Can new GM Onsi Saleh get Trae Young, Hawks out of NBA purgatory?

The Atlanta Hawks made big changes to their front office on Monday, firing general manager Landry Fields and replacing him with Onsi Saleh, according to ESPN.

Fields, 36, took over as general manager in 2022, and Atlanta has failed to finish over .500 in that span, and made the primary playoff field all of once, in his first season, when they proceeded to crash out in six games against the Boston Celtics. They failed to show any kind of substantial improvement last year or during the current season, and it's clear that ownership felt Saleh was better suited to build a contending team.

But can he do it?

One thing is for sure: Saleh faces a big job trying to get this particular Hawks team over the hump. Atlanta has been trapped in NBA purgatory for the better part of the last five seasons. Just good enough to make or compete for the playoffs, never good enough to win once they get there, with the exception of the 2020-21 season, when they made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the last four years, Atlanta has finished every season within just a few games of .500. They've never been a league bottom-feeder in that span, but they have yet to find a way to put it all together. They seldom pick high enough in the draft to land an elite prospect, and when they do, like last year, when they nabbed the number one overall pick, their reward is the weakest incoming draft class in years.

Hitting that barrier of low-level playoff team and making the leap from there to true contender is one of the toughest things to do in the NBA. Just ask the Indiana Pacers, who have seemed content to dawdle in that "low playoff seed, mid-round draft pick" space for most of the last 20 years, until things finally started to gel in the last year or two.

There is reason for optimism in Atlanta this offseason, though. The team has finally started to realize that you can't win games with Trae Young alone, and with the emergence of Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu, the Hawks may have the kind of young core to build around. Last year's number one pick, Zaccharie Risacher, showed promise this season.

But the Hawks need to find depth to support their young core, and it remains to be seen if Saleh can get the job done. Making the leap from 40-win team to 50-win team is one of the hardest things a franchise can do, and until we see what Atlanta does this offseason, it's unclear if Saleh is the man to get them there.

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