The Atlanta Hawks made history in the wrong way last season
The Atlanta Hawks made history last season by having 22 players on their roster, which is the most ever by a team in a regular season. This was despite only making a single trade where they sent Cam Reddish and Solomon Hill to the New York Knicks, receiving Kevin Knox in return.
The problem is that the Hawks were one of the worst teams hit by the Covid-19 crisis which last from just prior to Christmas until the middle of January, As a result, the Hawks signed a number of players to 10-day hardship contracts including promoting some of their own from the G-League.
Some good came of this time, however, as they signed Chaundee Brown to a two-way contract when the G League season finished. If he trains well during training camp then they may keep him on a two-way deal or even convert him to a regular-season contract given how much money they have invested in their roster for next season.
The Atlanta Hawks could have finished higher in the standings without this period.
During the part of the season where the Hawks had to start their third-string and G-League players, they went 6-16. This effectively meant the best they could realistically hope for at the end of the regular season was that they would be a play-in team.
However, if you look at their record for the other 60 games they went 37-23. When you work out what this record could have been if they had their normal rotations, the Hawks would have been up with the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, fighting for a top-four seeding in a stacked Eastern Conference.
This would have meant they kept the momentum and without competing in the play-in tournament they are then less likely to lose Clint Capela. This means that they have the ability to host a lower-seeded team and worked their way into the playoffs rather than taking on the toughest task in the first round, the No. 1 seed.
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With all that being said, we can’t turn back time and this means the Hawks are looking toward next season. Trae Young is already saying all the right things.