When the Atlanta Hawks starting unit clicks, there are very few teams in the NBA that are able to go with them. Every player has their role and they are all very good at it. Clint Capela is the leader of the defense, rebounds the ball at a high rate, and finishes lobs on offense.
John Collins does a little bit of everything, De’Andre Hunter scores on all three levels, and is the team’s best on-ball defender when he is healthy. Trae Young is the leader of the offense who uses the space on the floor more creatively than most players in the NBA.
However, this does not work without the incredible ability that Bogdan Bogdanovic has to space the floor with his 3-point shooting. When Bogdanovic has a good shooting game then the Hawks tend to do well, if he has a bad night then they tend to lose. A prime example of this is how he was struggling with his shot early last season and the Hawks lost a lot.
The Atlanta Hawks need an accurate Bogdan Bogdanovic
Looking at the raw shooting stats from deep for Bogdanovic, when he shoots the ball at 40.0 or greater on more than five attempts from beyond the arc per game, the Hawks have a 5-0 record which is a very telling statistic.
However, when he shoots less than five in a game or less than 40 percent, the Hawks have a 2-6 record and they lost the only game that he did not play. All of this points to the fact that when Bogdanovic is on, the Hawks are a very difficult team to contain.
This is because when he is on, the opposition needs to pick their poison, they can try and trap Young or they can guard Bogdaonvic so that Young has to create for others. Either way, it presents a problem that opposition coaches cannot solve, well, not without a sixth player on the court anyway.