Expect Jeff Teague to provide leadership to the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks

Jeff Teague (Google Images)

Jeff Teague is now back with the Atlanta Hawks. On Thursday, Teague along with swingman Treveon Graham of Washington, D.C. were traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to Atlanta for fellow swingman Allen Crabbe of Los Angeles, California.

Teague was with the Hawks for seven seasons from 2009 to 2016. An all-star point guard with Atlanta in 2015, he was considered one of the elite players in the number one position about five years ago.

However a three-way trade between the Hawks, Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz back in 2016, did not really work out well at all for all sides. Taurean Prince did play three seasons as a small forward for Atlanta from 2016 to 2019. However, he clearly needed time to develop, as he scored 5.7 points as a rookie in 2016-17. When he did average double digits in scoring (14.1 points in 2017-18 and 13.5 points on 2018-19), the Hawks were in the start of their rebuilding mode. Atlanta then traded Prince to Brooklyn in a deal that saw Atlanta acquire Crabbe (along with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and a first round pick) on July 6, 2019.

Now Crabbe, who averaged only 5.1 points per game with Atlanta in 2019-20, only had three points the entire game in his Timberwolves debut on Monday, in a 107-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets. He was facing an illness, but many times Michael Jordan was spectacular on the court while playing sick.

Like Crabbe, Graham does not seem to be a huge factor in the deal. He also is averaging around the five point per game range.

So, this leaves Teague, who at 31 years old, returns to a Hawks team building for the future. On Monday, while playing on Martin Luther King Day, there were some positive signs. They only lost by five points in a 122-117 decision to the Toronto Raptors. Teague only had two points in 11 minutes, but his experience should be valuable off the bench. Expect him to become a legitimate tutor for Hawks point guard Trey Young, who is becoming an all-star before our eyes. On Monday, Young had a season high 15 assists to go along with his 42 points. That was the sixth time this season Young reached the 40 point plateau in this season.

There are clearly lots of problems with the Hawks. At 10 wins and 34 losses, they have the second worst record in the NBA. However at the moment, they seem to be strong at point guard.