NBA: Hawks-Offseason: Rebuild the Warriors Way

The Atlanta Hawks consistently continued their rebuild in the summer and parted company with Dennis Schröder, among others. The new hope in Georgia is Trae Young, on whom not only the coming season will bear great responsibility.

Too much didn’t stay the same in Atlanta over the summer. Mike Budenholzer left the team as expected after a fuel-tastic season and joined the Bucks instead. In addition, the Hawks with Dennis Schröder (OKC) and Mike Muscala (Philadelphia) gave the team two longtime supports via trade. The new coach is Lloyd Pierce, the new cornerstone of the team is Trae Young.

The Hawks gave away their No.3-Pick (Luka Doncic) for the No.5-Pick Young as well as a future first-round pick to Dallas in the drafts, in addition Kevin Huerter (19) and Omari Spellman (30) two more players were drawn in the first round. Second round pick Devonte’ Graham was passed on to Charlotte for two future picks.

As a result, the Hawks fired Isaiah Taylor as well as Jaylen Morris and Antonius Cleveland, for which Jeremy Lin was taken from Brooklyn. In the trade of Schröder and Muscala Atlanta got the meanwhile dismissed Carmelo Anthony, a 2022 first round pick as well as Swingman Justin Anderson.

In August, Atlanta hired Free Agents Alex Len (2 years, 8.5 million), Daniel Hamilton (1 year, 1.45 million), Vince Carter (1 year, 2.4 million) and Thomas Robinson (1 year, 1.8 million).

The Hawks are deep in rebuild, or have taken it to the next level this summer: With Young, the supposed new franchise player was brought in, and Lin and Carter in particular are rightly regarded as more suitable and patient mentors than Schröder, whose long-term and lucrative contract no longer fitted Atlanta’s plans.

The team was consistently rejuvenated and focused on shooting, both Young and Huerter clearly have their strengths here and the direction corresponds to the vision of GM Travis Schlenk, who previously worked at the Warriors and wants to build a kind of east version of it in Atlanta.

Pierce’s job will be to form Young, Huerter, Spellman, Taurean Prince and John Collins into a young, exciting team, almost all the other players in the squad are either mentors or inexpensive experiments like Len or Anderson.

It might also be interesting to see if anything else happens with Kent Bazemore, who is still in the Hawks books for two years and almost 40 million dollars, and who actually serves no purpose with this team. Bazemore is overpaid, but with his skillset he could still be interesting for one or the other playoff team.

Let’s assume that Young’s offensive skills can be transferred directly to the NBA level (anything but certain) – then the Hawks still lack capable defenders, experience, rebounding, class. In short: Apart from shooting, pace and youth this team lacks almost everything. That’s fine for now, though.

Nobody in Atlanta expects to win many games next season. The 24 victories from the previous season are even likely to be undercut, in the east there is no other team that is filling up so obviously. When Young strikes and develops a certain harmony with Collins, the Atlanta is probably worth it.

It is written in the stars whether Young can become something like the Stephen Curry of the Hawks, but they seem to hope for it. Atlanta has completely focused its off-season on the young Point Guard, and the front office will have to measure itself against the decision for him (and against Doncic) for years to come.

But maybe the risk pays off – Young seems to at least have the right mentality and his offensive skills, if he can physically gain something, are actually made for the NBA: His throw is potentially great, as is his court vision.

He will have to show that he can also get rid of his throws against NBA athletes, but Young at least brings the equipment with him to become a strong (offensive) guard. And his way of playing is so spectacular that even in the notoriously disinterested Atlanta, it should provide some enthusiasm. This is what you have been longing for since the times of Dominique Wilkins.

The Hawks have consistently implemented their rejuvenation plan. Lin makes more sense as a mentor than Schröder, and his contract expires. Next summer Atlanta has only 55 million dollars left in its books, maybe even less if they can get rid of Bazemore and/or Miles Plumlee first. Collins and Prince have already shown that they have the potential to become really good NBA players.

But in the end almost everything depends on the risk of Young, who has much more Bust potential than for example Doncic or Jaren Jackson, who could have drafted Atlanta as well. The extra pick is nice, but maybe the “safe” decision would have been the better one. On the other hand, the Hawks hope that Young will strike so hard that not only fans, but also potential free agents will be interested in them at some point.

But that can only be assessed in the future. Next year Atlanta has three first round picks and good prospects for the No.1 pick. For the vision in her head, the Hawks had a good summer. Now reality has yet to follow.

The Note: 2-