Atlanta Hawks: 7 Players Set for Breakout Years in 2018-19
By Chris Guest
A deep dive into the 7 Players for the Atlanta Hawks that are poised for breakout years next season.
After an action-packed and entertaining offseason, the Atlanta Hawks finally have their roster set for the 2018-19 season.
With almost an entire roster of new faces – many of them fresh-faced rookies and sophomores – the Hawks will have plenty of opportunity for growth and development next year, when they are expected by many (including Las Vegas oddsmakers) to be one of the worst teams in the league.
Because many of the players on the team are just getting their feet wet in the NBA world, there comes with them the chance that they might exceed expectations to some degree. Others might just blow up, like Victor Oladipo did last season, and become a major star in the NBA for years to come.
We’ve outlined a list of the 7 players that are primed to have breakout years in 2018-19, starting with:
7. Alex Poythress
A rather under-the-radar choice to start this list, Alex Poythress was signed using the Atlanta Hawks final Two-Way Contract of the offseason. Though that contract will limit Poythress’s availability to 45 days with the big club, Poythress is still in line for playing a bigger than role with the Hawks than he has had with the 76ers and Pacers so far in his career.
Poythress has only played a total of 261 minutes in his career, scoring 90 points with 46 rebounds in that time.
It must be noted that there is little evidence that Poythress will have a breakout year for the Hawks, but he plays an important position as a large, burly wing, and he has shown flashes of shooting ability through the first few years of his career.
Combine that with his age (25), and he has a chance to break out this year in a limited role for the Atlanta Hawks.