Entering year two of the full-scale Atlanta Hawks rebuild they’ve already amassed a nice collection of youthful talent. GM Travis Schlenk has clearly valued future success over winning in the near-term and that meant quickly dealing most of the veterans they had on the roster last season, and barring any free agent signings, they’ll enter the new season without a player over the age of 30.
Even if only a few of these young assets pan out for the Hawks, they’ll have a solid foundation to return to the playoffs going forward.
In this piece, I’m going to attempt to rank the team’s best resources under the age of 25 based on what they’ve done so far — and their potential to do more.
7. Omari Spellman
The 30th and final selection of the first round is exactly the flier the Hawks needed to take with their last selection. He fits into the modern NBA mold as either a floor-spacing power forward or an undersized center.
After one season spent with the Villanova Wildcats wherein he averaged 10.9 points, 1.5 blocks and 8.0 rebounds in 28 minutes Spellman joins the Hawks with a prime opportunity to make an impact right away in Atlanta.
He has the potential to be a solid rebounding big man off the bench right away for new coach Lloyd Pierce and while his shot-blocking prowess is the aspect of his game that’s least likely to carry over to the pros, he should still be good for a block or two every now and again.
His scoring from deep is what leaps off the page, however. Spellman shot an impressive 43% beyond the arc on 150 attempts as a freshman, and his jumper is clearly NBA-ready.
The Big East Freshman of the Year could improve his post scoring, and it is also unclear how Spellman’s hit-or-miss defense will translate to the NBA.
The potential is there for Spellman to be a solid role player right off the bat, and if the Hawks are able to further develop his game, there’s a chance he could be one of the building blocks in Atlanta going forward.
6. DeAndre’ Bembry
There was a real opportunity for Bembry to break out last season. After a beauty of a performance in the 2017 Summer League, many fans were excited for Bembry to take a big step forward during the 2017-18 season for a depleted Hawks roster.
Unfortunately, injuries hampered Bembry nearly all year — cutting his season down to just 26 games.
After a injury-riddled sophomore year, and not being a huge part of the rotation in his rookie season, the former 21st overall pick still has untapped potential. If Lloyd Pierce wants to use Kent Bazemore in more of a sixth man role, Bembry might even be the starting SG on opening night.
During his limited minutes on the court last season he showed nice playmaking ability for a 6-6 guard. He racked up 3.9 assists per 36 minutes and has shown flashes of elite passing before.
Hopefully this season Bembry will be able to stay on the floor more and finally start to show the skills that caught Atlanta’s eye in the 2016 NBA Draft.
5. Dennis Schröder
It may seem crazy to put the German point guard at #5 on this list, considering he’d probably be at #1 if we wrote this just a year ago, but Schröder’s stock is certainly falling — and fast.
His name has been brought up in numerous trade rumors and with Atlanta’s selection of point guard Trae Young in the draft, it seems more likely than not that Dennis is suiting up for a new team next fall.
Schröder showed flashes of stardom while playing behind Jeff Teague in his early years, but since taking the reins as the full-time point guard has struggled to be anything other than a slightly above-average guard.
At this point he might hold more trade value than he does on the court. If a point guard-needy team like the Magic or Knicks come calling, it’s likely a deal would get done. Honestly, it might be the best situation for the 24-year-old guard to find himself in a new situation. If he’s able to find himself in the right organization, he could start to thrive.
And while his name has been in trade winds since January, there’s still a chance DS17 is still in Atlanta come October.
If so, fans should hope that Schröder hasn’t hit his ceiling just yet. He needs to become a more consistent facilitator and he’s coming off a career worst 29% from three. The Hawks will, at the very least, have better shooters on the roster next season thanks to the draft selections of Trae Young and Kevin Huerter, which, alongside improving forwards John Collins and Taurean Prince, could hopefully take some pressure off Dennis.
4. Kevin Huerter
The second of the three newest Hawks taken in last thursday’s Draft should provide instant production via his three-point stroke. In his second and final season at Maryland, Huerter shot 42% from deep on a .543 3-point attempt rate.
Many have noted the Hawks’ draft selections having similar play styles to members of the Warriors, where Hawks GM Travis Schlenk spent 13 seasons. Huerter can definitely draw comparisons to Klay Thompson, while the sharpshooting is already there, Huerter would need a lot of improvement on the other side of the ball to come even close to Klay’s defensive impact.
What he lacks in defense he could make up in with his playmaking ability. He assisted his teammates 3.4 times a game as a sophomore and turned the ball over only 80 times in 1,101 minutes.
He’s 6-foot-7 and while he played at the two guard spot in his collegiate career, he has the size to potentially slide up to the 3 occasionally. This allowed him to be a great rebounder for his size, grabbing 5 boards a game last year.
Huerter is higher than fellow guards Bembry and Schroder because he has a sky-high potential as a perimeter scorer. If he can continue to show above-average passing and rebounding for his position, he has a chance of becoming an elite player.
3. Trae Young
We get it, Hawks fans wanted Luka. And even though I’ll admit I was upset when Woj was originally describing the outline of the trade, I quickly warmed to the idea of Trae in the ATL (or TraeTL, if you will). For starters, he brings a much-needed level of mainstream stardom that the team hasn’t seen since the early years of the Joe Johnson era.
He gained that level of prominence while at the University of Oklahoma, where he delivered one of the best collegiate seasons in recent history. He led the nation in both points (27.4) and assists (8.7) per game, being named a consensus All-American at year’s end.
The nearly 30 points a contest really jump off the page and while he will get less minutes (at least to start) in the pros, if he averages close to 27 for the Hawks, he could really make Schlenk look like a genius for the trade.
With Young, the Hawks have a great shooter with the potential to be a great overall PG. His playmaking was overshadowed by his lights-out offense and mostly lackluster defense but he has real strength in running an offense. As noted before, his assist numbers were incredible and his usage percentage was at a staggering 37%, which would have been 7 points higher than the next highest on the Hawks last season.
There’s a real boom-or-bust feeling with Young, as his defense will probably never even be around league average, and if his jumper fails to translate to the pros, Young could be a huge failure. But if he continues to make strides as a passer and a scorer, he could become the star Atlanta needs.
2. John Collins
The 19th pick of the 2017 Draft played much more like a lottery pick last season. Collins averaged 10.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in 24 minutes per game as a rookie landing him on the All-Rookie Second Team. He also led all Hawks with 5.4 win shares.
Entering his first full season as a starter, Hawks fans should be hopeful for improvement from the power forward. He’s a tremendous athlete but needs to channel that into a more controlled manner, and his post scoring isn’t going to be his M-O anytime soon.
Instead he makes his money being a tenacious rebounder and high-flying dunker. While he was snubbed from the dunk contest last season, he did provide a bevy of beautiful dunks. Collins’ jump shot isn’t consistent yet but definitely improved as the season went on, and he even added some threes down the stretch.
The potential is there for him to eventually be the best player from the young core the Hawks have assembled, and it’s exciting to see such great potential in a 20-year-old.
1. Taurean Prince
Going into the start of the 2017-18 season, many figured Dennis Schröder, Kent Bazemore or even Ersan Ilyasova would be the best player on the Hawks. It took just a few weeks to realize Prince was having a better season than any of them.
In his second season as a pro, Prince started all 82 games putting up a solid 14 and 5, while also playing tough defense.
The forward out of Baylor got incredibly hot in the final few months of the season, (while also getting more minutes and taking the initiative as a primary playmaker) scoring 38 points twice in a span of six days in March, and averaged 17.6 points a contest from February on.
Prince was put at the one spot on this list because he’s already shown that he’s a good player. He might have a lower ceiling than guys like Trae Young or John Collins, but while those guys have potential to be great, Prince is already well on his way to becoming the best player on the Hawks.
Next: Warriors of the East? Thoughts on Hawks 2018 NBA Draft
He’s just 24 and looks to be at the center of the Hawks roster for years to come.