The Atlanta Hawks are on the verge of yet another losing season, this time allegedly on purpose as they look to add more potential franchise players in this year’s upcoming NBA Draft, which is heavily stacked with talent.
Nonetheless, the Hawks haven’t been really known for making the most of their Draft picks, which can explain the team’s struggles to find success and make fans actually want to attend their home games.
As a matter of fact, this franchise has shot itself in the foot over and over when it comes to selecting talent in the Draft, and today, we’re going to let you know about their 6 worst mistakes in history.
1956 NBA Draft: Bill Russell
Obviously, Drafting Bill Russell was not a mistake by the St. Louis Hawks back in the 1956 NBA Draft, but the fact that they didn’t hold on to him and traded him for already established players was a major bummer.
The Hawks got rid of Russell in return for Ed Macauley, who was an already proven talent and a St. Louis native. Russell, on the other hand, would go on to lead the Celtics to 11 Championships in 13 years.
1985 NBA Draft: Jon Koncak
Jon Koncak was the Hawks choice when they were entitled of the 4th overall pick of the 1985 NBA Draft, just to see him grow to become a below the average backup center that roughly averaged 4.0 points and 4.0 rebounds a contest.
Over a 10 year span, Koncak was a reminder of the Hawks’ poor scouting, while they could’ve used that pick to get Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, Charles Oakley or even Karl Malone instead. This is just unbelievable.
2004 NBA Draft: Josh Childress
At 6th overall, the Hawks went with Josh Childress out of Stanford back in 2004, hoping he’d be the two-way stud everybody thought he was going to be following quite a solid rookie season.
To make things even worse, while Childress roughly averaged 9.1 points and 4.7 rebounds a contest, they could’ve used that pick to land a true two-way stud on Andre Iguodala or even Luol Deng.
2005 NBA Draft: Marvin Williams
Just when Hawks fans thought they were going to be just good as they were entitled with the 2nd overall pick of the Draft, they completely wasted it by taking Marvin Williams out of North Carolina.
While Williams would go on to average just over 10.5 points, they could’ve used that pick to get a franchise-changing talent of the likes of Deron Williams or Chris Paul for God’s sake, as they went 3rd and 4th respectively.
2006 NBA Draft: Shelden Williams
The fact that the Hawks actually took Shelden Williams with the 5th overall pick in one of the most talent-loaded Draft classes ever must be sickening for their fans, especially considering he was out of the league 6 years later.
While the big man out of Duke roughly averaged 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds and played for 8 different teams, they could’ve used that pick to land Brandon Roy, Rajon Rondo, JJ Redick or Rudy Gay.
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2018 NBA Draft: Luka Doncic
Don’t get me wrong. It’s too early to give up on Trae Young or call him a bust. He’s had his ups and downs but that’s normal for a rookie, and even though his shooting stroke from deep isn’t quite there just yet, he’s been a great playmaker.
Thing is, we just can’t fathom the fact that the Hawks actually drafted Luka Doncic just to trade him away to the Dallas Mavericks. While Young is good, Doncic looks like a generational talent that’s already dominating the league.
