The Atlanta Hawks came into the offseason with a couple of very specific goals. They need to do everything in their power to ensure Paul Millsap remains a Hawk. They need to find some way to improve the production of the bench play. Lastly, they need to find a big man who actually plays big. News today suggests that they have just accomplished at least one of those goals.

Yahoo Sources: San Antonio trades Tiago Splitter to Atlanta, clears space for Aldridge pursuit. http://t.co/FE2BoEbHSr

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— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2015

Tiago Splitter is set to join the Hawks, and there are many reasons why this was a very good trade for the team. First, with the way the San Antonio Spurs are running their offseason, Splitter is an afterthought. He was available for pennies on the dollar in their pursuit of LaMarcus Aldridge. Next up is what I alluded to earlier. The Hawks did not have a rotation big who actually played like a true big a year ago. Splitter brings that toughness and ability to rebound that was sorely needed on last year’s roster.

The big thing this does is it allows the Hawks to be flexible with the rest of their offseason moves. While Millsap remains the key guy, this move gives them some insurance in case he does decide to leave. It would allow Al Horford to slide over to the four, and the Hawks could run a semi-normal lineup for the first time in many years. Of course that isn’t even plan B at this point. Plans A, B and C are to make sure that Millsap is a Hawk for the foreseeable future.

Splitter works fine in that scenario as well. Given Horford and Millsap’s ability to play the four position, it leaves Splitter with plenty of playing time when one of those two is off the floor. So even though he may not be starting if the Hawks have their ideal offseason, he won’t be hurting for playing time by any means. Considering they got him for next to nothing, this was a great piece of business by the new Hawks front office.

Johnathan Neumann is the Atlanta Hawks Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JJ_Neumann, or add him to your network on Google