Atlanta Hawks: 4 Impressions of Unmagical 101-91 Loss to Magic

A Big Conundrum

What does the Atlanta Hawks frontcourt of the future look like? Obviously John Collins is there, yes. But the second-year pro out of Wake Forest has had his share of struggles on the defensive side of the floor. Do Alex Len, Dewayne Dedmon, or some combination of the two factor into 2020 and beyond?

Hawks GM Travis Schenck and head coach Lloyd Pierce will have some decisions to make around who will be paired with Collins in the post. Do they turn to the draft and guys like Texas’ Jaxson Hayes or Gonzaga’s Brandon Clarke? Do they hit free agency hard? Or do they hold onto Len, re-sign Dedmon, and play this next season over again with similar pieces?

So many questions.

For his part, Alex Len had a solid outing coming off the bench. The big Ukrainian tallied 13 points and was one of the few Hawks on the positive side of the +/- in the box score.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1107418333610012673

On the other side, Dewayne brings an element of floor spacing that is extremely useful in today’s NBA and, specifically, the offensive identity that Coach Pierce is trying to implement. His increased confidence in his own range is something we at Soaring Down South pointed to in the preseason.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1107433369023864832