Atlanta Hawks: Revisiting the Clint Capela trade
The Atlanta Hawks have been rebuilding for the past four seasons, They have made several tremendous draft choices, starting with John Collins who has been with the club the longest, De’Andre Hunter Kevin Huerter, and Cam Reddish.
They also made the savvy move to trade back in the 2018 NBA draft where they sent Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks and received their superstar point guard, Trae Young. This trade has been talked about and revisited numerous times and it is the opinion of this scribe that the Hawks made the right move.
There was another significant trade that the Hawks made as part of their rebuild which they just solidified. This was a four-team trade where the Hawks essentially sent Evan Turner, a first-round pick, and a future second-round pick out and got back Clint Capela and Nene Hilario, who they then waived. The Hawks just extended Capela’s contract for another two seasons.
The Atlanta Hawks certainly won this trade. thanks to the play of Clint Capela.
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When the Hawks received Capela he was not going to play for a while thanks to a thumb injury he sustained just prior to the trade. Then the season was suspended thanks to COVID-19 and the Hawks did not get invited into the bubble meaning that Capela did not play for the team at all until the 2020-21 season.
What Capela was able to achieve last season was tremendous. He led the league in rebounds and was top-three in blocks for most of the season He was a willing finisher in the pick and roll but most importantly, he helped the Hawks improve their defense to make it one of the best in the league.
On the other side of the coin, Turner, who was the main piece of the trade finished the 2019-20 season out and did not sign a contract for 2020-21. The first-round pick that was sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves was then used at the start of last season as part of the Ricky Rubio trade. The OKC Thunder then selected Aleksej Pokusevski who had a difficult rookie season.
Next. Where does John Collins sit in the 2017 top-ten redraft. dark
The Hawks made the right call on the Capela trade, he made the team so much better. Now they need him to help lead them to NBA Finals glory.