Atlanta Hawks: Comprehensive Grades For The Offseason
Letting DeMarre Carroll Walk
Atlanta’s most damaging offseason decision was the choice not to compete with the four-year, $60 million contract DeMarre Carroll was offered by the Toronto Raptors. Carroll was a big part of Atlanta’s success last season because he has the ability to guard superstar players.
The Hawks never did quite find a clear replacement, believing that Thabo Sefolosha, Tim Hardaway Jr., and/or someone else on the team could share small forward duties.
This decision is hard to grade, because DeMarre Carroll did get overpaid, at the very least relative to the Hawks’ expectations. Before free agency started, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN reported that the Hawks were prepared for an asking price of four years and $50 million. Carroll instead got very close to his max at $15 million per year from Toronto. Due to their cap situation, the Hawks were unable to compete with the offer.
DeMarre Carroll tells us @BR_Radio that Atlanta told him that it came down to him or Paul Millsap
— Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports (@EthanJSkolnick) July 5, 2015
The loss of Carroll is damaging to the Hawks, who can’t find both the offense and defense Carroll provides on their current lineup. So while not overpaying a player is a good thing, losing a player who is very critical to their system is something the Hawks will need to deal with. How well they do that will determine how well the 2015-16 season goes.
Grade: B-
Next: Draft Moves