Decade in Review: The 2018-2019 Atlanta Hawks

Taking a look back to last season’s Atlanta Hawks squad.

The Atlanta Hawks wen’t from bad to really bad during the 2018 off-season, getting rid of nearly every veteran left over from the playoff runs, and filling the roster with young studs.

This included drafting Luka Doncic with the 3rd overall pick, then trading him to Dallas for the 5th overall pick, which became Trae Young.

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Trae was the first player the franchise used a top-5 pick on since Al Horford, and he eventually went on to start 81 games for the team.

Fellow rookie Kevin Huerter, who was taken 14 picks later on draft night, started alongside him in the shooting guard spot most of the season.

Taurean Prince, John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon rounded up the starting five, which was led by first year head coach Lloyd Pierce.

Pierce, brought over from Philly’s coaching staff, was Atlanta’s fourth coach of the decade.

Older guys like Vince Carter and Jeremy Lin were brought in to give some sort of veteran presence to the team.

The young team started off very slow, winning just 3 of their first 19 games, starting 5-25 overall.

Trae Young saw a rough summer league carry over to the first couple months of the season, struggling mightily early on.

He course turned it around, and along with John Collins having a breakout season, the team was able to improve over the course of the season.

Despite going just under .500 through the final few months, Atlanta finished with a 29-53 record, a 5-win improvement from a year ago.

John Collins, who earned some All-Star consideration, led the team with 19.5 points per game, narrowly missing a 20/10 season, averaging 9.8 boards per game as well.

Trae Young was a tick behind with 19.1 points per contest, on 41% shooting, adding 8.1 assists.

As a team the Hawks averaged the 12th most points a game, playing with the league’s fastest pace.

They were killed defensively however, allowing an average of 119.4 points per game, easily worst in the league.

Trae, Collins, and Huerter all had some highlight plays that kept the season fun, and with the lack of any real playoff expectations, 29 wins was a small win itself.