April 8, 2026, 2:34 p.m. ET
- The Atlanta Hawks have change into the most well liked group within the Eastern Conference after buying and selling former star Trae Young.
- General Manager Onsi Saleh and Coach Quin Snyder have rebuilt the roster, emphasizing versatility and a fluid offense.
- Since a key group assembly after the All-Star break, the Hawks have gone 19-4 by empowering a number of ball handlers.
NEW YORK — It’s annoyingly chilly, a grey day after a idiot’s spring, however a lot of the Atlanta Hawks have dispersed into the town, anyway.
The group arrived from Orlando about 3 a.m., and the 78th recreation of the season is tomorrow evening in Brooklyn. Technically, it’s purported to be a day off.
Yet, right here in a windowless convention room on the third flooring of the Ritz-Carlton NoMad, normal supervisor Onsi Saleh and head coach Quin Snyder are busy sketching out hypothetical three-man actions on a dry erase board.
They don’t essentially should be doing this. There are 10 days left within the NBA common season and the Hawks are already the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, the squad nobody needs to face within the playoffs.
But this group continues to be considerably new, nonetheless considerably unresolved. And so, the architects of this revival are chasing refinements, making an attempt to uncover some mixture, some scheme that can unlock this group’s full potential.
This is, after all, a group that has traded 9 gamers since July. It’s a group that has requested its gamers — younger and previous — to continually reinvent themselves.
“We like to say: they’re rookies in their roles,” Snyder says. “This is all new for them. We’re still learning about them. And they’re still learning about–”
“Each other, yeah,” Saleh cuts in, ending the thought. “And us, honestly.”
Throughout a wide-ranging, 45-minute dialog with USA TODAY Sports, Saleh and Snyder opened up about their philosophies on roster development and tradition, on their expectations, on success.
The most tectonic of these trades was the one that shipped former franchise cornerstone Trae Young to the Wizards. It was a danger that has paid off.
First-time All-Star Jalen Johnson has blossomed into an elite, play-making ahead who can push the ball in transition. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the goal of a June 2025 sign-and-trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves, has emerged as a harmful offensive risk and is taking pictures 49.2% from past the arc over his final 15 video games.
It took work to get right here. Atlanta has performed 24 completely different beginning lineups this season. Players have come and gone, and roles have shifted week-to-week and game-to-game.
“It has been a rollercoaster,” Alexander-Walker informed USA TODAY Sports. “But it has been the normal process of anything that comes with a form of success. Trades happen, injuries happen, so you’re in and out of rotations. You have to try and get a feel for consistency.
“It has been a lot of moving parts. For me, I expect the moving parts now, so it’s easier than trying to meet the same cadence every day because it’s too hard to do.”
Fluidity, cohesion change into Hawks staples in post-Trae Young world
At the All-Star break, the Hawks have been 26-30 and in 10th place within the East. A fourth consecutive journey to the Play-In Tournament appeared sure.
Yet, with so many new gamers to include, Saleh and Snyder spent a lot of that week off with one query in thoughts: what tactical adjustments wanted to occur to get this group to thrive?
Atlanta prioritized its versatility, its size and athleticism on the wing and realized that, with Young gone, the ball may movement to a number of pockets of vitality on the ground.
In a method, the Hawks nearly deemphasized the purpose guard place, selecting as an alternative to empower 4 of their 5 starters — Johnson, Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels and CJ McCollum — to be main ball handlers.
The day earlier than their first recreation after the break, a Feb. 19 showdown on the 76ers, the Hawks held a group assembly. Saleh and Snyder harped on fluidity and cohesion. They shared their imaginative and prescient.
“It was pretty significant,” Snyder stated. “It was really to address opportunity, how this team was going to function. That stands out because it was kind of like an understanding amongst our whole group that we’re going to double down on some things and guys were going to have to buy into it.
“The larger theme from it was: what are the sacrifices that everybody is willing to make for the group? But you can only present something, and they can take it or leave it. How deeply do they buy in?”
Since that assembly in Philadelphia, Atlanta has gone 19-4 by means of April 7. No group within the East has a greater successful proportion (.826) over that stretch.
The assembly unlocked a complementary type of play, the place ball strain from Daniels and Alexander-Walker may launch Johnson’s play-making capability in transition. The offense grew to become nearly amorphous and intuitive. Rather than run performs, Snyder began asking his gamers to play out of ideas, to learn and intuit the sport, to feed off of one another.
Despite the roster turnover, the Hawks are averaging an NBA-best 30.3 assists per recreation, tied for eighth-most all-time.
Saleh and Snyder have relied on open dialogue with their gamers. They’re emphasizing transparency, explaining their ideas and causes for any tactical shifts. Taking that one step additional, they’re pushing their veterans to increase their video games to raised match the collective.
This is the primary time that Johnson has change into the unquestioned star of a group.
Alexander-Walker, beforehand regarded as a role-playing defensive specialist, has seen his on-ball utilization and scoring explode; this yr, he’s averaging 20.8 factors per recreation, up from 9.4 final season with the Timberwolves.
Center Onyeka Okongwu has been given the inexperienced mild to shoot 3s; this season, he’s hitting them at a career-high 37.7% clip and has seen his makes an attempt per recreation greater than double from 2.0 to five.3.
McCollum got here to Atlanta in January within the Young commerce having recorded 786 consecutive begins, a streak that spanned greater than 10 seasons. It was snapped when Snyder initially requested McCollum to return off the bench. McCollum didn’t query the transfer.
“I pride myself on being a chameleon,” McCollum informed USA TODAY Sports. “A guy that can play different roles, a guy that has a unique skill set that can fit any scheme, any genre, any group of personnel. For us, it’s just about doing whatever it takes to win.”
Dinners on the street and soccer friendlies strengthen Hawks bonds
When on the street, NBA groups usually set up group dinners. A staffer will scout worthy eating places and arrange reservations. The group will deal with transportation and logistics.
For one, it provides the group some management over the standard of meals gamers eat whereas on the street. For one other, it helps construct camaraderie and morale.
This season, attendance at Hawks group dinners has elevated considerably, with gamers continuously encouraging others to attend.
That’s not the one method the Hawks are connecting. Their latest street schedule lined up in order that two off days, March 26 (Brazil-France, in Boston) and March 31 (Brazil-Croatia, in Orlando), coincided with a pair of males’s soccer worldwide friendlies. Players organized the outing, and almost the whole group attended the previous.
The group has additionally leaned right into a worship group earlier than video games. Prior to their April 3 recreation towards the Nets, all however one of many Hawks gamers within the locker room went to a makeshift chapel for a fast pre-game prayer.
“It’s a great group of guys,” Alexander-Walker stated. “I was very shy and nervous when I first met them. I was like, ‘I just hope everyone likes me.’ It was important for me to have a team that was connected and to be a part of something.
“I’m the new guy here. And some of these guys have been here before me, some guys had established their own versions of their roles here. So whether that was stepping up or taking a step back, but to make room for me, I really appreciate that.”
Although this isn’t essentially uncommon or unusual within the NBA, it tends to be the signal of a wholesome and cohesive locker room.
Midway by means of the fourth quarter throughout an April 1 recreation towards the Magic, the Hawks have been up by 21 when Magic ahead Goga Bitadze yanked backup Hawks middle Jock Landale towards the ground as Landale was going up for a lay-in.
Landale fell awkwardly and sprained his ankle, an damage that can sideline him a minimum of two weeks. Immediately after Landale thudded on the court docket and was writhing in ache, the 4 different Hawks on the ground rushed over to confront Bitadze. Daniels got here all the way in which from behind the 3-point to get a shove in on Bitadze.
For Saleh and Snyder, it was one thing of a fruits.
“It was an angry moment,” Saleh stated. “It was a irritating second on the time, however when that occurred, 4 guys sprinted.
“I watched it perhaps 10 instances. And I’m happy with it. It exhibits that they’re linked and making an attempt to be there for one another. That’s the tradition we wish. It’s a testomony to this group and it exhibits, to what Quin was saying, the sum is bigger than the elements right here.”
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