Will Two Shooters Be Better Than One For The Atlanta Hawks?
After losing Kyle Korver to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Mo Williams, the Hawks looked as if they were throwing in the towel this season. Now, its obvious the Hawks still want to compete. Dunleavy is making up for Korver nicely, but the Hawks are letting it be known that they’re looking for more shooters by signing Gary Neal to a 10-day contract.
When the Atlanta Hawks traded Kyle Korver to the Cavaliers, they knew that they were getting rid of their best perimeter shooter. They knew that they were giving away a guy that requires little breathing room to get off a good shot.
But at the time, the Hawks were thinking about blowing the team up and preparing for the future. If that were the case, then this wasn’t a bad move.
A week later, we would find out that Atlanta wasn’t going to blow the team up, and decided to keep Paul Millsap, who was also rumored to be on the trading block.
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This decision left the NBA world in confusion over what the team’s motive was for moving Kyle to the one team Atlanta can never seem to beat in the playoffs. In exchange for Korver, the Hawks received Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams, and a protected future first-round draft pick.
Recently, the Hawks traded Mo Williams to the Denver Nuggets and signed Gary Neal to a 10-day contract.
Atlanta is ranked at the bottom in three-point shooting percentage. Signing Gary Neal is an attempt to raise that percentage.
In the past few games, Mike Dunleavy has been impressive to say the least. He’s averaged 8.7 points, while shooting 60 percent from long range on 3.3 attempts, and 80 percent from the free throw line. He also helped Atlanta chip into 20 point deficit against the Boston Celtics. Mike put up 20 points against the Milwaukee Bucks, as well.
As far as perimeter shooting goes, Dunleavy has filled that role quite nicely, and has also showed he can put the ball on the floor. The Atlanta Hawks are shooting 34.3 percent from the three-point line this season. Their last 7 games they’ve shot 41.1% from three. The Hawks have finally figured out how to knock down more perimeter shots. But they want to shoot even better from long range so that they can compete come playoff time.
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Gary Neal can help the Hawks in that department. Neal has played under Coach Mike Budenholzer before when Budenholzer was the assistant coach under Gregg Popovich for the San Antonio Spurs. Recently, Gary Neal has played for the Washington Wizards where he shot 41 percent on 2.5 attempts per game from long range, before playing in the D-League this season.
For his overall career, he shoots 38.3 percent from three on 3.4 attempts per game. Shooting like that will definitely help the Hawks in three-point percentage. Even though the Hawks lost Kyle Korver, Dunleavy and Neal could prove to be better for the Hawks.
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We’ll just have to watch and see.