Taurean Prince Trade Brightens the Atlanta Hawks Future

Trade Details

Adrian Wojnarowski covered the particulars of the deal between Atlanta and Brooklyn in this ESPN article. Taurean Prince was a solid player for the Atlanta Hawks, coming over in a three team trade that sent former starting point guard Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers, guard George Hill from Indiana to the Utah Jazz and pick 12 in 2016 NBA Draft to Atlanta. The Hawks used the draft pick to select Prince. For particulars of the trade read this ESPN article. Taurean Prince started 139 of the 196 games he played in Atlanta, averaging 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Prince is most known for his accurate shooting from three-point range, as he is a career 38 percent shooter from beyond the arch.

Despite learning a new system and becoming acclimated to new teammates, Taurean posted career high shooting efficiency in the categories of field goal percentage with 44.1 percent, two point percentage with 49.8 percent and three-point percentage with 39 percent. He also set career highs in the advance shooting stats of true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage with 57.5 and 54.5 percent. His spot up shooting was a great fit for a team that attempted the third most three-point field goals in the entire NBA. Yet Prince was acquired by the previous regime of Mike Budenholzer and Wes Wilcox. With the Atlanta Hawks placing a high value on salary cap space to acquire assets and having aspirations of one day signing a top free agent themselves, the team decide to move on.

Allen Crabbe is a 6’6, 212 pound shooting guard. He is 27 years old and entering his seventh NBA season, having spent his career with the Portland Trailblazers and Brooklyn Nets thus far. Crabbe was originally a the first second round selection in the 2013 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He brings career averages of 9.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists. He is a good fit for this Atlanta Hawks squad, as he is a career 39.3 percent shooter from three. Crabbe has shot 37.8 percent from downtown in each of the last two seasons since joining the Nets. He has averaged a whopping 6.7 three point attempts per game in that time span. He shot a career high 44 percent from beyond the arch during the 2016-17 season, on 3.8 attempts per game. Allen also eclipsed the 40 percent mark from outside as rookie, shooting 42.9 percent. He is also known as a solid perimeter defender. With that said, it is unknown rather Crabbe will be a part of the Atlanta Hawks plans this season at this time. Anthony Puccino of Nets Daily tweeted a photo of Allen Crabbe’s Instagram story, that insinuated the player is not happy about being traded.