Why Cleveland Cavaliers Should Worry Atlanta Hawks

Yesterday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski kicked off the month of September with a seismic ‘Woj bomb.’ 

The Utah Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, three unprotected first-round picks, and two decide swaps. 

The blockbuster commerce shook up the NBA and reshaped the Japanese Convention lower than one month forward of the 2022-23 NBA Preseason. 

How the Cavaliers Examine to the Hawks

After buying Mitchell, the Cavaliers now have three All-Stars (together with Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen) on their roster. To not point out 21-year-old Evan Mobley, who was the runner-up for the 2022 NBA Rookie of the 12 months award.

Final season, the Cavaliers had the fifth-best defensive ranking, and their Twentieth-ranked offense simply obtained supercharged with a participant who has averaged roughly 24 factors and 5 assists per sport all through his profession.

The Cavaliers commerce drew quick comparisons to the Atlanta Hawks’ transfer in late June, which netted them All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. The 2 groups confronted one another within the 2022 Japanese Convention Play-In Event, and if not for a heroic second-half efficiency by Trae Younger, the Hawks would have missed the Playoffs.

Yesterday’s commerce is one other reminder that the NBA isn’t stagnant. It is an arms race. Cleveland’s entrance workplace plunged into the posh tax in an try and hop off the treadmill of mediocrity. Each single Japanese Convention contender aside from the Miami Warmth improved this summer season.

Can the Hawks Make Any Strikes?

The Hawks roster presently has 14 gamers on full contracts and two gamers on two-way contracts. The staff sits simply $1.8 million above the wage cap. NBA groups can carry 14 or 15 gamers on their roster. However the roster doesn’t want any extra additions presently.

They’ve an All-NBA level guard in Younger, who has spent the complete offseason making ready to accommodate Murray. Total, the Hawks had an amazing offseason which warrants good grades.

Crew president Travis Schlenk and normal supervisor Landry Fields have a transparent imaginative and prescient. They need to place the Hawks to contend whereas sustaining some flexibility. 

Atlanta’s entrance workplace won’t let the Cavaliers’ strikes dictate their plans. The Jazz are internet hosting a firesale, however the Hawks aren’t going to pursue a participant like Jordan Clarkson or Bojan Bogdanovic in an try and counter yesterday’s transfer. 

What Ought to the Hawks Do Now?

The time for scouring the league is over. Now could be a time to look inward. Will the brand new position gamers show succesful earlier than the commerce deadline? Will the prolonged offseason give returning gamers like Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter the time required to get proper bodily? Can Nate McMillan and his teaching workers make the sum of the roster higher than its particular person components?

One other honest query is that if the Hawks needs to be fearful. Sure. I hope yesterday’s commerce makes them uncomfortable. Final season the Hawks slept-walk by the common season like they had been the 2002-03 Los Angeles Lakers. It took a historic season from Younger to tug the staff to the postseason only one yr after making the Japanese Convention Finals.

The roster is okay for proper now. The group needs to be targeted on constructing a system for inner improvement and making a tradition that may face up to any Woj bomb.

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