The Atlanta Hawks are not where they would want to be, both with the way that the team is playing and as a result where they sit in the standings. While the fixture is being very unkind to them at the moment, they have bigger issues.
They are struggling on so many levels with their offense on the road. On a bright note, with the exception of the loss to the Utah Jazz, they have made State Farm Arena into a fortress which is very hard for opposition teams to get a win.
Admittedly, thanks to the injury-interrupted preseason, Nate McMillan has been unable to get the team going the way he would have desired. However, as we saw last season, the team can overcome a bad start to the season and still be competitive. Except for the injury to Trae Young the Hawks could have been NBA champions.
Atlanta Hawks takeaway No. 1) The Hawks are struggling for chemistry
As was flagged by site expert Josh Buckhalter, the Hawks were always going to struggle to meet McMillan’s goal of team chemistry due to the injuries suffered in the preseason. The benefit for the Hawks here is they have bought back so many of their core from last season.
So why are they suffering chemistry issues then? Well, De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish were only available for a small amount of time after McMillan took over as coach. On top of that, they are trying to integrate a new point guard in the second unit, all of which takes time.