15. Atlanta Hawks
Key additions: Trae Young (draft), Jeremy Lin (trade), Justin Anderson (trade), Alex Len (FA)
Key losses: Dennis Schroder (trade), Mike Muscala (trade)
THE ATLANTA HAWKS ARE THE ONE TEAM in this tier that doesn’t suffer from front-office melancholy. GM Travis Schlenk took over the team last summer after spending eight years in the Warriors front office and already has his backcourt of the future.
Although ESPN doesn’t want to let go of the idea of Schroder on the Hawks roster (a perfect representation of Atlanta’s NBA irrelevance), the franchise has officially given the reigns to Trae Young. If Young maxes out his full potential, he could end up being the next Steph Curry. If he flames out, Jimmer Fredette seems like a good comparison.
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At just under 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, Young isn’t much bigger than the average American man. He lacks explosive athleticism and strength and his release is lower than you’d like out of an elite shooter. Getting his shot off could be a problem early on and his shooting percentages in Year 1 might scare some supporters away. That being said, Young has as much range as any prospect since Curry and is one of the best passers to come out of the draft in years.
In a situation with zero expectations to win, Young’s role will progress as the season goes on and he will have no choice but to play through his mistakes. Although there will be growing pains, the Hawks feel like they’ve found their Curry of the future.
What do you do when you’ve found your Curry of the future? Go and find your Klay Thompson of the future. That’s exactly what Schlenk and company did with 19th overall pick, taking shooting guard Kevin Huerter out of Maryland. Huerter is 6’7 and close to 200 pounds, just like Klay coming into the league. His shooting stats his last year of college: 60.5-41.7-75.8 (2P/3P/FT%’s), 10.1 FGA, 5.5 3PA. With one of the sweetest shooting strokes around, I could see Huerter peaking as an 18-20 PPG 3&D guy as he adds muscle onto his frame. There is real Splash Bros East potential down the road.
The immediate future, as in this upcoming season, is much more bleak for Atlanta. The Lin-Bazemore-Prince-Collins-Dedmon starting five is not an attractive site for a fanbase that ranked last in attendance among the 30 teams last year. Most casual fans probably couldn’t name a single one of those guys. If the Splash Bros East don’t work out, we should just move the team to Seattle.
Their rookies project to struggle early on and the Hawks roster as a whole is one of the weakest the East has thrown out in the 2010s. It isn’t on the level of the ’10 Nets, ’12 Bobcats, or ’16 76ers, but it’s not far off. They will struggle to win 20 games.
Hawks projected record: 17-65
Hawks chances of making the playoffs: 1%
Hawks chances of winning the East: <1%