Atlanta Hawks: A slow start could be in the cards with injuries
The reality is the Atlanta Hawks enter the 2021-22 season having accomplished nothing. Their run to the Eastern Conference Finals was a nice story…last season. Now, they have to repeat the performance to prove it was legit and not a fluke. Many have them behind an aging Miami Heat and a Philadelphia 76ers team in turmoil that the Hawks eliminated last season.
It is an odd sort of limbo that has them getting praised and nitpicked at the same time.
One thing that stands to at least gum up the works in their quest to show they’re for real is injuries.
The banged-up Atlanta Hawks could come out of the gates slow this coming season
When Travis Schlenk announced that, in addition to Onyeka Okongwu and Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela and Kevin Huerter received PRP injections and would be brought along slowly to begin training camp. De’Andre Hunter is right there with them. The expectation is that all but Okongwu will be healthy come the start of the regular season.
The problem is that there could still be some rough patches once they did come back even if all of them returned on schedule.
Basketball probably relies on chemistry more than any other team sport. For football fans, think of it as an offensive line. For all of the talent the individuals may possess if they don’t play like a unit it’s all for naught.
We went over how this could present a great opportunity for both Cam Reddish and Jalen Johnson. But the inverse has to be true for those guys missing and that impacts everyone.
Again, we would fully expect them to eventually shake off whatever rust they may have when they return. We just can’t ignore that only three of the Hawks first 14 games come against non-playoff teams, all coming in a row after opening with the Mavericks.
It’s not hard to see a lackluster start being in Atlanta’s future especially with teams seeing them as a legitimate threat this season. Last season they started 3-1 before falling to 14-20 and making the switch to Nate McMillan as head coach.
We know what they did after that.
It is also known that McMillan had to deal with injuries last season so even a potentially slow start wouldn’t be as bad as some in years past.
Next. Training camp storylines not to be missed – wings. dark
They have drafted very well in recent years. With the level of attrition that exists in the NBA, it has had to pay off a lot. It will need to do so once again, at least in the early going.