Detroit Pistons: How will other team needs effect their pick?

#4 Atlanta Hawks

Pick Odds: Pick 1 (12.5%), Pick 2 (12.2%), Pick 3 (11.9%), Pick 4 (11.5%), Pick 5 (7.2%), Pick 6 (25.7%), Pick 7 (16.7%), Pick 8 (2.2%), Average pick of 4.4
Biggest Needs: Wings, Defense, Bench Depth
Big Board: Obi Toppin, Isaac Okoro, Deni Avdija, Onyeka Okongwu

This season was supposed to be the first step forward for Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, but that clearly didn’t happen. One of those two had a step forward and that was Young.

After going from all-Rookie first team last season, Trae became the solidified franchise player for Atlanta, as he was awarded an all-Star starter position this season. The three major things that delayed the postseason again in Atlanta were John Collins’ 25 game suspension, injuries, and defensive woes.

The draft can only fix the defensive woes, but the record of the Hawks was worse than it should have been as Clint Capela, the newly acquired center from the Rockets, has yet to play a game for the Hawks thanks to injury.

Us Pistons’ fans know how much the Hawks were looking for a center to pair with Trae Young to run a better and more efficient pick and roll, so Capela will help out the offense immensely.

In addition to the offense, Capela can help address the Hawks’ near league worst defense and their abysmal rim protection. The Hawks have only one glaring need in my opinion, they need a 3 and D wing, only problem is that there really isn’t an elite one in this draft. This means that Atlanta has to pick a 3 or a D wing.

The 3 wing would be Obi Toppin, the National College Player of the Year out of Dayton, and the D wing would be Isaac Okoro the freshman out of Auburn.

Isaac Okoro is an athletic freak with a great wingspan and elite defense skills, primarily on the perimeter. The big problem that’s plagued so many players in a similar position of Okoro is the lack of and offensive game outside of dunks and layups.

Kevin Knox is the NBA comparison that I can think of on the worse end, with Tayshaun Prince being on the better side. Okoro has had issues shooting the ball but with NBA coaches and resources, we’ve seen players such as Brook Lopez and Lonzo Ball learn to become elite shooters so that shouldn’t be a super big issue.

While I personally think that Okoro will be drafted a lot higher than he should, wings are always a need for every team, and he’s one of the only true wings.

Obi Toppin is another fantastic fit in Atlanta and picking him would be the smartest option as even Okoro’s defense won’t save the Hawks at all, and you might as well get one of the best players in the draft. T

oppin would be a great player to either come off the bench as a 6th man or start at the 3. This would mean the starting lineup would likely look like Young, Huerter, Toppin/Okoro, Collins, Capella, allowing Cam Reddish to come off the bench as he looks to improve on his game so going against opposing second units could help.

Finally, Tyrese Haliburton could be another dark horse pick here to become a second point guard/shooting guard to help the terrible backcourt defense of Trae Young and Kevin Huerter.