The Hawks hit a home run, followed by a few singles this offseason. Before free agency even began, Atlanta landed Dejounte Murray in a deal with the Spurs that sent San Antonio Danilo Gallinari and multiple first-rounders. Then, the Hawks followed it up by signing Aaron Holiday in free agency and trading Kevin Huerter for Mo Harkless and Justin Holiday.

Many around the Association continued to peddle John Collins trade rumors because reports indicated that the versatile big man wanted out. However, those sentiments are patently false. At this point, the offseason is winding down for the Hawks, which has been previously reported by Jake Fischer. That doesn’t mean the Hawks don’t have any more moves on the horizon, though. After trading Huerter, the club could use another 3-and-D wing to give Atlanta’s elite facilitators more floor spacers/shooters. However, that isn’t the hole Bleacher Report sees…

Atlanta Hawks: Veteran Point Guard

The Hawks did quite well by getting a young star entering his prime in Dejounte Murray, especially by only giving up one rotation member (Danilo Gallinari) in a picks-based package.

This means Atlanta should be quite deep at every position and has the trade assets (John Collins, Onyeka Okongwu, De’Andre Hunter, AJ Griffin) to go chasing another star if they want.

If we’re nitpicking, however, adding a veteran point guard to go along with the playmaking trio of Trae Young, Murray and newly-signed Aaron Holiday would be nice, especially since Delon Wright left to sign with the Washington Wizards.

All three point guards are still just 25 or younger but carry limited playoff experience. Signing a vet for insurance and locker room leadership would help bring the best out of all three and ensure everything runs smoothly.

Players like Eric Bledsoe, DJ Augustin or even bringing Lou Williams back as deep rotation pieces should help balance the roster and keep the workload at a reasonable level for Young and Murray.

Greg Swartz acknowledged the signing of Aaron Holiday and still had the nerve to say the Hawks need a veteran point guard. I’m all for giving Young and Murray veteran leadership but at what cost? Roster spots are hard to come by for a Hawks team that still has several young promising pieces. The backcourt duo of Young and Murray will take about 90% of all potential point guard minutes, and the other 10% will go to Holiday, who is effectively Delon Wright’s replacement. They play a similar brand of basketball and will give the Hawks’ backcourt another defensive-minded guard.

Hawks fans should fully expect Nate McMillan to stagger Young and Murray’s minutes, so the club will always have a point guard on the court who can run the offense. That was the entire point of trading for someone like Murray. Even when they’re both off the court, which shouldn’t happen too often, Holiday is more than capable of managing things with Bogdan Bogdanovic supplementing ball handling duties.

The Hawks would be much better served to sign a 3-and-D wing who can hit spot-up 3’s. The Hawks might not have the experience at point guard that some playoff contenders do, but it won’t be why they come up short in the postseason.

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