Soaring Down South
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Atlanta Hawks Need a Veteran Locker Room Presence

By Dallin Duffy

CLEVELAND, OHIO - DECEMBER 23: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks watches from the bench during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on December 23, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Hawks 121-118. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - DECEMBER 23: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks watches from the bench during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on December 23, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Hawks 121-118. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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Analyzing the Atlanta Hawks porous roster outside of their star players.

At this point in the Atlanta Hawks’ rebuild, they should have some core stars to continue to assemble around.

Luckily, they do. Trae Young and John Collins are bonafide stars in the making, if not stars already.

They are legit building blocks for the next generation of Hawks basketball, and with the right supporting cast, could be ready to compete now.

The Atlanta Hawks have nothing close the right supporting cast.

Travis Schlenk filled the roster with youngsters, which of course, is not necessarily a bad thing through a rebuild.

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But, usually you need some vets to keep things afloat, and they just do not have that this year.

They’ve actually done a good job in this regard the past couple seasons, with guys like Kent Bazemore, Vince Carter, Jeremy Lin and Ersan Ilyasova all doing well both on and off the court.

This year however, the mostly brand new group of vets seem uninterested in doing the locker room work, and sometimes even uninterested in playing.

In the handful of games before John Collins returned from suspension, Lloyd Pierce was sending out a starting five that included three rookies (Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter, Bruno Fernando) and two players in their second season (Trae Young, Kevin Huerter).

The latter two, along with third-year forward John Collins, are tasked with being team leaders at the same time as developing as players.

This is unfair and not a good look for the rebuilding Hawks.

They really need to go out and acquire some sort of veteran presence to help take the pressure off these guys, and luckily, there is guys on the market who can do just that.

Next. Atlanta's Epic Christmas Day Drought. dark

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Jamaal Crawford is still a free agent, and other veterans like him are available via free agency or trade.

If the Hawks don’t get help in this department soon, Trae Young may not want to be a Hawk for much longer, as it’s very similar to the Anthony Davis, Paul George, or DeMarcus Cousins situations of the past.

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