The Boston Celtics will be the team to beat next season, and clubs around the Eastern Conference have been spending the offseason positioning themselves to compete with the defending champions and punch their own ticket to next year’s NBA finals.

Here at Celtics Wire, we’ve been ranking the teams in the East by how much of a threat they pose to Boston next year. Organizations like the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards are already hunkering down to tank for a better shot at the top pick in the 2025 draft. At the same time, there’s another class of opponent that doesn’t have the roster to really make much of a splash regardless of their stated goals. At No. 9 on our list is a team that not too long ago made it to the conference finals and appears desperate to remain in the playoff picture next season. Whether or not the Atlanta Hawks can recover from a disappointing 2023-24 season is unclear, however, and it’s unlikely the Hawks will ever really give the Celtics a run for their money.

Regardless, Atlanta could prove to be friskier than you think. Let’s talk.

The Hawks had the No. 1 overall pick during the 2024 NBA Draft, and selected French forward Zaccharie Risacher. The 19-year-old has lots of scoring upside, but isn’t yet ready to help Atlanta climb the ladder in the Eastern Conference hierarchy.

The roster did get a bit deeper this summer by trading Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for Dyson Daniels and Larry Nance Jr. The Hawks also got EJ Liddell, Cody Zeller, and two first-round picks in the deal.

As a result, Atlanta enters the season with more roster balance and a number of avenues for getting better. But they probably still lack the type of top-end talent necessary for any sort of deep postseason run.

Trae Young remains one of the NBA’s most prolific scoring weapons, and the former All-Star should be as productive as ever. The pairing with Murray never really made sense, and Young appeared most comfortable as the obvious No. 1 option last season.

Bogdan Bogdanovic is another reliable weapon for the Hawks, and if Young is an effective playmaker, Atlanta may have a pretty solid offensive package next season. It won’t be among the best, but it will command the respect of opposing defenses.

One wildcard for the Hawks here is 22-year-old Jalen Johnson. He was a defensive stud last year, and at times showed off great scoring potential. He could become a primary scoring threat for his team if he can take another step forward in his development.

Assessing Atlanta’s defense is tricky. If Atlanta can hide some of its inherent vulnerabilities on this side of the ball, they can make up for it elsewhere.

Clint Capela remains a reliable anchor in the painted area. Johnson and Nance are both outstanding, switchable defenders. By some looks, the Hawks are as well-positioned as any team in the East to try to slow down the Celtics tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

That said, the Hawks have glaring weaknesses. Young and Bogdanovic are too small, and big liabilities on the defensive end. Risacher probably can’t be relied on here, either.

The Hawks owe their own first-round pick this year to the San Antonio Spurs, so they have no incentive to try to tank. (They do own a top-12 protected pick from the Sacramento Kings, so Atlanta in theory could still end up in the draft lottery.)

The relationship between Young and the Hawks is reportedly fragile, but a cold trade market and moving on from Murray should help thaw any uneasiness for the time being. Winning is the best cure in a situation like this.

It’s hard to imagine Atlanta really putting itself in the upper crust of the conference next year, but it’s true that play-in teams have gone on to make a splash in the postseason. Likewise, the Hawks have the talent to get frisky and the pathways to improve if they choose. This is a club to keep a cautious eye on.