2015-16 Finish: 41-41

Season Highlight:

There is a lot of talent and they were surprisingly healthy. To be honest, I had written this whole thing one time through prior to hearing that Nick was out. I felt like Nick could lead the team back to where they were a short period of time ago. That said, the team did manage to bring in an NLL vet, just one that has been sitting on the sidelines for the better part of 20 years. Forget age, is there a backcourt in the league that can bring it at the level of Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul? I really don't think so. Those two guys also combined to play in all but a handful of the team's games. It's hard to ignore the drop-off from playoff darlings last season to being 2 spots out of even qualifying this season, but Paul and Wade both showing that they can play 70+ games (not between them, but each!) was a huge boost. The team survived a tumultuous time rapidly flipping between GMs and league control and didn't suffer too much horrible damage to the state of the franchise.

 

Season Lowlight:

In a league like the NLL you can't bounce from a disappearing GM, to league control and back to that same GM who then abandons you shortly after and expect to stay on top, then be relieved when a vet GM comes to rescue, only to trade down in the draft as his one move and then retire yet again. For all of the optimism and excitement that the entire league held for Ryan and the Hawks after the conclusion of an amazing turnaround that concluded with a surprise trip to the conference finals, it all nearly vanished. In his very brief return, Ryan sent out one set of picks for GM points that would never be used and brought in another set of picks for a proven defensive anchor. They went from the conference finals to a couple of slots outside of the playoffs. This is a team that took 5 steps in the wrong direction and Frahminator has some work to do in order to make sure that they can get back to where they were just 12 months ago.

 

Best Trade:

The Atlanta Hawks send Dwight Howard to the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks send Ronnie Price and Greg Monroe to the Atlanta Hawks.

The New York Knicks send a 1st-Rounder (NY) to the Atlanta Hawks.

How is it that last year's best trade was getting Dwight Howard and this year's best trade was getting rid of him? Last year, it was obvious... bringing in Howard turned the season around and helped the Hawks capture lightning in a bottle for a few short months. This season, with it evident that Howard couldn't continue to hold his dominance on both ends of the court and where their team was at, the Hawks wisely shipped him off for a much younger player that is on the upside of his development curve and already looking at passing the value Howard contributes. They also snagged a decent backup point guard and a late first round pick to go along with Greg Monroe. With Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade forming the backbone of their team already, they needed to diversify the age range of their core a bit, so I liked this move to accomplish that goal... eventhough some people aren't too high on Greg Monroe right now.

 

Worst Trade:

The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (Bos), 1st-Rounder (Atl) and 2nd-Rounder (Bos) to the LA Clippers.

The Atlanta Hawks receive 50 GM points. The LA Clippers trade -50 GM points.

So many of the Team-by-Team reviews struggle to find a "worst trade" and end up throwing up some deal where the team sent out a few GM points for a player that never made the roster or something similar. Not the case here, there were a couple of trades I debated between, but at the current point in time, this one takes the prize. At the time, Ryan was in a horrible position related to GM points due to a huge payroll and general lack of participation in the league. Trying to fix months worth of mismangement or non-management, Ryan traded away a couple of likely-late 2nd rounders (no big deal) along with his 2018 unprotected first round pick. I'm sure the logic was somewhat hopeful that the Hawks would continue to be a ~top 5 team and that the pick wouldn't be too valuable. The problem is that they were also staring at a core that was built on the already-declining Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard along with Chris Paul, who is probably due for a bit of a performance hit before that 2018 pick comes due. It's not out of the question to think that they may have just completely given away a top ten pick.

 

Other Notable Trades:

The Atlanta Hawks send Rudy Gobert to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (Atl) and 2nd-Rounder (Atl) to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia 76ers send a 1st-Rounder (NO) and 1st-Rounder (Orl) to the Atlanta Hawks.

This was the other deal that I considered for worst trade. The reason I held off on that is they did get a mid-lottery pick and a possible lottery pick in the coming draft as well. The problem is that they gave up a super-young, super-effective center whose biggest asset is one that is always over-important in our league (height). Just think if they could have kept Gobert and then shipped out Howard for a player similar in value/age to Monroe but at power forward. They would then have their frontcourt set for years putting that player next to Gobert/Winslow while still relying on Wade/Paul in the present. As it is, they now have a collection of unproven prospects and untaken first rounders instead of a potential all-star in the middle.

The Atlanta Hawks send Rasual Butler, Steve Blake, Louis Amundson and Dario Saric to the Golden State Warriors. The Golden State Warriors send O.J. Mayo to the Atlanta Hawks. The Golden State Warriors send Jarnell Stokes to the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (LAL), 2nd-Rounder (Phi) and 2nd-Rounder (LAL) to the Golden State Warriors. The Memphis Grizzlies send a 2nd-Rounder (Ind) to the Golden State Warriors.

At the time, this was a decent value deal... they get a great bench scorer and insurance for a possible Wade injury in exchange for a bunch of random stuff and Dario Saric. The deal got worse when the Hawks' chances of making the playoffs started to fall. Then the deal looked flat out embarassing when OJ Mayo was banned from the league for violation of the drug policy. If they had given up a chunk of second rounders for a short-term fix on the bench, then it looks great... but they gave up somebody who is considered a fairly top-level prospect (and also the reason they traded down from #2 in the draft last offseason) for a guy who wasn't even in the league not even six months later.

The New York Knicks send Donatas Motiejunas to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Atlanta Hawks use their trade exception over $ 2,288,205.

The Hawks did pick up a guy who may end up being good in the long run for free. I felt like this was a pretty good move that most teams would have loved to be on the recieving end of.

 

The Atlanta Hawks send a 1st-Rounder (NO) to the Chicago Bulls. The Chicago Bulls send a 1st-Rounder (Pho) and 1st-Rounder (Sac) to the Atlanta Hawks.

This was #7 for #14 and #16 and it is Nick's lone trade as GM of the Hawks. I wasn't really a big fan of this one because I felt like the draft fell off quite a bit after the 8th pick and at draft time it's always really hard to stomach moving down. However, I think historically the expected value of two mid-round 1sts is higher than one mid-lottery pick, so it's not like it's a bad deal. Obviously it will be all about who Nick would have picked (maybe Buddy Hield?) versus who he did pick (Denzel Valentine and DeAndre Bembry). If he was interested in moving back in the draft, I feel like he got good value doing it though.

 

The Atlanta Hawks send JJ Redick to the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets send Anthony Morrow, Patrick Mills and Trevor Booker to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (Atl) and 1st-Rounder (Atl) to the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets send a 2nd-Rounder (Den) to the Atlanta Hawks.

This deal was generally seen as fair by the league. The problem is that, when it was being evaluated it was assumed that the Hawks would be one of the top few seeds in the East and that they were getting a few solid players to round out their bench. Redick ended up having a great season, the Hawks struggled, and the pick ended up 11th. Certainly in hindsight, a lottery pick and a solid starting shooting guard aren't something that ship off for three run of the mill bench players. But that's hindsight, and it definitely didn't feel like an awful deal at the time.

 

Best FA Signing:

Justin Holiday. After bringig in Al-Farouq Aminu as one of the bigger free agent victories last year, Ryan didn't  have any money or points to spend this year. Holiday wins this by default... he's still on the team nearly a year later, but he really didn't provide much of value to this point.

 

Worst FA Signing:

Christian Wood. When you only have minimum-level free agent signings that don't contribute to the team, the worst one is generally determined by who gets released first. Wood survived until January, making this not notably bad as far as minimum signings go. No harm done.

 

Star:

Dwyane Wade.

Wade is continuing to prove that he can do it. After 11 seasons with the Nets, they gave up on him, thinking that his knees couldn't handle too much more - sending him to ATL in order to kick off their rebuild. Wade is still absolutely a star-level performer and maybe even more surprisingly, played 70 games this season. He kept all of his stats at previously high levels with 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists along with 45% shooting. Frahminator just needs to try to convince him to stick around for another run!

Surprise:

Trevor Booker

Eventhough I previously criticised the trade that brough him and others in, describing them as "run of the mill bench players", Booker was comfortable doing the dirty work for the team and had a surprisingly effective year in Atlanta. Trevor played in every single game and quickly took over as the starting power forward. He put up over 8 and 8 on almost 50% shooting.

Goat:

Justice Winslow

Supposedly Ryan had Winslow pegged as his guy from the beginning. He was in the rare spot of coming off of a trip to the conference finals while also sitting at the 2nd spot in the draft. Trading back to get your guy and picking up Dario Saric in the process, instead of picking him higher than you needed to is a great move. The problem is that Winslow came out flat. He had every chance to make his mark on a Hawks team that was underwhelming compared to expectations, starting 67 of the 78 games . He had the ability to be everything they needed - a starting small forward, young legs next to a veteran backcourt, a long/athletic defender amongst the rest of a lineup that doesn't fit that description. But... he put up under 6 points/game and didn't carry the team on defense as much as many would have liked to see. Winslow isn't a lost cause, and there is every reason to think that he'll come into year two in a better place, they just had really high hopes for him and his inability to play starting-caliber basketball on a playoff team is big reason they weren't one.

Draft Report Card:

We've already discussed the decision to trade down in the draft for the second straight season, so we won't get into that. I thought they did a good job snagging guys they liked in an effort to plug some holes on their roster. The selection of 3 wing players really makes you wonder if Dwyane Wade has already shown his hand and won't be back in Atlanta next season. However, even if he is back they have enough need for wings on the bench that it isn't unrealistic that a couple of their rookies would see rotation minutes from day one. Denzel Valentine really brings a lot that the team needs and I would be pretty surpised to not see him as a key part of the second unit in the Hawks' opener. DeAndre Bembry and Malik Beasley may be fighting with each other for minutes all season long, so it will be interesting to see how that develops as we get closer to tip-off.

Looking to the Future:

Frahminator has his work cut out for him, probably more so than any GM that has a shot at making the playoffs this season. Obviously there are tougher GM positions in the league on less talent-laden teams. However, navigating salary issues, lack of depth, an aging core, and pending free agencies may be the excitement that resurrected Frahminator out of the 90s. Let's not paint the picture too bleakly though... currently the Hawks have a couple of solid 2017 first rounders, two future hall of famers that are still playing at near-peak levels, last year's lottery pick coming into his second season way more ready, and three newly arrived 2016 first rounders that could be good. It's not going to take a miracle to make this team successful, just a solid strategy and decision-making from the GM. How they handle their own free agents over the next month will be the first big step, but it's hard to see them negotiating the coming weeks without losing some players they would prefer to keep around. Frahminator is in for a ride in his first weeks on the job.

Upcoming Free Agents:

Dwyane Wade - This is a familiar position to be in after last season. Despite the fact that they've been down this road before, it feels very much different. Last year it was a foregone conclusion that Wade was opting out for financial reasons and going to resign. This season, he seems to be genuinely looking at other options - and with most of the league having enough cap space to make a run at him, he may have his pick of where to play. Can the GM convince Wade that another year playing off the ball next to Chris Paul is the best way to keep him healthy and his career on track? Or is he looking to go back to the role he's held in previous seasons as the guy with the ball in his hands at all times? This one decision will significantly alter the direction of the franchise, so brace yourselves.

Trevor Booker - Wouldn't Booker be crazy to not come back to a team that embraced him, gave him a huge role, and is willing to pay him big to come back? It seems like he wants to look around the league to see if he can capitalize on his expanded role and see what kind of offers he can get from elsewhere.

Ronnie Price - Despite having a clearly defined role as the backup point guard, it looks like Ronnie isn't happy playing behind Chris Paul and will look elsewhere. If he does, is the front office going to have to scramble to find a replacement unless playing Valentine at point guard is deemed to be a viable possibility.

Donatas Motiejunas - This guy has already been a thorn in the side of the Hawks. As one of their restricted free agents at a position of need, this really should have been a straight forward case of him coming back. Now he's doing crazy things like looking at playing outside of the NLL, talking about not signing their qualifying offer or any offer sheets from other teams... Who knows what will happen here. He's not exactly a cornerstone player, but if he could move past his injury issues he would be a helpful guy to keep around.

Jon Leuer - Leuer didn't do a ton for the Hawks last season and has bounced around the league a decent bit, not averaging more than 5 points since early in his rookie year (during his first stop with the Hawks). Despite that, he's somehow commanding a very high amount of money and looking to go to any team that will give it to him. With all of the other guys that they have to be focusing on, my best guess is that they're fine with Leuer riding off into the sunset.