The Atlanta Hawks are going to potentially have De’Andre Hunter sit out some games in order to manage the wear and tear on his knee. This is a concern for a second-year player but not unexpected given the shortened preseason and the lack of time spent with the fitness staff.
Hunter has been impressive this season, scoring at all three levels, getting stronger, and taking the best defender every night. He has been a fixture in the starting lineup when available and deservedly so.
However, when a key starter is unavailable, the rest of the team needs to step up. The starting lineup needs to take some more of the load and also the bench all move up a spot. Let’s take a look at the five players who need to step up in the potential absence of Hunter.
Atlanta Hawks player stepping up No. 1) Solomon Hill
We start with Solomon Hill who is the most likely to replace Hunter in the starting lineup. The veteran started against the Detroit Pistons when Hunter sat and had six points, five rebounds, and three assists. He played 39 minutes and was 2-of-8 from the field, 2-of-7 from deep.
Going forward, this is a problem area for the Hawks. Hill is very one dimensional on offense, where he takes 3.5 of his 4.4 shot attempts from deep. One of the reasons the Hawks have been successful with Hunter on the court is his off-ball movement and his ability to score in so many different ways.
Hill needs to be more involved in the offense if the Hawks are going to keep winning. Defensively he is solid which will keep him in the starting lineup for a while but he has to stop the inexplicable turnovers that he commits. Otherwise, the Hawks will rush Cam Reddish back in the starting lineup.
Atlanta Hawks player stepping up No. 2) Cam Reddish
Reddish has battled his own knee issues over the last few weeks. He clashed knees in the game against the Utah Jazz and then missed the next three. He was able to get on the court for two more before having to miss the win against LA Clippers which felt like injury management.
He was actually on his way out of his 3-point shooting slump against the Jazz where he made 4-of-5 from deep. In the four games he has played since missing the chunk of time he has gone 4-of-22 from deep which is only 18 percent.
However, Reddish is a defensive player at heart. Yes, he loves to score but where he is at his best is getting in the passing lanes and starting the Hawks transition offense. This is when the Hawks are truly dangerous when Reddish is on the court.
Reddish is going to have to sort his own injury out before he can take a bigger role with Hunter being out. While it would be good to have him in the starting lineup, he is helping to make the bench one of the better ones in the NBA right now.
Atlanta Hawks player stepping up No. 3) Danilo Gallinari
Now that Danilo Gallinari has returned from his own injury, he is starting to show why the Hawks were so keen on getting him. He has shown the ability to start or come off the bench and is happy in either role.
Gallinari is showing his experience by being able to come into a game at any time and respond to the situation. In one game he came on with seconds left in regulation in case the opposition started to foul, if the game is close.
In other games, he has come on to space the floor. He also has the ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the hoop. This usually results in a bucket or a shooting foul. He has the ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
He is only averaging 15.4 minutes per game and this has been in large part to the minute restriction he has had thanks to the ankle injury. However, as he continues to recover, he will get more time and have a greater impact on games. The Hawks need his scoring ability to help replace Hunter’s production.
Atlanta Hawks player stepping up No. 4) Tony Snell
Another player who has returned from injury and is looking to establish a place in the rotation is Tony Snell. Since he came back Snell has been getting time thanks to others being injured. It is not huge amounts of time but he has been working his way back into NBA shape.
Coach Llyod Pierce has said when Snell was available to play that he was not going to rush him back into big minutes. Snell has started to break into the rotation but now that Hunter is out, maybe it is time for him to get more court time.
Snell has been good enough to be a starter in this league for years so certainly has the talent for the role, but it is a question of how he fits into the system. We are not going to know until he plays a lot more, which he should.
Snell never demands more than his share of the ball and rarely puts up a bad shot. The ones he does put up are usually on the money, shooting 38.5 percent from deep for his career. He has not shot the 3-ball at under 39.7 percent for the last four years of his career until this one. The Hawks could use some of this action with Hunter out.
Atlanta Hawks player stepping up No. 5) Onyeka Okongwu
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Onyeka Okongwu has been struggling to get many opportunities with the way the roster was set after he came back from injury. He started the game that Clint Capela sat with his hand issue but that was against the Milwaukee Bucks and who wants their first start to be against the two-time league MVP.
Otherwise, Capela has simply been too dominant at the pivot to justify giving Okongwu too many minutes. However, the rookie could use this opportunity to get minutes playing alongside Capela with John Collins playing the wing.
This would be one of the hardest frontcourts to get a shot up inside the paint in the league. However, the floor spacing would not be great. He could use this time to develop more of an outside shot which could benefit himself and the team in the long run.
None of these players are going to replace the production of Hunter but that is not the goal of any one player. As a team they need to step up and each do a bit so that the Hawks can be in the best position they can be in once the playoffs come around.