Hawks End Of Season Wrap-Up

With the conclusion of the NBA Finals (congrats to the Denver Nuggets), it has been well over a month since the Atlanta Hawks were ousted in a six-game series against the Boston Celtics. Back-to-back first-round exit’s are not exactly what Hawks fans had in mind following their spectacular run to the Eastern Conference finals just two season’s ago.

With enough time to digest, there were some common themes between this year’s team and last year’s. Enough to be playoff-contenders, but nothing further. With some time off to digest how the season went down, HawksFanTV pinpointed some of the fallacies from this past year.  

Consistently-Inconsistent 

The Hawks were consistent but not in the way you would want them to. At 41-41, Atlanta was a middle-of-the-pack team almost the entire season. There was a point in the season that the Hawks alternated wins for 26 games in a row. They beat teams they were not supposed to, then lost to clubs who were battling in the lottery. The Hawks were consistent at inconsistency. 

This is becoming more and more synonymous with this group of Hawks players, set aside the Eastern Conference Finals run, the core of Trae Young/De’Andre Hunter/John Collins/Clint Capela has shown to be .500-club more often than not. With Quin Snyder in the fold, hopefully some of this can get remedied, but Snyder only finished with a 10-11 record in the regular season after taking over for Nate McMillan. It is understood that Quin came in with only a third of the season remaining, while trying to implement his system, but I would bet that players will be changing rosters rather than running it back in a Hawks’ uniform. It will be another interesting offseason for the franchise in terms of personnel once again.

Is Dejounte Murray part of the Hawks’ future?

The Atlanta Hawks made headlines last off-season by acquiring Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs for three first-round picks, a pick swap and Danilo Gallinari. At the time, it seemed like a no-brainer move and a seem-less fit alongside Young in the back court. Murray’s ball-handling was brought in to alleviate some of the pressure off of Young and his defense was brought in to make up for some of Young’s deficiencies.

For the most part, that was the case, but the two never seemed to gel as well as it looked on paper or in the standings. Granted this is the first year of Murray’s tenure with the Hawks, but with only one year remaining in Murray’s deal, the Hawks’ front office has some important decisions to make. Can Murray and Young coexist long term? 

Although Murray’s statistical output did not deviate too much, offensively or defensively, from his 2022 season in San Antonio, his defense did not have the same impact as it did compared to his days as a Spur. Even though his defensive rating went up this season, I take it as a step back that a perennial contender for All-NBA Defensive team, was not even mentioned this season. 

I do not think the Hawks will move on from Murray at the end of the day, but he is also one of the better trade assets the team has. Only time will tell, but if you want our prediction, Murray boots ‘em up as an Atlanta Hawk to start the year. 

Coaching

Whenever you have to let go of your coach midway through the season, it is never a good thing. Obviously, Nate McMillan, lost his job for the lackluster play of the Hawks and it was a necessary parting of the ways. Yet, it sets the organization back, with uncertainty, and in this case, made a tough arrival for his replacement, Quin Snyder.

McMillan’s tenure was marred by blown leads, bad line-up management and questionable coaching decisions. I can safely say that no one is regretting the firing of McMillan, but it also put Atlanta in an interesting position. Ride the season out with McMillan/interim or get the candidate you want?

The Hawks went with the latter, and inked Snyder five-year deal. Right away Snyder was introduced to the dysfunction of the team, losing to the lowly-Wizards while blowing a fourth quarter lead. Snyder navigated the Hawks to a first-round matchup against the Celtics, eventually, falling in six.  With a full offseason ahead of him, we can almost guarantee the team will have a different look and feel than this past season. Only time will tell, but one encouraging sign is star, Trae Youngs’ comments, lamenting to the fact that ‘Quin Snyder is the best coach’ he has ever had.

What do you want the Hawks do to this offseason? What were some of the best moments of the season for you and what were some of the worst? Let us know in the comment section below!