The Hawks Need a Guard. Trade for Jaylen Brown Anyway.

I've spent three weeks writing the same piece. Hawks need a guard. The playoffs proved it. The draft should be a point guard. Trade up if you have to.

Now Jaylen Brown is available and I'm about to blow up my own argument.

Do it. I'm 68% sure.

Here's why 68 and not higher: Brown is a wing. I've said guard three times. That contradiction is real and I'm not pretending it isn't. The Hawks' closer gap -- the one I built an entire thesis around -- doesn't get solved by adding a scorer who needs the ball in his hands.

But 28.7 points per game. Fourth in the entire NBA. Career best at 29. A Marietta kid coming home to a franchise that just proved it can build around star talent instead of asking star talent to BE the system.

The Celtics got bounced in the second round with Brown. Atlanta's ceiling without him is the same exit. Same floor, higher ceiling.

The math is uncomfortable. $183 million for a player turning 30 in October. Joe Johnson was 29 when the Hawks maxed him. I know the parallel. I've read the scouting report on franchise history.

But Johnson never averaged 28.7.

The guard problem doesn't vanish because Brown shows up. You still need a closer who can create off the dribble in a Game 6. But you don't pass on the fourth-best scorer in basketball because the guy you really want might be available at 8.

Might.

Receipts filed.