3 cheers for the Hawks' impatience

Atlanta has Trae Young locked up for a while and a few young pieces around him. The Hawks could have been prudent. NAH.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Allegory of Faith, Johannes Vermeer, 1670-72

I discussed the Dejounte Murray-Hawks rumors the other day, focusing mainly on the Spurs’ apparent decision to tank out for the 2022-23 season. The reason to focus on that was because this is a monumental shift for San Antonio, which has been trying to ride the competitive line since trading Kawhi Leonard for DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl in 2018. The Spurs did win 48 games and make the playoffs that first post-Kawhi season (losing in seven in Nikola Jokic’s first NBA postseason series), but they’ve fallen out of the top-8 in the West since then. Yet they never really tried to tank out, with DeRozan sticking around until last season when Murray was ready to ascend. Now, Derrick White and Murray are gone and a couple other veterans are likely next. The full rebuild is on for real.

But let’s focus on the Hawks, because this is truly an all-caps moment for the Atlanta franchise. Trae Young made All-Star in his second season, but the Hawks remained one of the league’s worst teams. So Travis Schlenk and company went and rebuilt the roster around him: in came Clint Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari and more, all at great expense. AND IT WORKED. Eventually, with a midseason coaching change. And after Trae got snubbed from All-Star. The Hawks made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Trae shed the early “but can he win?” baggage. Atlanta was rising.

It all splintered in a disaster 2021-22 wrecked by injuries and disappointment; the Heat dropkicked the Hawks out of the first-round 1-8 match-up in pretty insulting fashion.

A lot of franchises would be cautious here. You have Trae, whose max contract is just now kicking in. With the exception of Gallinari, all of your key pieces are under 30. You have some good near-term upside with De’Andre Hunter (whose injuries were part of the 2021-22 issue) and Onyeka Okongwu. You have draft assets to make plays down the road. Trae is locked in through 2026-27.

You have time … right?

The Hawks, apparently, do not have time.