1 glaring difference between the Hawks and their G League squad

The Atlanta Hawks earned an incredible upset win over the Boston Celtics without Trae Young in the lineup, winning their first game of the in-season NBA Cup tournament. Now 5-7 on the season, the Hawks still have plenty of room to grow – on one end of the floor, in particular.

Through 12 games, Atlanta is on pace to own a bottom-five defense in the NBA for a third straight season. The Hawks have finished bottom five in defensive rating for five of the last seven years and have not ranked in the league's top half since the 2016-17 campaign (pre-Trae Young era).

Meanwhile, Atlanta’s G League squad followed the exact opposite path last season with its best defensive season in franchise history. The College Park Skyhawks have built one of the best defensive cultures in professional basketball, and they executed last year with the No. 1 defense in the G League. College Park regularly held opponents to under 100 points, setting a tone within the program for years to come.

In the Skyhawks’ latest win over the G League Raptors, second-year point guard Jarkel Joiner exploded for a career-high 30 points. However, that didn’t stop him from guarding 94 feet all night long. Joiner played for the Hawks in Summer League, and the defensive stud has clearly used that experience to take his all-around game to another level.

Joiner talked to Soaring Down South about his consistent defensive effort after the game.

“If I wanna take it to that next level and hopefully be on an NBA court, I know that’s what I have to do,” Joiner said. “I try to take pride in that every night, pick up 94 and try to make it hard for the other point guard…”

The Skyhawks defense can make a lasting impact on young Hawks players

Young Hawks like Seth Lundy, Dominick Barlow, and Mouhamed Gueye can all learn from the defensive leadership of players like Joiner. Nikola Djurisic, who is still recovering from an injury and ramping up for his rookie season, can also gain much insight from watching the best defensive team in the G League go to work every day.

Veteran guard Kevon Harris has nabbed five steals through College Park’s first two games of the season, both of which were wins. Harris was with the Hawks on an Exhibit 10 contract at training camp, and he will look to make an impression on Atlanta’s young prospects as a tone-setter on both ends.

While the Skyhawks possess plenty of defensive talent, they get most of their dirty work done as a collective unit. Head coach Steve Klei said it best after his team’s gutsy 122-117 win.

“When we talk about identity, I think we land on two things,” Klei said in his postgame presser. “That’s competitiveness, and that’s connectedness. Are we competing defensively? Are we competing every time down the floor, beating our man down the floor? And then are we connected? When things get hard, do we rally together … Are we moving the ball, are we making quick decisions, are we spacing for our teammates? I think when we talk about our identity, we land on those two things.”

With multiple young Hawks set to see time in both the G League and the NBA, Klei and his staff should be able to aid their development as two-way threats. Klei is also an assistant coach for the Hawks, and last year’s Skyhawks head coach Ryan Schmidt is working as a full-time assistant for Atlanta. Schmidt helped build the defensive foundation that College Park has continued to embody early in the 2024-25 season.

As the new-look Hawks become more comfortable playing together, they will hopefully take some of College Park’s defensive magic and run with it. Defensive Player of the Year candidate Dyson Daniels has recently enjoyed a historic run with a mind-boggling 19 steals in three games. Even so, Atlanta’s team defense still leaves much to be desired.

The Skyhawks should keep giving Hawks fans hope for the future as Atlanta’s developmental squad continues to defend as well as any team in pro hoops.