NBA Season Preview 2019-20: Every team’s biggest question

Atlanta Hawks: Are the kids ready for the Eastern Conference Playoffs?

The situation for the Atlanta Hawks is similar to those of many of the teams in the lower tier of the Eastern Conference a season ago. The East is perhaps more top-heavy than ever, with two championship-aspiring teams (Milwaukee and Philadelphia) leading a morass of uncertainty. The middle of the conference seems to be completely undefined, and the playoff bubble ostensibly grows every day. The question, then, is simple: can the Hawks be the team that breaks in?

On the surface, it feels like a long shot. The 2018-19 Hawks were fun, to be sure. Trae Young finished as a worthy runner-up in the Rookie of the Year race, his rapport with second-year forward John Collins produced plenty of highlights, and Kevin Huerter rounded out a promising young core by looking like a bankable young wing player. Despite the buzz, however, Atlanta finished with a mere 29 wins and a net rating of -5.5, just 26th in the NBA. The defense was even worse, coughing up 113 points per 100 possessions for the year.

Still, such is the state of the Eastern Conference that you can draw up a playoff trajectory for the young Hawks if you squint hard enough. Much of it depends on that young core. The additions of rookie forwards DeAndre Hunter and Cam Reddish in the draft add a pair of 3-and-D wings that — in theory — should complement the existing young core quite well. A fully realized lineup of Young, Huerter, Hunter, Reddish and Collins could be one of the more dynamic units in the conference. Whether or not they can mature quickly enough to have a winning impact, however, remains to be seen.