Less than a week ago, the good people at SportsLine (via CBS Sports) provided a very optimistic view of the Atlanta Hawks for the 2018-19 NBA season. However, not everyone shares that rosy outlook and a dose of reality came to light in the form of two recent NBA power rankings from high-level outlets.
First, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports put together his summer rankings and the Hawks landed at No. 30 overall with the following write-up.
Trae Young was down then up at Summer League, eventually adapting to the length and athleticism of defenders at that level — but come October that level is going to take another massive jump.