The Atlanta Hawks have officially entered the quietest part of the offseason as Summer League is over and training camp is still six weeks out. We did get some news yesterday in the form of the announcement of the NBA opening week and Christmas Day schedules. Jalen Johnson was also named to the All-Summer League First Team.
But, in many ways, the Hawks were one of the more boring teams to monitor this offseason. Once they locked John Collins in, most of their questions were answered and free agency solved most of the other issues.
As such, their depth chart isn’t much of a mystery. The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner went over what the Hawks depth chart looks like as it stands.
Atlanta Hawks lineup to get excited about No 1: We only saw the projected starters for one playoff series
Atlanta’s projected starting five didn’t see the floor together last season until the playoffs. Even then, it lasted just one series as De’Andre Hunter went down, eventually having a second surgery on his knee. Still, it’s a group that has tons of potential.
"“What I like about this five is that they all fit seamlessly. There isn’t one player who’s like a puzzle piece you’re trying to jam in because you’re convinced it’s in the right spot. That’s not the case here. They have one of the best point guards in Young, excellent secondary creators in Bogdanovic and Hunter, a modern stretch four who happens to be one of the best rim runners in Collins and a good roller in Capela. The other side of the floor still needs work, but a lot of the issues we saw from them could improve dramatically if Hunter can stay healthy and Collins continues improving in perimeter defense. Young is what he is defensively, but a little more friskiness could go a long way.”"
He also went over the bench but the overall exercise got us thinking about the different combinations we could see next season and which lineups could be the most fun to watch.
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.
Atlanta Hawks lineup to get excited about No 3: The veterans on this team could also hold the fort down
It’s not just the young guys who could steal the show for the Hawks. They’ve accumulated a solid bevy of veterans to supplement the growth of their draft picks. Where they once relied on the likes of Marco Belinelli, Ersan Ilyasova, and Kent Bazemore for leadership they now have Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari, and Clint Capela.
Lou Williams is like Sharife Cooper 1.0 and can still put up points despite his advanced (in basketball terms) age. Adding Wright allows Williams to operate off-ball, where he is much more effective.
The stars of this group, though, are Bogdanovic, Gallinari, and Capela.
Bogdanovic fought through a knee injury during the postseason, but he was one of the Hawks most impactful players. Gallo was similarly effective coming off of the bench.
Both players put on better defensive efforts than one might imagine as well.
Capela led the league in rebounds during the regular season and finished third in All-NBA voting for centers. He had some of the toughest assignments in the postseason, including Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo. It didn’t always look pretty or even work out in his favor. But that is a small list of players compared to his competition night-in and night-out.
You could even insert free agent signee Gorgui Dieng to add some extra shooting.
We never got this combination last season. But this group would score better than they defend, even if they did the latter better than expected. Still, most of these guys have been called “a bucket” at one point or another.
Atlanta Hawks lineup to get excited about No 4: The object of the game is to score the most points
If we could sum up this lineup succinctly, shooters shoot. This lineup features the Hawks five three-points marksmen, based on postseason three-point shooting percentage. On average, the grouping of Huerter, Bogdanovic, Hunter, Gallinari, and Collins canned their triples at a 35 percent clip.
You’ll notice two names conspicuously not listed if you’re familiar with the Hawks players stats from last season. Neither Williams or Reddish made the cut despite technically being first and second in three-point percentage on the team.
Williams only attempted 1.7 threes per game in the playoffs. Reddish only made four appearances so his sample size is too small. But it is beyond believable that he could also step into this lineup and be effective. To be honest, the best part of this roster is its versatility.
We could obviously put Young at point guard. His deep shot threes submarine his efficiency, belying the impact he has on defenses.
There is also the added bonus of Huerter, Bogdanovic, and Gallinari’s sneaky defense. Like the vets lineup, this group would be better on the offensive end than the defense. But their ability to stretch the floor consistently would be unmatched by any other Hawks lineup.
Wright was a 37 percent three-point shooter so he too has a claim to a spot. Dieng suffers from low volume but shot 42.9 percent from outside. And the size of the 6-foot-7 Huerter at the point is a nice twist for an offense-oriented lineup that we never saw last season though a similar bunch did get obliterated (minus-32 points per 100 possessions) in limited time together.
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.