Atlanta Hawks: Falling too in love with recent playoff run would be a massive mistake
The Atlanta Hawks shouldn’t feel themselves too much after their recent deep playoff run.
Coming off an unlikely deep playoff run that saw them nearly make the NBA Finals, the Atlanta Hawks are one of the biggest stories to come out of this year’s postseason. However, if there’s anything we’ve learned from the not-so-distant past (last year’s bubble playoffs), it’s that the Hawks can’t afford to fall too in love with this current incarnation of the team.
Atlanta should take a page out of last year’s Miami Heat, who might’ve misstepped after falling in love with their team a bit too much after making an unlikely deep playoff run.
On paper, it’s easy to be confident about this current Hawks build. After all, they have plenty of intriguing – and supremely talented – young pieces. Though, you can be excited about this team’s future without being overly foolish and unrealistic about this group’s ceiling.
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The Atlanta Hawks have a strong foundation
The good news for the Hawks is that they certainly have a true No. 1. I don’t think that can be denied after the run in which Trae Young carried the Hawks. During this year’s postseason run, en route to leading the Hawks within two wins of the NBA Finals, Young averaged 29 points and 10 assists on 42 percent shooting from the field.
What made his postseason run even more impressive was the fact that it was the first postseason appearance of his career. Young is just starting up and the fact that he was able to post those types of numbers, I can’t even imagine what he could potentially do once he really gets experienced and hits his peak as a player.
Around Young, let’s not get it twisted, the Hawks’ front office did a great job of surrounding him with a great collection of talent.
You can make a case that the Hawks’ season doesn’t turn around without the contributions of Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was signed last offseason. Bogdanovic was a great fit next to Young and played an important role for this team in his absence.
The same can be said about John Collins who should be rewarded this offseason with a nice payday as he cemented himself as the team’s No. 2 option this season. Clint Capela grew into his role with the team this season and absolutely benefited from Young’s playmaking ability.
Danilo Gallinari, who was also signed during the offseason, was a valued veteran that the team needed off the bench. Kevin Huerter and Cam Reddish are two rising young players and should definitely be part of this team’s continued build.
Onyeka Okongwu didn’t see much run this season but the sky is the limit for the young big as well. And we certainly saw his potential, especially defensively, in spurts against the Bucks.
The foundation is set for the Hawks. But Atlanta should be careful in how they elect to take the next step in their build. The NBA is and always has been a star-driven league. And when the Hawks needed them most, they ran out of star power when Young was a shell of his former self (after the injury) in the conference finals.
With Giannis ailing, the Bucks had Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday there as reinforcements. The Hawks did not. And that ended up being the difference between the two teams in the conference finals. Atlanta is a good team. They have a strong roster. But they are not a championship contender.
Even though you can’t take away what they accomplished in this year’s playoffs, you also can’t help but feel that their unlikely run was at least in part due to the unconventional season that 2020-21 was.
The Hawks are absolutely on the right track but the build needs to continue, almost as if this run never happened. The last thing the Hawks need is to feel a little too good about this past season. They can’t fall into the fallacy that the 2020 Heat fell into ahead of this past season.
It will end up being one of the biggest mistakes that this franchise can make.