NBA Rumors: Best free agent every team in Southeast Division should target
By Matt Sidney
NBA Rumors: 1 Free agent every team in the Southeast Division should explore signing.
As we continue to explore one free agent that every team in the league should sign heading into the new calendar year, today we'll examine the Southeast Division with the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards.
Let's dive into the one free agent that would be the best fit for the team.
Atlanta Hawks: Justise Winslow, G/F
The Atlanta Hawks have a similar problem as the Indiana Pacers. They can score at a high rate, but get scored on just as easily. For this exercise, we will be choosing a player whose primary focus is defending but who has the potential to offer a lot more.
Justise Winslow is the perfect free-agent pickup for the Hawks. A multi-tool, multi-positional defender, Winslow can take on the tougher defensive assignments and let "Ice" Trae Young pop off offensively. The decision to include Winslow here boils down to three things.
Firstly, the Hawks' defense allows the second-highest field goal percentage in the NBA, at just over 50% per game. One out of every two shots is going in on this team - brutal. Secondly, drilling into that number fully, we can see that a lot of this stems from the fact that the Hawks' defense is also the fifth worst in the NBA in 3-point percentage, allowing 38.5% of opponents threes to cash.
Lastly, the Hawks are always looking for another option to handle the ball to allow Trae Young to play off-ball. They have recently brought in Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and drafted Kobe Bufkin to alleviate this issue, yet it seemingly is always an issue. Winslow checks all three of these boxes. If the Hawks want to climb back into the playoff picture, they should seriously consider making this move now.