When the Atlanta Hawks take the court on Wednesday to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, they are expected to feature a lineup heavy on youth. Head Coach Nate McMillan is taking advantage of the team’s depth and running two groups during the preseason. The vets got the nod on Monday.
That means we should get a nice, long look at both Cam Reddish and rookie Jalen Johnson; the latter in his next step against NBA competition.
What we saw in the opener only served to set the stage for the duo in the Hawks next game.
Atlanta Hawks forwards Jalen Johnson and Cam Reddish will have all eyes on them on Wednesday
There might not be a more hyped duo on the Hawks this season. Sure, there was a lot of conversation around Trae Young, John Collins, and Clint Capela after the trio all inked either new deals or extensions worth a total of up to $378 million. Those might have reached more of a fever pitch.
But Johnson and Reddish have been topics since the season ended.
Johnson didn’t have gaudy stats in the preseason opener but still “stuffed” the stat sheet with four points, one rebound, one steal, and one block. He also went to the line four times, though he could only sink two and shot just 33.3 percent from the floor.
His buzz took a turn when he left the Duke basketball team and, subsequently, fell to the 20th overall selection in the NBA Draft.
That rookie connection‼️ pic.twitter.com/DfrVbjgAD1
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 5, 2021
Other teams’ loss appears to be the Hawks’ gain, at least in the (extremely) early going. Johnson was all over the court on Monday and made a handful of exciting plays in his 12 minutes. His defense was also still tenacious as he has the looks of a player who will often leave his fingerprints on the game and not the boxscore.
For Reddish, who McMillan said will play in every preseason game, it’s been one trade rumor after another. At one point both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves (who also had an interest in Danilo Gallinari) were thought to be interested.
Fortunately, the Hawks have plans for the third-year wing and they start with being more consistent.
After not playing in Summer League, Reddish had an up-and-down night against the Heat. He had just six points and shot 42.9 percent from the floor, and went 0-for-3 from deep. But did hit a nifty turnaround early that surely will remind fans of his 21-point outing in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals where he hit 6-of-7 triples.
It’s that kind of inconsistency that the Hawks want him to eliminate from his game. To be fair, it was his first action since that big game in the ECF, so some rust is to be expected.
The good news for Reddish is that he and Johnson should get plenty of time on Wednesday against Cleveland, in front of an amped Atlanta crowd, to show what they can do.