With the FIBA World Cup in full swing and training camp around the corner, meaningful basketball is in the air. Over the next 6 weeks, we’ll break down each team’s strengths and weakness heading into the first season of the 2020s.

We begin with the Atlanta Hawks.

2018-19 Finish: 29-53, 13th in East

Who’s in: De’Andre Hunter (4th overall pick), Cam Reddish (10th overall pick), Bruno Fernando (34th overall pick), Evan Turner (trade with POR), Allen Crabbe (trade with BRK), Chandler Parsons (trade with MEM), Damian Jones (trade with GSW), Jabari Parker (free agency), Ray Spalding (free agency)

Who’s out: Dewayne Dedmon (SAC), Kent Bazemore (POR), Taurean Prince (BRK), Justin Omari Spellman (GSW), Miles Plumlee (MEM), Justin Anderson (un-signed), Deyonta Davis (un-signed)

Starters

PG – Trae Young

SG – Kevin Huerter

SF – De’Andre Hunter

PF – John Collins

C – Alex Len

Bench: Cam Reddish, Jabari Parker, Allen Crabbe, DeAndre’ Bembry, Damian Jones, Bruno Fernando, Ray Spalding, Chandler Parsons

Sneaky Breakout Candidate: DeAndre’ Bembry. Bembry wreaks havoc in passing lanes (he ranked 11th league-wide in steal percentage last year), and is an explosive finisher offensively who’s shown flashes of creation skills.

What Happened Last Year?

Things started slowly for Atlanta in 2018-19, with John Collins missing the first 15 games of the season with an ankle injury and rookie Trae Young struggling to adjust to NBA defenses. The team finished with a respectable 10-14 record after the All-Star break, largely led to Young’s offensive explosion. Ice Trae averaged nearly 25 points and over 9 assists a game over that stretch, asserting himself as the Rookie of the Year runner-up and giving Hawks fans hope as a true foundational star of the future. Fellow rookie Kevin Huerter put on display the shooting ability that was so highly coveted coming out of Maryland, and even flashed some intriguing skills as a ball handler.

2019-20 Analysis

The Hawks are fun again. Finally.

Something clicked for Trae Young last winter, and it’s hard not to see him building on that in year two. Young fits the mold of a modern point guard, even if his frame puts him at a defensive disadvantage. Ball handlers that can shoot from seemingly anywhere off the dribble or the catch is such a virtue for an offense, and few combine that ability with the Steve Nash-ian passing that Young possesses. Travis Schlenk has, at least in theory, paired Trae with the perfect supporting cast to help him succeed; rangy wings that can defend multiple positions and knock down shots off the catch, and a big man that can jump to the moon to throw down Trae’s pin-point lobs in the pick and roll. Atlanta traded up to the fourth pick to take Virginia swingman DeAndre Hunter, a bulky forward who shot 44% from deep in 2019 and ranked in the 90th percentile of college basketball on catch-and-shoot jumpers, per NBA.com and Synergy Sports. With the 10th pick, Atlanta selected another wing, Duke forward Cam Reddish. Reddish was a top 5 recruit in his class, but struggled at times playing third fiddle for the Blue Devils. Still, he projects to be at worst another lengthy 3&D wing for the Hawks, and has the upside of a high level wing scorer who can shoot from anywhere. Per Synergy, Reddish shot 41% from deep in transition as a freshman, perfect for the Hawks up-tempo offense. The two may not be ready to be positives defensively from day one, but Atlanta is the perfect situation for both of them to make mistakes early and grow over the next few seasons.

John Collins fleshed out more of his offensive repertoire in his second season and only looks to build on that in 2020. He quadrupled his three point volume from his debut season, knocking down 34.8% of his looks on 2.6 attempts per game. Combining his improving range with his excellent finishing ability (he’s shot 73% at the rim in his first two seasons) Collins is an efficiency beast. Combining that with his lethal offensive rebounding, and Collins’ offensive value is clear. Defensively, though, Collins is holding Atlanta back. He doesn’t move well laterally, struggles to get into a proper defensive stance (this is really, really bad), and in general doesn’t make quick reads on that end of the floor. He cut down his foul rate last season, but it came at the cost of offering almost no rim protection, despite his leaping ability. If Collins isn’t able to body up 5’s or hang on the perimeter with 4’s, building around him becomes tough, especially given Trae Young’s deficiencies on that end. Still, Collins hasn’t even turned 22 yet, so there’s still plenty of time for him to develop defensively. Another year under Lloyd Pierce’s tutelage should help him shore up his defensively fundamentals.

The rest of the roster is a bit rocky, at least for now. Alex Len will likely start alongside Collins at the 5, after the best season of his career in 2018-19. Len’s shooting was a revelation for the Hawks in 2019, and given Atlanta’s tendency to run with a stretch five, he figures to be a key fixture of the Hakws starting lineup. We should expect growth from Kevin Huerter and DeAndre’ Bembry, and Allen Crabbe adds some more floor spacing off the bench. Vince Carter is still kicking it at 42 years old, and he’s actually still pretty solid as a floor spacing vet , but it’s hard to see him playing more than 15 minutes a night given the amount of wing talent on the roster. Schlenk also took a flier on Jabari Parker in free agency, hoping to revitalize the former top pick’s career after a bevy of injuries. There’s no way to get around Parker’s putrid defense, but he’s still shown flashes of a versatile skill set, and Atlanta is a good spot for him to try to get his career back on track. The biggest issue for the Hawks will be their depth at point guard and center. After Trae, the only rotational player they have that can even try to run the offense is Evan Turner, acquired in a salary swap with Portland. At center, Bruno Fernando is intriguing, but probably needs some seasoning in College Park, and Damian Jones is just simply not very good. This team is going to miss Dewayne Dedmon badly. It wouldn’t be shocking if Atlanta swapped some of their perimeter talent for a backup ball handler or anotherbig man at some point before February.

Record Prediction: 35-47

The Final Line: Combining Trae’s run-and-gun brilliance with the explosiveness and ranginess of Collins and the rest of the young crew is a recipe for endless highlights, even if they won’t be able to stop a traffic cone defensively. Atlanta will be a must watch team next season, and they have a fighter’s chance at making the postseason.

~ Q