Atlanta Hawks: 3 Players Named to Bleacher Report’s Top 100

#62: Taurean Prince

A flip-flop of our rankings of the best players on the Atlanta Hawks from last month, Taurean Prince has a chance to easily eclipse Bazemore by season’s end (especially since Baze will likely be traded).

After a torrid end to the 2017-18 season, it’s understandable that Taurean Prince would be offered up as the best player on the Atlanta Hawks. He has great size and has the skill set to be much more than a prototypical three-and-D wing – though that baseline is an important base level for TP.

The Prince That Was Promised has untapped defensive upside, as well as nascent ballhandling skills, a sterling three-point jumper that he is comfortable taking off the dribble or off the catch, and watching him develop even further next season will be a lot of fun. The early returns from preseason have been good, especially in the game against the Spurs:

The Bleacher Report piece similarly outlines Prince’s excellent finishing flourish last season as reason to expect him to be the best player for the Hawks next year, which is certainly an understandable conclusion to come to:

“In his final 31 appearances last season, Prince averaged 17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals while drilling 37.9 percent of his triples. His secondary playmaking remains a nice surprise. He coughed up possessions on 27.3 percent of his pick-and-rolls, but he was brand new to half-court creation. His mistakes will dwindle amid better spacing—shout-out, Trae Young—and with more reps.”

No matter who emerges as the team’s best player the 2018-19 Atlanta Hawks will be a lot of fun to watch, and we can’t wait until the season starts – not long now!