Atlanta Hawks 2017-18 Season Review: Tyler Dorsey

With the 11^th pick of the second round in the 2017 NBA draft, the Atlanta Hawks selected Tyler Dorsey out of Oregon. Dubbed “Mr. March” due to a scintillating performance in the NCAA Tournament, Dorsey came in as a proven shooter from deep – something that will always have a place in the NBA.

Though he got very few reps to start the year, with the Hawks logjammed at the shooting guard position with entrenched holdovers like Kent Bazemore, Malcolm Delaney and Marco Belinelli all splitting time, Dorsey showed flashes in limited moments with the team during his first few months in the league.

In an extended garbage time game against the Houston Rockets in early November, Dorsey scored 10 points off the bench as the Rockets walloped the Hawks at home. That 10 points would stand as his highest total for almost three months, as Dorsey bounced back and forth between Atlanta and the Hawks G-League affiliate in Erie.

Once it was clear that Dorsey could dominate that competition at that level, which he did to the tune of 19 points a game with the BayHawks in over 33 minutes a game – getting up more than 8 three-point attempts per contest in the G-League – the Hawks were comfortable calling him up for good.

After the start of 2018, it became clear that Dorsey would play a bigger role for the remainder of the season, and Hawks’ brass made that clear by waiving Marco Belinelli around the trade deadline. Malcolm Delaney also got injured, which opened up a more rotational role for Dorsey – leading to some solid numbers in his rookie year.

In 56 games played (5 starts), Tyler Dorsey averaged a respectable 7.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 17.4 minutes a night. As referenced earlier, Dorsey played sparingly during the first three months of the season, but once more minutes opened up in 2018, Dorsey saw minutes in 45 straight games to end the season – including a career-high 38 minutes in a narrow loss to the Miami Heat in early April.

In a total of 974 minutes played, Dorsey’s clear number-one skill was his three-point shooting. He developed into a volume shooter from downtown, attempting the fifth-most threes on the Hawks at 199. He shot a respectable 36.2 percent from deep as well, though that number must be higher if he wants to truly carve out a niche for himself in the league.

His 52.1 percent three-point attempt rate was also fifth-highest on the team, but his true shooting percentage dipped well below league average at under 50 percent (49.4 percent). That was mostly due to a size disadvantage when finishing in the paint, which Dorsey showed very little knack for in limited two-point attempts, except for this sweet, sweet dunk:

Dorsey made 72 two-pointers and 72 three-pointers in his first season, but his shockingly low 39.3 percent shooting percentage from two-point range was a clear eyesore. Again, Dorsey is a good shooter, but his finishing leaves much to be desire at this early stage of his career.

During the final month-and-a-half of the 2017-18 season, Dorsey was given nearly free rein as the first substitute off the bench, and his usage rate rose to the sixth-highest on the team at 20 percent.

Dorsey served as the replacement for the outgoing Marco Belinelli, though Marco’s cagy veteran instincts led to solid offense on almost every possession, whereas Dorsey’s growing pains were much more developmental. Dorsey seemed to grow more confident as the season wore on, and his off-the-dribble creation improved over time as well.

Though it’s still early in Dorsey’s development, he had multiple strong games over the course of the 2017-18 season.

Again, Dorsey did not find consistent minutes until the rotation opened up for him after the start of the new year. Once he found his footing, Dorsey contributed in numerous ways.

Perhaps his best game of the season came in the Hawks’ 80^th game overall vs. the Washington Wizards on April 6. Though this was a costly loss in terms of draft lottery odds, Dorsey’s development was a silver lining of this “bad win.”

Dorsey matched a career-high with 4 made threes and he scored a career-high 22 points to go along with a +20 box plus/minus – another career-high – in a game the Hawks won by 6. Dorsey shot 50 percent from the field and from three, was perfect from the line (4 of 4) and had 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.

Perhaps his biggest all-around statistical game came two tilts prior against the Miami Heat. Though Dorsey’s scoring was solid with 18 points, he also added a career-high 6 rebounds with 4 assists and 1 steal in a career-high 38 minutes.

In a February matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, Dorsey carved up the hapless Grizz in 28 minutes of action. Though only scoring 10 points, Dorsey logged a career-high 7 assists with 2 steals and a +10 BPM in what was a 26-point blowout for the Hawks.

Tyler Dorsey is clearly one of the most important building blocks for the Hawks going forward. Though lower on the totem pole than say John Collins, breakout star Taurean Prince and whoever the team gets in the first round of the 2018 draft, Dorsey should still play an important role in the team going forward – especially with a year of development under his belt.

Shooting always travels well, and Dorsey has the potential to be the best knockdown shooter on the team – a role not seen since Kyle Korver was traded to the Cavs in 2016-17.

Having a deadeye deep threat is one of the most important elements of the modern NBA, and Dorsey still projects to be that for the Hawks down the line.

Next: Atlanta Hawks Mock Draft 4.0

With an offseason of workouts and development, as well as a likely trip to the Summer League, Dorsey should come back to the team with more skills than he had coming out of the draft.