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Atlanta Hawks: Complete 2017 offseason grades

By Brendan Galella

Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images /
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Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images /

Final offseason grade

New Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk refused to call his first summer with the organization as a rebuilding effort, but tabbing the roster overhaul anything else becomes a difficult task.

Atlanta allowed Paul Millsap, an All-Star during each of his four seasons with the team, to simply walk to Denver without an attempt to re-sign him. Dwight Howard was traded for an unimpressive return and Tim Hardaway Jr. earned an unexpected, massive pay increase in New York.

The most successful regular season team the Hawks ever fielded, a 60-win club during the 2014-15 season, has been completely dismantled, with key contributors Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll, Jeff Teauge, Al Horford and Paul Millsap are all playing elsewhere.

The initial moves from Schlenk largely focused on unproven players capable of contributing next season on short-term contracts.

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    • The Hawks have a suddenly crowded field of centers, but among the six players competing for both roster spots and playing time, none have shown any consistency as a shot-blocker.

    John Collins, the 19th pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, performed extremely well at the Las Vegas portion of the NBA Summer League tournament, but relying on a first-year player to become an impactful rebounder is a tall order.

    The losses of Millsap and Howard forces Atlanta to replace over 40 percent of its total rebounds from a year ago. Since 2000, only Howard, Emeka Okafor, Blake Griffin, Elton Brand and Karl-Anthony Towns averaged 10 or more rebounds during their rookie season.

    While Collins is capable of becoming the top rebounding threat, and perhaps the second scoring option behind point guard Dennis Schroder, only 14 players have posted at least 18 points and 10 rebounds a game during their debut season since 1980.

    Along with the likely decline in rebounding efficiency, scoring will be even more of an issue next year, with three of the top four point scorers removed from the roster.

    The offensive burden lies heavily on Schroder, a 23-year-old that poured in 17.9 points per game, but needed 15.4 shots to reach that career-high average.

    The Hawks’ win total has decreased each of the past two years, and their streak of 10 consecutive playoff appearances is in serious jeopardy.

    Atlanta did achieve financial flexibility for the future with their signings, but the franchise has experienced limited success in free agency during its history.

    Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far

    Initial win projections predict the Hawks to win around 35 games, the worst place to be in the midst of a rebuilding effort — not talented enough to make the playoffs and unlikely to land a premium selection in the 2018 NBA Draft.

    Final Grade: C-

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