Atlanta Hawks: Grading The Ersan Ilyasova Trade

The Atlanta Hawks improved their bench by acquiring Ersan Ilyasova from the Philadelphia 76ers. Was it a good pickup by the Hawks?

Trade deadline week is a magical time during the NBA’s schedule. Especially these days. There hasn’t been an actual game in a week. All that fans have to satiate their need for the NBA is to refresh their Twitter feed in hopes their favorite team has finally made a deal. Atlanta Hawks fans are done waiting.

The Hawks have finally made a move. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Atlanta has acquired Ersan Ilyasova from the Philadelphia 76ers for Tiago Splitter, a second-round pick, and a second-round pick swap.

The move comes the same day Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Atlanta was looking to improve their offense at the trade deadline. Mike Budenholzer conceded that was true, while also asserting that any player in the Hawks organization had better be committed to playing quality defense.

"“I think that is a fair generalization,” Budenholzer said. “I think we always do because our bread and butter is defense. We don’t like to have guys who aren’t willing to commit to that end and make playing defense a priority. But I think if you do get them with our guys, with our locker room, with our players, hopefully if they can be a part of a good defensive team and makes us a better offensive team, that is ideal.”"

Atlanta’s numbers indicate a team desperately in need of offensive help. They currently have the 26th ranked offense in the league, scoring 105.5 points per 100 possessions. Their three-point shooting ranks 25th in the NBA, as they make just 34.1 percent of their three-point attempts.

That lack of offensive efficiency hampers their ceiling in the playoffs. They can lock-down defensively all they want, but if they can’t score they will still go home after the second round. The trade for Ilyasova isn’t an earth shattering move, but it will add a scorer to the bench unit.