What a distinction a yr made.
At the moment, the final off -season, there was not a lot optimism surrounding the Atlanta Hawks. They did not make the playoffs, obtained the selection n ° 1 in a yr that no group apparently wished the selection n ° 1, and had main questions on the twinning of Trae Younger and Dejounte Murray. Murray was exchanged on the Pélicans in New Orleans Dyson DanielsLarry Nance Jr and two first -round selections. Opinion was divided on who gained the occupation on the time, however there shouldn’t be a debate on the topic now.
This may be the most important commerce within the historical past of Atlanta Hawks (whereas ready for Outcomes of one other occupation This suggests the Pelicans), and the long run Hawks appears brighter due to this. Daniels gained the Worth of essentially the most improved gamers within the NBA And was the finalist of the defensive participant of the yr whereas being thought-about an important play for the way forward for the Hawks alongside Younger.
In artworkarticleKevin Pelton d’Espn has regraded the occupation, and it’s not a shock that’s thought-about the winner:
Authentic grades:
Atlanta: B +
New Orleans: B +
Have a look at one another:
Atlanta: a
New Orleans: F
“This settlement already regarded like an error for the Pélicans earlier than Murray suffered a rupture of Achilles on the finish of January which ought to preserve it out of the sector for at the least the primary two months of the 2025-26 season.
The largest downside right here was New Orleans promoting low on Daniels, the selection n ° 8 in 2022. On the time, I famous that the primary 10 selections exchanged so early of their careers tended to disappoint as a result of the group that exchanges them extra data on their growth. Oops! Daniels rightly gained essentially the most improved participant after having develop into the primary participant in many years to make a mean of three.0 interceptions.
Since Daniels has one other yr on his recruit contract ($ 7.7 million this season), doing the Murray would have been an inexpensive return to Atlanta. As well as, the Hawks obtained the selection n ° 22 of this yr – used to acquire Kristaps Porzingis from the Boston Celtics final month – and one other first spherical in 2027 which appears to be extra promising given Giannis Antetokoun in Milwaukee. “”
Given the season that Daniels had (particularly in protection), it’s troublesome to not agree with the be aware that Pelton gave.
Daniels had a file of three.01 interceptions per sport final season, the primary participant on common greater than 3.0 interceptions per sport from Alvin Robertson in 1990-91. He slipped 229 interceptions in complete, essentially the most flights in a single season within the historical past of the franchise and essentially the most by all of the NBA gamers since 1996, a defensive participant of the yr Gary Payton (231, 1995-96). The third yr guard had 98 extra interceptions than the closest participant (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 131), marking the best hole between n ° 1 and n ° 2 within the historical past of the NBA. He completed the season with a stolen ratio of 1.31 (229 interceptions at 175 faults), the ninth finest flight / flight ratio since 1973-74 and one of the best by all of the league gamers since Allen Iverson in 2002-03 (1.51).
Behind the defensive presence of Daniels, the Hawks improved their defensive be aware from 118.4 in 2023-24 (twenty seventh in NBA) to 114.8 (18th in NBA), by NBA.com/stats, an enchancment of three.6 and the sixth finest enchancment of any group final season. Atlanta recorded 48 video games with 10 flights of 10 or extra final season, the biggest variety of video games in all NBA groups and the second largest variety of video games in a single season within the historical past of the franchise (1993-94, 56).
At 22 and 6 days outdated, the double defensive participant of the month of the month has develop into the youngest NBA participant for at the least 1973-1974 to have at the least 200 interceptions in a single season, exceeding Magic Johnson in 1981-1982 (22, 240 days). Along with its 229 finest league interceptions, Daniels additionally recorded 55 blocks, finishing up the entire league with a complete of 284 actions (interceptions + blocks). He grew to become the primary goalkeeper to direct the NBA in complete actions since 1988, a defensive participant of the yr Michael Jordan (390, 1987-88).
