National Basketball Association

The future looks bright for Trae Young and the deep Atlanta Hawks

Updated Jul. 4, 2021 9:46 a.m. ET

By Yaron Weitzman
FOX Sports NBA Writer

By now you know the story of these Atlanta Hawks.

There was the first half of their season, where they dropped 20 of their first 34 games and fired head coach Lloyd Pierce. Then there was the second half, where under interim head coach Nate McMillan, they reeled off wins in 27 of their final 38 games, made the playoffs for the first time since 2017, knocked off the New York Knicks in the first round and upset the Philadelphia 76ers — the East’s top seed — in the conference semifinals.

It was a magical and exhilarating run, and though it ended Saturday night in disappointing fashion — a 118-107 Game 6 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks — after the game the Hawks couldn’t help but express optimism for the future. Trae Young, the team’s star point guard, shouted "we’ll be back" to the Hawks crowd as he walked off the floor, and when talking to the media after the game struck the same confident tone.

"I definitely feel like this is the start," he said. "We've accomplished so much this year, but just the guys in the locker room, the young guys, we all understand that this is just the beginning."

Is he right? It’d be hard to make a case against the Hawks. All of it starts with Young, who spent the postseason running circles around some of the league’s premier defenses. He averaged 28.8 points and 9.5 assists in the playoffs, joining LeBron James as the only players to average at least 28 points and at least nine assists in a single playoff run consisting of at least 15 games. That, admittedly, is a mouthful, so instead think of it like this: The only other player to score as many points and dish as many assists in a single postseason as Young just did is one of the greatest players of all time.

Oh, and Young is just 22.

"I think he's built for this time of the season," McMillan said after the game. "You need a player that can create and put the ball in the basket, but create opportunities for his teammates and that has that confidence that he has shown out on the floor."

Think about the options opposing defenses had to cycle through every time Young came off a screen. Stay too close and he slithers into the paint. Offer too much room and he launches from deep. Sit back at the rim and he drops in a feathery floater. Seal off the rim and he tosses a lob. Collapse on him and he fires a dart to an open shooter. Guarding a Young-led attack must feel like facing a team that’s allowed to have eight players on the court.

"Teams have put bigger physical players on him, teams have double-teamed him, they've knocked him down, they've done a lot of things that you do to good players like that, and this kid continues to take that and find ways to be productive," McMillan added. "This guy is committed to winning, he's committed to this team, and he has a talent, a special talent, that you need in order to have success this time of the year."

Young’s ascension into superstardom might be one of the most important developments of this year’s playoffs. His performance over these three rounds could very well be the sort of thing we look back on in 10 years as the origin story for his Hall of Fame career. He is that good. His future is that bright. But what should really have the Hawks feeling bullish is that they appear to have the makings of a strong supporting cast.

John Collins’ numbers dipped a bit this season, but he’s still a 23-year-old, 6-foot-9, 40% 3-point shooter who’s relentless on the offensive glass, capable of guarding multiple positions and toasting smaller defenders on a switch, and, perhaps most important, has willingly conceded points and touches so that teammates can thrive.

Clint Capela (just 27) transformed the Hawks’ defense into a respectable unit and became a devastating dance partner with Young on pick-and-rolls. De’Andre Hunter, the fourth pick in the 2019 draft, is a 6-foot-8 defensive ace who's flashed a smooth outside stroke.

There’s also Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic and Cam Reddish, the 10th pick in the 2019 draft who was so good in Game 6 – 21 points in 29 minutes on 6-for-7 shooting from deep – that McMillan compared him to Paul George.

"His length, his ability to defend, you know ... shooting the 3 as well as putting the ball on the floor, getting to the basket. The makeup is really similar," he said.

Put it all together and you have a young, ball-dominant superstar who just proved his playoff bonafides, surrounded by a plethora of young, athletic wings who all have the potential to develop into strong shooters and lockdown defenders, and are led by a coach who’s proven that he can connect with his players and get the most out of them. It’s the recipe for success in the modern NBA.

That’s not to say there aren’t questions facing this group, or obstacles ahead. Collins will be a restricted free agent, and re-signing him could take the Hawks close to the luxury tax. Huerter and Capela can both be offered extensions. So can Young. That decision is easy (the Hawks might as well draw up the papers for that max deal now), but trying to fit Huerter, Capela, Young and Collins into a roster with Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari on large cap numbers while also budgeting space for Reddish and Hunter will be tricky. Choices will have to be made, and never mind all the pitfalls that pop up after a team tastes a bit of success and expectations are added into the mix.

These Hawks aren’t the first young team to put together a nice playoff run and assume the future is bright. But they did prove themselves to be resilient this season, and their roster already has all the necessary ingredients.

"When you go through an experience we've been through, we've succeeded at a high level in these playoffs and I think we can only build off that," Young said. "It's been a special year and I'm excited about what’s to come."

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports and the author of "Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports." Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.