The future is promising for sure, but right now their offence is not better than the top 8, unless pascal siakam goes crazy and allows the other player to thrive without pressure, that is the only way i see them actually being a threat. Hawks defeated 76ers one of the best defensive teams (mattise thybulle, ben simmons, danny green,etc) they had the second best defensive rating and trae young was able to defeat them.
Defense sure matters, but if the offence aint creative or running it will be difficult to break into the top 8 unless the veterans like vanvleet and Pascal step up