The Atlanta Hawks decided not to pursue Tony Snell in free agency. The small forward ended up signing a single-season deal to play with the Portland Trail Blazers. Given that Snell had fallen out of the rotation thanks to a lack of offense and the return of injured players this was not a bad thing.
It is not that Snell was meant to do much for the team anyway. He came to the Hawks via trade where the Hawks managed to shed Dewayne Dedmon’s salary for next season. Dedmon was due $13.3 million on the final year of his deal which would have made life harder for the Hawks to re-sign John Collins and keep the core of the team together.
Fortunately, Snell proved to be a valuable veteran presence for the team. He was a crucial member of the franchise during the injury crisis they suffered this season. There was even a case for him to continue starting even when some of the Hawks’ better players starting returning to the lineup.
Tony Snell provided some really good moments for the Atlanta Hawks
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The best moment for the season for Snell had to have been against the Toronto Raptors. The Hawks’ season was still on a knife-edge. They needed to win against the Raptors so that they could continue to march up the standings.
The ball came to Trae Young as was expected and he was cut off from the hoop. He executed the perfect pass and Snell did not let his team leader down. He made the 3-point shot and the rest, as they say, is history.
Snell would have led the NBA in 3-point percentage except that he did not make enough attempts throughout the season. He made an insane 56.9 percent of his attempts for the season, going at 62-of-109 on the season.
Snell was never going to feature in the Hawks’ plans for next season, they have so much quality at the wing positions. Snell did his job, he allowed the Hawks to have the cap space to sign Collins. We wish him all the best with the Trail Blazers.