2019 NBA Draft: Atlanta Hawks Go All-In, Complete Young Core

A quick recap of the 2019 NBA Draft from the Atlanta Hawks perspective going forward.

After much fanfare, the 2019 NBA Draft came and went, and the Atlanta Hawks once again were one of the biggest storylines of the night.

Just like last season, when the team pulled off the massive Luka Doncic/Trae Young trade, the Hawks once again made mammoth moves in the top 5 of the draft.

This year, the Hawks traded up with the New Orleans Pelicans in a rather surprising move. The deal is outlined below:

Though the deal will likely be seen as something of an overpay as the Hawks had to take on bad money in the form of Solomon Hill while also giving up a bunch of picks, Atlanta Hawks GM Travis Schlenk is not shy about making moves around the draft board to get the player he likes, and on this night, Schlenk was able to get three players he valued quite highly.

First up was De’Andre Hunter at #4, a terrific on-ball perimeter defender and knockdown three-point shooter, then it was Cam Reddish at #10, a high-upside bet from Duke and, then, lastly, it was Bruno Fernando out of Maryland in the second round at #34 overall.

This gives the Atlanta Hawks a young core that includes the following players: Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, John Collins, Omari Spellman, Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter and Bruno Fernando – all of whom will be on rookie-scale deals in the 2019-20.

Unlike many other rebuilding teams, the Atlanta Hawks actually seem to have some semblance of a plan, and the player they obtained during the 2019 NBA Draft were all selected with that plan in mind.

Clearly, the Atlanta Hawks are building around Trae Young as the team’s focal point, which means the team needs players who can act as play finishers off of passes from him (lob threats, catch-and-shoot threats) on offense and player who can defend on the perimeter to help gloss over Young’s lack of chops on that end of the floor.

With Hunter and Reddish in the fold, the team’s defensive ceiling was just lifted considerably. Factor in expected improvement from Collins, Huerter and Spellman as well as the defensive upside of Fernando, and you have a team that might not be a complete mess on that end.

On offense, as long as Hunter and Reddish can reliably hit their triples, Young has enough talent on that end to lift the team to stratospheric heights.

While some media types may scoff at some of the machinations the Atlanta Hawks produced in the 2019 NBA Draft, Schlenk has honestly earned the benefit of the doubt, and next year’s team is truly going to be thrilling to watch.