- Backup Hawks point guard Malcolm Delaney spoke to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype about making the leap to the NBA last year, his decision to join the Hawks, and his expectations for Atlanta in 2017/18. “With our system and the way we move the ball, we could surprise a lot of people,” Delaney said. “My goal is always going to be to win. I don’t believe in rebuilding. I certainly don’t believe in tanking. I’m going out to win every game because this is my contract year and I’ve gotten to this point because of winning.”
Miles Plumlee has a strained right quad and the injury will force him to miss the next few weeks, according to a team press release.
Plumlee will be reevaluated after two or three weeks, and the timeline means the Hawks will be without the center for several games to begin the year. Atlanta opens the season at Dallas next Wednesday and the franchise plays six additional games before the end of the month.
Plumlee arrived in Atlanta via the Dwight Howard deal and he was expected to be the team’s backup center behind free agent addition Dewayne Dedmon.
Mike Muscala should see additional minutes at the five and No. 19 overall pick John Collins, who had an impressive Summer League, could see more playing time over the next few weeks as a result of the Plumlee’s injury.
In his first summer as the Hawks’ new general manager, Travis Schlenk looked at the team’s current roster and decided he didn’t love the status quo. Rather than bringing back last year’s squad, Schlenk, opted to accelerate the rebuilding process for the franchise, jettisoning a number of key veteran contributors.
That meant not re-signing Paul Millsap. It meant not matching the Knicks’ offer sheet for Tim Hardaway Jr. It meant sending Dwight Howard to Charlotte in a trade with the Hornets. And it meant that role players like Mike Dunleavy, Thabo Sefolosha, and Kris Humphries are gone too.
The Hawks didn’t let all their free agents go — guys like Mike Muscala and Ersan Ilyasova received new deals, and Dewayne Dedmon and Luke Babbitt are among Atlanta’s outside additions. But the impact of the departed players figure to significantly outweigh that of the incoming players, resulting in a slide down the Eastern Conference standings.
After winning 43 games and earning the No. 5 seed in the East last season, the Hawks are projected to land near the bottom of the conference in 2017/18. Offshore betting site Bovada has Atlanta’s over/under for the coming season at just 25.5 wins.
What do you think? Can Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, and the rest of the Hawks claw their way to 26 victories, or did the offseason exodus leave a roster lacking the talent to win more than 25 games? Vote below in our poll and jump into the comment section to share your thoughts!
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Previous over/under voting results:
Western Conference:
- Golden State Warriors: Over 67.5 (53.57%)
- Houston Rockets: Over 55.5 (65.57%)
- San Antonio Spurs: Over 54.5 (67.74%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Over 50.5 (71.77%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Over 48.5 (55.69%)
- Denver Nuggets: Under 45.5 (50.44%)
- Los Angeles Clippers: Over 43.5 (60.7%)
- Portland Trail Blazers: Over 42.5 (56.3%)
- Utah Jazz: Over 41.5 (55.94%)
- New Orleans Pelicans: Over 39.5 (65.26%)
- Memphis Grizzlies: Over 37.5 (53.43%)
- Dallas Mavericks: Under 35.5 (54.95%)
- Los Angeles Lakers: Over 33.5 (50.4%)
- Phoenix Suns: Over 28.5 (50.41%)
- Sacramento Kings: Over 27.5 (56.18%)
Eastern Conference:
- Boston Celtics: Over 55.5 (63.5%)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Over 53.5 (68.82%)
- Toronto Raptors: Over 48.5 (64.21%)
- Washington Wizards: Over 47.5 (71.29%)
- Milwaukee Bucks: Over 47.5 (63.88%)
- Miami Heat: Over 43.5 (55.39%)
- Charlotte Hornets: Over 42.5 (51.07%)
- Philadelphia 76ers: Under 41.5 (53.37%)
- Detroit Pistons: Over 38.5 (51.95%)
- Orlando Magic: Under 33.5 (75.24%)
- Indiana Pacers: Under 31.5 (54.85%)
- New York Knicks: Under 30.5 (57.87%)
- Brooklyn Nets: Over 27.5 (66.33%)
The Hawks have requested waivers on John Jenkins and Jordan Mathews, Marc Spears of ESPN tweets. The moves will bring Atlanta’s current roster count down to 18.
Neither player got a particularly long look with the franchise but they had their work cut out for them navigating the club’s backcourt depth chart either way.
While Jenkins has bounced around in the NBA over the past few seasons, Mathews was auditioning for the club as an undrafted rookie out of Gonzaga.
The brief tenure with the Hawks was actually Jenkins’ second, the guard having been drafted by Atlanta back in 2012. Unfortunately for the Tennessee native, he won’t stick with the squad this time around. In 145 career games in the NBA, Jenkins has averaged 5.1 points per game.
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2017 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2017/18 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Atlanta Hawks.
Signings:
- Dewayne Dedmon: Two years, $12.3MM. Second-year player option.
- Mike Muscala: Two years, $10MM. Second-year player option.
- Ersan Ilyasova: One year, $6MM.
- Luke Babbitt: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($987K).
- Josh Magette: Two-way contract. One year. $50K guaranteed.
Camp invitees:
- Quinn Cook: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($100K).
- Tyler Cavanaugh: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($50K).
- Jeremy Evans: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($50K).
- Jordan Mathews: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10.
- John Jenkins: One year, minimum salary. Summer contract with exhibit nine.
Waiver claims:
- Claimed Nicolas Brussino off waivers from the Mavericks.
Trades:
- Acquired Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli and the No. 41 overall pick from the Hornets in exchange for Dwight Howard and the No. 31 overall pick.
- Acquired cash ($75K) from the Rockets in exchange for Ryan Kelly.
- Acquired Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, the Rockets’ 2018 first-round pick (top-three protected), and cash ($1.3MM) in a three-way trade with the Clippers and Nuggets in exchange for the Wizards’ 2019 second-round pick.
- Notes: Wizards’ 2019 second-round pick sent to Nuggets; Crawford and Stone later waived.
- Acquired DeAndre Liggins and cash ($100K) from the Clippers in exchange for the Hawks’ own 2018 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- Note: Liggins later waived.
Draft picks:
- 1-19: John Collins — Signed to rookie contract.
- 2-41: Tyler Dorsey — Signed to two-year, minimum salary contract.
- 2-60: Alpha Kaba — Stashed overseas.
Departing players:
- Jose Calderon
- Mike Dunleavy (waived)
- Tim Hardaway Jr.
- Dwight Howard
- Kris Humphries
- Ryan Kelly
- Paul Millsap
- Thabo Sefolosha
Other offseason news:
- Restructured front office, removing president of basketball operations title from Mike Budenholzer and re-assigning GM Wes Wilcox to special advisor role.
- Hired Warriors executive Travis Schlenk to be new general manager.
- Introduced new G League expansion team, the Erie BayHawks.
- Dennis Schroder arrested on battery charge.
Salary cap situation:
- Operating under the cap, but over the salary floor. Can create $4MM+ in cap room. Carrying approximately $94.2MM in guaranteed salaries. Room exception ($4.328MM) still available.
Check out the Atlanta Hawks’ full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.
Story of the summer:
After waffling on the idea of a full-on rebuild for at least a season, the Hawks finally dove in and accepted their fate. The franchise also shook up their front office, relieving head coach Mike Budenholzer of his executive duties and appointing Travis Schlenk the new general manager of the squad.
The fresh slate could serve the organization well as it had become abundantly clear that the lingering remnants of the Hawks team that won 60 games in 2014/15 just weren’t going to cut it as a contender in the current NBA landscape.
Put simply, the Hawks managed to get through the first summer of transition unscathed, with Schlenk’s staff wisely letting veterans Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. pursue monster deals elsewhere. It’ll be a long road back to the top, sure, but they have to start somewhere.
The 2017 NBA offseason didn’t feature any stars like LeBron James or Kevin Durant signing with new teams in free agency, but it was still one of the most eventful summers in recent memory. Trades played a big part in the offseason excitement, with NBA teams completing a total of 39 swaps since the 2016/17 season ended.
Not all of those deals were blockbusters. The Rockets, for instance, made several moves that saw them pay cash to acquire players on non-guaranteed salaries in the hopes of flipping them in later trades — most of those players were ultimately waived.
Still, there was no shortage of big-name players on the move. Five Eastern Conference All-Stars changed teams in trades, with Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas involved in the same deal, and Paul George, Jimmy Butler, and Carmelo Anthony all being sent to new homes in the West.
With opening night just two weeks away, 29 of 30 NBA teams have completed at least one trade this offseason, leaving the Spurs as the only club not to make a deal. Of those 29 teams that made a trade, most completed more than one — the Cavaliers, Heat, Suns, Warriors, and Wizards each finalized just one deal apiece, while the league’s 24 other teams made multiple trades.
Here’s the breakdown of the teams that made the most trades this offseason:
- Houston Rockets (8): Houston’s total was artificially inflated by those aforementioned deals involving non-guaranteed contracts. Six of their eight trades saw the Rockets trade cash or a draft pick for a player with a non-guaranteed salary. The team did complete one massive deal though, acquiring Chris Paul from the Clippers.
- Los Angeles Clippers (5): The CP3 swap was the Clippers’ biggest move, but it was hardly their only trade. The team also acquired Danilo Gallinari in a sign-and-trade and acquire multiple second-round picks on draft night.
- Philadelphia 76ers (5): Most of the Sixers’ trades were draft-night deals, though the biggest one happened a few days earlier, when Philadelphia acquired the first overall pick from Boston in order to snag Markelle Fultz.
- Atlanta Hawks (4): The rebuilding Hawks made a handful of trades with an eye toward the future, including taking on Jamal Crawford‘s contract to land a first-round pick, and getting rid of Dwight Howard and his $23MM+ annual salary.
- New Orleans Pelicans (4): The Pelicans essentially completed a pair of salary dumps when they traded Tim Frazier to Washington and Quincy Pondexter to Chicago, since the pick acquired for Frazier was later sold. The team’s most notable deal came on draft night, when New Orleans traded up to No. 31 to select Frank Jackson.
The other NBA teams that made the most trades this offseason are as follows
- Boston Celtics (3)
- Brooklyn Nets (3)
- Chicago Bulls (3)
- Dallas Mavericks (3)
- Indiana Pacers (3)
- Memphis Grizzlies (3)
- Orlando Magic (3)
- Portland Trail Blazers (3)
- Toronto Raptors (3)
- Utah Jazz (3)
- Charlotte Hornets (2)
- Denver Nuggets (2)
- Detroit Pistons (2)
- Los Angeles Lakers (2)
- Milwaukee Bucks (2)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (2)
- New York Knicks (2)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (2)
- Sacramento Kings (2)
Note: The Magic sending the Raptors a draft pick for the right to hire Jeff Weltman and the Knicks sending a pick to the Kings for the right to hire Scott Perry are both considered trades for our purposes.
- Center Dewayne Dedmon probably won’t be with the Hawks beyond this season but he can help them in the short term, as Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains. Dedmon, who played with the Spurs last season, will make $6MM this season with the Hawks and holds a $6.3MM player option for next season. But Dedmon would probably benefit from testing the market again if he has a solid season, Cunningham continues. He’s adept at rolling to the basket in the pick-and-roll and he’s efficient in transition but needs to cut down on his fouls, Cunningham adds.
- Only time will tell how Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer and new general manager Travis Schlenk mesh over the next few years but the dynamic between the two could be worth watching as the organization’s priorities shift from winning ball games to developing for the future. Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Budenholzer will embrace the rebuild, whether that’s his preference or not.
Hawks guard Dennis Schroder has been arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge, reports Adrian Wojnarwoski of ESPN. The arrest was related to an incident early Thursday morning in a suburb of Atlanta, and Schroder has been released on bail.
“We are aware of an incident involving Dennis Schroder earlier this morning,” the Hawks said in a written statement. “We are still gathering information as it pertains to the situation, and out of respect for the legal process, we will have no further comment at this time.”
With few details about the case available, it’s uncertain how it might affect Schroder’s playing status, though a suspension is possible if he gets convicted.
Entering his fifth NBA season, Schroder is expected to be a team leader in Atlanta. He claimed the starting point guard role last year and averaged 17.9 points and 6.3 assists in 79 games.
- The Hawks will receive $100K for taking DeAndre Liggins‘ deal off of the Clippers’ hands, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. We wrote about the September 25 deal here.