In the 2018 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks made the franchise-altering move of drafting Trae Young (after trading down from 3 to 5), by shipping the #3 overall pick to Dallas in exchange for a future first-round pick.
The team also selected Kevin Huerter at #19 overall and Omari Spellman at #30 in last week’s draft. All 3 are sharpshooters in their own right and were some of the most electrifying players in college basketball.
After much vitriol from the Atlanta fanbase for the decision to trade Doncic for Young and a 2019 top 5-protected pick, time has shone a favorable light on the trade.
Doncic is a fantastic prospect, but there’s also a reason why Young was a top 6 guy in almost every mock draft. Young averaged 27.4 points, 8.7 assists and 4 rebounds on a very subpar Oklahoma team. He single-handedly brought them to the NCAA tournament and even forced overtime in their first round loss.
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Kevin Huerter took over half his shots a game from 3 and knocked them down at an outstanding rate. He was one of only 30 guys to average at least five 3-point attempts a game and have a true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage above 60 percent.
Huerter has great size for the position as well, even if his defense leaves a little to be desired. His and Young’s willingness to launch it from 3 alongside guys like Taurean Prince and Kent Bazemore are going to have the Hawks offense humming in ways it hasn’t in years.
Spellman can also stroke it from deep and fits very nicely next to Collins. Being picked at 30 might’ve been a bit of a reach, but the skills that he brings might just turn into Draymond Green-lite — with a better shooting form.
If you’re still unsure about what happened on draft night, think about this. Travis Schlenk’s main selling point on his resume is his talent evaluation. He is credited with getting Draymond Green onto the Warriors, a move that willed them to 3 championships (and counting) in the past 4 years. He stole John Collins late in last year’s draft and spent 12 years building the best culture the NBA has to offer in Oakland.
If Schlenk had Young higher on his board than Doncic (which we assume he did) that means something.
Scouts and GMs take in all the information they can, including reports from sites like the Ringer and ESPN. They know what the fan and media opinion is way before they draft somebody. Schlenk knew the Young move was going to be risky and he still went through with drafting Trae.
If Schlenk legitimately thinks that Young is better than Doncic and got to trade down while getting a potential top 10 pick in next year’s wing-heavy draft, we could look back on this the way Boston does about when they traded down from 1 to 3 in the 2017 draft and still took Jayson Tatum.
Finally, the Atlanta Hawks have been a boring franchise for the past… however many years — even when the team was making the playoffs for 10 straight seasons.
We haven’t had a first team All-NBA member since Dominique Wilkins in 1986 and haven’t won a game in the Eastern Conference finals or later since 1969. Atlanta needs excitement, high-level scoring and superstars (and not necessarily in that order).
Even if we select some busts — or the model of scoring 130 a game but giving up 140 doesn’t work — we can at least give this city something awesome to watch.
Next: 5 Worst Trades in Hawks History
Look at the Falcons, Atlanta United and even the Braves of late. This city eats up anything that excites it and is a perfect breeding ground to create a culture like New York, Boston or Philly. Young, Huerter and Spellman are our first swing at such a culture, and if we can get a homer or even a hit, this city can easily become a basketball haven.