Atlanta Hawks: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason
By Mason McFee
4. Find or acquire rim protection
John Collins averaged 1.1 blocks per game this past season. While not a great number, it’s not too shabby for a rookie that only averaged 24.2 minutes per game and only made 26 starts.
The problem? Collins was the Hawks’ leader in blocks for the 2017-18 campaign.
When the Hawks brought in Dewayne Dedmon last offseason by signing him to a two-year, $14.1 million deal, they were hoping to get (some of) this….
Instead, Dedmon averaged 0.8 blocks per game this year. To be fair Dedmon only averaged slightly more minutes than Collins did, but he also had 20 more starts. Someone with Dedmon’s athleticism should have averaged at least one or two blocks per game on a rebuilding Hawks squad, but he didn’t, so here we are.
So where do the Hawks go from here? There appears to be a few options, but they are few:
1) Hope for internal improvement from John Collins, which is entirely possible.
Take a look at this play against the San Antonio Spurs:
Collins’ defensive assignment on this play is Joffrey Lauvergne. As the play develops, Collins initially puts a body on Lauvergne, but falls asleep watching the ball-handler, allowing Lauvergne to slip underneath the basket. In turn, this lets Rudy Gay make the pass underneath.
Lauvergne appears to have an easy two and Collins beat, but Collins realizes his mistake, recovers and makes the clean block on Lauvergne. It’s plays like these that should give the Hawks hope, and admittedly makes this the most viable option – but there are other ones.
2) Free agency.
This is a route the Hawks (and every other NBA team) turns to every offseason, and while it is farfetched that a big-name player would relocate to ATL this summer, it’s not out of the question they can’t make a solid signing or two.
Marco Belinelli was acquired from the Charlotte Hornets in the Dwight Howard trade last summer, but both Dewayne Dedmon and Ersan Ilyasova chose to sign with the Hawks last offseason of their own free will (albeit on short-term deals).
3) Trade.
The Houston Rockets seem to love Clint Capela, and are excited about his future, as evidenced by this postgame conference after they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 to take the series:
It’s nice to see the veteran duo praise their young big man. The Rockets intentionally chose not to sign Capela to a contract extension, making him a restricted free agent in the offseason.
Could the Hawks front office want to expedite the rebuilding process and try to convince Dedmon to exercise his player option to facilitate a trade to Houston in exchange for Clint Capela and Ryan Anderson? The trade would look like this:
The Hawks trading whoever they take with their first round selection (projected to be somewhere in the top-five picks in this year’s draft) would be a tough pill to swallow for Hawks fans, but Capela is only 23, is a proven rim protector and rim-runner, and he fits the Hawks’ timeline much better than Dedmon and Bazemore do.
I admit that I’m assuming the Hawks want to expedite their rebuild, which may be a stretch considering the only moves they made during the season were sending out Luke Babbitt and a 2019 second round pick for Okaro White and Sheldon Mac, respectively. The acquisitions were waived immediately to shave salary. This could suggest they’re open to acquiring pricy contracts, including a contract extension for Capela.
This deal couldn’t take place until free agency begins, which would also be somewhat demoralizing since the Hawks would have a brand new rookie to look forward to, only to trade him a few weeks later.
Atlanta Hawks
However, Atlanta could absorb Anderson’s $19.6 million salary for next season and whatever deal it signs Capela to (even if it stretches toward $15-20 million a season) thanks to their ample cap room ($18.3 million, per Spotrac) and the ability to ship out Kent Bazemore ($18.1 million) and Dewayne Dedmon ($6.3 million if he opts in).
Taking on Anderson’s albatross of a contract seems a bit much for a player that won’t start, but maybe the Hawks work out a buyout. In any case, taking on his contract gives the Rockets added incentive to part with their star big man, since it frees up cap space for their potential free agency pursuits of a LeBron James or a Paul George. It also provides them with a capable, albeit far more limited big in Dedmon to replace Capela for the interim.
With Trevor Ariza hitting unrestricted free agency, the Rockets could plug Bazemore in on the wing, and with a presumed top-five selection, they could select a rookie to could replace one of their older veterans (Ariza, P.J. Tucker or even James Harden or Chris Paul down the road), without forcing him into action right away. In a draft filled with talented bigs, they could even find their long-term Capela replacement as well, though they might be less inclined to make a deal like this when they’re in win-now mode.
They could obviously just keep Capela, but Daryl Morey is no fool — he knows that the Rockets are the oldest roster in the league (29.5 years is the average age of a player on this year’s squad). An opportunity to add a franchise cornerstone while still being in win-now mode is a rare opportunity, and if it means sacrificing Capela to get rid of Anderson, then perhaps it’s not as outrageous as it sounds.