2018-2019 NBA Season Preview: Atlanta Hawks
With the NBA season set to start in just over a month, we here at the Daily Baller wanted to make sure that you get a good idea of your favorite team heading into the 2018-2019 regular season. Even though we're roughly two and half months removed from the start of the NBA offseason, and most, if not all of the major moves have been made already, there are still smaller trades, signings, and roster changes that have been trickling in. So I figured now would be a good time to start up my team preview series for the 2018-2019 season. Every couple of days, we'll be looking at a new team and examining the moves they've made, the possible outcomes of said moves, and looking how they've set themselves up for 2019 and beyond. First up, are the Atlanta Hawks, who have three burning questions going into the 2018-2019 season.
Young/Doncic Draft Night Swap
Perhaps the biggest question for the Atlanta Hawks going into the 2018-2019 will be whether or not the Trae Young/Luka Doncic swap was a good idea. At the time of the draft night trade, many people lampooned the Hawks for passing up on perhaps the most NBA-ready prospect in Doncic, in exchange for Trae Young, which many perceive to be an undersized point guard whose only tangible skills at this point are his 3-point shooting and playmaking. But these two skills are nothing to scoff at, Young was an absolute dead-eye shooter during his sole year with Oklahoma, and was nailing 30-footers on a nightly basis.
He was also a fantastic playmaker, and used his gravity to his advantage and routinely averaged double digit assist numbers. His season averages came out to 27 points, 4 rebounds, and 9 assists on a respectable 42/36/86 shooting split, and was hampered by a pretty big slump in the latter half of the Sooner's season, concluding with a disappointing NCAA Tournament run. Only time will tell who won the Doncic/Young swap, as I expect both players to be met with challenges during their first couple years in the league, and honestly, the more you think about what each team needed going into next season, the more the swap makes sense.
Dallas is a team that is not used to tanking. With over 20 years of Dirk Nowitzki, and a championship caliber coach in Rick Carlisle so getting a project player in Young for what may be Dirk's final season simply wasn't an option. The Hawks, on the other hand, are nowhere near contention, and instead should focus on building a solid foundation of high draft picks for the highly coveted "young core" moniker, which the Hawks are well on their way to achieving. As of right now they have F/C John Collins, F Taurean Prince, G Trae Young, and G/F Kevin Huerter, with presumably, a top-5 pick in the 2019 draft. Long story short, the Hawks are rebuilding, and swapping Young for Doncic is the right move in doing so.
New Leadership and Direction in the Front Office
If you had told me two years ago that the Hawks are positioning themselves to become the Warriors of the East, I would have laughed in your face. But after their long list of front office signings, the Hawks may just be doing that. They first hired former Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk to be their new GM, then acquired Warriors fitness guru Chelsea Lane to head their Sports Medicine, then hired Michael Irr, a former Warriors performance coach and therapist to head their Strength and Conditioning department. If that wasn't enough, they also hired former Warriors assistant athletic trainer John Dusel to a similar role.
Clearly Schlenk and Co. want to emulate the Warriors success, which explains why they coveted a three-point phenom in Trae Young, and went out and acquired a 6'7 sharpshooter in Kevin Huerter. Can anyone say Splash Bros 2.0? Jokes aside, trying to emulate the path that the Warriors took to league dominance is a bold strategy, and requires precision, patience, and an insane amount of luck to pull off. Simply putting together Young and Huerter does not guarantee they'll become Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, and I think Schlenk should be well aware of the risks he's taking to create that magic. However, because Schlenk came from the Warriors front office, and was there for the rise of that team, he should be well aware of what it takes to get to that position. Hawks fan should be prepared for something akin to a "5-year plan" in terms of rebuilding, and I think that there should be a high level of confidence in the new front office, which I'm quickly gonna dub the "Bizarro Dubs".
New Coach in the Mix
With the departure of Mike Budenholzer to Milwaukee, the Hawks hired Lloyd Pierce, a former assistant coach to several teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors. Not much is known about Pierce as this is his first head coaching gig, but the Golden State connection once again made it's presence known, as Schlenk was with the Warriors during Pierce's tenure with the team back in 2010-2011. Obviously the Hawks aren't trying to win games, so player development is going to become crucial for Pierce this upcoming season.
The Schröder Trade
A smaller tidbit for the Hawks heading into the 2018-2019 season is the trading of former prized G Dennis Schröder in exchange for Hawks legend Carmelo Anthony, who was subsequently waived, and a lottery protected 2022 first round pick. I think the Hawks could have held out, and strong-armed Presti in making the pick a top-10 lottery protected, or even top-5, as the Thunder were the ones looking down the barrel of a $200M tax bill. Sure Schroder has some legal issues hanging over him, but if the Thunder are going to be as bad as I think they are in 2022, then having that pick lottery protected almost ensures that it won't convey to the Hawks. But it still adds some firepower to the Hawks trade arsenal regardless.
Tank City Again?
This is rather obvious, but the Hawks are absolutely going to be tanking this upcoming season. Not even on purpose mind you, they're just going to be that bad. Even though the new draft lottery structure made it so that the worst three teams have an equal, 14 percent chance of getting the number one pick, there is still an incentive to be one of those three worst teams, and with competition from teams like the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, and Magic, the tank-race is going to be very interesting to watch this upcoming season.
Just a side note on the whole tanking thing; I think that a team would be stupid to not put themselves in the best possible position to acquire young talent, and any fan that says otherwise needs to have their head examined. Just looking at the past 10 years, we've seen tanking shenanigans from the Lakers, Sixers, Grizzlies, and yes, even the Warriors. All of those teams are in much better positions now than they would have been had they not pulled late-season, and in the Sixers case, multi-season tanking maneuvers.
The Atlanta Hawks have just come off a 17-65 season, but the losing has really only just begun for them. Having Trae Young at the helm isn't going to move the needle, so I fully expect another losing season in store for the Hawks. However, Mike Budenholzer won't be at the helm and stealing valuable playing time from young players, and the Hawks have a solid core of young talent to develop, so regardless, it should be a fun season nonetheless. Hawks fans, there's no shame in it, just embrace the tank, enjoy watching the young core develop, and pray to all the basketball gods come lottery night.