In his second year in the NBA, Taurean Prince has embraced his expanded role in the Atlanta Hawks’ lineup.
Taurean Prince has had a coming of age since being drafted 12th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. In his sophomore season, Prince has flourished in a starting role for the team. Though his play hasn’t been as consistent as many would like, he’s showing signs of improvement as the season goes on.
Prince put together a career scoring night by notching 30 points in a losing effort to the Toronto Raptors back in December. Prince has also shown other areas of improvement, such as logging a career-high 8 assists and 4 steals against the Sacramento Kings in a 46-point blowout victory.
TP has shown to be a solid acquisition during Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer’s run as general manager before Travis Schlenk took the reins this offseason. Out of the 2015 draft class, he’s 9th in career scoring average with 8.6 points per game, behind notable draft picks Jaylen Brown, Caris LeVert, Malcolm Brogdon, Jamal Murray, Brandon Ingram, and number one overall pick Ben Simmons. He’s proven to be a building block along with rookie John Collins as Travis Schlenk retools the franchise.
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Prince has been a consistent scorer this season for the Hawks, as his 13 points per game in 2017-18 are second on the team behind only Dennis Schröder. Prince is shooting a muscular 41.3 percent from beyond the arc on 4.5 attempts per game, which provides stellar outside efficiency for a Hawks team that desperately needs it.
Taurean has been remarkably durable during his second year in the league, and he is first on the team in total minutes with 1243 played in 40 starts for the Hawks. He has the second-most rebounds on the team, his 225 total rebounds are behind only John Collins, and Prince is tied for the most three-point makes with Marco Belinelli.
These impressive all-around statistical contributions belie Prince’s importance to the Hawks going forward.
What about defense?
Per 100 possessions, Prince is averaging 7.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks, but he could still improve dramatically on that end — as Coach Bud has been seen visibly yelling at Taurean after calling timeouts because of a missed assignment or perceived lack of effort on his part.
Prince has only logged 0.8 defensive win shares (DWS) this season, which compares unfavorably to last year, when he notched 1.5 last season in limited action off the bench. However, his defensive play has been a vital role this season for the Hawks as their 10-30 record features only 17 of those losses by double digits and, most impressively, only 2 of those defeats have been by 20 points or more.
Next: Atlanta Hawks Team Storylines at the Halfway Point
It has been tough to see this Hawks team take loss after loss in the first half of the 2017-18 season. However, we can take solace in the fact that the franchise has some young, foundational talent going forward. Taurean Prince is one of those players. We’ll have to see the growing pains, but we hope Prince can become one of the Hawks’ franchise cornerstones for years to come.