Atlanta Hawks: 3 takeaways from 2019 NBA offseason

1. Patience is a virtue

For as talented and fun as Atlanta will be this season, don’t buy into the hype too early. They won a lot more games than expected in 2018-19 with 29, but the end of the regular season deviates from the norm. Many of the Hawks’ wins came against one of two groups: tanking teams, and playoff teams coasting to the end.

This doesn’t mean those dubs were meaningless, but it does indicate that they’re probably not ready for a leap just yet. No matter how they want to configure the rotation, it will be barren of experience. The vets on the roster are mere placeholders until the youngsters are ready to be thrown in.

No matter how much of a leap Young makes this year, that’s still a recipe for losses. Young players make mistakes, and they tend to lose you games. That’s okay, and should be expected. The whole point of getting experience is to play through your mistakes.

Simply put, don’t expect a surprise playoff berth out of this group, barring an unforeseen development or addition. The Hawks are going to suck, for now, and that’s completely fine. In fact, it’s normal and will only help them improve down the line.