The Atlanta Hawks 2024 offseason is giving Quin Snyder the team he wants

The Atlanta Hawks have had major defensive issues for a long time now. The one season that they were a ble to put together a good defensive season, they ended up almost making the NBA Finals. We will never know if they could have made some noise there but for the injury to Trae Young's ankle which kept him out of several key games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Since then, the Hawks have had to shed salary in order to keep their core roster together, and then traded away part of their future to secure Dejounte Murray. Well, the Murray experiment did not work which meant that the Hawks had to make the most of this offseason.

One of the moves that they made was by selecting Zaccharie Risacher with the first pick in the 2024 NBA draft. This 19-year-old French phenom has shown the ability to defend every position on the floor, with the exception of the bigger pivots in the league. However, it was the Hawks move to trade Murray which is going to have an even bigger impact on the future of the franchise.

So, how are the Atlanta Hawks developing into a Quin Snyder team?

Snyder has always had a defensive mindset as a coach. He was able to develop Rudy Gobert from a late first-round pick into a defensive powerhouse, all the while hiding his offensive limitations. Now, Snyder has to utilize the offensive talents of Trae Young while hiding his defensive liabilities.

This is where the trade for Dyson Daniels is going to have a positive impact on the Hawks. He is a high-level point of attack defender who does not need his offense game to flow in order to perform. He is likely to get court time early on which will help to hide Young's deficiencies on that end.

Daniels is entering his third season in the league; the former No. 6 pick has struggled on the offensive end of the floor. He is only shooting 31.2 percent from beyond the arc for his career but that should not be not an issue. If he is willing to cut and work hard on offense, Young is certainly going to find him which is going to make Daniels a danger on offense.

Then there is the other significant part of the trade, Larry Nance jr. The 31-year-old big man adds a level of depth to the Hawks front court that they have not had in a while. He does not get significant blocks per game but Nance is a solid rim protector. He can play alongside both Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu in a system similar to his Utah Jazz days with Gobert and Derrick Favors.

While the front court does not have the same defensive gravitas that the Jazz under Snyder, it has a heap more offensive fire power. Snyder was able to take that team to the playoffs, but the lack of offense was too much to get over the best teams in the NBA. Could the Hawks, with their extra offensive firepower be able to go the whole way in the next couple of seasons?

It is going to be a fun time watching this team learn and grow together.