Atlanta Hawks: 3 takeaways from the 2018 offseason

2. The Hawks need big years from Dewayne Dedmon and John Collins again

During and after the 2017-18 season, Atlanta said goodbye to frontcourt reserves Tyler Cavanaugh, Ersan Ilyasova and, most notably, Mike Muscala, putting pressure on John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon just a bit more. To help out, the Hawks drafted Omari Spellman and acquired Alex Len recently.

Collins led the team with 5.4 win shares and a 18.3 Player Efficiency Rating last year, earning him a starting spot at the end of the season. Collins was very efficient playing close to the basket, posting a 59.1 effective field goal percentage, the 10th-best mark in the NBA.

Collins pulled down 176 offensive rebounds last season as well, the 19th-most in the league. That came out to a 11.0 offensive rebounding percentage, tied for the eighth-best mark in the NBA with former Hawk Dwight Howard.

Dewayne Dedmon stepped up his game as well, easily posting his best season in the five years he’s been in the league. Dedmon posted 10.0 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and played in over 60 games for just the second time in his career.

Dedmon posted a 15.8 PER, just slightly above average in the NBA, but his 3.7 win shares were the second-most for the Hawks in 2017-18. Dedmon was right behind Collins in effective field goal percentage too, posting a 57.7 percent mark. Dedmon finished with a 28.1 defensive rebounding percentage and a 17.7 total rebounding percentage too, both top-20 marks in the league last year.

The frontcourt looks a little different for the second offseason in a row, but the young blood should go a long way towards the Hawks’ rebuild.