NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates 
The Atlanta Hawks are still trying to recreate that glory they found during a 2021 playoff run.
Only one player, Onyeka Okongwu, remains from that Eastern Conference finalist team. Coaches and executives have come and gone, and yet every season the Hawks seem locked in a battle against .500 — not against the elite of the NBA.
Advertisement
Many pointed to the difficulties of building around a small, defensively challenged guard like Trae Young for this, but as the New York Knicks showed, the right team building execution can navigate those challenges (although not a perfect comparison for Jalen Brunson’s brilliance, of course).
As they head into the next season, there doesn’t appear to be much of a path leading to the 2027 NBA Finals for them. The team opted for continuity and long-term flexibility in their moves this offseason — which I believe was the mature and prudent path forward in fairness.
So why is it that the Hawks continue to be stuck in the middle?
They’ve replaced one homegrown, foundational All-Star (Young) with another (Jalen Johnson). Both guys have proven to be elite NBA players as first rounders and former five-star high school players.
Advertisement
But that same first round of the NBA Draft is exactly where the Hawks are otherwise snakebitten, and the main reason why their stuck in mediocrity.
Let’s take a brief stroll down memory lane (focused on first-round draft picks because second round picks are a pure crapshoot):
This one will be quick: the Hawks hit both of their top 29 first round picks out of the park (the less that’s said about Omari Spellman at 30, the better). Kevin Huerter has proved to be a quality pick at 19 even as his career has stalled out after a torrid start to his Sacramento Kings career.
Still, this draft will likely be about who the Hawks didn’t come away with than who they did. What does the franchise look like if they had opted for the player with six (!) First Team All-NBA selections before the age of 28 instead of Young — provided they didn’t later trade him to the Lakers for pocket lint.
Advertisement
Here’s where things really began to go off the rails. The Hawks —…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/poor-drafting-why-hawks-not-110000433.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-09-15 11:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
