The Atlanta Hawks bucked the trend of recent years and traded away franchise stalwart Dennis Schröder a few weeks back.
In recent years, the Atlanta Hawks front office and management have lacked a certain something when it comes to making transactions.
Franchise cornerstones Al Horford and Paul Millsap were both allowed to walk in consecutive offseasons even though the Hawks could’ve flipped them for assets at the trade deadline. Of course, the team was still trying to stay relevant in the Eastern Conference. So what did they get for keeping those two on the books instead of trading them? One playoff series win spread across the 2016 and 2017 postseasons. Not great.
Now, with a far more forward-thinking and pragmatic General Manager at the helm in Travis Schlenk, the team is making some terrific moves – including drafting John Collins and Tyler Dorsey in the 2017 NBA Draft, taking on bad money last year (Jamal Crawford) in exchange for draft picks – all leading up to perhaps Schlenk’s finest transaction yet: Trading Dennis Schröder to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Carmelo Anthony and a 2022 lottery-protected first round pick.
First, let’s look at what the Hawks gave up. While it might not be immediately clear after looking at his counting stats (19.4 PPG, 6.2 APG, 3.1 RPG), DS17 was not a good player for the Hawks in the 2017-18 season.
His defense was actively harmful except on the rare occasions when he committed himself to that end, and he was also rarely looking to pass the ball to his teammates – even if John Collins was wide open rumbling down the lane on the pick-and-roll on numerous occasions.
Dennis Schröder got paid because he put forth effortful and meaningful performances off the bench when the Hawks were attempting to make noise in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Schröder was a microwave on those Hawks bench units, and he seemed to be always making plays on both ends of the floor as a bench contributor.
Since he is heading to a situation in which he will be the clear number two option after 2017 MVP Russell Westbrook, Schröd will be back in the situation that got him the most recognition in his career: a prolific and overqualified backup point guard.
Though there have been concerns about Schröder’s attitude, according to Ric Bucher (who wrote an in-depth profile on DS17 a few years back), Dennis Schröder’s favorite player is none other than his new teammate Russell Westbrook.
If anyone can get Schröder to curtail his carping, it’s Russ. Westbrook might also be able to coax some impressive bench performances out of Schröder, who has proved he is capable of putting up big numbers – as both a starter and backup.
What did the Hawks get back?
On the surface, the return of Carmelo Anthony and a 2022 first-round pick seems rather unimpressive.
Melo’s best days are behind him, and he would not have wanted to play for a team that’s expected to be among the worst in the league next season anyway. It’s wild to think that the Hawks traded for Carmelo then immediately released him, but that’s just where we are these days.
The 2022 first-round pick, on the other hand, is so far out that it doesn’t even seem as if exists yet. It’s also an intangible thing that has yet to turn into a substantive player.
Even after saying all that, that 2022 first round pick might be the best asset the Hawks have obtained in a long, long time, and, so far, is Travis Schlenk’s shining achievement in terms of transactional history.
Let’s explore that pick. By that time, four years from now, it is not beyond reason to expect the Hawks to be good. They will have selected multiple first rounders for 4 years in a row, and the growth of Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter will likely have buoyed the team’s outlook considerably by the 2021-22 season.
So, we can expect the Hawks to be challenging for a playoff spot or even be consistent playoff entrants by that point (if the rebuild goes according to plan for the next couple years).
On the other side of that pick, we can expect that Brodie (certainly) and Paul George (maybe) will still be on the Thunder in the 2021-22 season; though it must be noted that George’s salary that season is a player option, so if the situation looks dire, he might skedaddle to a better situation.
Even still, Westbrook is locked up for that season, and his abilities by themselves might be enough to get the Thunder into the playoffs. Sure, Russ will turn 34 in the 2021-22 season, but he will almost certainly still be an impactful player, and by that point, he might inspire his teammates as a talisman rather than an on-court whirling dervish of productivity.
All that adds up to say, that 2022 lottery-protected pick from the Thunder will likely convey to the Hawks that offseason.
What’s so great about that 2022 pick?
A first round pick, no matter what year it is, is always exceptionally valuable in today’s NBA.
After helping the Golden State Warriors turn into the bona fide dynasty they are right now through the draft, Hawks GM Travis Schlenk knows this better than anyone.
He has started strongly in Atlanta – first with the John Collins and Tyler Dorsey selections, then next with the 2018 Draft choices of Trae Young, Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman.
With multiple draft picks in 2019 and plenty of cap space with which to maneuver next offseason, Schlenk has almost certainly just begun his reign as a wheeler/dealer extraordinaire.
Perhaps his crowning achievement so far is procuring that 2022 lottery-protected pick from the Thunder. If Russ can get that team into the playoffs, that draft has the chance to be one of the deepest of all time for one simple reason.
The 2022 NBA Draft might be the first in which both one-and-done college players and high school players can enter the draft simultaneously.
There has been much talk about this change in recent years, and NBA Commissioner has made it clear that a change is imminent. Much of the reporting has led people to believe that 2022 will be the first year this change will go into effect, making it an astonishingly deep class – and an amazing time to have a first-round draft pick.
Hawks GM Travis Schlenk has made a lot of moves so far in his tenure, but the Dennis Schröder trade has seemingly been his finest achievement so far.
Let’s see what he has in store for the future of the Atlanta Hawks franchise.