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Atlanta Hawks Trade 19th Pick in NBA Draft for Tim Hardaway, Jr.

By Jonathan Savitske

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The first round of the 2015 NBA Draft was bizarre for the Atlanta Hawks. Similarly to the new uniforms introduced on Wednesday, it left fans and pundits alike perplexed. New GM Wes Wilcox and President of Basketball Operations Mike Budenholzer made their presence known immediately with a flurry of moves on Thursday night.

-= RELATED: Atlanta Hawks: First-Round NBA Draft Options =-

The Atlanta Hawks selected Kelly Oubre out of Kansas University at 15, only to immediately trade his rights to the Washington Wizards for the 19th pick and two future second round picks.

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    • When the Wizards picked at 19, they selected Jerian Grant of Notre Dame for the Hawks. Atlanta then turned around and traded away Grant’s right to the New York Knicks for Tim Hardaway, Jr. moments later.

    So Atlanta basically turned its 15th overall selection into Tim Hardaway, Jr. and two future second round picks courtesy of the Washington Wizards.  This could take some time to get our heads around.

    Despite all the uncertainty surrounding DeMarre Carroll’s and Paul Millsap’s impending free agency decisions, it was imperative that the Atlanta Hawks were aware of their current deficiencies and the holes that Carroll and Millsap’s potential departures could create. They did not address those needs in the first round of this year’s draft.

    Kelly Oubre would have been a good fit for the Hawks if he had remained in Atlanta. Hardaway has a streaky game where one minute he can’t be stopped and another he is ice-cold.

    You would think that Atlanta would want to bring in a more consistent outside shooter, as the jump shooting for the Atlanta Hawks took a turn for the worse in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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    Hardaway could just be another asset that could be moved in the near future by the Atlanta Hawks new front office, and allows the Atlanta Hawks to save money by not drafting a player in the first round.  The newly saved money could go towards bring either or both DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap back to Atlanta in 2015-16.

    It is now clear that the Atlanta Hawks plan to address their needs via free agency and intend to save as much money as they can, possibly to sign a star player that was on another team last season. Stay tuned to see what the Hawks continue to do in what is already an exciting offseason for our basketball team.

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