The Atlanta Hawks saw one of their own sign with the Utah Jazz. Ersan Ilyasova played 72 games with the Hawks, averaging 10.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 0.9 steals in 25.1 minutes per game. He was waived prior to the trade deadline in 2018 before signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Ilyasova would play out the rest of the 2018 season with the 76er before signing as a free agent with the Milwaukee Bucks prior to the 2018-19 season. Ilyasova would play 130 games for the Bucks over the next two seasons before being waived before the start of this season.
The Turkish veteran was without a contract this season until the Jazz recently signed him to a rest of season deal according to Woj of ESPN. This has the impact of making the team with the best record in the NBA even better.
What Impact does the Ersan Ilyasova signing have on the Atlanta Hawks?
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The Jazz play 11 Eastern Conference teams between now and the end of the regular season. Of these only three are against teams that are ranked lower than the Hawks. This means that the Jazz will be looking to take wins from teams ranked higher than the Hawks.
The Hawks helped themselves when they were able to resurrect their season against all odds in the ten games leading up to the All-Star break. In that time they got Bogdan Bogdanovic back and he reminded us what has been missing from the Hawks lineup.
With the news that Cam Reddish is being reassessed in a week and De’Andre Hunter is progressing in his recovery, the Hawks still need all the help they can get. As a team, they are getting healthier as the season goes on so the results should continue to improve.
The Hawks do not play the Jazz again this season, which given their last game is a good thing. Ilyasova makes the Jazz stronger with his perimeter shooting and size meaning the Hawks would have a good chance of losing by more than the 21 points they lost by last time. Look for the Jazz to dominate more teams this way for the rest of the season.