2016-17 Finish: 26-56

Season Highlight:

Being able to at least move on from Chris Paul and getting some kind of return and although it did come later on, being patient and securing the number one pick and fast tracking the process of climbing the ranks significantly has to be considered a win. A low bar has been set but in this situation as long as there is progress that’s always a positive. They’re in a lot better shape then some of the other low lying teams and some tender loving care could see them really bounce back in a short time frame. 

Season Lowlight:

The revolving door of GM’s that has been an issue not just this season but the last few. Some hope was shown with GM Frahminator at least making some solid moves and coming across as being an active and motivated general manager. The Hawks seemed to have some sort of direction but are again left for someone else to pick up the pieces. It’s not all doom and gloom though, they do have future picks and a budding young star in Fultz but it’s still a long road back for this rebuilding franchise. 

Best Trade:

Hawks send 1st Rounder (ORL) to the Sixers for 1st Rounder (HOU) and 1st Rounder (CHI). 

Essentially working out to be trading down from pick 10 to get 15 and 18. A tidy move for a rebuilding franchise who managed to pick up a possible franchise type PG in Fultz and also flip a low % lottery pick for two firsts close together to cover their needs in the front court. 

In a draft class that will probably go down as one of the deepest ever, outside of the top 7-8 it was still the expected crap shoot. I don’t mind passing on the chance at guys like Collins, Giles and Markkanen at 10 to get two shots at the group of guys that were available 15-20.

Worst Trade:

The Hawks send Chris Paul and Lucas Nogueira to the Pistons for Jrue Holiday and Tristan Thompson. 

Hawks also send 26 GM points to the Pistons???...

Pistons ended up kind of evening up the deal with a later move sending a 2018 1st Rounder (IND) to the Hawks which is probably projected to fall just outside of lottery contention. 

This is a move I mentioned earlier in the season as a must for the purposes of the rebuilding Hawks. It’s super hard to get value for any franchise type player who’s on the way down sure but that being said Cp is still elite and this deal just didn’t make sense. The threat of Cp opting out of his option was obviously a huge factor and the driving reason for the Hawks to decide to move on but what they got back was an injury prone and somewhat unproven point guard in Holiday who is in a similar contract situation. I liked the Tristan Thompson acquisition but he was flipped recently for basically nothing in Anderson and Grant when they already had a carbon copy stretch four type in Dekker who’s 6 years younger… To throw away 26 points in a deal where you’re giving up the best player just seems odd and a pick that will most likely fall outside of lottery contention doesn’t make up for it. 

I do give props for even getting the deal done and receiving multiple assets in return but perhaps this could’ve been a move explored more thoroughly later in the season when teams were a bit more desperate. If Holiday decides to stay and lives up to potential then this move is at least solid but just a lot of risk for a team needing a sure thing for what they gave up. 

Other Notable Trades:

The Hawks send Patrick Mills to New York for Sam Dekker. 

The Hawks played a small part in a big three way deal involving the Wizards. Managing to offload a serviceable point guard on an expiring in Mills to get back a promising prospect in Dekker is nice. With their expected high draft pick probably being used to pick up a young guard this move made a lot of sense. 

Free Agency:

Keep Jrue Holiday. 

Henderson is most likely out for this coming season and Nicholson and Felton will probably move on. Justin Holiday would be a nice piece to keep around but obviously not a priority. If they shuffled some pieces around and renounced aforementioned veterans then they could possibly free up about 7 million in cap space... Which isn’t really going to do them a lot of good as they would forfeit the full MLE. So I wouldn’t expect them to be to much of a player in FA other then hopefully enticing a few solid vets on min/MLE deals to come over and play a mentoring role this upcoming season.  

Star:

Jrue Holiday- 14.7 PPG, 8.3 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.0 SPG Shooting 41/34/74. 

Shout out to Greg Monroe for being probably the most consistent guy on the roster and playing almost the entire season (80 games) for the Hawks. 

This is all about Jrue though who struggled a little bit while in Atlanta but did show glimpses of elite level play as he started the year in Dallas then moved on to Detroit and finally settling in Atlanta. Would be pretty hard to perform under this kind of duress and instability so I expect Jrue to really make this team his own coming into this season… At least until Fultz develops and should prove able to play alongside Jrue at the two. 

Goat:

Justice Winslow- Was part of a deal including Dario Saric coming over to Atlanta for D’Angelo Russell back in 2015. Was touted as being an up and coming elite three and D guy but has really disappointed so far with his progression. He only played 12 games last year and while he was on the court averaged 11 PPG, 4 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.3 SPG in a shade over 30 mins a game… He was super innefficent with shooting splits of 38/33/66 and on a team thats playing for ping pong balls you’d expect more of a showing. 

Draft Grades (from the draft insiders):

Round 1:  Pick 1 - Markelle Futlz, Pick 15- Justin Patton, Pick 18- Justin Jackson.

Grade:  A (merencio grade), A (nenjabin grade)

Pretty solid all round, I mean how can you screw up the number one pick? Other then that got some solid pieces coupled with more then enough time to see how they progress. 

The Future:

For all intensive purposes Jrue (if he stays) and Fultz will be the backcourt of the future for this team. Both extremely versatile with size and length and capable of playing ether the one of two while having a lot of potential to be elite on both ends of the floor. If everything progresses nicely they will be the focal point of this franchise for years to come and it will be up for the management to do them justice and stay patient, complimenting them with solid roster to help them develop and start winning ball games. 

Upcoming Free Agents:

Jrue Holiday (UFA) - It’s already been made fairly clear this is their main priority coming into free agency. Expect the Hawks to throw big money at him to keep him happy as they have his bird rights and aren’t saving cap space for anyone else. 

Andrew Nicholson (UFA) - Not really a high priority but wouldn’t be a bad back up big depending on the contract. 

Gerald Henderson (UFA) - As good as gone, his cap hold is limiting and word is he may not even play next season given possible hip surgery.

Justin Holiday (UFA) - Hell lets make this a family  affair and keep him around. Versatile forward who could really round out the rotation if he decides to stick around

Raymond Felton (UFA) - Playing third string PG on a rebuilding franchise probably isn’t in Felton’s career plans and I’d expect him to move on to greener pastures.