The Atlanta Hawks are Trapped in NBA Purgatory
Most NBA teams without a superstar struggle between two different conundrums. The first is being insufferably terrible at basketball with undeniably questionable decision makers running the franchise. In this scenario, the highlight of your franchise might be night club boxer, Jahlil Okafor, or a notorious snitch, D’Angelo Russell.
The other scenario is a franchise who seemingly has it all together. They have solid players across the board, consistent front office competency, and an NBA coach who can actually develop talent and draw up plays in crunch time. In this situation, the highlight of your franchise might be Butler standout Gordon Heyward or like eighteen undersized guards who all somehow play cohesively and offer a bright future for the city of Boston.
The latter can be most accurately be described as perennial losers to LeBron James — the Atlanta Hawks.
Take yourself back to 2013. The Hawks played their first season without Joe Johnson, and they entered the off season coming off another first round loss. It was time to escape this lower-tier Hell, so the Hawks front office shipped out Josh Smith, hired Mike Budenholzer, and gave the keys off to their two budding big men.
Bud took the blooming talent that was dispersed across the roster and improved from 44 wins in 2012–13 to 60 wins in 2014–15. The turnaround was in large part due to the new found offensive efficiency. Under Bud, the Hawks improved in almost every significant offensive category, most notably jumping from 8.6 3-pointers made per game up to 10.0 and scoring 3.5 more points per game.
The 60 win regular season meant promise for a potential title run. However, LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers stomped the Hawks in four games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
But it all seemed okay as the Hawks entered this most recent season returning everyone but starting forward DeMarre Carroll. Hopes were high that experience from the past season could help bolster a deeper playoff run in a conference that, besides LeBron James, had little to offer.
The regular season offered serious disappointment. Kyle Korver took a notable step back. The Hawks were getting out rebounded by 4 rebounds per game. The team didn’t have the same cohesiveness that it had a season ago. They finished the regular season with 48 wins.
Just like a recurring nightmare, Bud’s team ran into an absolute buzz saw of a Cavs team that walloped them for a second year in a row, putting a ribbon on the disappointing 2015–16 campaign.
Fast forward back to this off season, and the Hawks find themselves attempting to conquer a similar issue that plagued them back in 2013. They stand trapped in the NBA purgatory — good enough to reel off a 60 win season, but they do not have the superstar that puts them over the top into serious title contention.
Which is what makes this off season so compelling. Al Horford is an unrestricted free agent. Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder clog up one another’s playing time. Paul Millsap could be flipped into a number of nice assets. Kent Bazemore is due to get paid.
The Hawks could blow this up. They could let Bazemore and Horford walk, trade Teague and Millsap for assets and hope they stumble upon a superstar via the draft.
But maybe NBA purgatory is not so bad.
Atlanta has the second most talent on a roster top to bottom in the Eastern Conference. If they retain Horford and trade Teague for a young player like Nerlens Noel, they have a promising roster that should hover around 50 wins, and they have young pieces to develop for the future.
The Hawks have the second best gig in the NBA. Being backup quarterback in the Eastern Conference puts them in position to contend for a title if LeBron James gets injured. As long as the Hawks stay tooled with talent, NBA purgatory could mean an NBA Finals appearance.
