Atlanta Hawks could make big changes after disappointing season

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Hawks fought hard just to make the NBA playoffs. Facing the prospect of elimination Tuesday night, they battled to the very last second against the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.

But in the end, there's only one word to describe Atlanta's season: Disappointing.

Coming off a surprising run to the conference title round last summer, the Hawks entered the 2021-22 season thinking of themselves as a potential contender to win the NBA championship. Instead, they took a big step backward, spending much of the season under .500 before a late surge got them into the play-in tournament with the ninth-best record in the conference.

The Hawks won two straight play-in games - at home against the Charlotte Hornets and on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers - to earn the No. 8 seed in the East, but they were no match for Miami in the opening round of the playoffs. Atlanta lasted only five games, finished off by Tuesday's 97-94 defeat in Miami.

It really wasn't a surprising result, given the Hawks' lack of consistency during the regular season.

There were some obvious culprits - a rash of injuries, not to mention a COVID-19 outbreak that forced the team to essentially rely on a G League roster just to take the court - but there were also mysterious lapses in effort no one could put a finger on when it came to an explanation.

"We have to play better during the regular season to put ourselves in a better ranking, a better position to approach the playoffs," forward Danilo Gallinari said. "We let a lot of games go. We had too many ups and down during the season. When it's playoff time, you can't take games off, minutes off. You've got to play every game the same way."

After a summer filled with hope, the Hawks head into an offseason that looks much more tumultuous.

"It was a tough season. This was not a good result," Gallinari said. "Where do we go from here? I have no idea."

After becoming just the second player in NBA history to lead the league in total points and assists, All-Star point guard Trae Young endured a miserable playoff series against the Heat.

Miami limited Young to just 15.4 points per game, twice holding him to single digits. He shot just 32% from the field (22-of-69) and had as many turnovers as assists (30 apiece).

"They're a good defensive team," Young said. "Their team is more of a system than who they have on their team. No matter who they have out there, they can play. ... And when they've got a guy that they're targeting and trying to take away, they do a really good job of doing that."

Nonetheless, Young and the Hawks must figure out a way to get him more involved away from the ball and come up with ways to produce offense when the other team is intent on shutting down Atlanta's best player.

"This is part of my growth," the 23-year-old Young said. "The next time I face this sort of challenge, I'm going to be better."

The Hawks will be looking for ways to get Onyeka Okongwu a bigger role. Only 21, the undersized center missed the first part of the season recovering from shoulder surgery but played well as his minutes increased down the stretch. He'll spend this offseason looking for ways to expand his offensive repertoire.

Still, with no one on the roster who currently seems capable of taking the scoring load off Young on a consistent basis, the Hawks may look to bring in another top-level player to complement their star. They have an abundance of role players, but no really elite player beyond Young, and so there were far too many nights when they looked like a one-man team.

The Heat exposed that weakness repeatedly.

"They are a hell of a team," Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. "Those guys compete every second that they're out on the floor, and I have a great deal of respect for how they play."

When the Hawks were struggling at the trade deadline in early February, general manager Travis Schlenk passed on the chance for a major overhaul. The only deal he made was sending Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks for little-used Kevin Knox and a protected first-round pick.

Now that he has seen his team's body of work over an entire season, Schlenk will likely go for much bigger changes.

John Collins, just one year into a five-year, $125 million contract, has been mentioned frequently as potential trade fodder. The Hawks must also decide what sort of commitment to make to De'Andre Hunter, who closed the season with a career-best 35 points in Tuesday's loss.

The Hawks love Hunter's defense and believe he can become more of a force offensively, but he has battled injuries and inconsistency his first three seasons in the league. Now he's eligible for a rookie extension worth up to $184 million over five years.

The Hawks already have big money tied up in players who struggled to meet expectations this season, including Collins, Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela and Kevin Huerter.

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