Atlanta Hawks Featured Multiple Times on 2019 NBA GM Survey

The NBA’s General Manager Survey was released early on Thursday, and the Atlanta Hawks were featured in numerous categories.

The GM Survey is an annual tradition that polls the GMs (or some lower-level front office lackey) of each NBA team, and the Atlanta Hawks found themselves featured in numerous responses to the survey questions.

The first question the Hawks were featured in was “Which Team Will be Most Improved in 2019-20?”

Here were the responses:

1. Los Angeles Lakers — 38%

2. Dallas Mavericks — 21%

3. LA Clippers — 10%

4. Atlanta Hawks — 7%

    Brooklyn Nets — 7%

    Chicago Bulls — 7%

    New Orleans Pelicans — 7%

8. New York Knicks — 4%

As you can see, the Hawks ranked 4th along with the Nets and Bulls, which is fairly decent company.

Next up, was perhaps the more important question of “Which Team Has the Most Promising Young Core?” Here, the team ranked 3rd with a robust response from GMs:

1. New Orleans Pelicans — 28%

2. Denver Nuggets — 24%

3. Atlanta Hawks — 17%

4. Sacramento Kings — 10%

5. Philadelphia 76ers — 7%

The Pelicans were almost always going to run away with that one, and the Nuggets had a young core that saw them finish with the #2 seed in a stacked Western Conference last year, so that’s understandable.

To see the Atlanta Hawks ranked 3rd in this poll is a good sign for the future and shows that the NBA at large is taking notice of how the team is being built for the long-term.

However, there was one notable snub in the GM Survey related to the Atlanta Hawks:

Which player is the best passer?

1. LeBron James, L.A. Lakers — 57%

2. Nikola Jokic, Denver — 32%

3. Chris Paul, Oklahoma City — 7%

4. James Harden, Houston — 4%

As you can see, Trae Young, who ranked top 4 in assists per game, total assists and assist rate last season, received zero (0) votes for this question – which shows that GMs are once again sleeping on what is easily Young’s best singular skill.

Let them sleep, though. All the more fun for us Hawks fans to view on a night-to-night basis.