Atlanta Hawks: Why Club Needs Their Own D-League Team

The Atlanta Hawks have utilized the NBA’s flexible D-League regulations over the past few seasons, allowing them to develop players like Mike Muscala, Adreian Payne, John Jenkins and Dennis Schroder by giving them playing time instead of sitting on the bench.

The opportunity to develop players, similar to a minor league system in baseball, gives NBA teams the opportunity to stash players in the D-League, giving players the chance to refine their skills and for the team’s to have more time to evaluate these players. Players such as Hassan Whiteside, Jeremy Lin and Troy Daniels.

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Many players coming out of the NBA Draft, especially second round picks, aren’t NBA ready. Just like in baseball, these players need more time and competition to see if they can, in fact, make an impact that the NBA level.

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This past week, the Indiana Pacers announced that they outright purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, one of the Atlanta Hawks D-League affiliates last season. By doing so, the Pacers became the tenth NBA franchise to own their own D-League squad. Larry Bird and the Pacers front-office have also broken ground on a whole new training ground for the Mad Ants, giving their D-League affiliate state of the art facilities to develop their players.

Because the Atlanta Hawks do not own their own D-League franchise, players such as Walter Tavares will have to move around to different teams this season under the NBA’s Flexible Assignment System. While the Austin Spurs may have a similar offense to what the Hawks utilize, the Idaho Stampede may not, making it counter-productive for some players to be sent down.

“Having a D-League team would be advantage to the Hawks, allowing Mike Budenholzer and the organization to improve development internally, while providing players more opportunities to refine their game.”

This is why the Atlanta Hawks need to pull the trigger and purchase their own D-League franchise. It will allow them to stash and develop players here in the United States, and not in Europe, giving the front-office a better assessment of their players development. Players like Walter Tavares and 2nd round pick Marcus Eriksson would benefit from playing in the D-League in the US, allowing them to better acclimate to playing in America after coming over from Europe.

Having their own D-League franchise would also enable the Atlanta Hawks to put their offense and defensive scheme in place, without the fear of interference from another another system being used. This would teach players early on what Mike Budenholzer is teaching in Atlanta, and would allow them to grow in that system.

So many draft picks sit on the bench in their rookie years, hardly able to see time on the court. If the Atlanta Hawks had their own D-League franchise, draft picks and perhaps second year players who are not yet rotation caliber can have consistent playing time while refining their skills on a daily basis.

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