The Atlanta Hawks had a really solid offseason. They started by landing a lottery talent in the NBA Draft in Jalen Johnson with the 20th-overall pick. They doubled down on taking advantage, nabbing a first-round talent in Sharife Cooper with the 48th pick.
Both players are set to showcase their wares in Summer League.
Did they do enough in free agency to maintain their place, if not improve their place in the East?
Were the Atlanta Hawks moves enough to keep pace in the Eastern Conference?
It’s a question that has to be asked coming away from a very active first wave of free agency that saw several division rivals make meaningful changes to their rosters. Of course, as a team that was two wins from the NBA Finals, the Hawks could say they need less than those teams.
Atlanta was active early on in free agency, but a year after spending big in free agency and the trade market, they essentially went bargain hunting.
Don’t be mistaken, though. Delon Wright and Gorgui Dieng are terrific adds for this group and should provide some of what was missing even when last year’s squad was healthy.
Lou Williams’ return speaks to the type of culture they’ve established and their handling of Trae Young and John Collins’ contract situations shows it.
But winning the court of public opinion is different than winning games on the court and the Hawks would have to get a ‘B’ at best. Time will tell if the Collins deal will pay off and they will face similar quandaries with other players soon.
They’ll also be without Onyeka Okongwu until January and trade rumors continue to swirl around Cam Reddish.
Okay, those last two things are out of the Hawks control.
Still, we can’t deny that other teams in the East improved as well. The question is whether or not they improved more than the Hawks. Let’s focus on the Southeast division once again. It was one of the more active in the NBA and had three playoff teams last season (and Charlotte making the play-in game).
Atlanta Hawks: Grading the competition No. 1: The Magic are mostly counting on health to be better
While the Orlando Magic weren’t a playoff team last season, they are just one year removed from a postseason berth. Much of that team is gone, though. Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, and Evan Fournier were all traded at last year’s deadline. D.J. Augustin and Al-Farouq Aminu were also moved before and during last season, respectively.
Otto Porter is gone too but was he ever really “there” after appearing in just three games?
In the draft, they added Jalen Suggs out of Gonzaga with the fifth-overall pick and took Franz Wagner — brother of 2020 free agent signee Mortiz Wagner — with the eighth pick.
They added Robin Lopez and Sindarius Thornwell (on a two-way contract back in May) in free agency. That’s it so far. It’s not like we expected them to be contenders next season. They did bring up the rear in our pre-free agency power rankings. But it’s still underwhelming.
Will the return of Jonathan Isaac and the possibility of improved health for guards Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz be enough to push them past the other teams in the East? That’s probably not even the goal Their only vets are Terrence Ross, James Ennis, Michael Carter-Williams, and Gary Harris.
Ross and Ennis have also been involved in trade talks.
The bottom of the conference is fungible so there is always a chance the Magic figure a way into the play-in tournament. Once there, anything can happen.
For now, they can’t get any other grade than a ‘C-’ for their offseason.
Atlanta Hawks: Grading the competition No. 2: The Hornets took some risks this offseason
The Charlotte Hornets got solid grades on draft night for taking UConn’s James Bouknight with the 11th pick in the draft. It was the latest in a string of moves by the franchise that look a lot stronger than those in its early years. Even some of their recent draft picks such as Miles Bridges have developed into contributors.
Charlotte was more active during free agency than Orlando, but they certainly took more risk along with it.
Mason Plumlee (actually added during a draft-night trade that also netted JT Thor) is expected to step in as the starting center. The 31-year-old comes in after averaging 10.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists while starting 56 games for the Pistons. And with just two years and $16 million left on his contract, he isn’t the problem.
Kelly Oubre is another story entirely. This is a signing that could truly go either way.
If Oubre is nothing more than a reserve, he is an expensive one. But his perimeter defense will be valuable enough to not seat it too much. If he’s expected to be a starter for an extended period it could get ugly.
But even that isn’t cut and dry because he showed he can get hot from outside, shooting 43 percent from deep in 15 games (all starts) in February. He slumped in March but hit 36.4 percent of his triples in 10 games (five starts) during April.
The question is which one will the Hornets get because his freelancing can stifle his own offense as his defense does to opponents’.
Charlotte gets a ‘C+’ overall with a shot for more if Oubre pans out.
They brought in Ish Smith from the rival Wizards and got Wes Iwundu in the trade that sent Devonte’ Graham to New Orleans.
The question is do all of these moves make up for Graham, Malik Monk, and Cody Zeller. It’s not that these are big names. But this team was the fifth seed at one point during the season.
Atlanta Hawks: Grading the competition No. 3: The Wizards are banking on a deeper team being better
Russell Westbrook is a polarizing player. Whether you like that he plays hard every game or feel like he can be a liability with his shooting and decision-making late in games, you’re right. The question is whether or not the Washington Wizards are any better with the number of players they added this offseason.
Spencer Dinwiddie comes over on a sign-and-trade deal that will pay him $62 million over three years. He joins Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who came over in the Westbrook trade that also yielded Aaron Holiday from the Pacers.
Those are a lot of names and not one as consistent as Westbrook. For the record, Dinwiddie is a consistent scorer when healthy. He is coming off of ACL surgery and has a fairly sizeable injury history which obviously adds to the concern.
Of course, Kevin Durant just led the USA to gold in the Olympics in his first year back from a torn Achilles.
To quote Kevin Garnett, anything’s possible.
There’s a lot more faith in him than Kuzma and Harrell. Kuzma’s struggles with consistency are why he was available in the first place. Harrell is a former Sixth-Man of the Year but has had issues in the last two locker rooms he’s been in.
Caldwell-Pope was just a guy before being an integral part of the Lakers title run in the bubble and Holiday is young enough to still be intriguing.
The Wizards will also get last year’s first-round pick Deni Avidja back and added Corey Kispert in this year’s draft. But that doesn’t help their free agency grade. They get a ‘B’ for the sheer volume they turned Westbrook into.
It’s hard to imagine that turning into meaningful improvement based on the strength of their pieces. But maybe they’ll be greater than the sum of their parts.
Atlanta Hawks: Grading the competition No. 4: Things are going to be feisty down on South Beach
Let’s start this off by saying that the Miami Heat’s grade is based on the assumption that their big trade for Kyle Lowry isn’t voided by the league for violating tampering rules. Combined with their other moves, Lowry stands to make the Heat one of the toughest matchups on any given night, a label they honestly already carry.
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PJ Tucker comes over from the World Champion Bucks and Markieff Morris joins after two years with the Lakers. Both offer toughness and the ability to knock down the open three.
Also returning is Dewayne Dedmon and the oft-injured Victor Oladipo. Dedmon just has to be a serviceable backup.
But Oladipo could add some much-needed scoring punch to the group that also retained Duncan Robinson for five years and $90 million.
Many thought they would land Demar Derozan as well, but he ended up in Chicago for a lot more money than the Heat were rumored to be in for.
Miami was in the NBA Finals just a year ago in the bubble and was the sixth seed last season.
Lowry and Tucker both bring championship mettle but this group still lacks consistent offense unless Tyler Herro steps up to Robinson’s level.
Could they wind up feeling the loss of Kendrick Nunn — who signed with the Lakers as they did with Kelly Olynyk? Those guys can be tougher to replace than teams like to think. The same goes for Trevor Ariza though to a lesser extent and the fact that Tucker and Morris should make up for him and then some.
This is an older group but it’s battle-tested. The youngest projected starter, star center Bam Adebayo, is coming back from the Tokyo Olympics as a gold medalist. The only thing that can derail their offseason and ruin their grade (B+) is the unlikely reversal of the trade.