The Hawks traded with the Cleveland Cavaliers for Richard Jefferson and Kay Felder. They waived those guys, and now they have more room on their roster. Trades in the NBA are interesting because you can trade just to get rid of money on the books, and it has worked out for the Hawks. They have a Golden State disciple on their staff personnel, and they clearly have something big planned. They have some good young talent, and they have a chance to bring someone very special to Atlanta. This might be the end of a house cleaning that was sorely needed.
What are they doing?
The Hawks won 60 games a couple years ago, had the only undefeated month in the History Of Basketball, and they still were swept in the east finals. Whatever they were doing was not working, and they let Al Horford go to Boston. They traded Dwight Howard, and they got rid of Jeff Teague. They are completely blowing up this team because they know that they have to start over. All the work they did with development did not net them anything, and they need to try something else. If you look back at what the Warriors were doing, they were barren while they drafted people like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. They waited, and now they are one of the best teams in the history of basketball.
Who can they sign?
No one knows who they could sign, but I can tell you that athletes like living in Atlanta more than they like playing in Atlanta. They can get on a plane and go anywhere they want, and there are a ton of black owned businesses in the town. They have a lot of film production going on here, and there are plenty of nightclubs and strip clubs.
Guys who are young and rich can have a good time in Atlanta, but they would never actually want to play for an Atlanta team. Would you want to play for an Atlanta team knowing the track record they have. The Falcons cannot even open their roof again for the rest of the season after they spent all that money and tried to make that stadium look good.
The Falcons got their hearts ripped out in the Super Bowl, and the city has lost two hockey teams. The Atlanta market is not a good place to play, and it is only a decent place to live if you like living in overcrowded suburbs.
The Hawks have to make a splash
The Hawks have to make a big splash, and they need to make it as obvious as possible. They need to come out and say that they have made the perfect move for their team, or they need to do nothing but draft until they are no longer terrible.
