Atlanta Hawks: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason

1. Keep stockpiling wings

Taurean Prince is a building block. Kent Bazemore is still a solid player, but for our purposes, he was just shipped off to Houston in the hypothetical Capela trade. The jury’s still out on DeAndre’ Bembry, and there isn’t much else to get excited about on the perimeter of this Hawks team as currently constructed. The playoffs are still ongoing and won’t end until mid-June, but the Hawks’ season has been officially over since April 10, and as the kids say – basketball never stops.

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The Hawks should definitely be aggressive in free agency. I recognize that I may be in the minority on this, but I truly believe they aren’t that far off from relevance as people expect. If they nail the head coaching search, they shrink the perceived chasm between the lottery-bound and playoff teams in the East considerably. Whether or not they do that remains to be seen, but it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be looking to make major upgrades in the offseason.

The Hawks could have as many as three first-rounders in this year’s coming draft if they keep them all, though for our purposes, they’re already sending their top-five pick to Houston. That would leave them with No. 19 and No. 33 in the first round, plus a second-rounder at No. 33.

In most mock drafts, here some of  the prospects that are projected to be available at that point: Keita Bates-Diop, Lonnie Walker, Gary Trent Jr., Mitchell Robinson and Hamidou Diallo. While all of those prospects couldn’t hurt if they were to join ATL’s squad, I’m going to offer an alternative: trade the picks for proven, young prospects.

T.J. Warren is a name that comes to mind. While it wouldn’t make much sense at first for another rebuilding squad to help out another rebuilding squad, much less relinquish a young, scoring talent, it does when some things are considered:

• The Hawks allowed opponents to (on average) shoot 37.7 percent from deep, which ranked 28th in the league. At first glance, Warren’s -1.2 defensive box plus/minus wouldn’t suggest he’s an effective defender, but it must be remembered that Warren has been asked to score for Phoenix, not defend. He has a 6’9.5″ wingspan, and alongside Taurean Prince’s 6’11” wingspan, the two could be a solid, young duo to pair with rookie sensation John Collins.
• The Hawks averaged 103.4 points per game, which ranked 25th in the league. Warren holds a career 13.6 points per game scoring average, but is coming off a season where he scored 19.6 points per game. Basketball isn’t all about scoring, but teams don’t win when they score less than the other team, and Atlanta did a lot of that this past season.
• The Suns are high on last year’s No. 4 overall selection, Josh Jackson; and Warren only played in 65 games last season, which is only one game away from tying his career high in games played in a season, 66.
• The Hawks were bad last season.

Phoenix is also slated to be an aggressive player in the offseason, and as HoopsHabit’s own Gerald Bourguet outlined, Elfrid Payton is not the long-term answer as point guard. The Suns’ willingness to sacrifice a future asset (albeit a second round pick) shows they are serious upgrading their roster, and keeping resident budding superstar Devin Booker happy.

Schroder is a better player than Payton is, and would be their best point guard since Eric Bledsoe left earlier in the season. He fits Phoenix’s Timeline seamlessly, and the reasoning for why Atlanta would do this deal can be found above. If the Suns go big in the draft with someone like hometown product DeAndre Ayton, point guard will still be a need.

Schroder, Bazemore and the presumed top-five selection are Atlanta’s best trade assets, as they are pretty bereft of the latter. They are not going to trade John Collins, and would only move Prince if an offer came along that blew them away.

Since Bazemore and the top-five selection are off to Houston with Clint Capela now on board in our hypothetical, their remaining option is to move Schroder (and possibly one of those other picks in the 30s) for another young piece. Warren would be more of a proven player than either player the Hawks would be selecting at No. 30, but they could come off the bench and play heavy minutes while getting some reps in the G League if this deal never came to fruition.

Next: Full two-round 2018 NBA Mock Draft

The Hawks do have some flexibility, a couple of valuable first round picks and a few movable players, so whether they stay the course and patiently rebuild or aim to mix things up this summer, don’t be surprised if these Hawks are flying high next season.