Lastly, we have Cole Aldrich. The Atlanta Hawks rushed to sign Aldrich to a deal ahead of training camp, as news recently broke that the team’s likely starting center Dewayne Dedmon might miss a considerably amount of time with a fractured left ankle.
Though the team has multiple big men who could capably fill in for Dedmon already on the roster, Atlanta Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk decided to sign Aldrich on a minimum deal to see if he could make a name for himself during training camp and the buildup to the regular season.
While it seems unlikely that Aldrich can provide the same drive and intensity that Dedmon always seems to bring to every game, Aldrich is a steady veteran who has provided solid minutes for 7 teams during his 8-year NBA career.
Sure, it’s unlikely that Aldrich will provide the same kind of spacing that Dedmon provided last year, when he inexplicably and shockingly shot 35 percent on 2.3 three-point attempts per game, but Aldrich knows how to play the game, and sometimes that’s all you need out of your training camp invitees.
In the same vein, Aldrich’s best season came as a member of the Clippers in 2015-16. If you squint, the Atlanta Hawks have a vaguely similar set-up to those fabled Lob City Clips: dynamic, pass-first point guard (Trae Young), supremely threatening roll man (John Collins), multi-faceted, ball-handling wing (Taurean Prince).
Perhaps with similar personnel, Aldrich can recapture the glory days of his Clippers career after being shunted to the hinterlands to Tom Thibodeau’s bench last season.