Atlanta Hawks 2020 Season Previews

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Hawks show definite signs of hope, but still rebuilding

As the Atlanta Hawks head into the third year of a massive overhaul, there are definite signs of hope. They might even have a shot at the playoffs in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

General Manager Travis Schlenk has taken major strides in constructing a totally new roster, one that follows the blueprint laid out by his former employer, the three-time champion Golden State Warriors.

Trae Young and John Collins have already established themselves as two of the NBA's brightest young prospects. Kevin Huerter made big strides during his rookie season. De'Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bruno Fernando were drafted this year to further bolster the roster. Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker was signed in free agency.

None are older than 24.

"We need to see what this little young core can do together," Schlenk said. "Do they fit together? We certainly think they're going to fit together nicely. That's the plan. But we haven't been able to see it yet. We need to see those guys in action. That doesn't mean a month. I'm talking about seeing them together for a whole year."

Schlenk will concede there are no certainties in the rebuilding game, that much of the process is just gut instinct hopefully coupled with a lot of luck.

Head Coach Lloyd Pierce said it's vital that the Hawks keep everyone healthy if they're going to take the next step in their development.

"It's hard when you're putting a team together, especially a young team, if you can't see them all out there together," he said. "It's really hard to see what to expect moving forward and having that breakthrough moment. That's part of the reason why we're being cautious and will remain cautious with every guy. We're in no rush to advance anyone. We don't want to skip steps. Health is at the forefront of everything we do, then take it from there."

Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/article235566837.html#storylink=cpy

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NBA Pre-Season Power Rankings + breakout candidates for all 30 teams


24. Atlanta Hawks
2018-19 record: 29-53
2020 title odds: +25000
Previous rank: No. 22

Breakout candidate: Kevin Huerter

The casual NBA fan knows about young stars Trae Young and John Collins, but the most they might know about Huerter is that he was the player Dwyane Wade chose to swap jerseys with last season. Huerter shot 38.5% from deep last season, and among Hawks players, only Young made more 3-pointers. -- Andrew Lopez

ESPN

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2019-20 NBA season: Record predictions

Atlanta Hawks

I’m not sure the Atlanta Hawks got better. Dewayne Dedmon’s departure leaves Atlanta without a strong rim protector, while Evan Turner, Chandler Parsons and Allen Crabbe aren’t exactly spring chickens in the year 2019.

If the Hawks are going to take a meaningful step forward this season, it will rest largely on the shoulders of Trae Young and John Collins. While Young is a special offensive talent, he’s also a league-worst defender. Collins still has growth to do in terms of both consistency and his own defensive presence.

Sans Dedmon, the Hawks don’t project as much of a defensive team. De’Andre Hunter was tabbed by many as the best defender in the 2019 draft, but I’m not sure he’s ready to uplift an NBA defense as a rookie. He will experience growing pains, as most first-year players do.

On paper, this Atlanta team should thrive on offense. Young and Collins will continue to develop chemistry, while Hunter, Kevin Huerter and Cam Reddish all fit as complementary pieces. There’s enough shooting, size and playmaking to cause real issues for opposing teams.

Lloyd Pierce has leaned into defense and pace ever since taking over the head coaching gig in Atlanta. The Hawks aren’t ready to make a leap defensively, but the offense will produce. Especially if Trae Young is the version we saw post-All-Star break last season.

The Hawks are a prime League Pass team — a group you should watch, for sure. Don’t expect to watch a ton of wins.

Final prediction: 31-51, Miss NBA Playoffs

Hoops Habit

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2019-20 Season Preview: Atlanta Hawks



The future is where the Atlanta Hawks’ focus has been the past two seasons, and it’s where it remains now in the second year of the franchise reboot under coach Lloyd Pierce and with point guard Trae Young in place. They are the two key figures for a Hawks team that general manager Travis Schlenk has stocked with young talent and plenty of future assets...now, the real fun and rebuild is taking shape.

Spoiler:

The last player from the Hawks’ 60-win, Eastern Conference finals team departed the premises in the offseason. Kent Bazemore was traded to Portland in a deal that brought veteran combo guard Evan Turner in return...Veteran swingman Vince Carter decided to return to the Hawks for his final season, and will become one of just four players to appear in an NBA game at the age of 43 or older

THREE POINTS

1. Youth will be served. Led by Young (21), the Hawks will boast five regulars this season 22 or younger — Cam Reddish (20), Kevin Huerter (21), De’Andre Hunter (21) and John Collins (22) are the others. The youth movement is by design. It’s also allowed the Hawks to create the salary cap space to make some major moves in free agency and trades in the coming years.
   
   
2. Finishing kick. A rough start (6-23) to the 2018-19 season invited the skeptics to write the Hawks off before Christmas last season. But they finished 23-30 down the stretch and drew attention in the process. Atlanta displayed an exciting brand of basketball behind two young stars (Young and Collins) who appear to be destined for stardom. Pierce needs his crew to take the lessons learned during the second half of last season and apply them to the start of this current campaign.
   
   
3. Is the real Reddish ready? While he was overshadowed at Duke by Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett, Reddish showed up on campus with credentials just as flashy. If the injury issues he dealt with are behind him, the Hawks just might have one of the steals of the Draft on their hands. Reddish has the size and skillset to flourish in the Hawks’ wide-open attack, and he won’t have any of the pressure to be a franchise savior like his college buddies.

MAN ON THE SPOT

The easy answer here is Young. After the rookie season he put together, expectations for the slick point guard skyrocketed. But the heart and soul of this team might very well be Collins. The bouncy power forward turned in an eye-opening performance of his own last season, though injuries limited him to just 61 games, 20 fewer than Young. Collins was close to a 20-10 machine when healthy and is more than just an elite athlete overwhelming the opposition with his power and speed. He’s so fluid for a player his size and he’s fearless around the rim on both ends. If the Hawks take off this season, it’ll be with Collins and Young working in tandem.

STARTING FIVE

Trae Young | 19.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 8.1 apg
Rookie of the Year runner-up and just the third first-year player in NBA history to average better than 19 points and eight assists.

Kevin Huerter | 9.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.9 apg
A sharpshooter with sneaky athleticism, Huerter is another one of the Hawks’ youngsters primed for bigger things.

De’Andre Hunter | 15.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.0 apg (Virginia)
The Hawks moved up in the Draft to select the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

John Collins | 19.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.0 apg
Numbers never lie, right? The Hawks were 24-37 with Collins in the lineup last season and just 5-16 without him.

Alex Len | 11.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.1 apg
Another find by the front office, Len found his niche as a floor-stretching big capable of working inside and out.


THE BOTTOM LINE

The Hawks are likely still a year away from being a legitimate playoff contender in the revamped Eastern Conference. But they have everything lined up. Ownership, the front office and the coaching staff are aligned and the roster is loaded with intriguing young talent. How quickly Pierce can incorporate the newcomers into the system will determine just how competitive this team will be this season. But they have building blocks in Young and Collins and the right blueprint to build on that foundation.

NBA.com

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OKC Thunder vs. Atlanta Hawks, 2019-20 team preview



The Basics:

Head Coach: Lloyd Pierce begins his second season as the bench boss.

Points per game: Ranked 12th (113.3) | Opponent points per game: Ranked 30th (119.4)
Pace: Ranked first (103.9) | Offensive Rating: Ranked 23rd (108.1) | Defensive Rating: Ranked 27th (113.9)
ranked

The Hawks are still a few years away from contention but as part of the easier Eastern Conference, nabbing a low playoff seed isn’t out of the question. Moreover, with the changes to the lottery draft format, teams can now make that push without fear it will automatically kill their shot at a high pick. That equates to a win-win scenario for the young Hawks who’ll covet the invaluable postseason experience to expedite their growth.

If last season established the Hawks youth brigade this season kicks it up a notch based on three rookies incoming and six players under 25 years old (Bembry turned 25 in July). Entering training camp the 20 players on the roster equal an average age of 24.65 but removing 42-year old Vince Carter who the team re-signed reduces that average by almost a full year (23.73). This summer the Hawks added two more solid draft picks (Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter) who’ll fit in beside their cornerstone trio of Trae Young, John Collins, and Kevin Huerter.

Team Strengths:

The Trae Young Experience

Some could argue Trae Young’s exponential improvement post All-Star break had more to do with teams being less invested. Regardless of the veracity of this statement the reality is Young still put up the numbers.

His stats for games played up to the All-Star break were 16.9 points, 7.6 assists, and 3.3 rebounds. He shot 31.2 percent from deep during this timeframe. Post All-Star break his stats improved to 19.8 points, 9.2 assists, and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 34.8 percent from the perimeter.

Although the shooting behind the arc is what many observers focused on last season, the assists per game is possibly the more compelling aspect of his game. At season's end, Young ranked seventh in the NBA with 8.1 assists per game. That puts him firmly in the company of some of the associations best point guards – Russell Westbrook (10.7), Kyle Lowry ( 8.7) and Chris Paul (8.2) as well as LeBron James who averaged 8.3 assists. The closest rookie to Young in assists per game was Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic who averaged 6.0 assists per game and tied for 24th.

Team Identity

Although the Hawks need to focus on both sides of the hardwood, there is no denying the entire squad has bought into the uptempo offense. The Hawks ranked first in the NBA as pacesetters (104.56) last season.

With the core returning and more youngsters added into the fray this strategy won’t change as the team looks to build on the momentum gained post All-Star break. As much as the Hawks are clearly a run and gun squad for Atlanta to throw their hat into the ring for teams vying to land one of those bottom playoff seeds they’ll need to figure out the half-court offense.

Fortunately, Atlanta has a bonafide go-to option in John Collins who should be among the Most Improved candidates this season.


Team Weaknesses:

Defense

No surprise here, the Hawks were abysmal defensively last season. And other than Evan Turner the free agent additions this summer sure didn’t shore up that end of the hardwood. Ranked 28th last year the Hawks have nowhere to go but up, except Head Coach Lloyd Pierce has his work cut out given the personnel on the roster. Collins should be capable of being a factor but he’ll need help from his court mates.

The one addition to the team that was specifically added with a view to defense is rookie De’Andre Hunter. Still, expecting Hunter to be the catalyst to defensive improvement is an unfair load to place on any one individual -- and especially a rookie.


Turnovers

The most egregious issue of the Hawks defense is the volume of turnovers. With 17.0 per game, the Hawks ranked first in the NBA. Like most players who are the primary playmakers and scoring options, Trae Young coughed up the ball a ton. Young ranked fourth for turnovers by individuals with 3.8 per game. To that point, the individuals ranked ahead of Young for most turnovers per game were James Harden (5.0), Russell Westbrook (4.5) and Devin Booker (4.1).

Part of the reason Young has issues is the speed with which the Hawks play and his size.

Most games will likely come down to how well teams stop the Hawks from scoring. After allowing teams 119.4 points per game last year it’s likely those numbers balloon this year.

OKC Fansided

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2019-20 NBA Eastern Conference preview capsules

Atlanta Hawks

PROJECTED STARTING FIVE: G Trae Young (19.1 ppg, 8.1 apg), G Kevin Huerter (9.7 ppg), F De'Andre Hunter (No. 5 overall pick), F John Collins (19.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg), C Damian Jones (5.4 ppg).

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Young and Collins are two of the NBA's top young players, while Huerter shows plenty of promise, so the key to this season will be how well they mesh with two more first-round picks, Hunter and No. 10 choice Reddish. Hunter figures to start right away, while Reddish will get plenty of playing time off the bench. Also keep an eye on Parker, the No. 2 overall pick in 2014 by the Milwaukee Bucks. While he has yet to develop into the star everyone expected, Parker is still just 24 years old and has averaged 15.1 points per game over his five-year career. The Hawks, who are focused on player development, hope they can flush out Parker's game. Finally, the Hawks will send out 42-year-old Vince Carter for his record 22nd — and final — season in the NBA. Carter showed last season he's still got game, but he won't get as many minutes in his last hurrah as he serves more of a coach-mentor role to all the young players.

OUTLOOK: The Hawks showed promise in Pierce's first season but this franchise is still in the midst of a major rebuilding job. Atlanta might have an outside shot at slipping into the playoffs, but would probably be better off getting another crack at the draft lottery. General manager Travis Schlenk has been acquiring over-priced players that other teams wanted to get off the books. Parsons ($25.1 million), Turner ($18.6 million) and Crabbe ($18.5 million) are in the final year of their contracts, which means 2020 is the year to really start paying attention to the Hawks.


Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/sports/article236260308.html#storylink=cpy

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What to look forward to with this year's Hawks team

New Franchise Face

Trae Young gladly accepted his role as the new face of the Atlanta Hawks. He knows he will have to step up his game even more to make the franchise relevant in the NBA. Young had a brilliant debut season, averaging 19.1 points and 8.1 assists per game while showing fearlessness in clutch situations.

Even with two of the NBA's top young players in Young and high-flying John Collins, the Hawks struggled to a 29-53 record. They are still in the midst of a massive rebuilding job, so it will be another year or two before they are ready to make a big push in the free-agent market.

Young thrives on those who doubt him and his team. "There's never going to be 100% of the people on my side, and that's OK," he said. "That chip of proving people wrong will always be there."


DYNAMIC DUO

Young paired well with the 6-foot-10 Collins, who emerged as the team's top scorer (19.5) and rebounder (9.8). It will be intriguing to see how they develop in their second season together.

Young needs to become a better defensive player. Collins must expand his shooting range. Their continued improvement will be a key to the Hawks' success. Also keep an eye on shooting guard Kevin Huerter, another former first-round pick. He didn't have Young's immediate impact as a rookie but was an effective outside threat by the end of the season.

"We're still in foundation mode," second-year coach Lloyd Pierce said. "Progression will be a word I use all year."

Spoiler:

ROOKIE CLASS

While the Hawks lost out in the Zion Williamson sweepstakes, they still added to their core with a pair of top 10 draft picks.

De'Andre Hunter is a polished wing player who starred in Virginia's run to the national championship. He gives the Hawks a much-needed defensive presence as well as another threat from 3-point range.

Cam Reddish might have even more upside, though his lone college season at Duke was a bit of a disappointment. The Hawks will focus on his development, hoping he matures into a key contributor in the seasons to come.

Atlanta also landed center Bruno Fernando with a second-round pick. He's not likely to play much at the outset, but could be worth watching down the road.

"We're a really young group," general manager Travis Schlenk said. "That's what is real exciting from my seat. What I see is what we could be."

PARKER'S CHANCE

Jabari Parker, the No. 2 overall pick in 2014, is looking for a reset with the Hawks. Parker is still just 24 years old and has averaged 15.1 points per game over his first five seasons in the league, including a career-best 20.1 with Milwaukee in 2016-17, but he has yet to reach his full potential.

Schlenk said the Hawks are looking to "maybe spark something in him. We're talking about a kid who was the second pick in the draft, who was the No. 1 player in high school, who won four state championships in high school. He's an extremely talented player."

CENTER OF THINGS

The Hawks are taking on another project at center: Seven-footer Damian Jones was acquired from the Golden State Warriors, where he barely played the last three seasons.

Atlanta hopes that he'll have a breakout season, mirroring Alex Len's progress after joining the Hawks Len averaged 11.1 points and showed surprising skills for a 7-footer from beyond the arc (36.3 percent from 3-point range).

LAST HURRAH

Forty-two-year-old Vince Carter is returning for his record 22nd — and final — season. Carter showed last season that he's still got game (he played in 76 games, including nine starts), but he doesn't figure to get a lot of minutes in his last hurrah. The Hawks made it clear his role this season will be more of a player-coach and mentor to a bunch of teammates who are young enough to be his sons.

Read more here: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/sports/article236246553.html#storylink=cpy

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NBA Power Rankings, Day 1: The Tankers, the Rebuilders, and the Disasters

The NBA season is right around the corner and the title race is more wide open than it’s been in years. But that doesn’t matter for these teams, the franchises in various stages of falling apart and putting it back together




24. Atlanta Hawks

Here’s one thing I know for sure: Travis Schlenk has real guts. You’d have to in order to make the kinds of risky moves he has since becoming general manager of the Hawks in 2017. Schlenk essentially traded Luka Doncic, Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and other draft assets for Trae Young, De’Andre Hunter, and Cam Reddish. It doesn’t look like a smart swap on paper, yet you analyze the current roster and it makes sense. The Hawks are building precisely the type of team you’d want to put around a transcendent playmaker like Young, with versatile wings in Hunter and Reddish, a sharpshooter in Kevin Huerter, and a bouncy big in John Collins.

Young is entering his second season but is already one of the league’s best passers. He can conduct a symphony with the players around him, in a fun, fast-paced offense coached by Lloyd Pierce. There’s no doubt this team is on the rise, and it shouldn’t shock anyone if they fight for a low playoff seed in the weak Eastern Conference.

One note of caution for a team that clearly plans to put the ball in Young’s hands a ton: Young needs to prove he’s a better shooter than his reputation would suggest. He is often discussed as a potential Steph Curry–like threat because of his propensity for firing deep 3s, but Young has never shot higher than 36 percent from 3 in college or the pros, while Curry has never shot worse than 38.7 percent. Young has soft touch on tricky layups, floaters, and free throws, so I hope he’s just a late bloomer from downtown. But it’s hard to totally buy in until he proves it.

The Ringer

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NBA 2019-2020 Season Preview: Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks - Does Trae Young have his long-term supporting cast in place already?

The Hawks have drafted well in recent years, which has put them in the fortunate situation of being able to surround second-year point guard Trae Young with competent young players over the next few years.

The year before Young’s arrival, John Collins was selected outisde of the lottery. Collins, who recently turned 22, is a supremely effective scorer, hitting 56% of his overall shot attempts, a respectable 34.8% of his attempts from long-range, and 76.2% from the foul line. His 1,188 points came on just 831 shot attempts, in large part due to his 73.4% accuracy from within three feet of the rim, which took up over 54% of his offense.

It’s fair to assume Collins is only going to get better, and he left breadcrumbs last season to show how. Of his 158 attempts from three, 31% of which came from the corners, in which he hit a remarkable 49%, further showing potential as a shooter, which will help provide multiple options in pick and roll scenarios with Young.

Kevin Huerter, who was chosen 19th last season, also showed promise, in particular as a shooter. Huerter was almost equally devastating as a pull-up and spot-up shooter, connecting on 38.4% when spotting up, and 37.7% on pull-ups from behind the three-point line. Granted, the volume was much in the favor of his spot-up attempts (three a game), but for Huerter to be able to knock down shots off the dribble is a major key for Atlanta’s offense moving forward, as that could lessen the offensive burden on Young.

This past draft, the Hawks came away with De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bruno Fernando, which projects to be quite a haul. Hunter is a two-way wing who led Virginia to the national championship by being one of the most polished players in the nation last season. While his on-ball skills need work, he looks ready to contribute as a shooter, hitting 46.7% of his three-pointers during pre-season. That percentage is not sustainable, but given how he found shots within the rhythm of the offense, it’s a fair bet to expect him to be, at worst, a reasonable shooter from the get-go.

As for Reddish, the inconsistency he showed at Duke is a real concern. But Atlanta may be the best place possible for him to develop. Not only will Reddish get minutes immediately, but he won’t be high on the pecking order, meaning he can get selective about his shots. Atlanta isn’t a big market, which ultimately means he won’t have to suffer much from media pressure either.

There’s still much to do to round out a proper roster, but for a 21-year-old Young, the groundwork for a long-lasting core has already been laid, which puts him in a unique situation of developing alongside them. If Atlanta’s selections this year hit, the Hawks could be the most intriguing team in the East in three years.

Forbes.com

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Atlanta Hawks

Players Added: De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Evan Turner, Allen Crabbe, Chandler Parsons, Damian Jones, Bruno Fernando, Jabari Parker

Players Lost: Kent Bazemore, Taurean Prince, Justin Anderson, Dewayne Dedmon, Tyler Dorsey, Daniel Hamilton, Tyler Zeller

Summary: The Hawks will probably be extremely fun this season… but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be good. Trae Young is a delight, and his pairing with John Collins is one of the most fun duos in the league. Adding young talent like De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish will only boost the Hawks’ watchability, with Reddish’s smooth scoring and Hunter’s defense complementing Young and Collins quite well. However, the Hawks are extremely young, and many of their key players are awful defensively. Young, in particular, is a sieve, and as long as he’s playing big minutes, it will be hard for the Hawks to muster a decent defense. Add in Collins’ issues on that end plus a steep learning curve for Reddish and Hunter, and the Hawks will likely be a bottom-five defense. Even if their offense is very good, which it might well be, their defensive liabilities should prevent them from making a playoff push this season. Still, they should be league pass favorites, and will be highly entertaining on a nightly basis.

Predicted Record:32-50

LA Clippers - SB Nation

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NBA 2019-2020 Season Preview: Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks - Does Trae Young have his long-term supporting cast in place already?

The Hawks have drafted well in recent years, which has put them in the fortunate situation of being able to surround second-year point guard Trae Young with competent young players over the next few years.

The year before Young’s arrival, John Collins was selected outisde of the lottery. Collins, who recently turned 22, is a supremely effective scorer, hitting 56% of his overall shot attempts, a respectable 34.8% of his attempts from long-range, and 76.2% from the foul line. His 1,188 points came on just 831 shot attempts, in large part due to his 73.4% accuracy from within three feet of the rim, which took up over 54% of his offense.

It’s fair to assume Collins is only going to get better, and he left breadcrumbs last season to show how. Of his 158 attempts from three, 31% of which came from the corners, in which he hit a remarkable 49%, further showing potential as a shooter, which will help provide multiple options in pick and roll scenarios with Young.

Kevin Huerter, who was chosen 19th last season, also showed promise, in particular as a shooter. Huerter was almost equally devastating as a pull-up and spot-up shooter, connecting on 38.4% when spotting up, and 37.7% on pull-ups from behind the three-point line. Granted, the volume was much in the favor of his spot-up attempts (three a game), but for Huerter to be able to knock down shots off the dribble is a major key for Atlanta’s offense moving forward, as that could lessen the offensive burden on Young.

This past draft, the Hawks came away with De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bruno Fernando, which projects to be quite a haul. Hunter is a two-way wing who led Virginia to the national championship by being one of the most polished players in the nation last season. While his on-ball skills need work, he looks ready to contribute as a shooter, hitting 46.7% of his three-pointers during pre-season. That percentage is not sustainable, but given how he found shots within the rhythm of the offense, it’s a fair bet to expect him to be, at worst, a reasonable shooter from the get-go.

As for Reddish, the inconsistency he showed at Duke is a real concern. But Atlanta may be the best place possible for him to develop. Not only will Reddish get minutes immediately, but he won’t be high on the pecking order, meaning he can get selective about his shots. Atlanta isn’t a big market, which ultimately means he won’t have to suffer much from media pressure either.

There’s still much to do to round out a proper roster, but for a 21-year-old Young, the groundwork for a long-lasting core has already been laid, which puts him in a unique situation of developing alongside them. If Atlanta’s selections this year hit, the Hawks could be the most intriguing team in the East in three years.

Forbes.com

Agreed but three years or two?

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From ESPN:

NBA Preview: Rankings, projections and big questions for all 30 teams

Atlanta Hawks projections

ESPN Forecast: 34-48

BPI: 37-45

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT: 29-53

Youth movements are exciting and idealistic by nature, but they can go in any number of directions. The Hawks enter Year 2 of their movement with a lot of promise -- they finished strong and added even more skilled young players this offseason to bolster their nucleus of Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter. Will that influx of talent vault them to greater heights, or will it produce more questions than answers as the Hawks try to graduate from selling hope to selling success?

What they did this summer
The Hawks had a busy offseason spent engaging in their two favorite pursuits: drafting promising talent (De'Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Bruno Fernando) and stockpiling future assets by taking on castaways (Allen Crabbe). They also took a flier on Jabari Parker, traded Kent Bazemore for Evan Turner, acquired Damian Jones for Omari Spellman, swapped two onerous medium-sized contracts (Solomon Hill and Miles Plumlee) for a colossally bad one (Chandler Parsons) and brought back Vince Carter for the 22nd and final season of his historic career.

BPI's best-case scenario (45-37) and how they get there
Few organizations in the NBA are more measured about their expectations this season than Atlanta, and the Hawks would regard any flirtation with a playoff berth and 40 wins as a wildly successful season. That would mean Hunter arrived and immediately provided defense and effective shooting, Reddish handled the pace of the NBA game while succeeding as a secondary playmaker and jump-shooting threat, Young continued to hone his transcendent skills as a scorer and playmaker, Collins and Huerter developed new skills, Turner served as an effective backup point guard and the overall defense improved.

One big question: Can the defense take a step forward?
The Hawks are engaged in a gradual, multiyear rebuild focused on integrating 19-, 20- and 21-year-olds into the flow of the grueling NBA season. The Hatchlings showed real promise in the latter half of last season, ranking 11th in offensive efficiency behind Young's pick-and-roll mastery. But the gap between "fun young team" and "future contender" in the NBA is bridged with team defense, to which neither Young nor Collins has demonstrated a consistent commitment ... yet. That's why Hunter, selected No. 4 overall in June, is such an important addition to the youth movement. He's a high-IQ, tireless, multipositional stopper who can serve as a fulcrum for a Hawks team defense desperate for a leader.

-- Kevin Arnovitz

ESPN

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