Atlanta Hawks lineup to get excited about No 2: The young core of draft picks make up a formidable group
In what would amount to nothing less than a major flex for Travis Schlenk as the architect of this roster, the Hawks can put five homegrown players on the court and have them form a cohesive unit. Not only that but, on paper, the group or Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter, and John Collins would should be better than the group they plan to start.
Two of the players, Huerter and Reddish, currently come off of the bench. A third, Hunter is returning from having a second surgery on his meniscus.
But, health permitting, their ceiling is immense.
Headlined by Young’s shot creation (and big shot making), the rest of the lineup is about as versatile as they come. We saw Huerter blossom into a two-way player not many saw in him when he entered the league. Hunter was coming on before he went down the first time too.
And then there’s Reddish. He’s had a rocky start to his NBA career but has clearly shown enough to draw interest around the league.
This is the group that holds the key to the Hawks future as it stands. If they prove they can play together — they were outscored by an average of 17.5 points per 100 possessions last season — it will go a long way into extending their window of contention. The good news is that because of injuries to all but Huerter, this group played very little together.
They have a good chance to improve but it will be dependent on all of them taking another step forward in their development to reach their potential.