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!
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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%)