The Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets both took very unique paths to get to the NBA Finals. The Nuggets were finally able to silence the doubters and defeat some of the biggest names in basketball; LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, to name a few.
As for the Heat, they defied the odds and worked their way up all the way from losing in the Play In Tournament to the Atlanta Hawks. A truly remarkable story, but a story that should leave Hawks fans optimistic and curious.
The Heat have beaten the Knicks, the Bucks, and the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Boston Celtics, in their run to the Finals. However, they lost to the Hawks early in the playoffs.
The Hawks should look at this and realize they could be much closer than they even realize. Sam Crenshaw alluded to this.
“That’s the thing that lets you know that this team may not be as far away as we think," said Crenshaw. "We just got to do some tweaking and add a piece or two.”
The question remaining is, who will the Hawks look to acquire in the offseason and what trades are they willing to make?
Jaylen Brown, who is an Atlanta native, is one of the star players who has been in recent trade rumors. But there is a plethora of players out there who could provide incredible value for this Hawks team to go alongside their star in Trae Young.