In Nocioni, the team added something that was sorely missing last season - toughness. It is something both Stefanski and Collins have talked about endlessly.
"One of the things I talked about was adding toughness to this team and Nocioni is one of the toughest guys in the league, which I think is going to help us," said Collins. "Hawes is a very skilled big guy.
"Sometimes young big guys have to go to another team before it all sinks in. Sometimes they go and they think it's going to be a certain way when they get traded and they get jolted. I talked to Spencer about that [Thursday night]. He's going to have a great chance here. We feel like he fits in to what we're trying to do and he's young [22]. He can shoot the ball and we feel like we can throw the ball into the post and cut off of him. He's a very good passer. When you lose Sam, you lose defensive rebounding, but you get a couple other pieces and we feel good about that."