By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The NBA draft, it’s that magical time of year when professional teams will seek out new stars for their franchise.

It’s that time when players who were forced to waste a year of their lives going to college when they were destined to end up in the NBA anyway finally meet their destiny.

It’s that time when the Atlanta Hawks and all their brethren teams are put under the microscope so we can judge whether or not their choices stack up against logic.

In any pro sport, the team at the top of the mountain will always inspire a slew of imitators. Franchises will reset their entire way of thinking based on whoever has been winning in the league.

For the past several years, the team being imitated has been, of course, the Golden State Warriors. The Hawks, in the beginning stages of their rebuild, are attempting to use the Golden State model to get back to winning ways.

GM Travis Schlenk’s deal that ended with Luka Doncic as a Maverick wasn’t without its critics, but he sees the fruit of that deal. Trae Young is expected to be the centerpiece of Atlanta’s team for years to come. In short, Schlenk has attempted to provide the Hawks with their own Steph Curry. In his only college season, he became the only player to lead the NCAA in both points and assists.

The plan to draft shooters continued later on the first round when the Hawks picked up Maryland’s Kevin Huerter. The comparison there is, if you can believe it, Klay Thompson.

So, the Hawks have their Curry and they have their Thompson but here’s the problem: Trae Young is not Steph Curry, and Kevin Huerter is not Klay Thompson.

On top of that, there isn’t a Kevin Durant among Atlanta’s draft picks either. It’s not that these pieces can’t evolve into top-tier talent, but Steph Curry is an all-time talent. Thompson is an elite player. The Warriors making it to Finals after Finals isn’t just because they have these types of players, but because they have legendary versions of those players.

Neither Young nor Huerter are likely to turn into that. They’ve got upside, but not the kind of guaranteed prospect that Durant was.

Schlenk went after shooters as a priority in this draft, but in doing so picked players who might have a lower ceiling than you might usually find in the first round, especially in the top 5. The Hawks may very well have gotten themselves stuck for the future.

For example, the Hawks picked up Omari Spellman, who can shoot, instead of talents like Khryi Thomas or Keita Bates-Doip, who had fallen back and were available when Atlanta was up at 30.

There were also some questionable choices like trading their #34 pick. Why trade that one pick for two second rounders from Charlotte? Schlenk has never heard that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

At the end of the day, no one really knows for certain how these things will turn out.  Even surefire hits turn out to be misses (looking at you Greg Oden). The path that Schlenk and the Hawks have chosen to go down is an obvious one – ape the champs – but it is far from a one that guarantees success.

These draft picks will need to play up to their potential and maybe beyond it every game, and Atlanta will still need to investigate bringing in additional players. It’s not out of the question for Atlanta to have success, but it’s a tough road to navigate.