I do think we have several years that we should be able to build some real stability.

“If the question is are we scared of the tax, are we scared of going into the tax? I’m scared of paying the tax and not being a good team, yes, that I’m scared of, but if we have to go into the tax to be a great team for a period of time, so be it.”

The Hawks recently signed coach Nate McMillan to a four-year contract and is expected to give guard Trae Young a maximum contract. Young is eligible for an extension.

More from the NBA

• Former NBA point guard Damon Stoudamire is leaving his job as head coach at Pacific University to become an assistant under new Celtics coach Ime Udoka, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium. Stoudamire went 71-77 in five seasons at Pacific. Former Spurs assistant Will Hardy was the first to join Udoka’s staff in Boston. 
• The G League franchise formerly known as the Grand Rapids Drive will now be know as the Gran Rapids Gold and serve as the Nuggets affiliate, the league announced. The Drive had been acting as the Pistons’ minor league club.
• Speaking of the Pistons, several teams appear to be interested in trading up for the No. 1 overall draft pick. You can check out the full story on HoopsWire here.