The Atlanta Hawks surprised much of the NBA last season when they secured the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs and then took the Indiana Pacers to seven games almost advancing to the next round. Now the team is looking to build off that success in order to make a deep run in the playoffs come next season. With cap space to burn, who are the players that Atlanta could be targeting?
The Hawks have already made a dent in free agency. They signed Thabo Sefolosha away from the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also pulled in Kent Bazemore from the Los Angeles Lakers. That should give the Hawks quality rotational guys for the future, but Atlanta is not done just yet. They still have a fair amount of cap space to make one or two more moves in the offseason to finalize their roster.
According the NBA writer Chuck Myron, the Hawks are very interested in big man Greg Monroe. Right now, the Detroit Pistons are trying to figure out the future of their resident big man. Head coach Stan Van Gundy is likely going to be forced to choose between Monroe and Josh Smith for next season. Monroe wants out of Detroit. He is unhappy being teammates with Smith and his position on the court. The Hawks would welcome him with open arms.
Monroe is a restricted free agent. The Pistons can opt to match any offer put up on the center, but that seems unlikely considering the position the team is in. If the Hawks came in with a generous offer for Monroe, the Pistons look poised to let him walk in favor of keeping Smith instead. Smith's contract is currently untradeable at the moment. His stats dipped last season and his salary is high, a bad combination.
The Hawks are also taking a look at Lance Stephenson after they missed out on signing Luol Deng. Stephenson's contract demands are steep. He turned down a five-year, $44 million deal. The Hawks already refused to overpay Deng meaning they would take the same approach with Stephenson. The guard wants a deal similar to Chandler Parsons' which would pay him $11 million a season. The Hawks refused $10 million for Deng so Stephenson might not be an option.
One thing is certain, the team is not trading Al Horford. There has been plenty of speculation in that regard with interest coming from the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Horford is not available. The team finally got him back after he battled injuries all last season and as long as he proves healthy, Horford is staying put.
