The Atlanta Hawks spent the offseason checking off a lot of boxes, but one problem still hangs over the roster: size in the middle.
They came into the summer with obvious gaps and have made a real effort to patch them. Kingston Flemings and Henri Veesaar arrived in the draft as high-upside swings, with Flemings giving the Hawks a possible backup point guard right away and Veesaar projecting as a center who could grow into a solid piece.
Atlanta also added Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Ryan Nembhard to deepen the second unit, while bringing back CJ McCollum and Jock Landale. McCollum is expected to start, but the bigger point is that the Hawks have clearly tried to give themselves more usable depth.
Still, the matchup issue that exposed them against the New York Knicks hasn’t gone away.
Before that postseason series, the question around Atlanta was how it would handle Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson. The answer was ugly.
Robinson was a problem for the Hawks’ second unit, and Atlanta never really had the right answer behind Onyeka Okongwu at center. When Landale went down, the Hawks had to scramble to sign Tony Bradley, and they also turned to Mouhamed Gueye at center even though the team does not view him as one.
That same kind of issue could show up again. Several Eastern Conference teams have center pairings that can cause Atlanta headaches, and the source material points to the Celtics and the Pistons as examples, while noting there are also plenty of teams out West that could present the same kind of problem.
The Hawks did not have many clean options to fix it this offseason. There was no obvious move that would instantly make them bigger and more physical inside. Instead, the hope is that Landale, along with rookies Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar, can cover enough ground until the trade deadline, when Atlanta can take another look at the market.
Landale’s absence in the playoffs mattered, even if it would not have solved everything by itself. He brings physicality, rebounds well, and can space the floor. That alone would have given Atlanta more structure in a series where the frontcourt mismatch was so obvious.
Among the rookies, Ejiofor seems like the likeliest one to help first. Atlanta drafted him for his physical edge, rim protection, and his ability to play the 4 and 5. After the draft, President of Basketball Operations Onsi Saleh laid out why the Hawks liked him so much:
"I mean, Zuby is, the guy's a beast. If you guys seen him play at St.
John's, like, you're talking about a guy that switches one through five, can guard point guards, can guard bigs, can guard big wings. Like, it doesn't really matter.
I think with him, it's like the high-level processing he has offensively is just like he makes the right play every single time. He's a really good passer for his size, giant wingspan, could do all that stuff.
The thing that, you know, if he continues to develop the outside shot. I think he shot it pretty decently from the free -throw line.
So there's some indicators there that, you know, make sense for him to be a shooter at the next level too. So, like, now it's not what we want him to do all the time either.
Like, this guy is somebody that, you know, you see playoff basketball and he's a guy that fits, right? He can, again, switch one through five, guard big wings, you know.
We needed somebody like that and brings a tenacity, runs up and down the court. But I think the biggest thing I could point to is probably just more of the shooting development. But I think that just comes in time."
Even with that kind of praise, Ejiofor comes with the same basic concern as Okongwu: he is not a huge frontcourt body, and he is still a rookie. That makes it hard to expect him to solve a problem this big right away.
Veesaar faces a similar reality. He can shoot from deep and rebound, but the defensive end is going to take time.
So for now, Atlanta is banking on Landale staying healthy and on Ejiofor becoming a real option against teams that can overpower the Hawks inside. It is a plan with some upside, but also real downside, which is why the center matchup remains the biggest concern on the roster.
In Other News...
Hawks May Regret How One Young Guard Decision Just Played Out
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The move makes a little more sense when you look at the guard picture the Hawks were trying to sort through, especially after adding Ryan Nembhard. Still, the timing left enough intrigue for Boston to step in and give Carter a new deal, which is the kind of outcome Atlanta will be forced to think about if its collection of similar young guards starts producing elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Lu Dort Has To Be More Than A Hawks Stopgap
Atlanta spent this offseason reshaping its wing rotation, and Lu Dort arrived as part of a three-team trade with a clear purpose: help fill the hole left by Zaccharie Risacher. The fit makes sense on paper. Dort brings toughness, physicality and the kind of edge that can matter in a crowded Eastern Conference, where Atlanta is trying to climb into a more serious tier before the season gets away from it.
But the Hawks cannot treat him like a simple plug-in. The next step is less about what Dort already does well and more about whether he can sharpen the parts of his game that decide bigger roles, from cleaner shot choices to steadier work at the point of attack. If Atlanta is going to lean on him when the games tighten, it will also need more than defense and energy. It will need a player who can help guide the group when the postseason pressure finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Rookie Faces The Same Early Test Jalen Johnson Once Did
Jalen Johnsons early path is a useful reminder that development in Atlanta does not always happen in a straight line. Much of his first stretch in the league came through the College Park Skyhawks, and the Hawks have clearly become comfortable using their G League affiliate as a real part of the growth plan, not just a holding spot for fringe players. That track record helped shape how the team approached this years rookie class, where Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar are all facing different early expectations.
Veesaar looks like the latest prospect to be asked to take that route, and Atlanta seems willing to be patient with it. The organization has seen enough success developing players through College Park to believe it can matter in the long run, even if the early stages are less visible to fans watching the NBA roster every night. For a rookie trying to carve out a future, it is the same sort of test Johnson had to answer, only now the Hawks are asking it again with another young big in the pipeline. [Read more 🡒]