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History is always repeating itself, and that is especially true in the fashion world. The rule of thumb for the fashion cycle is 20 years, but due to social media trends and the rise of fast fashion, that 20-year cycle is shortening more and more by the day. 

Nevertheless, the cycle has continued. A look into the Colorado State University archives reveals the variety of fashion and expression across campus from generations and decades past.

1960s

The cultural revolution of the Swinging ’60s was mostly led by youth, and music was a driving factor that immensely influenced fashion. A notable hallmark of the time was mini skirts and dresses, popularized by British fashion designer Mary Quant.

The overall fashion of the decade was much more casual, though maybe not compared to today’s standards.

There was an increase in brightly colored and patterned clothing along with an increased use of synthetic fabrics. The antithesis to this was the hippie movement and culture, which began in the late ’60s and extended into the early ’70s.

Modern and futuristic styles were also present, particularly in the high fashion realm.

Overall, a mixture of many different aesthetics and styles hallmarked the decade, yet many are distinctly recognizable as the 1960s. 

1970s

The 1970s continued the cultural shift that happened in the previous decade, and the hippie style became more mainstream. Stevie Nicks, the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, sported whimsical, flowy outfits and a shag haircut that became synonymous with the decade.

Another recognizable look is flared clothing, whether on pants or shirt sleeves. Men and women often donned bell-bottom jeans, and platform shoes typically went with them. Though bright patterns emerged in the ’60s, they held strong in the ’70s, with gendered clothing lines blurring throughout the decade. 

Women’s style also took influences from the 1930s and ’40s. Gunne Sax was perhaps one of the most well-known fashion companies, and their dresses now resell for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Its most recognizable style is prairie-style dresses, as skirts and dresses generally got longer after the mini revolution of the ’60s. Gunne Sax eventually moved into prom and formal dresses in the 1980s.

1980s

Today, we have seen the fashion of the 1980s make short-lived comebacks with each release of a new season of “Stranger Things,” to the dismay of some and the joy of others.

Fashion from the 1980s appears to be polarizing in the modern era, with a variety of looks and recognizable elements. Bright colors and bold patterns were popular as were pastels. What most people now call “athleisure” became much more mainstream with the boom of leotards, sneakers and Lycra — or spandex.

The era was also known for power dressing, as more women were joining the workforce. Those looks often included blazers and suits, either with pants or pencil skirts and shoulder pads. Many looks of the ’80s favored a triangular silhouette, with large belts being a popular accessory to accentuate it.

Most fashion during the ’80s placed an emphasis on doing more, leading to brighter colors, sharper silhouettes and, of course, bigger hair.

Although fashion is always changing and reinventing itself, looking to the past helps anticipate what the future might bring for the fashion world. At CSU specifically, a trip through the archives provides a glimpse into what was cool to those who came before.

Reach Aubree Miller at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @aubreem07.

This story is published as part of U.S. Democracy Day and the Utah College Media Collaborative, a cross-campus project bringing together emerging journalists from Salt Lake Community College, the University of Utah, Utah State University and Utah Tech University.

This election season, Salt Lake County residents will see a public safety bond on their ballots. It’s a part of the county’s action plan to tackle homelessness, behavioral health challenges and reforms to the criminal justice system.

If approved, the county will increase property taxes to fund the $507 million bond. This will go towards developing new public safety facilities, increasing mental health and substance abuse services and expanding the existing county jail.

Arlyn Bradshaw, member of the Salt Lake County Council, said it is an “improvement to address the needs and the gaps that are within our system.”

The Justice and Accountability Center

One of the bond’s major points would fund the building of a Justice and Accountability Center. This would be a lower-security center meant for low-level offenders. These are individuals whose crimes do not warrant a long-term jail stay and who police might not be equipped to handle.

Katherine Fife, the associate deputy mayor for Salt Lake County, says low-level offenders are often people who have multiple recurring encounters with law enforcement.

“Many people who we all call the police on are people who are in a crisis, whether they are under the influence or having a mental health crisis,” Fife said. “And what we want to do is make sure they’re stabilized, make sure they’re connected with the right supports and then they can be on the path to success and self-sufficiency.”

The Justice and Accountability Center aims to connect individuals with resources to keep them out of jail. It’ll do this by focusing services on mental health and substance use treatment, connection to housing opportunities and job training and employment resources.

Bradshaw refers to these measures to reduce recidivism as putting an end to the “revolving door.”

The county jail is currently the largest mental health treatment facility in the county. The county reports that 25% of the jail’s inmates are unhoused. Stays are 3.5 times longer for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Operation of the county jail costs $136 per inmate per day. Daily operations for the Justice and Accountability Center would cost an estimated $75.

Fife says the bond and the Center would support Salt Lake County’s Human Services, Homelessness and Criminal Justice Action Plan vision that “homelessness is brief, rare and non-recurring.”

“We want to make sure that people can get connected to resources, but we also want to make sure that those who are committing crimes, those who need to be held accountable, are accountable, and that our justice system can do that,” Fife said.

County Jail System Revamp

Salt Lake County currently has two correctional facilities: the Salt Lake County Metro Jail and the Oxbow Jail Facility. The public safety bond proposes the decommissioning of outdated facilities at Oxbow and the expansion of the Metro Jail.

The new Adult Detention Center would also have an expanded mental health unit and a community re-entry stepdown unit to prepare individuals to successfully come back into society.

“We’re really, really helping to get them connected,” Fife said. “So when they are released, they have a place to go, they have the support they need, they have the work that they need, they have a job so that they can pay for their housing that they have.”

One of Fife’s biggest critiques for the current state of the county jails is a lack of sufficient space.

“Our Salt Lake County jail has not had one new jail bed added since 2001. So, we have been operating within our current capacity with a growing population in our county,” Fife said. “We need to make sure that we can address the population growth.”

These new developments along with a rebuild of the Oxbow capacity would add an estimated 812 beds to the county jail system.

However, it is this same addition of beds on which George Chapman of Salt Lake City based his opposing argument for the bond. Chapman said the bond does not do enough to add more beds to the county jail system and criticizes the failure to prioritize adequate staffing of the jail and sheriff’s office.

“Creating more jail beds and filling them with career criminals should happen before more homeless shelters or Justice Centers are built. This bond may also decrease the available jail beds temporarily while a bigger jail is constructed,” Chapman wrote in his opposing argument.

If approved, Salt Lake County will increase property taxes to fund the bond. While the bond would be issued over five years, the proposed plan estimates a 25-year period to raise the money. Based on the county’s reported average value of primary residences, the county estimates a monthly tax increase of $4.91 for residential properties and $8.93 for business properties would result from the bond.

Elle Crossley reported and wrote this story as a journalism student with The Daily Utah Chronicle at the University of Utah. Her article is published as part of the Utah College Media Collaborative, a statewide project in partnership with Amplify Utah.

e.crossley@dailyutahchronicle.com

@ElleCrossleyy

The post Salt Lake County’s Proposed Public Safety Bond first appeared on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

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The Minneapolis Animal Care and Control (MACC) shelter received $14,000 in grants in October and is hosting a “Clear the Shelter” to address the recurring at-capacity issues in the shelter.

The Clear the Shelter event will give Minneapolis residents a cost-effective way to get a pet while helping alleviate stress at the shelter. The event will run from 1 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 25 and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the MACC. 

MACC is at capacity and has been for the past year, according to Tony Schendel, MACC director. MACC is one of many animal shelters nationwide in a growing trend of at-capacity shelters due to increased pet abandonments during the pandemic.

Madison Weissenborn, volunteer and community outreach coordinator for the MACC, said an at-capacity shelter is always stressful on staff and especially animals because of the close quarters and isolation the pets experience.

Weissenborn said that animal health and well-being at these shelters are still good because of how well the shelter’s volunteers take care of the animals.

“They get them out of their kennels, they get, honestly they go on more walks than my own dogs at home,” Weissenborn said. “But they also take part in things like enrichment, so making (the animals) mentally sound.” 

Schendel said the goal of MACC’s Clear the Shelter event is to place as many pets as possible into good homes and alleviate some of the stress on the other animals and shelter staff.

“Our staff would then be able to focus their efforts on providing better care and enrichment and more rehabilitative care for the animals that are in our care that sometimes require substantial amounts of work we have to spend with them before they’re ready to hit the adoption floor,” Schendel said.

Grants to MACC deliver relief to shelter workers and pets

This is not the first time the city shelter has received funding to tackle at-capacity concerns. 

The city invested more than $600,000 in MACC in February to help relieve the at-capacity strain by hiring more staff and purchasing supplies for animals.

Schendel said the February investment was hugely beneficial for MACC, allowing them to hire two new staff members and reopen Saturday adoption hours for the first time in at least four years.

In addition to the city’s investment, the MACC received two grants in October to help waive adoption fees and first-time impound fees at their upcoming adoption event.

Subaru Loves Pets worked with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to award the MACC $4,000 to waive adoption fees, said Ryan Wickes, a spokesperson for the Minneapolis zone of Subaru.

Subaru Loves Pets is the car retailer’s initiative to help house shelter animals and, in partnership with the ASPCA, work with local shelters to improve adoption efforts every October, according to their website.

“It is a little bit different this year than last year for our retailers,” Wickes said. “In the past, they’ve done kind of like an in-store adoption event and donated $100 per pet adopted throughout the course of the month.”

This year, Subaru is going to the shelter and helping the MACC with the Clear the Shelter event, Wickes said. Subaru will give out “new pet parent kits” for the first 10 pets adopted on Friday as well as other Subaru-branded giveaway items like dog toys, water bowls and leashes.

“We’re just basically on-site to support them and make the event a little bit more fun for people that are there to support it,” Wickes said.

The MACC received a $10,000 grant from Best Friends Animal Society to help return lost pets who end up at the shelter to their owners, Best Friends Society Central Director Stacy Rogers said. 

“We wanted to make sure that that wasn’t a barrier to them being able to get their pets back,” Rogers said.

The Best Friends Animal Society began as a no-kill shelter, which eventually grew to be the largest in the country, Rogers said. Today, the Society has expanded to develop regional programs.

“In the regional programs, we really go in and help local shelters just figure out how they can save more lives, whether it’s through grants or boots on the ground,” Rogers said. 

The Best Friends Animal Society has awarded grant money to the MACC in the past, Rogers said. With the stress an at-capacity shelter puts on a pet, Rogers said help from everyone is needed.

“(The MACC) are trying extremely hard for the pets that are in their care, so we definitely encourage anybody looking at the Twin Cities to go out and look at them for adoption, or if their pet is missing to make sure it’s not there as a lost pet,” Rogers said

Weissenborn said a successful Clear the Shelter event would mean more people knowing about MACC and how they offer low-cost pet adoptions.

“In reality, I will take whatever I can get and one adoption makes me happy at the end of the day,” Weissenborn said.

Dogs and cats older than 6 months are free to adopt for Minneapolis residents plus the cost of a city pet license, according to the MACC website. Adopting a dog costs $100 and a cat costs $25 for non-Minneapolis residents.

Schendel said he hopes both Minneapolis and non-Minneapolis residents make use of the MACC’s affordable adoptions.

“I’m really hoping that the public shows up not just these next two days, but always, right?” Schendel said. “These animals are ready for their new forever home.”

Weissenborn said the grants and Clear the Shelter events are excellent ways to temporarily relieve the at-capacity pressure on shelters, however, a long-term solution for animal welfare means addressing broader social issues.

“Our next big step for animal welfare, in general, is just having those bigger conversations of housing insecurities and keeping people and pets together and what we can do to better assist our community,” Weissenborn said. “We need to start looking outside of the shelter for ways to help these animals.”

There’s a reason the Mountain West trophy isn’t a tiara; football was never meant to be pretty.

Colorado State has epitomized that this season, as it sits with a record better than .500 through seven games for the first time since 2017 — the last year CSU made a bowl game. The Rams sit tied atop the MW standings at 2-0, with a prime opportunity to extend that lead Saturday against New Mexico.

The product on the field hasn’t exactly looked as expected, and the statistics don’t necessarily jump off the page, but the Rams found a way to victory four times this season.

“I think a lot of statistics are overblown, to be honest with you,” coach Jay Norvell said. “We’ve been the team with the flashy stats and not a lot of wins, and that’s not always a good thing.”

The Lobos are entering the game with those eye-popping stats, having scored 50 or more points in each of the last three weeks.

“I think the running back group is going to be the best we’ve played all year — the combination of all three of them.” –Buom Jock, CSU linebacker

Devon Dampier has been one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the Mountain West for UNM this season. Dampier is leading the Lobos in rushing with 487 yards and passing with 1,760 yards. The biggest benefactor to the Lobos’ air attack has been Luke Wysong, who has reeled in 50 catches for 663 yards.

This will be another week when someone on the edge will have to show out. When a QB has the running prowess of Dampier, discipline will be huge in securing the victory, and containing Dampier in the pocket will be nonnegotiable.

“We have really fast D-ends, really fast linebackers, (so) we’re trying to keep contain on them,” CSU linebacker Buom Jock said. “When you’ve got a quarterback that can run and throw the ball, you want to keep them in the pocket as much as you can.”

Winning at the point of attack has been one of the biggest reasons for the Rams’ success. Doing so on both sides of the ball has been key to the success CSU has seen so far this season. With Gabe Kirschke having a breakout game against Air Force and Nuer Gatkuoth poised to be available, CSU’s defensive front should be set.

On the opposite side of the ball, the Rams have somehow managed to exceed expectations. After a fantastic year from the offensive line last season, CSU’s front five have played like some of the best in the nation and have by far been the best unit on the team. As physical as CSU’s O-line has been, the mental side of the game has been just as much of a factor in their jump this year.

“We think about that a lot,” CSU offensive lineman Drew Moss said. “We’ve got to make sure Jacob (Gardner does his job). Obviously, he has a big job on his hand running the offense through him. Especially our run game, so him being able to do that and all of us communicating everything at all times — it’s one of those key factors.”

UNM brings a heavy blitz package with lots of stunts, something the O-line and Gardner will be instrumental in deciphering. If the Rams can get things going on the ground like they have the past several weeks, with Avery Morrow rushing for more than 100 yards four games in a row, they should be in a good position for a Homecoming game victory.

On the other side of the ball, CSU will have to find consistency. This isn’t the UNM team from the past; the Lobos are dangerous. Norvell wants to control the pace and tempo of the game. Keeping the lethal Lobos’ run game in check and not allowing explosive plays will be crucial in doing that.

“I think the running back group is going to be the best we’ve played all year — the combination of all three of them,” Jock said. “They have a really nice group of receivers. (Wysong is) a really good receiver. … We have to do a good job of trying to limit their best guys.”

Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.

Interested in more sports content? Sign up for Ram Report here for weekly CSU sports updates!

To me, nothing is better than waking up to rainy weather, making a cup of coffee and cozying up on the couch to binge-watch a good show or movie. These are some of my favorite films that excite me for fall.

“Harry Potter”

The “Harry Potter” movies always remind me of autumn, especially when the students first arrive at their school, Hogwarts, and enjoy the “start-of-the-term” feast. This event closely resembles Thanksgiving with pumpkins, corn, chicken legs and amazing-looking desserts on display.

 The movie also features many rainy and snowy scenes that depict the fall weather. Along with the seasonal scenes and food, the storyline and plot of the “Harry Potter” series is unmatchable. 

There is adventure, magic and mystery in these films, drawing in viewers of all ages and keeping them wanting more. 

“Gilmore Girls”

Another favorite fall series of mine is “Gilmore Girls” which follows a young girl, Rory Gilmore and her single mother, Lorelai Gilmore. The show centers around Rory and Lorelai’s friendship as mother and daughter in a small town with a friendly community. 

Cliff Morales, UO sophomore, is a passionate viewer of Gilmore Girls and is the person who introduced me to the series.

“The scenery, the set design and the characters are very easy to associate with the fall,” Morales said. “The show brings me comfort because of the consistency of the characters … it has a good reflection of community.”

The show features the characters in warm clothes that are typically fall colors such as orange or red. 

“Wednesday” 

In addition, Tim Burton’s “Wednesday” is an eight-episode series on Netflix for those wanting a shorter series to binge during the spooky season. 

The show, “Wednesday” is a spin-off of the classic Halloween movie “The Addams Family” that follows the teenage Wednesday Addams as she navigates Nevermore Academy. The school is seen as a sanctuary for supernatural students, and Wednesday finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. With the help of her new friends and her spontaneous visions, she uncovers the deep-rooted history of her ancestors in the town of Jericho. 

Jenna Ortega, who plays Wednesday, does an amazing job portraying a spooky character that is initially seen as cold and harsh. Yet as the film series unravels, the viewer can come to understand that she has many layers. 

Her character development throughout the show allows the viewer to feel more attached to Wednesday and has us all asking, no, begging Tim Burton to release the next season. 

“American Horror Story”

Another spooky watch for the holiday season is “American Horror Story” also commonly referred to as AHS. 

This show features a new plotline with recurring actors playing different characters each season. For instance, “Season 2: Asylum” is about a mental institution and “Season 3: Coven” is about witchcraft. 

The show also incorporates different types of horror such as gothic horror displayed in the themes and psychological horror portrayed within the character’s thought processes. 

In “Season 7: Cult”, both horror types are displayed. The main character Ally believes she is going insane while she is stalked by killer clowns. Ally is gaslit and feels as if she is going crazy as she is tormented by a cult group. 

I haven’t seen many episodes of this show, but the ones I have witnessed never fail to send a chill down my spine and leave me pondering the concept of the show for the next week. 

Emily Hall, UO Sophomore, has seen various seasons of AHS and is a big advocate of it during the fall time. 

“American Horror Story has a lot to do with ghosts and spirits and there is typically a haunted place in each season,” Hall said. “It is kind of a comfort show, strangely enough, because the characters are just so complex, and you can relate to certain parts of them.”

Hall also explained that AHS typically has a Halloween episode where spirits can leave the place they are restricted to and haunt people from their previous life. Details like this make this suspenseful show one of the best watches during the fall season.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent conflict in Gaza, Jewish and Muslim students at the University of Minnesota learned to balance their expressions of religious identity with concerns about increased hate speech and isolation from campus communities.

The number of reported antisemitic incidents across the U. S. was 8,873 in 2023, according to an audit by the Anti-Defamation League, an almost 140% increase from 2022.

A report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said they received 8,061 complaints of Islamophobia in the U.S. in 2023, a 56% increase from 2022. Half of those complaints were from the last three months of the year, following the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

This is the highest number of complaints CAIR has recorded in its 30-year history, according to the report. 

Abdi, a fourth-year student at the University who requested to be partially anonymous due to fear for her safety on campus, said despite the large Muslim community at the University, it can be intimidating for a hijab-wearing Muslim woman to walk around campus because of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

“Honestly my greatest fear is being on campus late at night and being attacked because of my faith and because I do outwardly identify as a Muslim woman,” Abdi said.

As a political science major taking classes about global politics, Abdi said it is upsetting that her professors seem to be shying away from discussing the war in class and not facilitating a space for important conversations.

Abdi transferred to the University last year and said in the early days of the war, she remembers her day-to-day life on campus being a time of fear. 

With memories of targeted attacks she had experienced when she was younger and news about the rise of hate-fueled attacks on Hijabis, Abdi said she minimized her time on campus.

“My first semester, I would come to class and go home,” Abdi said. “I did not want to be on campus. I did not want to be in a place that made me vulnerable.”

Abdi said the U.S.’s lack of regulation on firearms adds to the anxiety she has about being targeted inside a religious space. Abdi said she prays on campus and is worried about being attacked because of her faith.

“Despite that, I still choose to wear my hijab because I believe that God is bigger than my fear,” Abdi said.

A second-year student, who asked to be anonymous due to fear of being targeted for her beliefs, said as a Jewish student, she has been very conscious about heightened rates of antisemitism in the U.S. and on campus.

The student serves on the council of the University’s branch of Hillel, a Jewish student cultural center. The protests outside of Hillel on Oct. 7, while they hosted a memorial service for the people who were killed on Oct. 7, 2023, were a reminder of the safety concerns Jewish students have, she said.

“Having to make that phone call to my parents the next day and be like, ‘Hey, you were right. There were protests,’ was really startling and a little humbling because who wants to admit to their parents that they were right,” she said.

The student said she feels the argument that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism is sometimes used to excuse actual antisemitism.

She said she remembers being told growing up that there are situations where she needs to hide her Star of David necklace for her safety. After Oct. 7, 2023, she now wears a “bring them home” necklace, a slogan calling for the safe return of hostages in Gaza.

According to the student, at the end of spring semester on her way to class, she was offered a flyer at a pro-Palestinian booth. When she declined to take it, she said they yelled “Zionist” at her, prompting her to turn around.

“They saw my necklaces, and I remember they said ‘Oh, it’s cuz you’re a fucking Jew,’” the student said. “That’s just straight-up antisemitic, you can’t call that anti-Zionism.”

The student said incidents like this harm the Palestinian cause, making it more difficult to have open discourse about the war. 

According to her, Jewish students like herself, including those she speaks to as part of her role at Hillel, are dealing with feelings of isolation from the broader campus community.

Izhan Qureishy, a third-year Muslim student at the University, said in Islam, Muslims are called to protect other people, so protesting against the war and raising awareness is a matter of faith, something not always understood by the University community. 

“God commands us to defend people that are being harmed, particularly Muslims,” Qureishy said.

Qureishy has been involved in several Muslim student groups including the Al-Madinah Cultural Center and the Muslim Student Association. He also attends mosques in the University area.

Qureishy often wears a turban and said with that physical identifier of his faith, along with him being visibly Middle Eastern, he is not a stranger to being judged for his identity.

While he has always felt a level of discomfort when asking professors to step out of a class to pray or when doing things that differentiate him from other students, Qureishy said that feeling has increased over the past year.

“The reality of being Muslim has completely changed for many, many people,” Qureishy said.

Qureishy said this increase in attention has, in a way, liberated him from feeling like he should care about what other people think, allowing him to concentrate on using his voice as a way to spread awareness of struggles faced by Muslim people.

According to Qureishy, he has felt gaslit by the media and community spreading the idea that people who protest against the war are supporting terrorism. He said this contributes to the idea that Muslims are strange or “other,” something he added Muslims experienced even before the war.

“There is a framing of Muslims as terrorists, as people who are subhuman,” Qureishy said. 

Qureishy said the war has given him an opportunity to adjust his priorities in life, and shaped the identity of Muslim-American students such as himself.  

“Identity, for a lot of people, myself in particular, has shifted to one of a globalized citizen, a Muslim that cares about justice around the world, rather than an American,” Qureishy said.

An Israeli-American second-year student at the University, who requested anonymity for fear of her or her family being targeted, said she has seen misconceptions about Jewish student beliefs based on their religious identity. 

“I still think it’s important for people to realize that not every Jew is pro-Israel, and a lot of Jews are misled about Israel, there’s a lot of shit that many of us have to unpack,” she said.

The student’s father is from Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces due to mandatory service. She said she has visited Israel to see her extended family five or six times and has spent many months there. 

She said she wears her Star of David necklace alongside a Palestinian flag bracelet to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and cause. She said she wants Palestinians to know they are safe with her.

The student said although she sees more antisemitism present on campus now than there was a year ago, she does believe reports have been overplayed by the University and certain groups. 

She said at the beginning of the war she believed some pro-Palestinian activist groups tokenized Jewish voices, although that is not as prevalent now.

She said she believes there are “idiots” joining protesting groups on both sides to amplify antisemitism and Islamophobia, but those individuals’ voices are not representative of the beliefs of each side as a whole.

The student said she remembered her and her dad being scared after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack when a former Hamas leader called for a “Global Day of Jihad” on Oct. 13, prompting safety concerns from Jewish communities across the world.

She said that was a conflicting time for her, as it was both “a time of mourning and time of celebration.”

Having supported Palestine for years before the war began, the student said she felt torn. She was scared people would target Jewish people around the world due to their faith, but she also had friends who were pro-Palestine and actively participating in protests against Israel.

She said her stance on the war has made it somewhat difficult to find a structured Jewish cultural community on campus. She wanted to join a Jewish student group or join Hillel last year, but as a student who supports Palestine, she did not feel aligned with their beliefs.

The student said she is constantly affected by the war.

“I’m very surprised that more people don’t live day to day with a pit in their stomach,” she said. “Because I wake up every day and almost every day one of the first things I think about is what’s happening in a place I used to call a second home.”

Ever since their miracle run to the Eastern Conference Finals three seasons ago, the Atlanta Hawks have been stuck in the middle of the NBA landscape. In their last two trips to the postseason, they were dispatched by the Miami Heat in five games and by the Boston Celtics in six games, both times during the first round of the playoffs. Both the Heat and the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals or Finals, so it can be argued that the Hawks just ran into tough teams. However, that does not change the fact that meaningful postseason basketball has been absent from Atlanta for a while. 

To change that in the 2024-25 season, the Hawks are eschewing star power in favor of a stronger overall roster. 

General Manager Landry Fields made the decision to break up the awkward fit between point guard Trae Young and shooting guard Dejounte Murray by sending Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans earlier this summer. Murray was initially acquired from the San Antonio Spurs to shake things up after the Hawks lost to the Heat, but the All-Star guard never fit in well with Young on the court. Throughout his two seasons in Atlanta, Murray’s defense did not live up to his NBA All-Defensive Team reputation and he struggled to adjust to making an off-ball impact on offense. Therefore, they swapped Murray for depth in the form of guard Dyson Daniels and big man depth by acquiring Cody Zeller and Larry Nance Jr. While it is unclear how this trade will pay off for Atlanta, it undoubtedly improves the roster’s alignment around Young. 

Last season, the Hawks’ perimeter defense was one of the five worst in the NBA. Their offense fell from the top-ten offensive rating that Young has consistently kept them at. The Hawks’ moves this offseason seem specifically designed to address those two issues. Although his offense is still a work in progress, there’s no question that Daniels is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He held his own against some of the best scorers in basketball like Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards and De’Aaron Fox last season due to his strength, sixth sense for defensive positioning and active hands. Expect Daniels to get starting minutes alongside Young in order to cover for the latter’s deficiencies on that end of the court. A healthier season from wing DeAndre Hunter, who missed 25 games last year, could also be a positive for the Hawks’ point-of-attack defense. 

On offense, the Hawks are planning to fill Murry’s impact in multiple ways. Their newest addition is former JL St Bourg wing Zaccharie Risacher, who Atlanta took with the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Only 19 years old, Risacher is going to take time to reach his full potential, but he has looked good so far. The rookie averaged 16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 60% from the floor and 44.4% from three-point range during preseason play. If he is ready to step into a big role as a wing who can shoot three-pointers and hold up on defense, Atlanta could be a much better two-way team than many expect. However, the biggest key to improving the Hawks’ offense this season is the growth of forward Jalen Johnson. Johnson took a massive step forward in his third season by averaging 16 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists on 51.1% shooting from the field and 35.5% from three-point range on 3.6 attempts a game. His task for the upcoming season is to make the Hawks look smart by recently signing him to a five-year, $150 million dollar contract. Johnson was Atlanta’s best defender last year and showed immense upside as both a shooter and playmaker. If he blossoms into an All-Star candidate, it drastically improves the upside of this team. 

Quietly, Atlanta has a respectable bench unit as well. Sixth man Bogdan Bogdanovic is still one of the best high-volume shooters in the NBA, hitting 37.1% of his 8.1 attempts from deep per game last year. Although he is currently injured, point guard Kobe Bufkin showed promise as Young’s backup during the preseason by averaging 15 points on 37% shooting from the floor and 35% from three. Center Onyeka Okongwu could also take a leap in a critical year for his development. Longtime starter Clint Capela is still a solid rebounder and rim protector who sets good screens to create space for his teammates to operate. However, Okongwu’s promise as a versatile defender and shooter from three-point range could force a change in the starting lineup if he is able to stay healthy and show consistency. 

Fan favorites like Vit Krejci, a 6’8 guard with good passing ability and underrated defensive capabilities, and spot-up shooter Garrison Matthews round out the back of the rotation. 

The early months of the NBA season are never easy to predict, but Atlanta is set up for a good start to the year. Three of their first five opponents are widely expected to be among the dregs of the NBA – the Brooklyn Nets, the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Hornets. The Hawks open the season tonight against Brooklyn on Oct. 23. They take on Charlotte on Oct. 25 before facing a difficult early test against a championship contender in the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 27. Things should get easier in their two consecutive games against Washington on Oct. 28 and Oct. 30. 

It’d be unreasonable to expect Atlanta to win the title in 2024-25. However, if everything lines up in their favor, the odds of them making another surprising playoff run seem better than they have in a long time. 

The post New-look Hawks poised for return to the playoffs appeared first on Technique.

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