Atlanta Hawks: Exploring the Team’s 5 Best Two-Man Lineups
By Chris Guest
#5. Kent Bazemore/John Collins: -5.4 Net Rating
One has to rifle a long way down the list to find a positive net rating regarding the Atlanta Hawks two-man lineups, as most of them are shockingly bad in terms of net rating. Because the Hawks have been blown out frequently, many of their two-man units suffer in defensive, offensive and net ratings.
This unit of Baze and JC, which has played a total of 200 minutes – just getting under our arbitrary cut-off – features the sixth-best defensive rating (104.3) of any two-man lineup the Hawks trot out.
Beyond that, the combination of Baze and Collins produces lineups that nab 50.6 percent of all total rebounds, the fourth-highest among all Atlanta Hawks two-man lineups. That makes sense, as John Collins in particular is an amazing rebounder in general, and he recently logged a career-high 8 offensive boards against the Mavericks in a loss.
Similarly, Baze is not laser-focused on nabbing boards as he has far more pressing matters to attend to on a nightly basis, such as defending at a high-level, spotting up from three and serving as a secondary ballhandler should the need arise.
Anytime you have two of your best players on the floor together, good things are going to happen, and this two-man grouping shows that adroitly.