In one of the least surprising exits of the NBA’s first round, the Atlanta Hawks were easily handled by the Miami Heat. The Hawks managed to navigate through the Play-In tournament, only to get smacked in the face in five games.
As much as the Play-In is both entertaining to fans and gives teams like the New Orleans Pelicans a new mindset about their future, it also has a much less glamorous side that the Hawks came to personify this season. Conference finalists a year ago, how much did this group really gain by the experience of clawing their way into the postseason, only to leave in a hurry?
We already have a good idea of where the Atlanta Hawks are and where they are capable of going in the future, and this series loss was nothing more than damaging.
Nate McMillan is still the right man for the job as head coach here. Trae Young is, without a doubt, their star, who they continue to build around. We haven’t reached the level of panic surely now doing the rounds in Utah with the Jazz, and there is still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.
But this brief playoff run was also a cautionary sign that the Hawks might yet end up caught in the no man’s land of the NBA. Not bad enough to sink to the bottom and get a high draft pick, but not good enough to really contend each year. That may sound dramatic and hyperbolic, but life comes at you quick in the NBA.
In any event, here are three questions the Hawks need to answer this offseason, as they find themselves sitting at home earlier than they would have liked.