Atlanta Hawks: 5 lineup combinations to get excited about next season

Atlanta Hawks lineup to get excited about No 5: Adding Johnson unlocks an incredibly switchy lineup

This one might not be made up of the Hawks best individual defenders. Capela has to be in that conversation but he wouldn’t make this group. Built, once again, around Atlanta’s own developed draft picks, this lineup would be able to switch everything 1-5 and still put up points at a decent clip.

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Small ball has been all the rage since the Warriors put on a show with their “Death Lineup”.

This isn’t that, our first slide would probably fit that description better. But those Warriors teams were very good on defense and a large part of that was their ability to not ever really have anyone out of position defensively.

These Hawks wouldn’t be the offensive juggernaut they were, but they could be every bit the perimeter lockdown unit.

We’ve talked about Huerter’s defense and his length at the point adding to that. We’ve also gone into how tantalizing a duo of Reddish and Hunter will be on the wings with both guys back healthy next season.

And Onyeka Okongwu showed he has great feet and the strength to hold his own down low. It’s unfortunate we’ll have to wait until January as the earliest to possible see this group in action.

Johnson is the key here. For all of Collins’ scoring prowess and improving defense, he is often a target on the perimeter guarding what are smaller stretch fours in the NBA today. Johnson came in with a reputation as a solid perimeter defender when locked in and we got glimpses of that during Summer league.