What is better than one holiday? Well the Atlanta Hawks have two
The Atlanta Hawks have almost rounded out their backcourt as they came to an agreement with fourth-year guard Aaron Holiday. The youngest Holiday brother was originally taken with the 23rd pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers. Nate McMillan was the coach of that team at the time.
Holiday would spend three seasons with the Pacers before being traded to the Washington Wizards during the last offseason. After playing half the season with the Wizards he was traded to the Phoenix Suns where he learned under one of the greatest point guards of his generation, Chris Paul.
Holiday is used to coming off the bench, starting only 56 of his 245 games played. He is a 6’0″ point guard with a great first step who is developing into a solid pass-first player. He had 3.4 assists compared to 5.6 shot attempts per game last season for the Suns. He will get good minutes behind both Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.
The Atlanta Hawks got a second Holiday brother as well via trade.
Unfortunately for Kevin Huerter fans in the ATL, the 6’7″ wing was traded, partly to ease some salary cap pressure but to also add another element to the Hawks’ defense. Justin Holiday played for McMillan in his final season as the Pacers’ head coach.
The older Holiday developed into a tremendous 3-and-D player in that season and was then traded to the Sacramento Kings last season as the Pacers started their rebuild. Hopefully, this reunion will be a success for the Hawks
The other player who the Hawks received in the Huerter trade was Maurice Harkless. During his time with the LA Clippers, Harkless was described as their Swiss Army Knife in defense. He is a good size, has a really long wingspan, and can combine it with tremendous athleticism.
Next. The Hawks begin free agency by losing Delon Wright. dark
If you think about the players that the Hawks have added to their roster this season, they got a secondary playmaker who is an All-Defensive level talent. Then they added a defensive-minded pass-first backup point guard and then two defensive-minded wings. Can anyone else sense a theme for this offseason?