Four years ago, the Atlanta Hawks were the hottest team in the NBA. They finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, 60-22, but were swept in the Conference Finals by the Cavaliers.
Last year, the Hawks had one of the worst seasons in their 70-year history. They went 24-58. The organization had the worst record in the Eastern Conference and selected G Trae Young with the third pick in the draft. The now cellar-dwelling Hawks have only one player from their 60-win team still on the roster. This begs the question…
The 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks: Where Are They Now?
Coach – Mike Budenholzer
Budenholzer signed as the Atlanta Hawks’ head coach in 2013. He was an assistant in San Antonio for 17 years, under the tutelage of legendary coach Gregg Popovich. Like Pop, he preached team basketball. This is evident when looking at his best year as a coach, the 2014-15 season. No Hawk averaged more than 17 PPG, and all but one starter had at least three APG. However, he never could turn his team into the “Spurs of the East,” as they were hyped to be. Outside of the 2014-15 60-win season, his Hawks failed to finish with more than 48 wins. After an abysmal 24-58 season in 2017-18, he was fired but was hired not a month later by the Milwaukee Bucks.
#0 – Jeff Teague
Jeff Teague was never a superstar in Atlanta. He averaged 16 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds a game. Nothing to write home about but respectable. He was traded to Indiana in a three-way trade in the summer of 2016 for Utah’s Taurean Prince but signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves the following offseason. Since 2015, he’s averaged 15 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds … which are his career averages as a starter.
#4 – Paul Millsap
Millsap was an All-Star every year he played in Atlanta. After signing with the Hawks in 2013, he averaged 17 points and 8 rebounds over four years with the team. In the summer of 2017, he was involved in a three-team trade with the Nuggets and Clippers. The Hawks sent Millsap to Denver and received Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, and a protected first rounder (which became Omari Spellman).
Last year in Denver, Millsap suffered a wrist injury that kept him out for three months. In the 38 games he did play in, Millsap averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds; the beginning of the end for the 32-year-old.
#5 – DeMarre Carroll
The Hawks were DeMarre Carroll’s third team in four years going into the 2014-15 season. Like Teague, Carroll never has never been a standout player. He’s averaged 11 points as a starter and has never had a 30-point game. The 60-win season was his last in Atlanta — he signed with Toronto the following season.
In his first season with the team, he played only 26 games due to injury. The next season he came back and started for the Raptors but only averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds per game. In an attempt to make some cap room, Carroll was sent to Brooklyn in 2017, along with a future first and second rounder (which later became Dzanan Musa and Rodions Kurucs respectively), for center Justin Hamilton. This worked out for the Nets, as Carroll set career numbers in points, assists, rebounds, and assists per game.
#6 – Pero Antić
The 2014-15 season was Antić’s second, and final, NBA season. He spent both years with the Hawks, where he averaged six points and three rebounds through 17 minutes. Despite being a solid role-playing big, Areceivedieved no offers from NBA teams. Instead, he signed with Turkish basketball team Fenerbahçe Basketbol. With Fenerbahçe, he won the Turkish Super League twice and the FIBA European Champions Cup once. In 2017, he signed with Košarkaški Klub Crvena Zvezda of Serbia, where he averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds last season.
#15 – Al Horford
In nine seasons with Atlanta, Al Horford started all but four games. He was a fan-favorite and averaged as many 19 points and 10 rebounds per game. It came as a surprise to many when he signed with the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2016 after two consecutive All-Star Game appearances. Since then, he’s been relegated from a superstar to a role player. He still starts, but he’s seen a decrease in points. Horford now makes his name as a defensive stud, as he was on the All-Defensive Second Team this past season.
#17 – Dennis Schröder
Dennis Schröder was a big reason Jeff Teague was traded to Indiana. The Hawks drafted him 17th overall in 2013, and he was only an NBA sophomore when they won 60 games. Even then, he showed flashes of excellence. With Teague hitting 28 going into the 2016-17 season, GM (and coach) Mike Budenholzer chose to stick with the 23-year-old Schröder.
Since he took over the starting point guard position, Schröder has averaged 19 points – three higher than Teague ever had. After the Hawks selected Oklahoma’s Trae Young in the 2018 Draft, Schröder was involved in a three-team trade. Atlanta traded Schröder to OKC and sent Mike Muscala to Philadelphia; in return, they got Carmelo Anthony and a 2022 first-round pick (from OKC) as well as Justin Anderson (from PHI).
#24 – Kent Bazemore
Kent Bazemore is the only player from the 2014-15 Hawks still on the team. He wasn’t a starter that season, his first with the team, but he became one the following year. He’s averaged 12 points, 4 rebounds, and a steal per game. He’s never put up more than 29 points in a game and has been a rock-solid starter for the team since taking over at small forward.
#25 – Thabo Sefolosha
Like fellow wing Kent Bazemore, Sefolosha wasn’t much more than a consistent player for the Hawks. He never was the full-time starter for Atlanta but consistently scored six points and got four rebounds off the bench. He signed with the Jazz in the summer of 2017, where he suffered season-endingng injury to his MCL. Prior to that, Sefolosha was averaging eight points (a career high) and was shooting 49.2% (his second best).
#26 – Kyle Korver
Korver was a seasoned veteran by the time he was traded to the Hawks in 2012. He’s a three-point specialist (Korver ranks fourth in career made three-pointers, second among active players) and played as such in Atlanta. He led the league in 3PT% twice while with the Hawks and started most games for the team.
During Atlanta’s 60-win season, he shot nearly 50% from three, earning himself a spot on the All-Star team and his first Three-Point Contest appearance since 2005. Midway through the 2016-17 season, Korver was traded to Atlanta’s (perhaps one-sided) rival, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the same team that swept the 60-win Hawks in the 2014-15 playoffs.
In return for Korver, the Hawks received Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams, and a protected 2019 first-round pick. Since joining the Cavs, he’s started only 26 games but has averaged 10 points, pretty respectable numbers for a 36-year-old.
#32- Mike Scott
Mike Scott never made it as more than a bench role-player in the NBA, mostly impart to legal issues. Scott was a highly efficient player off of the Hawks bench for five years, scoring 10 points per game through 19 minutes in the 2013-14 season.
After that season his role was increasingly diminished year by year, as was his impact. Scott was arrested in July of 2015 for possession of marijuana and ecstasy. He and his brother’s vehicle was originally pulled over for following another driver too closely. The driver, Antonn Scott, failed to pull over for two miles, reaching speeds of up to 98mph.
Scott told authorities the drugs were his, and faced 25 years in prison. Two years following the arrest, a Georgia court dismissed all charges due to suspected racially profiling by Bank County police. The Hawks traded Scott, Cenk Akyol, and cash to the Phoenix Suns for a 2017 protected second-round pick. Phoenix promptly waived Scott, but he joined the Washington Wizards later that year. He played 76 games for them last year, averaging nine points per game. Following the end of that one-year contract, Scott signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.