Atlanta Hawks: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason

Despite a rough 2017-18 season, we take a look at five offseason goals the Atlanta Hawks can shoot for after their first year of a rebuild.

By just looking at the numbers, it may not seem like the Atlanta Hawks had a great season. They ended the season with a 24-58 record and averaged103.4 points per game, while their opponents averaged 108.8 points per game (good for 25th and 23rd league-wide, respectively).

The Hawks shot 44.6 percent on all field goal attempts as a team, which was 25th in the NBA.

If you dig a bit deeper though, the numbers don’t seem as bad.

The Hawks averaged 23.7 assists per game as a team, despite only having one player average more than five a game (Dennis Schroder at 6.3 per game). That number was good for eighth in the league.

The Hawks shot 78.5 percent from the free throw line this season, which may not sound like a super impressive number, but actually was the seventh-best average among all 30 teams. They also averaged 7.8 steals a game, which ranked 12th in the league.

Who exactly are the Hawks then?

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Despite the 24-58 record, Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer remains one of the best in the business. His .520 winning percentage is a bit skewed by this past season, as the lowest win percentage he’s had since becoming the head coach of the Hawks was .429. The very next year, he coached the Hawks to a 60-22 record.

Granted, that iteration of the Hawks got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, but shouldn’t be viewed as a reflection of Bud’s coaching reputation as a whole. Unfortunately for Atlanta, the team will be parting ways with the savvy head coach this summer.

While the Hawks will be likely picking in the top five of the 2018 NBA Draft this summer, they are not as far away from the playoffs as people think. They just need to tinker with their roster a bit. Here’s a look at five goals for the offseason.