The Atlanta Hawks cannot afford to miss this opportunity

It took the Atlanta Hawks front office a lot longer than we wanted but when they finally made a move, it was actually underwhelming. They finally made a move on the Trent Forrest situation where they waived Patty Mills and converted Forrest to a rest-of-season deal.

This shows a level of hesitancy in the front office which could be a huge issue for the Hawks moving forward. It took them three weeks, well 20 days, from when Forrest became ineligible to play, to when the move got made. They effectively had a wasted roster spot for that entire time, when their season truly hung in the balance.

Now, thanks to the move that they finally made, the Hawks have an available roster spot for a young player. Given that the season is effectively over, the team shouldl definately go ahead and fill this slot, in order to try to find a player to work with the rest of the squad. Using the 20 plus games as a tryout is a more effective way than trying to assess this player in the preseason.

What type of player should the Atlanta Hawks be looking at for the final two-way slot?

This is actually a very pertinent question. The Hawks are a guard and wing dominant team. While this seems to work for teams like the OKC Thunder, the Hawks cannot achieve this positionless basketball with Trae Young on the court. His lack of size means that all players can not be interchangable.

This means that the Hawks need to find a big man to fill this roster spot. However, within the stipulations of a two-way contract, this player cannot have played more than four seasons in the league which certainly limits the available options for the Hawks as to who they can sign.

One player that they could look to ink back on a two-way contract is Miles Norris who is currently playing on the Hawks G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks. The Hawks originally had him on a two-way deal this season before waiving him to sign Vit Krejci back in December.

At 6'10" per basketballreference.com, Norris is a good size given the lack of Hawks' depth within their big men. He is also showing a lot of all-around talent without having a particularly dominant skill set. Norris is averaging 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.9 steals in 31.2 minutes per game. He is also showing good efficiency, with a slash line of 47.4/39.0/ 77.8.

The other potential option that the Hawks could look at if they wanted to keep things in-house is Robert Baker. Also standing 6'10", Baker is a solid forward who is also averaging solidly across all numbers. Baker is averaging 14.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.6 steals in 28.5 minutes per game.

He is not going to move the needle a huge amount, but then again, nor is Norris. However, at least the Hawks can try either pone of them and know if they have the potential to work with the rest of the roster or not.