The Atlanta Hawks’ high preseason expectations rested on their tantalizing combination of top-level talent and depth, featuring seven starting-caliber players and a crew of intriguing pieces to support.
After just one week of regular season play, however, the high praise for Atlanta’s depth has proved to be a fatal miscalculation. While the top-end players are still impressing against elite competition, the team’s shallow pool of talent has reared its head in an ugly way this season.
Kirk Goldsberry, a former VP within the Spurs front office, said on the Zach Lowe Show that the Hawks’ depth is his biggest roster hole in the league, particularly considering Jalen Johnson and Kristaps Porzingis’s extensive injury records. Goldsberry said, “So, I had them slotted in there as a really nice team with one of the deepest rosters in the Eastern Conference, and through three games, they have a thin team with major injury concerns.”
Can the Hawks address this issue in-house?
The first and most obvious answer is that Mouhamed Gueye needs more minutes. He is their only big man behind Onyeka Okongwu with any semblance of NBA experience, as Asa Newell and N’Faly Dante have played a grand total of eight NBA games as of October 28th.
While Gueye is probably still a little leaner than you would like out of a center, his 6’11 frame with a 7’3 wingspan gives him the ability to slide into minutes at the five. The Hawks should find ways to slowly introduce their young big into center minutes against less physically dominant forces. However, this could prove impossible for Gueye without an offseason to add mass.
Next, the team has to decide: are Dante and Newell actually going to play meaningful minutes this year? With their limited track records and multiple DNP - Coach’s Decision nods just a week into the season, it appears the answer to this question is no.
This matters because, if Dante and Newell are not trusted, the Hawks’ 4-5 rotation consists of Porzingis, Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu, and Gueye. While this isn’t a shallow rotation when healthy, it is a significant problem when you consider that Porzingis and Johnson will likely miss 20+ games each.
If Dante and Newell are not going to play, the Hawks need to find moves on the margins to bring in a capable big man option. While this player no longer exists in free agency, the Hawks could surely bring in a backup center for the price of a draft swap or taking on bad salary in the short term. Perhaps they could even be lucky enough to get a player on the buyout market for free.
Regardless of the direction the Hawks take, the big man rotation is already a problem. If Atlanta isn’t confident that Newell or Dante will be at a playoff level by the playoffs, they must invest in a short-term stopgap to allow the two young bigs time to develop. Otherwise, this offseason will be seen as yet another swing and miss by the Hawks.