After 13 games played, Atlanta Hawks fans are getting a sense of how their team will look for the early portion of the 2018-19 regular season.
There was much turnover from last year’s Atlanta Hawks team to this one, and while the team’s 3-10 record is not particularly sparkling, this year was never going to be about a lofty win total.
Instead, the 2018-19 Atlanta Hawks were always going to be about developing young players and finding talent wherever it might be found.
This season was also always going to be an important one for new head coach Lloyd Pierce. Seeing as this is his first head coaching gig, the pressure was going to be off for the most part; as long as he doesn’t overplay the veterans (like a certain dearly departed former Hawks coach did last year) and keeps the young guys happy, everything should be fine.
So far, Pierce is doing an exemplary job and has implemented an eye-catching and fairly attractive modern offensive system that is great in theory once the Atlanta Hawks get a little more cohesion and offensive polish on the team.
However, Pierce is exceeding expectations so far through the thoroughly modern offensive system he has implemented through the team’s first 13 games.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Atlanta Hawks have one of the most modern shot profiles of every team in the league. Though their effective field goal percentage is in the bottom third of the league at 51.2 percent, the Hawks are tied for 1st in the league with the Utah Jazz in corner threes attempted per game at 10.9 percent of their shots coming from the most efficient spot on the floor for offenses.
Beyond that, their 36.8 total three-point attempt rate is 4th in the league, behind only the Rockets, Bucks and Celtics. That doesn’t mean the Hawks are living beyond the arc, however. The Atlanta Hawks’ modern offensive system is also focused on getting good looks in the paint, and the team is attempting 42 percent of its shots at the rim – second only to the paint-focused Los Angeles Lakers.
Because 78.8 percent of the shots the Atlanta Hawks take are either at the rim or from three-point territory, that means the team is almost completely eschewing the mid-range game – which is exactly what you’d like to see from a young coach like Pierce.
Of course, though that shot profile is rather beautiful, the Atlanta Hawks offense is still not particularly potent, as the team is 29th in offensive rating according to Basketball Reference.
New Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce has also made the team devoted to pushing the ball hard in transition. Though the team lacks polish as well as a gifted roll man and play finisher due to the injury of John Collins (get well soon JC), the team (led by rookie Trae Young) is still doing all the right things in transition.
Though the Hawks are third in transition frequency on offense with 18.9 percent of their possessions coming in transition, they are 29th in points per 100 possessions (101.1), 20th in points added per 100 possessions (2.2) and 22nd in points per play added per 100 possessions (114.7).
That string of numbers and jargon-filled sentence simply states that while the Hawks are getting great looks in transition and pushing the ball hard on a majority of their plays, the lack of offensive polish is letting the team down bigtime when it comes to actually scoring in transition.
Perhaps most notable of the team’s focus on transition play is how much the Atlanta Hawks push the ball off of live rebounds. 40.3 percent of live rebounds the Hawks take down end up being transition plays, which is second only to the Lakers.
Both Trae Young and Kevin Huerter are experts in this ability to push the ball hard after rebounds, as are more seasoned players such as DeAndre’ Bembry and Kent Bazemore. Huerter in particular has the verticality to crash the defensive boards, push the ball hard and find an open player either at the rim or for three – per the Hawks’ good shot profile.
While the team’s offense is looking sprightly and spry, the Atlanta Hawks defense will need some work going forward if the team is to one day make noise in the NBA’s upper echelons.
But hey, who needs defense if you’re just trying to develop the young guys? As long as Pierce is operating as a development-first coach and trying to instill the right values, the defense can come later. For now, let’s just enjoy a thoroughly modern offense that denies the mid-range and embraces triples.
This offensive system is also tailor-made for a dynamic offensive point guard who can shoot off the dribble like Trae Young, so it will be fun to watch this team’s identity develop just as Young, Huerter, Collins, Omari Spellman and Taurean Prince all continue to improve and better themselves every night.
The Atlanta Hawks play tonight against the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, so the Hawks’ modern shot profile and offense will be put to the test against some of the best players in the world.