As the Atlanta Hawks search for answers amid their three-game skid, they have benefitted from the bulk of the Eastern Conference not separating itself either. The Hawks are just one game out of the playoffs and three games back of the current fifth-place team — where they finished last season.
With the play-in tournament, however, no team is safely in the playoffs below the sixth seed. Adding to the potential disappointment of a worse finish this season would be missing altogether because of the new format.
To avoid that, they’ll need to find those answers fast.
One of the prevailing themes coming from the team has been trying to find chemistry while Nate McMillan thinks they carry their poor offense to the defensive end of the floor.
There might be a single solution to both problems.
Cam Reddish could be the solution to some of the Atlanta Hawks biggest issues
It’s been a great start to the campaign for Cam Reddish who is averaging 12.8 points off of the bench while slashing .411/.356/.889 on a 53.8 true shooting percentage. All of those are career-highs. And while he’s cooled off a bit over their last three games, he averaged 16 points on a .453/.444/.857 slash line over the first seven games.
The Hawks went 4-3 in that span.
Keep in mind that the 6-foot-8, third-year pro is doing this while seeing about seven fewer minutes per game compared to his bench minutes last season.
This season, Reddish’s net rating is minus-8.9 but we must consider he’s run almost exclusively with the reserves. He’s also held opponents to under 30 percent shooting on triples.
Perhaps a swap with Bogdan Bogdanovic in the starting lineup would be worthwhile. The latter is shooting over 41 percent from downtown but hasn’t been great in many other aspects.
He is averaging an NBA career-high 4.2 boards per contest.
Reddish is shooting over 40 percent on catch-and-shoot threes, and wouldn’t have the ball in his hands as much (which has often led to bad decisions) alongside Trae Young. He and Hunter would provide intimidating perimeter defense, something the Hawks have opted against so far this season.
Bogdanovic would be able to provide all the scoring Reddish has off of the bench and playing with Kevin Huerter could mean more ball movement with a reserve unit that ranks 15th on the season and 19th over the last three weeks.
Even if a change to the starting lineup isn’t in the cards so early in the season, they could certainly stand to use Reddish alongside Young, Hunter, Collins, and Capela more than the four total minutes he has so far.