All issues thought-about, the Atlanta Hawks are having a superb 2024-25 season; few had excessive expectations for them after buying and selling Dejounte Murray within the offseason, however the Hawks are on tempo to complete above .500 for this season — not essentially an enchancment over what they had been earlier than their commerce for Murray, however a superb one nonetheless, contemplating they’ve a younger, rising staff that’s solely getting higher.
There is not any actual rush for the Hawks to enhance the roster earlier than the 2025 commerce deadline. They are not precisely on observe to compete for a championship this season, though they’re nonetheless the one staff within the NBA this yr to beat each the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
Any deadly flaw the Hawks have is one thing they are going to need to tackle with out having to hurry the roster-building course of they’re presently in. They’ve a number of constructing blocks that ought to nonetheless be there the subsequent time they are often among the best. playoff staff within the East, however one factor is for positive: There must be diversification in the way in which Atlanta performs in the event that they need to take the subsequent step as a staff.
That is the deadly flaw the Hawks will face shifting ahead.
Are the Hawks relying an excessive amount of on Trae Younger to create offense?
The Hawks have experimented up to now with bringing in one other shot creator and playmaker to scale back the workload on Trae Younger’s shoulders. Sadly, the Dejounte Murray experiment went incorrect in a short time, as Younger and Murray’s taking part in kinds weren’t too appropriate with one another.
In 2021, the Hawks have stumbled upon a successful system: encompass Younger with as many 3-and-D gamers as doable whereas letting him do a lot of the creating on offense. And it labored; they reached the Japanese Convention Finals and had an opportunity to make all of it the way in which to the NBA Finals if harm luck had fallen of their favor.
The Hawks are replicating this system, but it surely’s not working as nicely. There’s a lack of secondary shot creation on the roster, and Bogdan Bogdanovic’s harm challenge hasn’t helped issues in any respect. Jalen Johnson has performed his greatest in his function as a jack of all trades, diving and secondary playmaker, however his playmaking talents nonetheless have lots of room for enchancment. Dyson Daniels is a defensive specialist who can deal with the ball infrequently, however he lacks the constant potential to launch rebound photographs to threaten defenses.
In the meantime, De’Andre Hunter is extra of a play-finisher, somebody who thrives on the setup of playmakers corresponding to Younger, whereas Zaccharie Risacher is as uncooked as ever within the shot-creation division Merely put, the heavy burden of producing offense falls on their star level guard, leading to one in every of Younger’s worst scores in years.
Younger’s true taking pictures is presently at its worst since his rookie season, and his 22.5 factors per sport can be his worst displaying since his inaugural NBA marketing campaign in 2018. That is a priority; defenses can load up on Younger and stifle him, forcing him into more durable taking pictures nights than ever earlier than – capping the Hawks’ offensive ceiling.
This would not be too large of an issue if the Hawks protection was strong. However regardless that Daniels is without doubt one of the most annoying defenders within the convention, their staff’s protection leaves so much to be desired.
Associated Atlanta Hawks InformationArticle continues beneath
Atlanta’s protection is shaky at greatest
It’s going to all the time be tough for any staff to mitigate the destructive defensive results of getting Trae Younger on the roster. However the Hawks have to choose a battle. They need to both go all-in on offense or protection, and up to now they’re fairly mediocre (at greatest) in each sides of the sport. They’re presently finishing their seventeenth offense and twenty first protection within the league. This spells catastrophe for them when it comes to stringing collectively successful basketball.
Buying a two-way wing who might help deal with some shot creation duties may go a great distance in serving to the Hawks obtain higher roster stability.
Time to go for the fences?
The Hawks are a staff that may work their approach as much as purchase somebody like Brandon Ingram. Ingram is a three-level scorer and playmaker on the wing, and he can slot in properly with the three-man staff, offered, after all, the whole lot goes in keeping with plan in his restoration from harm.
Atlanta can construct a package deal round De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic in addition to some capital, though the Hawks will quickly should signal Ingram to an enormous contract in the event that they had been to carry him in.
