The Atlanta Hawks have a lot of new faces heading into the 2018-19 season, but who faces the most pressure to succeed on the team this year?
It is well documented that the Atlanta Hawks were one of the worst teams in the NBA in 2017-18 with 24 wins. At just 103.4 points per game, they were one of the lowest-scoring teams as well. Defensively, they gave up 108.8 points per game, with was the eight-worst mark in the league.
Digging further, the offensive rating for the team, according to Basketball-Reference, was just 103.4, 26th in the league. Their defense was slightly higher ranked, but they still had a 110.6 defensive rating, with was 21st in the NBA.
Following one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a lot of pressure is on a lot of people. Travis Schlenk took over general manager duties before last season and is hoping to create the Eastern Conference version of the Golden State Warriors, which won’t be an easy task.
Schlenk brought in Lloyd Pierce, an assistant during the Philadelphia 76ers rebuild, to be the new head coach. Pierce will be looking to bring the same results to Atlanta. He will need last year’s team to buy into a new system and get a bunch of rookies ready for the rigors of the NBA at the same time.
The last time the Hawks missed the playoffs before last season was 2006-07. The pressure is to get back as soon as possible, even in the middle of a long-term rebuild. There are expectations across the board for all the players from Jeremy Lin to Taurean Waller-Prince and Dewayne Dedmon, but here are three key players under the gun for 2018-19.