From winning an Eastern Conference best 60 games last season, to considering a miniature teardown this season, the Atlanta Hawks have come a long way.
The wrong way.
According to ESPN.com’s Kevin Arnovitz and Brian Windhorst, the Hawks are weighing whether they should sell off three of last year’s four All-Stars:
The Atlanta Hawks are engaged in serious internal discussions ahead of the Feb. 18 trade deadline about the future direction of their team and their core players, including three All-Stars from their historic 2014-15 team: Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver. . . .
Sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking say that Hawks management and ownership have conceded internally that unless Atlanta can recapture the magic of last season’s run — when it went 60-22 and claimed the East’s top seed — this season’s team is a fringe contender.
Kudos to the Hawks for the recognizing that their regression, coupled with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ continued dominance, calls for action, even if it’s not the kind they would prefer. A quasi-rebuild isn’t something a purported contender typically embraces, but the Hawks are in a unique situation.
Horford is speeding toward free agency and could command more than double the $12 million he’s making this season. The Hawks already have a ton of money invested in Paul Millsap, who is younger, and Tiago Splitter, while oft-injured, is under contract for another year at what could end up being a third of Horford’s 2016-17 salary.
Dennis Schroder, meanwhile, has played well enough, for long enough, to take the reins from Teague, who has taken a slight step back himself this season and will be a free agent in 2017. Korver, quite simply, is just old. If the Hawks can get a pick or something for their soon-to-be 34-year-old sniper, they should consider that a victory.
This, again, isn’t ideal. But the Hawks have an intriguing core in Millsap and Schroder, and getting out in front of this reset by turning impact players into picks and prospects will help them expedite their path back to 2014-15 level prominence.
