Atlanta Hawks Offseason Grades: Signing Hamilton, Poythress & Adams

As part of our offseason coverage, Soaring Down South is ranking each and every offseason transaction the Atlanta Hawks made.

After a slow start, the Atlanta Hawks kicked it into high gear and had one of the most action-packed and interesting offseasons in recent memory. Multiple trades and signings took place even after the NBA Draft, which was even more important for the Hawks in the long-term.

In our ongoing series of offseason reviews, it’s time to grade each move the Hawks made this offseason from draft picks to trades to free agency deals.

Next up a combined grade for the signing of Daniel Hamilton, Alex Poythress and Jaylen Adams throughout the offseason.

While it’s hard to quantify the grade for players we don’t know a whole lot about, the price was right and each of these players is still quite young – perfectly fitting for a Hawks team that is not expected to particularly light the basketball world on fire in the 2018-19 season.

THE GRADE: B

While none of these players is expected to contribute to the Atlanta Hawks in any major way next season, all three will have plenty of chances to hone their craft at the NBA level, especially as the season winds down and “the tank” fully takes hold.

Poythress and Adams, in particular, will be limited by the Two-Way contracts they signed in the offseason, which will not allow them to spend more than 45 days (not games) with the big club. Instead, both players will be spending a lot of time in the G-League playing with the Atlanta Hawks affiliate club, the Erie BayHawks.

The only reason they would play more is if injuries come into the picture (which is what happened with Tyler Cavanaugh last year), so let’s hope that does not come to fruition.

Hamilton is only the player who signed a full NBA contract, though is lower on the totem pole than many of the players who will be expected to get minutes at the two or three – meaning he will most likely also spend some time in the G-League with the BayHawks.

While it’s hard to quantify signing players who will likely not make a big impact in 2018-19, the team still made moves that fit their time line, and, who knows, all three of these players might outplay their status and turn into consistent contributors going forward.

For the Atlanta Hawks rebuild to truly take off, the front office must be willing to take risks on low-cost flyers wherever possible, which is why not-so-sexy moves (like these) are just as important as the major swings.

Stay tuned for the next story in our offseason grades series, and always keep it locked to Soaring Down South for all your Atlanta Hawks news.