The Atlanta Hawks had a pretty busy offseason that significantly changed the dynamic of the team. One piece that should not have changed was two-guard John Jenkins who recently signed with the Dallas Mavericks.

No, he probably wouldn’t have been a huge piece with Atlanta in the short term, but that doesn’t mean the team should have just let him walk. He has shown time and time again that he can score. Last time I checked that was a pretty big plus for a guy who was going to be insanely cheap. Not only could he score, but in his limited minutes he showed that he was quite efficient, going right at 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. You just don’t let that walk away for nothing.

He’s not without his flaws, though, I’ll admit. Outside of scoring he doesn’t really bring much to the table. He is a scoring guard from top to bottom. He doesn’t pass it very well, and he doesn’t really attack the glass. Jenkins also has a tendency to get lost on the defensive end, but he has already shown he can make due when healthy. He is athletic enough to be a slightly below average one-on-one defender at worst. You can overlook, and even try to work with, some of his shortcomings when a guy has a true shooting percentage of 63. That’s just way too high to not take a flier on.

The most maddening thing about all of this is the guys who are looking to replace his spot on the roster. Terran Petteway and Lamar Patterson are the two in line at this point. Nothing against either guy, but they just flat out aren’t as good. Petteway is a bit of a different player. He was a volume scorer in college, which is something the Hawks just don’t need. He brings other things to the table, but it remains to be seen how exactly he’d fit in on the roster. Then there’s Patterson, who basically does the same things Jenkins does at a lower level.

No matter how you spin this from the Hawks’ perspective, Jenkins should have been brought back. Kyle Korver isn’t getting any younger, and there is a decent chance the team had his replacement ready to go with a little work. Losing DeMarre Carroll will have the biggest impact this season, but losing Jenkins could end up being the major loss in a couple of seasons.

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