Atlanta Hawks: 2020-2021 starters: locks, fringe guys, and break ins
Cam Reddish – Shooting Guard
Cam Reddish‘s first season as an Atlanta Hawk was much more of a roller coaster than he and fans had anticipated but he did show signs of improvement and potential. He got off to a really rough start but ended up being one of the best rookies in the league by the end of the Hawks’ short season.
Reddish finished the year averaging 10.5 points per game shooting 38 percent from the field and only 33 percent from three. As I stated before, these numbers don’t reflect Cam’s numbers later in the season but are rather dragged down by his slow start. For reference, in the 27 games of the season that were played in the calendar year of 2020, Cam Reddish posted shooting splits of 44/39/83, which are much more noteworthy than his season average might suggest.
With the other offseason moves the Hawks made though, it’ll be tough to know who will take the floor as the starter at the shooting guard spot. One advantage that Reddish has over the other possible start Bogdan Bogdanovic is defense. Cam has been known as a solid defender since his days at Duke and got better on that side of the ball as the season went on. At 6-8, it would make sense for the Hawks to start Cam to cover for Trae defensively, but we’ll have to wait and see how the Hawks prioritize scoring to start the season.
Bogdan Bogdanovic – Shooting Guard
The Atlanta Hawks were able to sign Bogdan Bogdanovic to a four-year, $72 million dollar deal after the Sacramento Kings failed to match that offer sheet. Fans were wowed by the price tag it took to secure the Serbian shooter but it should prove to be a good move for GM Travis Schlenk and the Hawks.
For Hawks GM Travis Schlenk, it was a wise gamble to overpay market value on Bogdanovic. That’s how you land players in restricted free agency. Now, Bogdan joins Danilo Gallinari as centerpieces of an ATL free agency class that's reshaped roster around All-Star guard Trae Young.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 25, 2020
The price tag that Bogdonavic came with caused speculation around whether he’d be immediately inserted into the starting lineup to provide more scoring and size around Trae Young. Bogdanovic is surely a more established scorer than Cam Reddish but Reddish’s defense could prove to be what keeps him on the floor for tough minutes.
It’s still very much up in the air who the Hawks will start in the backcourt with Trae Young but either way, it’ll be a young and capable guy with the ability to score. It’ll simply come down to whether the Hawks want more scoring or defense on the floor to start their games. There’s even a possibility of them starting together with Bogdanovic at the two and Reddish at small forward.
We’ll just have to wait and see. Good problem to have for the Hawks.