What has to happen to make the Hawks a sure fire contender?

[FL_BRYANT]

What move makes the Hawks a sure fire  contender? 

What move puts the Hawks over the top, do we need a third all-star level player?  (Do we already have that player)

Is there a trade out there that makes us a bona-fide contender.

Is it John Collins having a stronger presence in the post and adding more to the boards and defense?

Is it the emergence of JJ or AJ ?

Is it Hunter stepping up?

Do we upgrade the center position or is there an underrated move out there that allows us to pound our chest and say look out league here we come? 

Let me know what you think  Squawkers .

I'm tired of waiting, Let's get this done.

[Final_quest]

To get to Finals contender status I actually believe it would take a trade or JJ or AJ turning into stars. 

I don't think this will happen, but it could also be the 2021 hot streak versions of Bogi and Capela. 

A lot of fans on this board are probably into the idea of Okongwu or Hunter being the difference makers, but I'm not believers in those guys as putting us over the top.   

For now I'm content to see what DeJohnTrae is gonna bring.  I think we'll surprise a lot of people this year, but not be contender level.  

 

[sillent]

9 minutes ago, FL_BRYANT said:

What move makes the Hawks a sure fire  contender? 

What move puts the Hawks over the top, do we need a third all-star level player?  (Do we already have that player)

Is there a trade out there that makes us a bona-fide contender.

Is it John Collins having a stronger presence in the post and adding more to the boards and defense?

Is it the emergence of JJ or AJ ?

Is it Hunter stepping up?

Do we upgrade the center position or is there an underrated move out there that allows us to pound our chest and say look out league here we come? 

Let me know what you think  Squawkers .

I'm tired of waiting, Let's get this done.

What move makes the Hawks a sure fire  contender? Well defense wins championships & I think people underestimate how big of a difference it will make on our team. Question is did we accomplish that? I think so..

What move puts the Hawks over the top, do we need a third all-star level player?  (Do we already have that player) If John and Hunter step it up we may have at least 4 if not 5 with Clint getting more defense relief.

Okongwu may be in most improved talks and that could possibly even include Jalen Johnson if he shows he can reliably play over Mo Harkless.

 

We have good chemistry on/off the court with most of our players.

Our returning players all have and carry a little chip for underachieving last season and we probably know by now Murray keeps a chip on his shoulders. 

The Holiday brothers play their best ball together so we should see their best when playing. Jalen Johnson and Mo Harkless should be competing for playing time which should bring out the best.

Same goes for CC & OO... I'm sure Clint feels him creeping.

Most importantly I think this will be a no hold back yr for Trae. I expect us/him to finish a lot more games on the winning side. 

With him and Dejounte alternating most of the game we should actually see us dominating (blowing teams out) on a regular basis. 

We are built to run and gun/3 & D which is a deadly combination. We should look more like our ECF team then last yr team with our egos deflated and a newfound chip.

Also having Cam and Trae having 2 big wings to guard the best players on the perimeter was critical.

Adding Dejounte not only supplements that but gives us even more of an advantage because it will take Trae off the ball while also providing that needed perimeter defense and 2nd star.

Guys like Trae and Luka control the game so much that it's hard to pair a second star but Dejounte because of his versatility, capabilities and most importantly (Pop's playbook/mindset aka leadership/ mentality) should give us the edge to do what nobody outside of us were expecting (championship) as early as this yr.

 

[RedDawg#8]

Plain and simple, improve our defense.

We finish anywhere near top 10 defensively and stay a top 5 offense we are a contender.

If Trae and Murray do what they do, and ANY of our front court guys perform at a borderline All Star level, or league-superlative level, we will be a for-real threat to reach the finals.

[Wretch]

Coaching, defense, bench depth, at least 2 quality stars that compliment each other. 

• We'll see what kind of coach we have, there are some things that have me a little concerned...but we'll see.
• Jury is out on how well we gel defensively.  Again...we'll see.
• Jury is out how the changes affect our bench depth.  We'll see.....

So all we can be sure of is that we have is two quality stars that compliment each other.  If I could magically add anything to this roster?  It would be outside shooting.  Another starter that could just feed off of the attention of Trae/DJM...  Not necessarily a star, just a sniper.  Like, if I could go back in time and get prime Kyle Korver or Craig Ehlo.  That would be impossible to defend. 

Swap Bogi for Korver in '21 and we would have WASHED every team en route to the title.

 

*edit - Now that I think about it...  While it looks like a good fit on paper...we're gonna have to see how it runs against NBA competition with Trae/DJM

[kelston827]

The most important things necessary for this team to become a true title contender are pretty straight forward:

— Trae and Dejounte gelling smoothly

— JC reasserting himself aggressively

— Hunter living up to his potential 

I don’t see this team having a shot at a title unless ALL of these things happen. 

[JayBirdHawk]

Defense and Health.

[Spud2nique]

6 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Defense and Health.

This. So much of our success.. this.

[Gray Mule]

IF HEALTHY

We here on the Squawk have it pretty well settled who will be the starting five.  How the remainder of the fifteen on the roster plays will determine how good or bad we are.  How Nate uses them and how he lets them play will be really big, whether good or bad, on how well this season goes.

[theheroatl]

JC has to be a force or a key part of a big upgrade trade for a top tier level forward (Small or Combo preferred like Scottie Barnes, OG,Kawhi, Jimmy Butler types). I would count on all other parts being equal. DeJounte will put us very very close to contention.

Edited August 18, 2022 by theheroatl

[Final_quest]

4 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Defense and Health.

Last year health was the main concern, and we didn’t stay healthy.
 

If some of the same guys can’t stay healthy again, it becomes more of a personnel issue.  

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

Last year health was the main concern, and we didn’t stay healthy.
 

If some of the same guys can’t stay healthy again, it becomes more of a personnel issue.  

Running theme here.. health.. yes. I dig. And D.

[macdaddy]

8 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

Last year health was the main concern, and we didn’t stay healthy.
 

If some of the same guys can’t stay healthy again, it becomes more of a personnel issue.  

Exactly.  It could already be.   This is my biggest concern.  Every team is concerned about injuries but 5 guys in  our rotation have had significant injury issues the last 2 years.  Bogi/Hunter/OO/JC/Capela.  That's kind of crazy.  

[capstone21]

Chemistry and health … that’s it.  We have the talent now on both ends of the floor.  We need peeps to accept roles and gel.

[marco102]

This guy needs to take a leap offensively and defensively.

[swanlee]

We just made the ECF not even two years ago and made some serious tweaks in the off season to address our weaknesses, why wouldn't we be considered a contender?

[Final_quest]

12 hours ago, swanlee said:

We just made the ECF not even two years ago and made some serious tweaks in the off season to address our weaknesses, why wouldn't we be considered a contender?

Because we were a play in team that got destroyed in our playoff series.  I think we have to play like a contender again before we can claim that status.  
If you believe that when healthy we are that team, you have to deal with the fact that this group doesn’t remain healthy consistently.  
The teams they put at the top of the ECF have shown sustained excellence over multiple seasons.  We have been disruptive in one season.  
We will get mentioned as a contender if we have a top 3 record after 25 games, and will have sincere believers if we keep that up heading into Allstar weekend.  
 

[AHF]

52 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

Because we were a play in team that got destroyed in our playoff series.  I think we have to play like a contender again before we can claim that status.  
If you believe that when healthy we are that team, you have to deal with the fact that this group doesn’t remain healthy consistently.  
The teams they put at the top of the ECF have shown sustained excellence over multiple seasons.  We have been disruptive in one season.  
We will get mentioned as a contender if we have a top 3 record after 25 games, and will have sincere believers if we keep that up heading into Allstar weekend.  
 

Also, during our ECF season we were the 5th seed in the playoffs.  We need to at least consistently be generating home court advantage in the playoffs to be in the discussion for a consistent contender.

Lots of things that can be big positives for this year relative to last year.

[Gray Mule]

What happened?  Last season the Hawks got buried by a swarming defense.  We failed to adjust.  These are known facts, not wild guesstimates.

This upcoming season, every NBA team will be aware of what happened.  The Hawks must plan to overcome this, and I believe that they have.  We are not the same team that was observed in the playoffs.  Nate will not have the same players that were buried in the playoffs.

Hawks found it impossible to score because they couldn't get the ball to the goal.  Trae was double and triple teamed, and we just couldn't.  New players.  New season.  New plans.

Under construction.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Gray Mule

[Final_quest]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Also, during our ECF season we were the 5th seed in the playoffs.  We need to at least consistently be generating home court advantage in the playoffs to be in the discussion for a consistent contender.

Lots of things that can be big positives for this year relative to last year.

Exactly. I think we could be one of the best teams, but we have to show results first.  Obviously no one around the league is putting us in this category.  

My most optimistic take is that Trae might be someone that creates the effect of having two stars on the team. He brings 30 points and his facilitation of the offense has the same effect of creating another 25-30 ppg scorer.  So, even without two go to scorers you rank in the top 3 teams offensively because of the looks he creates.  Now that we have DM, you essentially have the additional defense support and another offensive threat to give us a truly devastating triple threat.  We have two guys that functions like a big three.  Defensively, there are a lot of reasons to believe we could see major improvements as well.  

It's similar to CP3 and Harden.  CP3 went down with injury or that team could have easily won a title.  You even have Bogi playing the Eric Gordon role, and Capela.