Mike Scott signs three year deal to stay with Atlanta Hawks: Analysis

Restricted free agent forward Mike Scott signed a three-year, $10 million deal to stay with the Atlanta Hawks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

"Restricted free-agent forward Mike Scott has reached agreement on a three-year, $10 million contract to stay with the Atlanta Hawks, a league source told Yahoo Sports.Scott has developed into a promising young player for the Hawks, averaging 9.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 2013-14. In his second season, Scott played nearly 19 minutes per game and became an important rotation player for the Hawks on a playoff run that led to a 4-3 series loss in the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Indiana."

Scott is guaranteed for two seasons, with a team option on the third year, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Scott had been considering an offer from CSKA Moscow, but ultimately the Hawks offer ended up being too good to be true.

After injuries decimated the Hawks this season, Scott stepped up and became a valuable role player off the bench. His 56 percent true shooting percentage signified his value at the rim and in the midrange, and his ability to step away from the basket and shoot threes — despite only making 31 percent of his attempts — gave the Hawks the spacing they needed on offense in coach Mike Budenholzer’s scheme.

The next steps in Scott’s development will be improving from beyond the arc — getting his percentage up to league average would be nice — and as a rebounder. His 17 percent defensive rebounding rate was a bit below league average last year (given that he spends so much of his time away from the hoop on offense, offensive rebounding rate is useless for him and his 11 percent true rebounding rate undervalues his actual acumen there), so using his 240 pound frame to go up for rebounds will be key to his future success.

Three million dollars (plus) is probably a bit steep for what Scott is right now. The Hawks are clearly paying for some future development, and will have to hope that happens at some point in the next few seasons. However, given the way the NBA — and Atlanta especially —  now utilizes the 4 position, his scoring ability away from the hoop should continue to make him a valuable contributor as long as he keeps knocking down jumpers.