Do Hawks need to blow up roster to defeat Cavs?

One thing Hawks management and players insisted on Monday during season-ending exit interviews is that the answer to beating the Cavaliers is not to blow up the team.

“Losing to Cleveland twice is tough,” said Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, who will now put jump into his role as President of Basketball Operations. “But to the fan base, to people who think (blowing it up), if we want to find a way to beat whether it be Cleveland or whoever the great teams in the league or our conference are, blowing it up is probably not the way to beat a team like Cleveland or whoever it may be that is very good.

“We value continuity, we value what this group has done, the success that they have had. And a lot of times continuity is your best hope in taking that next step. Can you have a balance of continuity and some additions and bolster it and walk that fine line of adding and embracing continuity. So if the question is about beating somebody, I guess for five or six years, whatever team LeBron James has been on, the East has been trying to figure out how to beat that team. We are just like the rest of the East right now and that is the challenge we will come to (start on) tomorrow.”

The direction that the franchise chooses to go will start with Horford. The center has been with the organization for nine years since he was chosen with the No. 3 overall pick in 2007. The Hawks’ current run of nine straight playoff appearances began when Horford joined the team. Certainly, Horford will command a max contract on the open market. The Hawks can give him a fifth year.

Horford reiterated on Monday that he has cherished his time in Atlanta.

“I haven’t really had a chance to start thinking and talking about all this stuff, even with my family,” he said of pending free agency. “I had a rule this season and it was we are focusing on the team, we are focusing on the now. I don’t want to hear anything about the summer. Now, the summer is going to be here. It’s here. There are a lot of things that we need to address. But the biggest thing for me is I feel good here. I have a great relationship with coach. That is important to me. And my teammates. Atlanta is a city that welcomed me from the first day. I know I said this yesterday but I’m very grateful for people that have always been real positive toward me and my family. I feel good. I feel like the way the team is going, I feel like we can win here.”

Veterans Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver, and other Hawks players, also insisted that Horford and Bazemore have been an integral part of the teams past – and future – success. Moving on, while it might be a reality, would not be ideal.

“They know,” Korver said of Horford and Bazemore understanding that they are wanted. “Even when you talk to a Kris Humphries who comes through and he is like, ‘Man it is not like this anywhere else.’ There are a lot of ways to judge from the outside perspective, to look at a team and analyze it. We come here to work every day and come into a healthy environment with good people and compete hard and they want us to keep on getting better. There is something to be said about that, a healthy workplace, you guys can all respect and understand that. And we have that here and I think they know that. The Hawks have been good to each one of them and Atlanta has been great to each one of them. They are definitely not looking to go somewhere else. But it is up to them and their families. But we don’t need to recruit them. They know.”

Millsap said that despite being swept this year by the Cavaliers, he believes the Hawks are close to competing with and even defeating the nemesis.

“As a player, I’m looking at it like even though we didn’t get a win, we are right there,” Millsap said. “Maybe a piece or two away or maybe a player getting better. Whatever the case may be. A few plays and the series could be a whole different ball game. As a player, that’s how I look at it. We can get it done with the group that we have.”

Time will tell.