The Atlanta Hawks have seen a vast improvement in small forward De’Andre Hunter this season.
The Atlanta Hawks finished up their 2019-20 season in the middle of March when the league shut down. They were not in contention for the playoffs so they were not invited to play in the NBA restart in the bubble in Orlando.
This means that the Hawks players had more than half a year without the one-on-one contact that a young player usually needs to improve their game. Fortunately for the Hawks, De’Andre Hunter took matters into his own hands, spending the time working on his body as well as his game.
He has also come back to the team with the mindset of taking on the toughest defensive assignments each and every night this season. With less than ten games played he has taken on Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward twice.
The Atlanta Hawks are loving the organic growth of De’Andre Hunter.
.@DreHunter shot 43% from deep in January, earning the @scanaenergy Hot Shot of the Week! pic.twitter.com/c6IIpIIIZE
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 7, 2021
With the exception of Clint Capela and Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Atlanta Hawks have essentially fielded the same team as last season, despite their many offseason trades. This is mainly due to the level of injuries they have suffered to the newer players.
While they are still very reliant on Trae Young they are playing better basketball at both ends of the floor. Hunter’s improvement has had a big influence on this. He has improved in almost every measurable simple metric that the NBA has and it looks like he is not done improving this season.
The Atlanta Hawks are benefitting from De’Andre Hunter’s improved offense
Last season Hunter averaged 12.3 points shooting 41.0 percent on 10.8 shot attempts per game. From deep he shot the ball at 35.5 percent on 4.8 shot attempts per game and went 76.4 percent on 2.3 shot attempts from the line.
This season Hunter is averaging 16.4 points while shooting 51.0 percent from the floor on 11.6 shot attempts. He has also improved his 3-point shot, going at 42.2 percent on 5.0 attempts per game. He has also improved his efficiency from the line, shooting his free throws at 85.2 percent on 3.0 attempts.
He is taking less than one shot attempt per game more this season and is averaging 4.1 points per game more than last season. That is the benefit of increased shooting efficiency, not just for Hunter, but also for the team.
https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1348090047673880576?s=20
The reason that Hunter is able to do this is he is scoring from everywhere on the court. He is taking the ball to the hoop for the dunk, stopping in the midrange, or, as shown by his increased percentage, shooting the ball well from deep.
Hunter is also working harder on the offensive glass. Last season he averaged 0.7 rebounds per game which is good from the small forward position. However, he is now averaging 1.1 per game on the season.
All of this has allowed him to involve others more on the offensive end as his defender is now having to think about how Hunter can attack him in multiple ways. As a result, his assist numbers have gone up from 1.8 per game to 2.2 per game. The scary thing for the opposition is he has only increased his playing time from 30.0 minutes per game to 30.6 per game.
The Atlanta Hawks are loving De’Andre Hunter’s defensive mindset.
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Hunter came back to his second season in the NBA wanting to take greater responsibility on defense. Well, coach Lloyd Pierce has given him this wish. He has taken on Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward twice this season. He has really had his colors lowered by Hayward once, otherwise, he has been superb.
He was originally selected by the Hawks in last season’s draft with the fourth pick because of his two-way potential. Now that he has Clint Capela beside him, Hunter is even more dangerous defensively. His defensive rating has gone from 113.6 last season to 104.6 this season.
Another example of Hunter’s intensity on the defensive end is that he is collecting more defensive rebounds per game. Last season he collected 3.8 per contest. This season he has increased that to 5.7 per game which is an impressive increase considering he has the NBA’s second-leading rebounder playing beside him this season in Capela.
One thing is for certain this season, Hunter has not stopped developing his game. He is going to continue to build defensive chemistry with Capela and John Collins, which is going to be a very difficult frontcourt to score against. The future is exciting for the Hawks and Hunter is a very big part of that.