Soaring Down South
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Revisiting Travis Schlenk’s tenure as Atlanta Hawks GM

By Andrew Graham

Dec 27, 2019; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk before a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 27, 2019; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk before a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Atlanta Hawks, Travis Schlenk
Atlanta Hawks, Travis Schlenk. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /

It was time for a change

Ironically, the first order of business for Schlenk’s rebuild was to trade Howard and that’s exactly what he did. On June 20, 2017, he was shipped off to the Charlotte Hornets along with a 2017 second-round pick (that became Frank Jackson) for Marco Belinelli, Miles Plumlee, and a 2017 second-round pick (that later became Tyler Dorsey).

With the 19th pick in the 2017 draft, Schlenk opted to pick Wake Forest forward John Collins. While the Hawks did enter a rebuild, Mike Budenholzer was still the head coach—at least through the 2018 season. Budenholzer did not want to coach a rebuilding team and thus was fired on April 25, 2018.

To further lead the rebuild, Schlenk looked towards Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce to be the next head coach in Atlanta. And thus on May 11, 2018, Pierce was hired as the 29th head coach in Hawks history.

The 2018 offseason would prove to be the biggest offseason of the rebuild and it all started with the NBA draft. In what would become one of the most deepest and talented draft classes in recent memory, the Hawks possessed the third overall pick. Something controversial was about to happen…

With Luka Doncic still on the board, the Hawks felt it was a no-brainer to draft him, but something big was still forthcoming. Atlanta traded the draft rights of Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks for the draft rights to Oklahoma freshman PG Trae Young. Schlenk felt that Young was a better fit for what Atlanta was trying to build more than Doncic. Later in that draft, the Hawks selected Maryland sharpshooter Kevin Huerter with the 19th pick. Atlanta had another first-round pick, but Omari Spellman from Villanova never panned out.

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