Studs and duds to be thankful for after the Atlanta Hawks second road win

Atlanta Hawks dud to be thankful for: Delon Wright isn’t counted on for much offense but…

When the Hawks landed Delon Wright from the Sacramento Kings in a three-team trade that sent Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando to the Boston Celtics, it was largely viewed as a win. Their non-Trae Young minutes had been abysmal despite valuable contributions from the likes of Lou Williams as Dunn and the Rajon Rondo experiments failed spectacularly.

Against the Spurs, Wright had just two points as the lone rotation player that failed to reach double-digits.

That isn’t the biggest disappointment from his performance, though.

He shot just 1-for-5 on the night and, on the season,  is averaging 2.6 points on 34.9 percent shooting; both career lows. His 31.3 percent from downtown would be the second-worst mark of his career.

Wright did do and has done things like this.

Wright came with a modest career scoring average but was generally efficient and had a positive impact on the teams he’s played with. This season, the Hawks offensive rating is better without him, but their defensive rating sinks to the point that it leaves him as a net-positive when all is said and done.

That he is playing against second units is a big part of that.

However, while the Hawks offensive rating takes a bigger hit this season when Young sits than it did last season, the defensive rating gets a bigger boost.

Wright also has the fourth-best differential in defended field goal percentage on the team among the rotation guys, though, he has the third-worst among those players over the Hawks winning streak.

Still, if he is going to take shots (as he should and the Hawks need him to) he needs to start making them with a bit more regularity if for no other reason than to keep the defense honest.