The Hawks Are Going Nowhere With Or Without Dejounte Murray
I don’t want to sit here and crush the Hawks because, on the surface, the Dejounte Murray trade feels like a win-win for both sides. The Spurs are finally tanking and it’s long overdue. The Hawks also have to start cashing in on some of their assets and finally put together a real contender around Trae Young.
Win-Win right?
Ehhhh not really.
Can we can be totally honest here? With or without Dejounte Murray, the Hawks are going nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, I love Murray and I’m totally in on him as a player. However, I question the fit in Atlanta.
Maybe it just has everything to do with Trae Young. He’s so bad defensively, I’m not sure I even believe in building any basketball team around him. He’s not just small either. Young comes off as whiny, soft, and hasn’t proven he’s a winning basketball player. Young is a big reason why the Hawks are such a tire fire defensively. Asking Murray to be the dirty dog cleaning up after Young doesn’t exactly seem fair.
Murray is a great defender and is coming off his first All-Star appearance. My question is how exactly is the ball being shared here? Young had a usage rate of 27.7% which was 20th in the NBA. Is Young cool playing more of an off-ball role while he lets Murray heat up the offense? It’s probably what’s best for the team to maximize the shooting of Young. I’m just not sure he has the ego to do what’s best for the team.
Truthfully, I’d be pissed if I were Murray. This Hawks team isn’t winning anything unless they find a way to really cash in these assets for another premier star. Even then, I’m not sure it’s enough. The Hawks aren’t one or two moves away from a championship. They appear to be on a collision course to repeat the 2015 Atlanta Hawks days. I’m not putting stock into that cheese.
Murray is a good player that any team would love to have. It’s still the Hawks. This team isn’t going anywhere. Murray makes them better but the East is lowkey loaded and playing in another play-in game doesn’t seem totally outlandish.
