The Atlanta Hawks have one of the deepest rosters and best cores in the NBA. That isn’t breaking news, they’ve been getting praised all offseason for the work Travis Schlenk has been able to do in such a short time. Even the “criticisms” are littered with kudos. It really has left them with very few discernable weaknesses.
If anything, the Hawks biggest problem will be finding enough floor time for all of the talented players they have. It’s a good problem to have.
But they aren’t flawless and, after looking into their habit of starting slow last season, we decided to take a look at how they finished. Not just in general, but when the stakes are highest in the clutch.
The Atlanta Hawks need someone other than Trae Young to step up in the clutch
Atlanta tied for 19th in clutch points per game, defined by NBA.com as the last five minutes of a game with a score differential of five points or less. They were 18-18 in such contests. Overall, the Hawks were 8-7 in games decided by five points or less last season.
Despite shooting over 47 percent from the floor in those situations, good for third in the NBA, the Hawks also allowed opponents to shoot better than 48 percent, the second-worst mark in the league.
Ranking near the bottom in shot attempts offensively under clutch parameters, they’re actually in the middle of the pack in terms of opponents’ shot attempts.
Many variables factor into why a team might get more shots off in any particular situation from scheme to whether or not they’re hitting shots and getting rebounds, so we won’t say the Hawks simply need to get more shots off.
What we will say is they need someone other than Trae Young to step up when all the chips are on the table.
Running back @TheTraeYoung's game winner this time featuring @RealVoiceofHawk 🙌 #BelieveAtlanta pic.twitter.com/oKJP5KKoAb
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) May 25, 2021
Consider that Young is 27th in clutch points with 3.2 points per game.
The next Hawks player is Bogdan Bogdan Bogdanovic who checks in at 86th with 1.8 clutch points per game. Of the final eight teams in last season’s playoffs, the Clippers were the only other team without a second player above 2.0 clutch points per game during the regular season (min. 10 appearances).
Young didn’t always help himself either, shooting just 29.6 percent from three in the clutch. Atlanta’s worst player in those situations, though, was De’Andre Hunter who shot 26.7 percent from the floor in those situations.
Again, any number of things can contribute to this. That includes all of the injuries the Hawks suffered through last season that saw the starting lineup change 24 times. But if they’re looking to take the next step, things like this can’t go unnoticed and unaddressed. Surely they haven’t with Schlenk and Nate McMillan at the controls.