Atlanta was a mess last season. Sure Trae Young had some great individual offensive games, including a 50 points game but everything else was awful. Rookies Cam Reddish and DeAndre Hunter were totally clueless on the court, Kevin Huerter was banged up and John Collins was suspended and when he returned, the team had a 6-24 record.
For this season, the Hawks felt the need to give more help on offense to Trae Young (Atlanta had a decent 111.2 offensive rating with him on court last season but a putrid 95.7 offensive rating without him). However they will really need to improve their awful defense that was the 3rd worst in the league with a 114.8 defensive rating.
I would say that their first task was well done as Atlanta got plenty of skillful offensive players. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari and Rajon Rondo will give the team ball handling, playmaking and shooting ability.
Regarding the task of improving defensively, this will be the X factor of the team this season.
Note that they added one of the best defensive guards in the league in Kris Dunn, but he is a negative offensive player. DeAndre Hunter showed some good defensive instincts in his rookie season and new rookie Onyeka Okongwu is regarded as an excellent shot blocker with good instincts and intelligent defensive play. There is some defensive talent in this roster but it looks like all players are unidimensional.
In a perfect world, these young defensive minded players would quickly develop and complement Trae Young and the new offensive players.
It was pretty clear during the offseason that the Hawks front offense ran out of patience as they entered in a “win now mode”. However, it will be hard for them to get the right balance between defense and offense. If coach Lloyd Pierce manages to balance the team then he will be a coach of the year contender given the potential that the Hawks have this season.