The Hawks specifically planned to have the most cap space in the NBA this past offseason with the hopes of spending every dollar they could to improve their roster after three rebuilding seasons, and that’s what they did. They agreed on five contracts with free agents that totaled more than $160 million during the lifespan of those deals.
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So far, those five players haven’t contributed much of anything. Bogdan Bogdanovic, the prized free agent from Sacramento, has played in nine games and isn’t close to returning after sustaining an avulsion fracture in his knee; Danilo Gallinari has played in seven games, missing a few weeks with a sprained ankle and is still on a minutes restriction because of that injury; Rajon Rondo has played in 10 games and had a four-game stretch when he shot 0 for 11; Solomon Hill has played in every game but is shooting below 36 percent from the field; and Kris Dunn hasn’t played in a game and is still recovering from ankle surgery.
The Hawks have missed a combined 73 games this season due to injury, the second-most in the NBA behind Orlando, per ManGamesLost, and because of the injuries to the free agents, Atlanta’s bench production has suffered. The Hawks have scored the third-fewest bench points, just 15 points ahead of Memphis, which has played five fewer games due to postponements, and New Orleans.
Despite the reinforcements the Hawks signed during the offseason being mostly unavailable, Atlanta currently has the sixth-best record in the Eastern Conference and most of the production has come from the “Core Five” and Clint Capela. Last season, this group — minus Capela — won 20 games with a bench unit that had similar production as what we’ve seen so far, and yet this young group has carried the Hawks this season.
“It shows that the hard work we’ve been putting in behind closed doors is paying off,” John Collins said. “I feel like just as a team and organization, you’re always going to put a lot of stock into your young players. I just feel like both ends of the candle are burning in the sense that we’re developing, and it’s helping the team. You can’t say enough about that. We want to become better as a team and as a young unit. We know how deadly we can be when that does happen.”
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What has been impressive about the young players carrying the Hawks is their box score numbers, for the most part, are down across the board. Trae Young’s efficiency is slightly down, and he’s scoring two points fewer per game; Collins is scoring five points fewer per game on lower efficiency; Cam Reddish’s scoring is up almost two points, but his efficiency is worse than last year — and it was already bad; and Kevin Huerter is mostly putting up the same numbers, but his scoring is slightly down. De’Andre Hunter is the outlier in the group with his scoring up five points and his field goal percentage up more than 10 percentage points.
So how are they doing it if four out of the five players’ scoring numbers are down and their field goal percentages are lower than what they were last year? They’ve cut down the turnovers and are in the top half in protecting the ball after being third-worst last season, and they have the eighth-best defense with Capela anchoring the middle with the “Core Five” collectively performing better on that end of the floor. The two most used lineups this season have Young, Hunter, Collins and Capela on the floor together with the only difference coming at shooting guard with Reddish and Huerter. Both lineups have a net rating of at least +15.5, and both units are holding opponents to fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning The Glass.
The “Core Five” and Capela have held the line without their free-agent acquisitions and have them in the playoff hunt through a quarter of the season.
“We obviously have a long way to go,” coach Lloyd Pierce said. “There are a lot of areas to improve upon. After 19 games, the amount of injuries we’ve had, we’re in a good spot. We think we could have won some other games. We’re always looking for ways to improve in every game and every situation. We watched the Portland-Chicago game (on Sunday), the final minute, as film because those are some of the things we focused on — the situations we’ll be in. How do you execute down the stretch offensively and defensively? That game provided it (Saturday) night in some of the things we talked about in Washington. It was a follow-up. There’s plenty of room for us to grow, but where we’re at right now, we’re in a good spot.”
| Player | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Steals | Assists | Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
34.1 | 27.0 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 8.6 | 0.2 | |
30.9 | 16.7 | 7.7 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 1.1 | |
32.1 | 17.2 | 5.4 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 0.5 | |
30.3 | 11.4 | 3.7 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 0.2 | |
28.8 | 12.3 | 4.7 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | |
29.8 | 13.7 | 14.5 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 2.3 |
Remarkably, and a clear sign of the growth from this roster this season is the Hawks’ four key players: Young, Collins, Hunter and Capela have All-Star arguments, although it’s unlikely the Hawks would have more than one player on the team unless Atlanta is one of the top four teams in the East by the time voting ends. Pierce believes Young is a “no-doubt” All-Star while the other three should be in consideration. While Young seems like the only Hawks player with a reasonable chance to currently make it, to have four players on your roster who are in the conversation is a testament to how much better improved the Hawks are.
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“It obviously would mean a lot to me to be an All-Star again,” Young said. “But at the same time, like I’ve said since the beginning of this year, winning is my main focus, and it’s been better this year; we’ve been winning more, and I think that’s what people have been wanting to see.
“So, we’ve been doing that, and that’s been my main focus is doing that, and I know everything else will take care of itself, which I hope it does.”
The Hawks have taken care of winning but have a brutal stretch this week with a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, a back-to-back with Dallas and Utah and then Toronto to end the week. It’s possible they’ll be without Hunter, their second-leading scorer, who left Friday’s game against Washington with “articular wear and tear.”
Hunter underwent a non-surgical procedure on Saturday, which, according to Dr. Deepak Chona, the founder of SportsMedAnalytics, was likely a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, which takes a sample of Hunter’d blood, takes out the components that stimulate healing and concentrates them into a solution that is then injected into his knee. Chona’s professional medical opinion is Hunter will miss one to two weeks depending on how his knee heals. What’s more concerning with Hunter having articular wear and tear is it means the protective layers in the joint have been damaged, and it’s likely to linger, which may lead to pain and swelling with increased durations of intense activity. Chona said this type of injury mainly is managed on a case-by-case basis with the player being able to handle symptoms and playing through them.
With Hunter out, Reddish will take his spot in the starting rotation. Pierce said Reddish’s primary defensive assignment on Monday night will be guarding LeBron James, who’s firmly in the MVP conversation.
“I think we’ve seen our guys perform extremely well against elite players in this league,” Pierce said. “It heightens our focus. It heightens our competitive nature. It’s human nature when LeBron walks into the gym that you know you gotta be locked in the night before and the practice before when you get to the arena. It’s just another challenge for us along the way. Every game to us matters, but human nature says when LeBron and (Anthony Davis) are on the court, when (Kevin Durant), Kyrie (Irving) and (James) Harden are on the court, you know you’re in for a long night, so you have to lock in. I think that’s what (Monday) will be about. We understand that. They’ve proven as champions that they can weather any storm. They’ve also shown that they can be vulnerable at times. We have to find ways to make it tough. We have to find ways to be at our best on both ends of the floor.”
If the Hawks can get to a point where they’re mostly healthy and have a full roster, their potential is high. Getting Gallinari off his minutes restriction will be a good start. He’s averaging 23 points per 36 minutes but only has averaged 15 minutes per game this season. If he can get to a point where he’s playing around 25-28 minutes per game consistently, that will help the second unit’s production.
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The biggest stat that shows how much the Hawks’ young players have collectively grown this season is it took 42 games last season to get to 10 wins. It only took 19 games this season to get to that mark. If the Hawks continue to get consistent play from the young core and get healthier, reaching the playoffs should not be a problem.
“I think we’re getting better each and every year,” Young said. “That’s the main thing that we’re getting better. That’s all that I care about is if we’re winning, and that’s all that’s going to matter at the end of the day. That’s the important thing.”
(Photo of Trae Young, left, and John Collins: Jason Getz / USA Today)