The Atlanta Hawks dare to rebuild – with Dennis Schröder as a fixed point.So there’s not much left of the successful playoff team.What remains instead?The off-season analysis.
The Hawks’ off-season started with a bang.Dwight Howard was retired from the 31st position.Pick shipped to Charlotte, in return came Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli and the 41.Pick the 2017 drift.
Whoever thought that Paul Millsap would be held responsible for this was wound crooked.The Hawks didn’t even make a proper offer for their star.The Power Forward signed with the Denver Nuggets instead.Free agents Thabo Sefolosha (Utah) and Jose Calderon (Cleveland) also left the Hawks.
The Bigs Ersan Ilyasova (1 year/6 million dollars) and Mike Muscala (2 years/10 million dollars) were held.In addition, Power Forward John Collins was selected in position 19 in the first round of the Drafts.In the second round, the Hawks also secured the rights to Shooting Guard Tyler Dorsey (No. 41) and the French Big Man Alpha Kaba (No. 60).
In the Free Agency, Atlanta’s new management team handled a few small deals.Center Dewayne Dedmon came from San Antonio, and the snipers Luke Babbitt from Miami and Nicolas Brussino from Dallas were taken.These deals all had one thing in common – they were cheap.
In addition, the monstrous offer of the New York Knicks for Restricted Free Agent Tim Hardaway Jr. (4 years, 71 million) was not matched.
All new in ATL.While Atlanta has been a solid playoff team for years, with some ups and downs, the radical change has now been accomplished.The front court of the previous season has been completely replaced.
In order to get rid of Howard, the franchise even accepted one of the league’s worst contracts (Miles Plumlee: 37.5 million dollars by 2020).On top of that, Plumlee’s contract runs for another year longer than that of Superman.
Two years ago, there was no starter left in the roster from the 60-victory season.Instead Dennis Schröder has now received the keys from the franchise.The German is considered Mike Budenholzer’s favorite and is supposed to ensure that Atlanta remains halfway respectable during this difficult transition phase.
Coach Mike Budenholzer is now to continue the development of talents, a quality that has already brought a big deal to another team in the past, including a DeMarre Carroll.Recently, Buds projects have been named Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry or John Collins.
The focus is therefore on the future – and in addition to one’s own talent, there is plenty of scope for this.As of now, only $69 million in salary is due in the 18/19 season.In financial terms, the Hawks can offer incentives in future free agencies.In addition, the Front Office has ensured that in the next two drafts, in addition to their own three first-round picks are available.
The most obvious weakness is simply the lack of quality.Looking at the paper alone, the question arises as to who is responsible for scoring, with the exception of Schröder.Without Millsap the opponents will adjust themselves increasingly to the game of the German.
It remains questionable how far the development of some role-players may go.Kent Bazemore signed for a lot of money in 2016, but could only justify this to a limited extent.More of him has to come this year, especially as far as the shooting is concerned.
In general, the wing positions of the Hawks are very thin.Belinelli shouldn’t be a starter any more, Prince or Bembry would also need even more time and will pay a lot of money to learn next year.
It could be particularly bitter if Schröder were to go on the bench.Malcolm Delaney had big problems with the league’s pace and owns only a fraction of the explosiveness of Schröder.There are therefore no further ball handlers.Bembry or Bazemore should be just emergency solutions.
Another problem last season was the shooting from outside.Although the lever has been set there, Belinelli, Brussino or Babbitt are specialists, but they also have huge defensive holes in their game.
nearby
The Hawks’ rebuild will take place around Dennis Schröder.The fact that coach Bud travelled to Israel for EuroBasket to observe his protégé showed how much he is in focus.
DS17 will now be in a similar situation to the Hawks, as he is by far the best player in the roster.He showed that he can handle this situation at the European Championship – only the occasional turnaround vulnerability attracted negative attention.If he gets to grips with them, there’s not much to be said against him becoming an all-star in the East as a star of his team sooner or later.
The new Hawks management has decided to take a bold step: switching to the Tanking mode.Especially a franchise like Atlanta, which has big problems to fill the hall at all, should think twice about this.
Nevertheless, the decision was the right one.Millsap was also already 32 years old, he wouldn’t have been any better.The Howard trade, on the other hand, seemed to be in a hurry.Why didn’t they wait a little longer?Of course, D12 didn’t have a good reputation in the league, but the fact that only one Plumlee and Belinelli jumped out was more than disappointing.Salary was not saved – on the contrary.
The off-season can only be considered a success if Atlanta is allowed to pick very high in the coming year.In the weak East, however,”competition” is not insignificant.In addition, Budenholzer is an ambitious and experienced coach, which may even enable the Hawks to exceed expectations.The series of ten consecutive playoffs in a row will almost certainly be a success.
The grade: 4-