Atlanta Hawks: Better or worse? A breakdown of each position
New season, new roster for the Atlanta Hawks but did they get better or worse at each position?
The Atlanta Hawks will have a total of nine new faces on the roster to start the 2020-2021 NBA season. In a shortened offseason, management made a ton of moves to insert the Hawks into the conversation of playoff contention. The starting five has yet to be sorted out, but the depth at each spot will make the decision making tough on head coach Lloyd Pierce and his staff, which now also includes former Indiana Pacers Head Coach Nate McMillan.
While the Hawks undoubtedly got better overall as a team, let’s take a look at how they’ll measure up at each position and whether or not they’re better or worse than they were last year.
Atlanta Hawks: Are the Hawks better or worse at point guard?
Point Guard
2019 – 2020: Trae Young, Jeff Teague, Brandon Goodwin
2020 – 2021: Trae Young, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Goodwin, Skylar Mays
The Atlanta Hawks have given the keys to the franchise to Trae Young and made moves this offseason to make Young believe that they want to win now. A part of the “win now” attitude called for help for Young at the point guard position.
The Hawks brought back fan-favorite Jeff Teague last January to get Trae Young some immediate relief as well as mentorship. In his 25 games played for the Hawks last year, Teague averaged 7.7 points per game in 20.8 minutes played. His poise proved to work well for the Hawks’ second unit as he took care of the ball, committing 1.6 turnovers per game.
Teague has now been replaced by two-time NBA champion Rajon Rondo, which is pretty obviously an upgrade. Rondo, who intends to coach when he’s finished playing, will bring a different level of mentorship, not only to Trae Young, but to an entirely new Hawks roster that will need to gel together.
Brandon Goodwin rounds out the PG position for the Hawks and isn’t a terrible third option. He proved to be valuable in the backup spot last year before the Teague trade and brings good energy to the Hawks bench.