Soaring Down South
Fansided

5 Reasons to Get Excited for 2018-19 Atlanta Hawks

By Chris Guest

ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 25: Lloyd Pierce, Omari Spellman #6, Trae Young #11 and Kevin Huerter #1 of the Atlanta Hawks pose for a portrait after an introductory press conference on June 25, 2018 at Emory Healthcare Courts in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 25: Lloyd Pierce, Omari Spellman #6, Trae Young #11 and Kevin Huerter #1 of the Atlanta Hawks pose for a portrait after an introductory press conference on June 25, 2018 at Emory Healthcare Courts in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 25: (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 25: (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Youth/Upside

With that in mind, the next most exciting aspect of the Hawks will be their extreme youthfulness.

A whopping 7 players on the 2018-19 Hawks will have one year or fewer of NBA experience: John Collins, Tyler Dorsey and Antonius Cleveland all played last season, and Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, Omari Spellman and Jaylen Adams are all going into their first season in the league.

Beyond that, the Hawks obtained young wing Justin Anderson (taken in the 2015 draft) in the Dennis Schröder trade and already have DeAndre’ Bembry and Taurean Prince on the team via the 2016 draft.

That’s a total of 10 players with only 10 years of NBA experience combined between them, and Anderson accounts for 3 of those on his own.

Again, they’ll be young (much like a Second Team All-Summer League member) and they’ll make a lot of mistakes, and they might look completely lost out there at times, but the youth movement on the Hawks will be extremely fun to watch in 2018-19.

New Coach/New System

Another reason to get pumped for the 2018-19 season is new Head Coach Lloyd Pierce.

Previously of the Philadelphia 76ers, Pierce has already claimed he will try to instill a defensive mindset into this young Hawks team. Luckily for him, he’s pretty much inheriting a blank slate, and his few veteran leaders – namely Baze and Dewayne Dedmon – should immediately embrace that mindset based on their backgrounds.

Pierce has already shown he’s not like a lot of NBA coaches, as he can still throw down dunks himself and actually face-guarded Trae Young in his pre-draft workout.

With Pierce comes a completely new offensive and defensive system, which will also be an exciting part of the season. To see the Hawks complete remade in the course of an entire offseason is fascinating and to see it put into action will be incredible.

Home/Hawks News