Atlanta Hawks: Making a 2016 NBA trade deadline deal?

Will the Atlanta Hawks look to upgrade their roster before the 2016 NBA trade deadline or will the team refrain from orchestrating any roster shakeups?

The Atlanta Hawks enter play Wednesday night with the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference with a 25-17 record through 42 2015-16 NBA regular season games. This team is likely not destined to win 60 games again this season or finish with the best record in the East. With room for improvement, will the Atlanta Hawks be an active buyer in the weeks leading up to the February 18th, 3:00 PM ET NBA trade deadline?

Last season, the Atlanta Hawks kept their roster very much intact through the NBA trade deadline. While the front office did send 2014 first round pick power forward Adreian Payne to the Minnesota Timberwolves and signed wing Austin Daye to round out the 15-man roster, Atlanta stayed quite through the trade deadline like many teams did.

However, the Atlanta Hawks aren’t by far and away the best regular season team in the Eastern Conference this year. Does that mean general manager Wes Wilcox and head coach Mike Budenholzer pull off a trade? Barring any catastrophic injury in the next 29 days, Atlanta will likely stick with the team it has now for the rest of the 2015-16 NBA season.

More from Atlanta Hawks

The reasoning behind standing pat is three-fold for the Atlanta Hawks:

1.) What are the team’s glaring weaknesses? Team rebounding and wing depth. Yes, the rebounding for the Atlanta Hawks isn’t great and likely isn’t going to drastically improve this season, but having a healthy Tiago Splitter can only help. Atlanta is 19-10 when Splitter plays versus 6-7 when he is unable to come off the Hawks’ bench.

2.) The wing depth is starting to look solid in the last week or so, as Tim Hardaway, Jr. has finally cracked Coach Budenholzer’s wing rotation as the fourth wing player behind starters Kyle Korver and Kent Bazemore, as well as key contributor Thabo Sefolosha. Hardaway’s ascendance has put him ahead of both Lamar Patterson and Justin Holiday on the Atlanta bench rotation.

3.) What will the Atlanta Hawks be willing to offer a potential trade partner? It doesn’t seem like the Atlanta Hawks will want to part ways with any player that is a regular contributor from their rotation nor do the Hawks have a massive stockpile of draft picks.

Let’s also keep in mind the difficulty that comes with getting regular playing time in Coach Budenholzer’s system. Guys need repetition in practice to most importantly understand the defensive philosophies in place in Atlanta. Budenholzer will sparingly play a guy if he isn’t able to appropriately live up to his expectations on the court, especially defensively.

So would it even make sense to bring in player that is completely unfamiliar with the Hawks’ player development program? It took Tim Hardaway, Jr. nearly half the season to get regular playing time in his first season in Atlanta.

If the Atlanta Hawks do decide that they need to make a trade within the next 29 days, it will be because either the Hawks have a devastating injury they need to address immediately or Budenholzer will cautiously target a player playing on a team whose coach belongs to the Gregg Popovich coaching tree or a former San Antonio Spur.

Having a player coming to Atlanta that has tremendous familiarity with how Popovich runs his team would certainly hasten the steep learning curve to earn meaningful minutes in Budenholzer’s rotation. The perfect example of a player Atlanta would look at would be someone like Tiago Splitter who spent five years playing for Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs.

Next: Tim Hardaway, Jr. finally cracking Atlanta's rotation?

Unless the Atlanta Hawks can acquire a player on an expiring contract who has a strong understanding of Popovichian coaching philosophies, then expect the Hawks to stay quiet during the NBA trade deadline, feeling completely confident in its ability to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Home/Atlanta Hawks