Atlanta Hawks: A Blueprint on letting Paul Millsap walk during Free Agency
By Nile Goodwyn
Step 4B: Offer Big Money to a Big-Name Free Agent
The 2017 Free Agency class is headed by Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, both of whom are thoroughly unlikely to leave their budding dynasty in Golden State. Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry are 30-plus lead guards, but are still playing at All-Star levels. In relation to the Atlanta Hawks, these four players mean nothing. Dennis Schroder is the future of the Hawks, and signing a star point guard is unlikely, and Kevin Durant declined signing with the Hawks last season.
This leaves two stars in free agency: Jazz forward Gordon Hayward and Clippers’ forward Blake Griffin. Hayward has a career year last season, averaging 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game and making his first All-Star game appearance. He was one of twelve players to average 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, including Griffin.
Bringing in Hayward, whose best basketball seems to be ahead of him, to Atlanta would surely take a max deal, or four years, $131 million. Utah has the upper hand as far as maximum money is concerned, as they can offer Hayward five years and $177.5 million to stay with the Jazz. Without money as an issue, the Hawks play in the Eastern Conference, making a potential NBA Finals run much easier than one out West, with the Warriors looking to own the conference for the foreseeable future. A starting lineup of Dennis Schroder, Gordon Hayward, Taurean Prince, Ersan Ilyasova, and Dwight Howard could challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers for the #1 team in the East during the 2017-18 season.
Signing Blake Griffin would aid the Hawks on and off the court. The Hawks are not one of the more popular teams in the league, and this is surely related to the lack of star power the team has employed. Stars like Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Paul Millsap played elite-level basketball, but lacked any amount of discernible personality. The signing of Dwight Howard was an attempt to sign a star, but the casual NBA fan has developed a hatred for Howard that has made him somewhat of an enemy. Griffin is one of the faces on the NBA, and would surely attract fans to Philips Arena, which ranked 26th out of 30 teams in attendance in 2016-17.
On-court, Griffin may be one of the only players who can replace Paul Millsap’s departure. Last season, Griffin led Millsap in every traditional statistic other than steals. He even nailed 38 threes, showing that his outside game is developing. He is also only 27, whereas Millsap is 31. Getting younger would help the Hawks to build for the future much more than attempting to string out season after season with an aging team.