By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

There’s nothing groundbreaking in talking about how important decisions being made during a team’s offseason will have far reaching implications on their future.

That said, it seems like whomever the Hawks decide to bring in as their General Manager this summer looms even larger than usual.

Typically, when a new GM is brought in, the objective is pretty clear; your organization is mired in a Rock and a Hard Place sort of area and you need to bring it back to a Toys In the Attic level of respectability.

What makes the Hawks situation so interesting is they’re basically Permanent Vacation; right smack dab in the middle. They can either continue to build upon what they already have, or break down and start over.

You could make a legitimate argument for both but like with most things, the best laid plans are probably somewhere in between.

It’s not a bad idea, at least for this upcoming year, to stay the course as long as Paul Millsap doesn’t opt out and begin to look elsewhere.

The Hawks don’t have a superstar, but they do have a nice core group with Millsap, Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, and Dwight Howard.

Combine the maturation of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Taurean Prince with whoever they select in a deeper than average draft, and you’d expect Atlanta to be one of the better teams in the East.

Obviously, the Hawks would to go through Cleveland, which I admit is like asking a 150lb accountant to battle Nitro in a game of Powerball on American Gladiators.

After the Cavaliers, there isn’t a dominant team in the East (Celtics, maybe), so if Cleveland suffered some major injuries the door would be wide open for the Hawks to step through.

It makes sense to give it one more shot next year, but it’s a completely different story after that.

As a fan, it can be difficult sometimes to grapple with the fact your team is starting over. In two years though, it’ll be a necessary evil for the Hawks.

If Millsap does return next season, almost half of Atlanta’s payroll will be designated to Millsap and Howard, two players who aren’t exactly in the middle of their prime.

Letting one walk, if not both, will almost be a required move considering their age and the fact Schroder’s salary jumps from $2 million a year to $15 million this year; moving him from a Good Times area code up to The Jeffersons.

It’s hard to keep young talent or bring in big name free agents when you don’t have much money spend; especially when you have to overpay for both in today’s NBA. I mean, the Hawks had to overpay dearly for Howard, and he was a local boy.

Plus, even though I know I mentioned the East would be wide open if something happened to Cleveland, what are the chances of that actually happening. Do you really want to bank on your success over the next few years on LeBron getting injured?

Wouldn’t it be better to start putting a plan together now, knowing that it may take a few years to come to fruition? I’m not saying to tank the season, just go younger and be prepared to build.

It’s easy for me to play General Manager from my couch, but Atlanta’s next GM will have to decide which direction the organization will go in.

If you’re an Atlanta fan and know anything about Aerosmith, you’d better hope they’re more of a Rocks fan than Get A Grip.