Analyst takes Hawks' 2024-25 outlook to task: 'Tale as old as time'

Hope springs eternal in the offseason, and the Atlanta Hawks are no exception to that long-standing occurrence.

Well aware of the perceptions around them, Hawks players like Trae Young and Larry Nance Jr. have been up front about being eager to surprise some people next season. Despite trading Dejounte Murray, the Hawks believe they have a better group to complement Young.

It is not a finished group, per Hawks general manager Landry Fields.

And Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale took the Hawks’ outlook to task, not just because of the talent drain, but also because of the front office.

“In a Nutshell: Cooper Flagg isn't walking through that door until 2025-26, and when he finally does, it won't even be for you,” Favale wrote on October 2. “It's a tale as old as time, a song as old as rhyme: The Atlanta Hawks are the aggressively middling champs of the East.”

The Hawks finished 10th in the Eastern Conference standings in 2023-24.

Only one of the teams ahead of them, the Chicago Bulls, appears worse on paper after the offseason which adds to the sentiments around the Hawks’ outlook after their offseason moves.

“Shipping out Dejounte Murray for picks, Larry Nance Jr. and Dyson ‘Can He Score Outside Floater Range?’ Daniels fast-tracks this team's path to the middle of the bottom-most middle,” Favale wrote. 

Favale argued that keeping Murray would have yielded the “same” results.

He also argued that the Hawks are “stuck” because the front office has prioritized revenue sharing over competing.

“Don't worry, though, Hawks fans. This season will not be for naught. You will find meaning and purpose and salvation in lecturing the clouds about how Trae Young is actually an OK defender, and about why it's a good thing Zaccharie Risacher is forfeiting crunch-time reps to De'Andre 

Hunter and Vit Krejčí, and about how this is the year Jalen Johnson both averages more than 15 minutes per game and makes north of 60 appearances,” Favale wrote.

“At the end of it all, you'll have been treated to a 30-something-win product, as well as the chance to watch the San Antonio Spurs make or trade your first-round pick. What a time to be alive.”

That is exactly the kind of sentiment that Young and Nance our out to disprove.

Hawks eager to disprove critics

“I want to get back to where I've been,” Young said on the “Million Dollars Worth of Game” podcast episode that aired on September 8. “A lot of people look at our roster and don't have a lot of high expectations, so that's sometimes good for a player like me who's been built on beating expectations his whole life. So I'm just ready to play and beat expectations and whatever that ends up being, I'm going to be ready for it and excited for it.”

Nance has drawn trade interest even after arriving as part of the Murray deal. 

But the Hawks have plans for him and he is all-in with helping the Hawks compete for the postseason.

“If you look at the East, we got a number amount of teams that aren't looking to make the playoffs or care more about their draft stock than wins, and we're not one of those teams,” Nance told the panel of “The Hoop Collective” on September 12. “So, hopefully, if we do what we're supposed to do, we'll snag an 8-seed, snag a 7-seed, surprise some people.”