Hawks remain patient as development stays in front of their mind

But the Hawks have not lost confidence in their plan after seeing promising developments from their young players.

The Hawks, who finished the regular season with a 40-42 record after analysts projected they would win 36 games, take pride in the strides their young core made. Guard Dyson Daniels, whom they acquired last July, was solid at both ends of the floor. The guard, who turned 22 in March, took his first year with extended minutes as a starter in stride. He put up historic numbers on the defensive end, while likely securing a spot on the NBA All-Defense Team. He also took a step forward in his offensive production, positioning himself in the most improved player conversations.

In addition to seeing the positive returns from July’s trade, the Hawks also saw top overall pick Zaccharie Risacher make himself a serious contender for rookie of the year. They also saw Mouhamed Gueye, who spent half of his season in the G League, gain ground on becoming a defensive powerhouse. Onyeka Okongwu evolved as their starting center of the future, while Vit Krejci picked up steam as an effective playmaker from the wing.

“Frankly, if you look at our starting five, by the end of it, your average age was like 22.8 or something like that,” Fields said. “And for a top overall draft pick to come into an environment where you are trying to compete. This is not like a complete rebuild at all, like we’re retooling. So I think he had a wildly successful first season to be able to play.”

The Hawks did accomplish their goal of developing internally while competing. But they have yet to move beyond the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, while teams that began their re-tooling processes, like the Pacers, Magic and Pistons, after that run have made progress.

Fields acknowledged the landscape of the NBA is ever-evolving, and the Hawks have to juggle to multiple facets when they approach their retooling. The Hawks general manager said the team has to think about not only what has worked for other teams, but also the various timelines of players on a roster and how those players all fit together.

“There’s no perfect team,” Fields said. “So the closer we could stay to what we identify and define as perfection, that’s what it’s going to be. And there’s always going to be moves and changes that you have to account for. So you know, not to answer that a certain way, but comes down to a mindset and a posture that we have.”

So, Fields and the Hawks’ front office don’t want to get too caught up in the benchmarks they aim to meet on a yearly basis. Rather, they said they want the team to focus on the things they can do on a micro-level to ultimately help them get to the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

“I mean, look, this season, we wanted to develop, we wanted to compete and wanted to get beyond — I like from a result standpoint, there’s only so much control that you have — but yeah, we wanted to outpace what we did last year,” Fields said. “Like we did that from a wins-loss perspective. Is it where we want to go? Of course, not.

“So that is something that, if you look at our group right now, and you get another year of growth and development and kind of let things grow as we believe they can, building upon this year, we want to keep pushing forward, right? Ultimately, we want to go not Play-in, but playoffs to top four. Like, yeah, that’s all within it. But we’re not going to get there, and I know I harp on this, we’re not going to get there without those daily habits.

“Like, those are the everyday processes that lead to those results. So yeah, we can set up here and talk about our goals every single year, and we have them, and we really do, but how you’re going to get there is the real question, and that’s where the rubber meets the road, frankly. That’s the action behind it all.”