Atlanta Hawks, Now an NBA Destination Team?

There was a time where the Atlanta Hawks front office literally couldn’t pay top-tier NBA talent to join Atlanta’s basketball club. Until last year, many players considered the Hawks an also-ran organization, a team in perpetual mediocrity never really contending for an NBA Championship.

Most lucrative free agents would be respectful and hear the Hawks offer but never really thought twice about playing in Atlanta. The only way in the past that Atlanta got top-tier talent was through the draft. Unfortunately, the Atlanta Hawks organization are historically one of the worst drafting teams in the Association.

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Atlanta traded away the rights to Pau Gasol (3rd overall pick) for Atlanta native Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 2001. The Hawks selected Stanford’s Josh Childress 6th overall ahead of Luol Deng, André Iguodala, and Al Jefferson in 2004. And most painfully, the Atlanta Hawks picked UNC’s Marvin Williams 2nd overall over Chris Paul and Deron Williams in 2005. Ouch!

But all of this changed in 2014-15 when the Atlanta Hawks had the best NBA season the City of Atlanta has ever seen: 60 wins, NBA Coach of the Year, 4 All-Stars, Southeast Division Champions, and the team’s first Eastern Conference Finals berth. With the new ownership group led by Tony Ressler and Grant Hill joining the likes of HC Mike Budenholzer, CEO Steve Koonin, and GM Wes Wilcox, are the Atlanta Hawks now a destination team in the NBA?

Getting to the Eastern Conference Finals was the best thing to happen to this organization last year. It means that your team is championship caliber and top-flight free agents will give you the time of day and serious negotiations will ensue. Atlanta already has two marquee free agents it can choose to re-sign in SF DeMarre Carroll and PF Paul Millsap, who are both about to make some serious money this summer.

But should Atlanta not be able to re-sign our two beloved starting forwards, the Hawks are in a better position to court stars than ever before. Two names that have circulated as possible free agent targets for the Hawks are SG Monta Ellis who last played for the Dallas Mavericks and PF LaMarcus Aldridge, a perennial All-Star with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Monta considered Atlanta greatly last go-around before ultimately signing with Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks. After playing for three decent but not great teams during his time in Golden State, Milwaukee, and Dallas, perhaps Monta is willing to play team-oriented basketball for a winner this fall.

While I love his ability to create his own shot as a fringe starter, sixth man type of player, I’m not really sure how Ellis would fit into Bud’s system. But Atlanta could definitely use a go-to scorer off the bench and in crunch time. Perhaps Monta could fill that hole for the Atlanta Hawks?

If we were to get LaMarcus Aldridge, that would be unreal. For those who aren’t familiar with Aldridge’s impressive game he’s like a Marc Gasol, Tim Duncan, Al Horford type of big man. Great all-around player with tremendous athleticism and high basketball IQ.

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While getting Aldridge would mean that Millsap signs elsewhere, Atlanta would be getting a 2nd team All-NBA player. It would be the best free agent signing in the City of Atlanta since John Schuerholz signed Greg Maddux in 1993. I’ve been a huge fan of LaMarcus Aldridge the last four seasons as he is one of my Top 5 favorite players in the NBA outside of Atlanta. I’m really building my hopes up, aren’t I?

It’s a new era in Atlanta Hawks basketball. Last season was arguably the greatest transitional year of all-time in any sport. With the Pac back and the in-your-face Volt Green now part of the team’s official color scheme, the Atlanta Hawks now have a new identity to rally behind in 2015-16. I believe that the team has staying power in the NBA as an elite team in the Eastern Conference. Regardless of where free agents end up signing, Atlanta is now a marquee destination for top-tier NBA players and that changes the game entirely for our team. Let’s Go Hawks!

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