Atlanta Hawks: Cam Reddish could use Bucks to regain form

The 4-9 Atlanta Hawks are watching their season on the skids and trying to find ways to get it back on track. A winless four-game road excursion was certainly not what the doctor ordered with the team falling short of Nate McMillan’s goal of going .500 on such stretches.

That the trip was largely marred by poor defense can only add to everyone’s frustrations.

They return to State Farm Arena on Sunday for a much-needed five-game homestand featuring one team at .500 on the season. The rest are all at least one game below.

Four of the five are also Eastern Conference opponents.

Their first draw won’t be the easiest, however, despite having a losing record as they will host the reigning champion, Milwaukee Bucks.

Cam Reddish could be the Atlanta Hawks x-factor against the Milwaukee Bucks

Cam Reddish has had what you might call a very on-brand beginning to his season. Carrying a label of inconsistency into the campaign, he started hot averaging 16.0 points on 45.3 percent shooting overall and 44.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The third-year man out of Duke earned was also called the Hawks biggest surprise of the season so far by Bleacher Report.

Perhaps the surprise is what has happened since then.

He has averaged just 7.2 points on 31.8 percent shooting and 28.6 percent from three as the Hawks have gone on their six-game slide. Reddish’s playing time has dropped by more than four minutes per game in this span.

It is a bit of a chicken or the egg situation. When making the case for Reddish needing more time with the starters, part of the reasoning was he often starts slow trying to find his way in games.

To that point he had followed his sluggish starts up with hot finishes, averaging 7.6 points on 43.9 percent shooting (40.0 3P%) in the first half over the first seven games. He put up 8.4 points on 46.7 percent shooting (50.0 3P%) in the second half of those games. The Hawks were 4-3 during that stretch.

In the six games since, he is down to  3.6 points on 31.8 percent shooting and 20 percent on threes in the first half. There is still been a bump in the second half of games. But it is negligible with Reddish putting up 3.8 points on 31.8 percent shooting but 36.4 percent from deep.

De’Andre Hunter’s absence adds to the hope Reddish can snap out of his slump.

He had 16 points against the Utah Jazz just a few days ago in the last contest Hunter missed. Reddish shot 50 percent from the floor and went 4-of-6 from downtown in that one.

Additionally, Reddish had a rather memorable outing in his last time facing the Bucks during the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the decisive Game 6, just the fourth game of his first trip to the postseason, he had 21 points on 58.3 percent shooting.

He also went 6-for-7 fom downtown in a reminder of just how good he can be.

Perhaps he can watch some film of that one as he prepares for the Bucks who will be without Khris Middleton but will get Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez back.

He likely won’t get the start — Kevin Huerter has gotten the start in both of Hunter’s previous absences — but the Hawks still need him to rediscover his groove sooner rather than later.