The Hawks are heavily involved in the trade rumor mill ahead of the draft and free agency, but president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk says the team isn’t looking for a major roster shuffle.
“It’s not going to be a major overhaul,” Schlenk said, according to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic. “I think some people have assumed some things based on some of my comments or (team owner) Tony (Ressler)’s comments after the season.”
As Schultz writes, Atlanta faces an important offseason as a pretty good team that took a step back in 2021/22 — the Hawks made the Eastern Conference finals in ’20/21 but were eliminated by Miami in the first round of the playoffs this season. The Hawks want to compete for championships around Trae Young, but transforming a low-end playoff team into a championship-caliber club is easier said than done.
“It’s a lot easier to become a good team, a playoff team, than it is to become one that contends for a title,” Schlenk said. “We feel we’ve become a competitive team, but now we have to take the next step and these are difficult decisions. If you make a mistake in the draft, you can overcome that. It’s a two-year mistake. If you make a mistake in free agency or in a sign-and-trade, when you’re giving somebody a four-year, $150 million contract, that can be detrimental for a long time.”
Schlenk said he’s talking to five or six teams a day, and acknowledges that “there are four or five paths we can take right now.” He’s adamant that finding the right fit will play a crucial role in whichever path he takes.
“It’s about fit,” Schlenk said, per Schultz. “That’s an aspect of this people don’t appreciate enough. It’s easy to (assess) talent, but these are human beings, and they’re a close-knit group of guys who spend a lot of time together. The right guy or the wrong guy can really affect a team.”
It’s an interesting story from Schultz and worth checking out for Hawks fans who subscribe to The Athletic.
It seems that Hawks don’t want 3 year$150 contract like Harden next contract
Tatam $32M per year
Jaylen Brown $27M per year (2021-2024)
Donovan Mitchell $31M per year (2021-2025)
Jokic $31M per year (2021-2023)
Harden $50 million per year? How?
Hawks should pursue young players
I’ve said this a bunch of times in a bunch of different ways. The team is strong & we’re in a good place as far as having no bad contracts & most of our rotation guys are either squarely in their prime (Clint, Delon & Bogdan) or just entering it (Trae, John, Dre & Kev). Makes zero sense to trade a guy like John or Dre & I never understood why people kept suggesting it & acting like it was something that might happen. We definitely need to get better defensively. I think trading Kev is the key to that but replacing Gallo with Thad Young or Kyle Anderson in free agency would help our defense alot as well
16 for Deanthony Melton.
I like Melton a lot but I like Delon Wright even more tbh. If Delon comes back on something like a $16M/2yrs or a $20M/3yrs deal I’d be pretty satisfied with our lead guard situation. Skylar Mays is a guy I’d love for us to resign too. He’s obv less experienced than Melton but could give us alot of the same qualities… plus we could draft somebody like MarJon Beauchamp at 16 who’s a strong defender & much cheaper than Melton
Have to agree, hawks are just 1 season removed from going to the ECF or ECSF at least beating the Sixers.
Yes they had a disappointing season but it ain’t long ago they were great. And as you’ve said they have a solid young team.
I also totally agree the area you need to improve is at SG, Kevin Hueter is not that guy.
I wouldn’t get another hyper offensive player like LaVine or Beal either. You need to get better at SG and get better defensively.
Aside from that probably find a Gallo replacement, a big man which can give you buckets and make a difference off the bench.
However at the same time it is worth atleast looking into the price on these all star level talents. For example Zion Williamson I think he would could be worth investing in and would be a significant enough upgrade over John Collins especially long term. However for guys like Rudy Gobert I wouldn’t even bother
Nothing drastic is needed but it is worth atleast looking into the big names.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer:
League sources say the Hawks are looking to add a lottery pick either by outright trading John Collins or also including this selection. One of the teams they’ve had talks with is Portland.
Those “people” are league execs
Hunter and a 1st or two 1sts for Ayton?
Remember for matching is gott be half the new 1st year salary.
Then ship Capela for OG? Idk if the Raptors would do it but if they want Gobert hes the cheaper version of Gobert.
I’d much rather keep Dre, cut out the middle man & just deal Capela plus a 1st for Ayton
Won’t work due to the S&T rules. Needs to be a cheaper player than Capela.
Why does it need to be cheaper?
Is Ayton signs a max at day 34mil and Capela is on 18mil surely that would work and the hawks would haven’t to find a way to get cut money. Such as waiving Gallo
Salary starts at 28M. I ran it thru the machine with the updated max salary and it kicked it back. 1 4 1 for Capela.
There definitely shouldn’t be an overhaul for Gobert.
Sounds like the kiss of death.
Capela and Collins for gobert any minute now…
Biggest need is to get rid of Huerter. We’ve gotta upgrade that spot to a better ball handler and more consistent scorer. I like Brogdon next to Trae. Good at everything and can help Trae out on D.
It’s like Schlenk was talking to Ressler via media, about the FA spree a couple years ago.
“fit… an aspect of this people don’t appreciate enough.”
“A mistake in free agency or… sign-and-trade… that can be detrimental for a long time.”