ATLANTA — It’s a new day for Hawks general manager Landry Fields and his staff. It would have been nearly impossible to improve the roster without dumping a high-priced player for a pittance. Now it will be very hard, which is within the normal range for basketball executives.
After agreeing to trade John Collins, Fields now can make pitches to an expanded list of free agents when negotiations begin this weekend. The deal also gives the Hawks more flexibility in trades. They have up to a year to play that card. There should be opportunities to do so with teams seeking to shed salaries because of harsher tax penalties in the new labor agreement.
Upgrading at small forward should be a priority for Fields. A trade is the most likely way to do it. I think it’s time for the Hawks to move on from De’Andre Hunter. Fields apparently agrees because Hunter’s name keeps popping up in trade rumors. Hunter is about to get a salary bump to $21 million, and he just hasn’t shown he’s starter-quality for more than a couple of weeks at a time.
