Landry Fields and the Atlanta Hawks Have Had An Underrated Offseason

Atlanta has been making moves to try and upgrade their roster around Trae Young this offseason

Jun 28, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields talks to the media at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

As soon as the final buzzer sounded in Chicago, the clock started ticking on the Atlanta Hawks offseason. Though some of their bad luck can be blamed on poor injury luck this past season, the truth is most of the roster did not fit together. While the Hawks had individual players that were good on their own merits, they did not fit well together. The Trae Young-Dejounte Murray backcourt was not producing the results that they wanted after making the blockbuster deal two summers ago and the Hawks lacked size and had one of the worst defenses in the NBA.

This was going to be one of the biggest offseasons in recent memory for the Hawks. They had to decide what to do with Young and Murray and what they did was going to signal the next direction for the franchise. General manager Landry Fields has taken a lot of criticism from the fanbase and others, but I think he has done an underrated job this offseason in building a better roster.

Right after the season, the Hawks found their first stroke of luck by winning the NBA Draft lottery. While this draft did not have a prospect on the level of Victor Wembanyama or Cooper Flagg, going from having low odds in the NBA Draft Lottery to the No. 1 pick is always a positive thing. After a long draft process, the Hawks took French forward Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick. and he was the first piece to the Hawks puzzle in the offseason. While other prospects like Reed Sheppard and Donovan Clingan may have had better performances in Summer League, Risacher flashed the skills that the Hawks wanted to see from their No. 1 pick. He provided size, length, defense, nice feel for the game, and he was lauded pre-draft for his shooting. For a No. 1 pick that has a wide variety of skills, it does not seem that Risacher is quite getting the recognition that he should. In the Hawks quest to add more size, defense, and versatility, Risacher was a nice piece to the puzzle. Fields said as much the night that the Hawks drafted Risacher:

"Well, you start by what you see and that is he is 6'10 and got the ability to play on both sides of the ball, has the ability to defend, a versatile defender, a really good shooter, and a high IQ type of player. You know, the amount of development that he has had up until this point is fantastic, he is still only 19, he will be 19 all of next year and I have consistently said all of the important qualities for us in the past, about those types of players and who we want in the building at the end of the day and he possesses a significant amount of those"

The other big move the Hawks made was trading Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Hawks did not get as much back for Murray as when they traded for him, but Fields was able to get back good value. Atlanta received Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance, E.J. Liddell, Cody Zeller, and two first-round picks. One of the picks is an unprotected Lakers pick in the 2025 draft. The Hawks have already traded Liddell for David Roddy and Zeller is unlikely to play a major role, but Daniels and the Lakers pick could prove to be two of the most underrated traded assets that was picked up this summer.

Not only is the Western Conference loaded, but the Lakers would have to hope that they get another fully healthy season from both LeBron James and Anthony Davis, something that is not guaranteed. Davis just had his most fully healthy season maybe of his entire career and put up an All-NBA season. James was healhty for most of the season and still put up great numbers. Both of those things happened and the Lakers were still a Zion Williamson injury away in the play-in tournament from being put in a win or go home game vs the Kings, which they might have lost. What if Davis and James can't stay healthy? That could be big trouble for the Lakers.

Assuming they do both stay healthy, it bears repeating that the Western Conference is very stacked. The Hawks might not have their own pick, but the Lakers could give them a lottery pick. The Hawks entered the Summer with no picks in 2025 and 2027 and now have two.

Daniels has been showing his ability this summer while competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Daniels was the best player that the Hawks got back from New Orleans in the Dejounte Murray trade and has been lauded for his defensive ability. Hawks GM Landry Fields talked to the media after the Murray trade and said that Daniels defensive skills were one of the things they were intrigued by when they got him in the trade:

"His defensive versatility is something that really stands out. His shooting has gotten better, it is something that we think can get an uptick in him as time goes on with his development. So, we are able to help him stay the course defensively and then give him some offensive adjustments there."

During the exhibition games for Team Australia, Daniels averaged 10 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 3.2 APG, as well as three steals per game. He is shooting 49% from the field and 40% from three and if those numbers hold up, the Hawks have to be ecstatic about what Daniels could bring to the team this season. Daniels just had his best game when Australia faced France, as he scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting from the floor and 2-4 from three. He also had five steals and five assists.

Now, Daniels has to prove that he can do this at the NBA level next season, but there is enough evidence out there that he can. I think that Daniels and his skill set is a perfect fit next to Trae Young and the Hawks should explore starting him next to their starting point guard. Young has never had an elite perimeter defender like Daniels by his side and as long as Daniels can shoot at this level and stay on the floor, the Hawks defense can go from abysmal to much better.

A looming question ahead of next season will be whether the Hawks start Daniels alongside Young or bring him off the bench. An argument could be made for either Zaccharie Risacher or Bogdan Bogadanovic to start next to Trae at the two-guard spot, but Daniels would bring the best defense. Bogdanovic was tremendous off the bench last season and should remain in that role in my opinion while Risacher could start next to Daniels and Young.

The Hawks could be a deep team next year. Unless they trade either Clint Capela or De'Andre Hunter, they will have both of them, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jalen Johnson, Risacher, Nance, and second year guard Kobe Bufkin (if he can stay healthy). This roster fits well together and is a little bit like the roster the Hawks had in 2020-2021, the year they made the conference finals. I am not saying they are going to do that, but Fields has done a good job of getting pieces this summer and don't be surprised if the Hawks are in contention to be a top six seed in the Eastern Conference.