NBA Free Agency 2017: 5 offseason needs for the Atlanta Hawks
By John Buhler
1. Re-sign Paul Millsap
It’ll be pricey, but Atlanta has no choice. The Hawks need to re-sign All-Star power forward Paul Millsap. Though he will never be the best player on a championship team, Millsap is one of the best power forwards in the game today. His three-point shooting wasn’t spectacular this season, but he was.
Millsap has had by far and away his four best NBA seasons in Atlanta, having made four straight All-Star teams. He’s not flashy, but the entire league respects his game and overall competitiveness. Millsap arguably has the best combination of low-post isolation moves and defensive prowess of any power forward in basketball.
He is an ideal culture fit for what Budenholzer wants to keep doing in Atlanta. Maybe not since Dikembe Mutombo blocked shots for Atlanta in the late 1990s has a player been as universally adored on the Hawks roster as Millsap is now. Seeing him walk away for nothing in free agency this summer could signify the end of Atlanta’s playoff streak.
He may be on the wrong side of 30, but Millsap should have about another two or three years of high level basketball left in the tank. Together, Atlanta and Millsap have mutually benefited from this working relationship. Who else can Atlanta sign that could co-exist as well down low with Howard than Millsap?
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Millsap will opt out of the final year of his deal with the Hawks, as he should. However, Atlanta has to pound the table to bring back their best player this summer. Without Millsap, Atlanta becomes arguably the most irrelevant team in the Eastern Conference. He is the only player remaining from the quintet that was the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in January 2015.