2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young’s second season might have been a major improvement for him individually, but it was a shame that it didn’t translate to much team success. The Hawks went a lowly 20-47 giving them the 2^nd worst record in the East and 4^th worst in the league. The Hawks might be a force on the offensive side thanks to Trae’s shooting and playmaking but their inability to stop their opponents from scoring was one of their major downfalls, posing a league-worst in opponents points per game with 119.7. I mean that’s worst than the Wizards, and they abandoned defence all together this season.

But poor defence aside, the Hawks did have other major contributing factors to their poor record. Firstly, John Collins their 2^nd best player got suspended for 25 games, after only 5 games for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Secondly, besides Trae and Collins, there wasn’t much production from anybody else on the team, as most of the others were very inefficient, so everything mainly fell on the small shoulder of Trae.

Besides that, the Hawks set themselves up with a lot of expiring contracts this season to have major cap space in the offseason to finally get Young some help. They also made numerous moves in the preseason and during the season to help acquire picks and players. So, let’s see how their entire season played out.

June 20^th – NBA Draft

The Hawks originally had the 8^th,10^th and 35^th pick in the draft, however, they agreed to trades on the night of the draft to swap around rookies (more on them later). With their picks, they selected Jaxson Hayes (C), Cam Reddish (SF) and Marcos Louzada Silva (SF) respectively. However, after the trades their rookies were; Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter (SF) and Bruno Fernando (C).

Preseason:

Trades:

June 19^th – The Hawks traded the 44^th pick (drafts rights to Bol Bol) and cash considerations to the Heat in exchange for Miami’s protected 2024 2^nd round pick (the pick would transfer if it’s between 51-55 only.)

June 20^th – Atlanta trade the 41^st pick (draft rights to Eric Paschall) to the Warriors for their 2024 2^nd round pick and cash considerations.

After seeing how good Paschall was do you think the Hawks would’ve liked to have him on their roster?

June 24^th – The Hawks trade Kent Bazemore to the Blazers for Evan Turner.

July 6^th – Atlanta trades Taurean Prince and their 2021 2^nd round pick to the Nets in exchange for the 17^th pick (draft rights to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Brooklyn’s top 14 protected 2020 1^st round pick and Allen Crabbe.

July 6^th – The Hawks trade a 2020 top 10 protected 1^st round pick, the draft rights to; Jaxson Hayes (8^th), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17^th) and Marcus Louzada Silva (35^th) to the Pelicans in exchange for a 2023 2^nd round pick, the draft right to both De’Andre Hunter and Jordan Bone (4^th & 57^th respectively) and Solomon Hill.

July 6^th – The Hawks trade the draft right to Jordan Bone and a 2020 and 2023 2^nd round picks to the 76ers for the draft rights to Bruno Fernando.

July 7^th – The Hawks trade Miles Plumlee and Solomon Hill to the Grizzlies for Chandler Parsons. (See what I mean about them taking on big, expiring contracts.)

July 8^th – The Hawks trade Omari Spellman to the Warriors for a 2026 Warriors 2^nd round pick and Damian Jones.

That’s five trades within three days, sheesh.

Re-signing and Signings:

I’m only going with their important pickups as most of their signings were two-way contracts.

July 8^th – Atlanta signs Jabari Parker to a 2-year $13 million contract (player option in 2020-21).

September 20^th – Atlanta re-signs Vince Carter to a 1 year $2.3 million contract.

He became the first player to play in four different decades in the NBA and he retired at the end of the season. Thanks for everything Vince.

October 22^nd – The NBA season begins. 

Mid-season:

Re-signings/Signings – Nothing to report here

Trades:

January 16^th – The Hawks trade Allen Crabbe to the Timberwolves in exchange for Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham.

February 5^th – A four-team trade:

Hawks got	Nuggets got	Rockets got	Timberwolves got
Clint Capela (Rockets)	Keita Bates-Diop (Wolves)	Robert Covington (Wolves)	Malik Beasley (Nuggets)
Nene (Rockets)	Shabazz Napier (Wolves)	Jordan Bell (Wolves)	Juan Hernangomez (Nuggets)
	Noah Vonleh (Wolves)	2024 Warriors 2nd round pick (Hawks)	Jarred Vanderbilt (Nuggets)
	Gerald Green (Rockets)		2020 Nets top 14 protected 1st round pick (Hawks)
	2020 Rockets 1st round pick		Evan Turner (Hawks)

February 6^th – The Hawks trade Alex Len and Jabari Parker to the Kings in exchange for Dewayne Dedmon, a 2020 Rockets 2^nd round pick and a 2021 Miami 2^nd round pick.

March 11^th – The season is suspended due to coronavirus.

2020 Preview.

The picture used was taken from basketball reference.com https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/ATL.html

Atlanta has done a decent job trying to set themselves up for the future, they got a lot of young players who if they develop next season can help Atlanta take the next step. Reddish was extremely inefficient, and Hunter still needs to drastically improve his defence.  I also like the addition of Clint Capela as he is a double-double machine who should help stabilize their center position.

PS – Do you guys think that Trae, Collins and Capela can be like a poor man’s version of the Lob City Clippers? I think they might be.

One of the biggest decisions they must make next season is whether they extend or trade John Collins next season or trade him. He’s been really good offensively but has struggled to improve his defence. It will all depend on how much he’s asking for but if he can’t at least become a decent defender I would not be surprised if the Hawks move him for assets.

Moving onto the draft the Hawks had the 4^th best odds of getting the number one pick but unfortunately fell all the way to number 6 after both the Bulls and Hornets moved up. I think they need to take another defensive wing player. I know Reddish and Hunter both struggled in their rookie season, but I believe that in case they don’t pan out and show improvement you still need a player who can play good defense. I mean you’re not going to get much defence from Young and Huerter so getting good defenders is a priority. Just like I did with the Timberwolves, I will recommend both Isaac Okoro and Devin Vassell. Or any decent defender they can find.

In free agency, I think they should good after a good back up point guard who can help lighten the load off Young when it comes to ball handling and playmaking. Maybe nice veteran like Goran Dragic can be a nice fit. Also, a key free agent that they can target if he doesn’t pick up his player option can be the man himself, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He plays good defence and can shoot the three and he will also be a nice veteran player with playoff experience.

Final Thoughts.

They set themselves up with good cap space for the future and another top ten pick in the draft to add a good young player. It doesn’t matter how they do it, they better get Ice Trae some help, on god. I want to see him in the playoffs next season.