Atlanta Hawks by the Numbers: Statistical Ranks Deep Dive
Defense — The Good
- Steals per game: 9.2 (3rd)
Active hands abound on this squad. Kent Bazemore leads the team and is 9th in the league with 1.7 a night, and Bembry isn’t far behind with a 1.4 average.
https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1066832871535431681
- Blocks per game: 6.0 (4th)
New squad nickname idea–“The S.W.A.T. Team”
Defense — The Bad
- Defensive rebound percentage: 70.8% (24th)
- Defensive rebounds per game: 33.9 (20th)
- Opponent offensive rebounding percentage: 29.2% (24th)
Big men Dewayne Dedmon and John Collins both missed a significant portion of the early part of the season, so the poor rebounding totals can be forgiven somewhat. However, Alex Len was signed out of Phoenix with the hope that he’d be a board snapping machine, but he’s disappointed to the tune of 5.2 rebounds a game.
- Opponent effective field goal percentage: 54.0% (26th)
- Defensive rating: 110.2 (22nd)
- Opponent points per game: 118.2 (30th)
The steal and block numbers look good on paper, but if you’re not backing it up by getting stops, and preventing your opponent from scoring, what’s the point?
- Opponent three-point percentage: 37.6% (30th)
- Opponent assists per game: 27.7 (30th)
Coach Pierce is a defensive-minded guy, so you know it pains him to see these numbers. Recovering from penetration to close out with a hand up on shooters has been lacking all season. The tenacity shows up in the steal and block ranks, but the Hawks have fallen apart in the third and fourth quarters of most games. Are they getting tired?
Scheme and talent non-fits are an okay excuse, but is the effort there? That’s something the NBA stats website just can’t tell us.
Lastly, let’s take a look at some notes for individual players.