![Al Horford had a productive nine seasons for the Hawks. [Image Source: Flickr/PreludeVTEC01]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2019/5/29/660x290/b_502x220x82/al-horford-had-a-productive-nine-seasons-for-the-hawks-image-source-flickr-preludevtec01_2271481.jpg "Al Horford had a productive nine seasons for the Hawks. [Image Source: Flickr/PreludeVTEC01]")
In 18 of the 28 seasons beginning from 1990-91, the Atlanta Hawks have been able to reach postseason play. Also during that time though, they have never reached the NBA Finals and have only reached the Eastern Conference Finals once.
While they have had periods of prolonged success, perhaps the lacking of a transcendent player drafted in that timeframe has been part of the reason they haven't reached the grandest of heights. That doesn't mean they haven't selected anyone who played a largely positive role with the franchise.
Here are the Hawks' 10 best draft choices since 1990. As a subjective list, the order and players on it could surely be debated.
In order to make the list, the player must have been actually drafted by the team (Trae Young was actually drafted by the Dallas Mavericks before being sent to Atlanta in a draft-day deal). Only impact with the Hawks was taken into account (while Jason Terry had an impressive 19-year career, only his first five seasons were played with the Hawks). It's also not exactly a list of the top-10 players drafted by the Hawks since 1990, as where the player was drafted could influence where they end up on the list (a second-round player who had about as much impact as a first-round player will end up higher on the list). The team's draft picks were taken from Basketball Reference.
Al Horford - 1st round, 3rd overall (2007)
Spending his first nine seasons with Atlanta, Horford was named to four All-Star teams and was an All-NBA Third Team member for the 2010-11 season.
Josh Smith - 1st round, 17th overall (2004)
While fans weren't always fond of his shot selection, Smith's all-around game produced averages of 15.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.1 blocks in nine seasons with Atlanta.
Jeff Teague - 1st round, 19th overall (2009)
Teague played seven seasons with the Hawks, had three seasons averaging at least seven assists with the team, and averaged at least 15 points a contest in each of his last four seasons with Atlanta.
Jason Terry - 1st round, 10th overall (1999)
Terry was amongst the top of the leaderboard in minutes averaging 37.7 over his last four seasons with the Hawks, a period he averaged 18.3 points, 5.9 assists, and 1.5 steals.
John Collins - 1st round, 19th overall (2017)
While he's just two seasons into his NBA career, Collins had per-game averages of 19.5 points (on 56 percent shooting) and 9.8 rebounds in 2018-19. Forbes recently spoke about the set core that the Hawks were building which features Collins.
Alan Henderson - 1st round, 16th overall (1995)
Henderson played 485 games (started 202) over nine seasons with the Hawks and had four straight seasons from 1997-98 until 2000-01 in which he averaged double figures in scoring.
Stacey Augmon - 1st round, 9th overall (1991)
Known as "The Plastic Man," Augmon spent his first five seasons with Atlanta and was solid on the defensive end averaging 1.5 steals.
Dennis Schroder - 1st round, 17th overall (2013)
Schroder got to spend his last two seasons with Atlanta (2016-17 and 2017-18) as the starting point guard after Jeff Teague signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In those two seasons, Schroder averaged 18.6 points and 6.3 assists.
Chris Crawford - 2nd round, 50th overall (1997)
Crawford spent the entirety of his seven-year, 252 game NBA career with the Hawks, and at times he played a fairly large role for a second-round pick including his final season when he averaged a career-best 10.2 points.
Mike Scott - 2nd round, 43rd overall (2012)
Scott was one of the main scorers off the bench in his five seasons with Atlanta averaging 7.1 points per outing in 281 games with the team.
