The Atlanta Hawks were deeply involved in the trade deadline -- at least in terms of activity in the rumor mill. Yet by the time the clock hit 3:00, much to the chagrin of the fan base expecting a shakeup of some kind, no moves had been made.
To explain the thought process behind standing idle, the general manager of the Atlanta Hawks joined the station to discuss why this was the case.
"We were very diligent in our process," Landry Fields said. "We know what types of players we want in our building, we understand what players we want to grow with for the future. Ultimately, when it came down to it, there was nothing that made sense for us to move at this particular time."
The likeliest of candidates was Hawks guard, Dejounte Murray, who signed a four-year $120 million contract back in July. The combo guard is having one of the better years of his career, averaging 21.4 points on 46 percent shooting (37 percent from three), 5.2 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
Rumors continued to populate about potential suitors, but according to the reports that emerged no really strong offer made itself known. Fields wasn't concerned with making a move just to make a move.
"We don't want to make panic moves at all," Fields said about why they decided to hang on to the 27-year-old guard. "For us, that was something that was key going into it. So, we needed to be diligent and we needed also to remember our values and things that we want to continuously grow into the future with."
Yet the fact remains that the team has continued to struggle with consistency. Now past the deadline, the Hawks find themselves at 22-29 and 10th in the Eastern Conference. But the Hawks' general manager warned against looking only at the results on the court for where this team actually is.
"You don't ever want to get caught up in this term called 'resulting,' he said. "And for us, a lot of times you look at results, and that's where the judgment comes in. From our standpoint, development is a key feature of who we are and we are watching players continuously grow. It may not completely cause the results today that we want, but we also know that those results are coming."
The frustration that emerged was wondering if the front office was simply accepting the results that we have seen thus far because of the lack of any moves, but he preached patience.
"If I were a fan, I'd be wondering the exact same thing," Fields finished. "But patience is key. There will be another time for us to make moves to the roster but in the meantime, there's still moves being made with the roster and that is everything for how our guys are developing day-in and day-out.
"That's what we're leaning into and that's where we ended up at this particular deadline."