Atlanta Hawks Inactives for Season Opener vs Orlando: Who's in and who's out?

The Atlanta Hawks are 24 hours from beginning their season on the road against the Orlando Magic, and it will be the first of many matchups for the Southeast Division rivals this season.

Ahead of tomorrow's game vs the Magic, the Hawks have released their injury report for the game. Mouhamed Gueye (fractured left foot) and Henri Veesar (torn right ACL) are both going to miss tomorrow's game and that is not a surprise. Gueye suffered a foot injury in the summer and missed training camp and the preseason, but there has no recent update on his status.

Veesaar tore his ACL in a workout in September and is going to miss his entire rookie season.

Season Opener

Gueye's injury does impact the Hawks a bit. When healthy, I think he is a viable backup power forward with this Hawks group because of his defensive capability. Behind Gueye, the Hawks have Asa Newell, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Zuby Ejiofor, none of whom are expected to be in the regular rotation. Newell's defensive problems are a bad matchup with Jock Landale, Finney-Smith barely played during the preseason, and Ejiofor is operating as the team's third center.

The Hawks are plenty familiar with the Magic, but there is something different about Orlando this year and that is their head coach. After firing Jahmal Mosley after last season, Orlando hired San Antonio assistant Sean Sweeney to lead the team and the Magic are banking on him to have a big impact on a roster that did not see any changes this offseason.

When talking about the Magic yesterday, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder was very complementary of Sweeney and what he brings as a head coach:

"Well, you know, you have Sean Sweeney, their coach, is a really good coach. And they're a really good team. And as you mentioned, excellent roster. Usually there's a balance of those things. I can't speak for them. I'm thinking about our team. But you try to play to your players' strengths. And at the same time, from a coaching standpoint, there's things that everybody's a little different and sees the game different ways. So I'm sure that'll be reflected in how they play as well."

The Eastern Conference is going to be very tough this season and making the playoffs again is not going to be an easy task. A win tomorrow would get things going in that direction.