The Atlanta Hawks were eliminated in six games by the
Washington Wizards in the first round of the NBA playoffs. This wasn’t a surprise. The Wizards are clearly a better team and
John Wall has elevated himself into the discussion of “best point guard in the
NBA”. Still it was good to see Dennis
Schroder step up with a huge series averaging 24.7 pts and 7.7 assists. Paul Millsap also had a big series putting up
24.3 ppg , 9.3 rpg and 4.3 assists per game.
After that though there just wasn’t enough help. Taurean Prince had a small coming out
party. With the need for wing scoring on
this team he would be a great help moving forward if he can continue to develop. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kent Bazemore didn’t
shoot well and Dwight Howard wasn’t a factor.
I’ve said it before. This
team doesn’t have a real identity nor does it have that go to guy. This was Schroder’s first time putting up big
points consistently and Millsap is normally an 18 PPG guy. Millsap is also a free agent after this year
(he won’t pick up his player option).
Atlanta rolled the dice by not trading him during the season. Even keeping him has its issues as a max or
near max contract would not allow the Hawks to make other changes that may be
necessary to actually get better. I do
like Schroder but there just isn’t that much else on this team unless a few
players take some big leaps forward. To
be honest this run the Hawks have had, 10 straight playoff performances, is
probably over. We’ll see how the
offseason plays out but it feels like they’ll be fighting just to get an eight
seed next year.
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