Gary Neal’s Time With The Atlanta Hawks, as told by Twitter

The Beginning

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/821913087435505664

With 1:50 left in the third quarter of a 23-point blowout, Dennis Schroder came out of the game. With this, the Gary Neal Era began. A sign of new things to come for not only the Hawks but the entire United States as a country. Just over 90 seconds later, Neal found himself at the free-throw line, preparing to score his first two points as a Hawk. With the two shots both connecting, Neal had started his Atlanta time off right.

These two tweets are basically irrelevant but can be dissected to the point where they have meaning. In Neal’s 1st game, he totaled a +6 Plus/Minus, which led the Hawks. This was meaningless, as all of his minutes came during a 20-point blowout. But he was technically the best player on the court for the team, based off that single stat.

Before the Hawks’ Jan. 20th match-up against the Bulls, team writer KL Chouinard made the observation that Neal now uses the locker of 9-game Hawk Legend Ryan Kelly.