With the recent news coming down that the Atlanta Hawks have traded Dennis Schroder for Carmelo Anthony, a new chapter of the Hawks franchise begins in the 2018-19 season.
As soon as the Schröder news came down the pipeline, it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off the shoulders of the Hawks’ franchise.
In this offseason, the team has moved on from: A coach that didn’t want to oversee a rebuild (Mike Budenholzer) and his handpicked point guard that was given a fairly large contract in the summer of 2016 (what a summer that was).
The team now has three high-upside first round picks taken in the 2018 Draft, a new coach and a beautifully clean cap sheet for the 2019-20 season – which will grant the team a lot of flexibility in what will be a wild market.
With all that in mind, I’ve outlined 5 reasons to be excited for the Atlanta Hawks in 2018-19, starting with:
New Faces
While the team has had many new faces since the high point of the 60-win Hawks of the 2014-15 season, the 2018-19 season will represent the biggest quantum shift in roster overhaul for a long time.
After the Schröder trade, Kent Bazemore is the sole remaining member of the 2014-15 squad, and only 8 of the 22 players who played minutes for the Hawks last season will be returning in some capacity in 2018-19.
The team drafted its point guard of the future in Trae Young, as well as a capable backup/starter and veteran leader to pair with him at the one in Jeremy Lin.
Though some of the players the Hawks obtained didn’t stick around for long (looking at you Luka Doncic and Carmelo Anthony), this fresh-faced team of players should be a lot more fun to watch the bedraggled, stuck-between-two-goals Hawks of 2017-18.