Soaring Down South
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Best, Worst Atlanta Hawks 5-Man Rotations This Season

By Dallin Duffy

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JANUARY 20: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts after drawing a foul on a three-point basket in the final minutes of their 122-117 loss to the Toronto Raptors with John Collins #20 and Cam Reddish #22 at State Farm Arena on January 20, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JANUARY 20: Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts after drawing a foul on a three-point basket in the final minutes of their 122-117 loss to the Toronto Raptors with John Collins #20 and Cam Reddish #22 at State Farm Arena on January 20, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Hawks
ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 26: Jabari Parker #5 high fives teammate Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks during the second quarter of a game against the Orlando Magic at State Farm Arena on October 26, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

Dishonorable Mention:

Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter, John Collins, Bruno Fernando

This lineup of all 22-or-younger players have played 80 minutes together, and has been the starting five for a few games.

Even with Trae Young and John Collins on the floor together, these five have not been good offensively, but are surprisingly decent on D.

No qualified Hawks’ lineup has put up a worse offensive rating than these five, and they’ve shot 42.8 from the field, 29 percent from three. Even with a respectable defensive rating, they posted a negative plus/minus.

What’s odd is that (spoiler alert) this lineup is just one player different from the Hawks’ best lineup on this list. That player is Bruno Fernando, who has been so-so at best this season.

Still it doesn’t seem like simply switching one player in for the next should catapult a lineup from among the worst to among the best.

There are two potential explanations to this that I could think of:

  1. The Hawks are known to start the game slow, and this lineup was a mere victim of that trend.
  2. Bruno Fernando has played much better as a reserve than a starter.

I’m inclined to believe the latter to be more true, as there are stats confirming that. Bruno’s splits show that he averages 4.8 points on 41 percent shooting as a starter, with a plus/minus of -3.2

Off the pine Fernando impresses with averages of 4.4 points on 57.7 percent, with a plus/minus of -1.1.

For whatever reason the rookie big man has done significantly worse when included with the starters, which is likely the main reason this lineup struggled. With Clint Capela and Dewayne Dedmon back soon, Bruno’s role off the bench will become permanent.

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