Atlanta Hawks Projected Starting Lineup for 2018-2019 Season
By Chris Guest
Atlanta Hawks Starting Point Guard: Jeremy Lin
Though there was much bluster and hand-wringing about a possible Dennis Schröder trade (even on this very site), the Hawks’ leading scorer from last season remains on the team at this current juncture.
However, after a recent, rather shocking, three-team swap with the Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets, Jeremy Lin is now a member of the Atlanta Hawks, which means that Schröd is likely not long for the team.
Even though Schröd had his best season in 2017-18, putting up a career-high in points per game at 19.4 and a single game career-high of 41 points against the Utah Jazz, he was never a favorite of the Schlenk and Ressler front office, meaning that the team made a surprising trade to obtain Linsanity.
The 29-year-old Lin has only played 37 games over the past two seasons, which means he will likely be extremely motivated this upcoming season for the Hawks.
A career 35 percent three-point shooter, Lin will be more of a shooting threat from outside than DS17 ever was, as everyone knows that Schröd wants to drive to the rack at the earliest opportunity to try and score easily around the rim.
Lin should provide a little more spacing on offense, as he shot a career-high 37.2 percent from three-point range in 2016-17 on a career-high 4.3 attempts per game — definitely going in a positive direction with his outside stroke.
Where Schröd has seemed to be rather prickly at times as a teammate, Lin seems to be far more personable, meaning that the Hawks locker room might be a bit more unified than in recent years with Lin as the primary ballhandler.
Though Trae Young, is, of course, the most important point guard for the future of the Hawks, Jeremy Lin was obtained to provide some solid veteran starting point guard minutes, as well as a new face as the team’s primary starting ballhandler.
Again DS17 is currently still on the Hawks, but with the arrival of Lin and Young, his days as a Hawk are certainly numbered.