The Hawks are coming off a season in which they won more games (60) than any year in franchise history, won more playoff rounds (two) than they had in the previous five years combined and seemingly everybody wearing socks had a career season.
So this was not the norm. One day, we will look back on the 2014-15 season and think one of two things: 1) It was the start of something great; 2) That was the 1980 Falcons all over again.
The Falcons finished 12-4 and won a division in 1980. In the next 10 years, they went 50-101-1 with seven last-place finishes.
There’s no reason to project the Hawks will step into that kind of pit, but there’s also no reason to assume success. This is sports. This is Atlanta. We assume nothing.
The Hawks’ head coach doesn’t assume success. Neither does the team president, and they’re the same guy now.
“Any team or group that starts thinking that way or has those kind of assumptions is in big trouble,” Mike Budenholzer said. “It’s something that I’m sure I’ll be talking to the team about. We experienced some of that this year. People talked about Al Horford coming back, but you couldn’t assume just because Al was back and a majority of the team was brought back that we were going to be good.”
Budenholzer knows the only thing more difficult than getting good is staying good. Similarly, the only thing more important than getting the attention of an Atlanta sports fan is keeping it.
The Hawks are in a rare position to do both. But to do that, they need to not only keep the core of this team intact but improve in three important areas: size, rebounding and bench scoring.
On draft night, they took the long way (two picks, two trades) to go from the 15th selection to a deal for New York Knicks shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. The move didn’t excite fans, probably given the original selection came from the Brooklyn Nets in the Joe Johnson trade and at one time appeared like it would be a lottery pick. But Hardaway’s acquisition makes sense on a lot of levels. He has an offensive upside. He’s a defensive liability, but Budenholzer has a two-year track record of making players better in this system.
It’s also important to understand that the Hawks weren’t going to get an immediate-impact player at 15th. They are in a win-now mode, which given the uncertain nature of the Eastern Conference is the right mindset. They also needed insurance in case Kyle Korver (ankle surgery) or Thabo Sefolosha (broken leg) are slow to come back from serious injuries.
The biggest issue is the impending unrestricted free agency of Paul Millsap (the Hawks’ best player for most of the season) and DeMarre Carroll (their best player in the playoffs until a knee injury).
They certainly can’t lose Millsap. I’m not convinced they can lose Carroll. He’s not just a great defensive player anymore. He has developed an offensive game and brings intangibles no other player on the roster has. But there’s a chance a team like the Knicks will overpay for him, and he will (and should) go where the money is.
Budenholzer has the final call on those financial decisions now, and he maintains, “We want to follow through on what we’ve accomplished and give our group a chance to grow and get better, and a big part of that is keeping our group intact. That’s No. 1 on our list. It kind of sets the map (for the offseason). Our priority and our best chance to get better is to stay together and continue to build.”
He and general manager Wes Wilcox have discussed trade and free-agent scenarios if they lose Millsap (unlikely), Carroll (possible) or both (catastrophic).
“I want to be honest, but I don’t want to be naive or foolish: Those two guys fit in well and have had a great couple of years here, but they’ll have a lot of people pursuing them, and they’ll have options. But we feel like we can make a pretty good argument for them to stay.”
If both stay, there is less work to do. But there’s work either way. The Hawks have a system, an identity and a standard now,but there’s an adage in sports: If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. They need to get better. And in Atlanta, we’re not conditioned to assume success.
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