How does this Atlanta Hawks team compare to last year’s version?
The Atlanta Hawks are 13-12 and currently sit ninth in the Eastern Conference. Their season has virtually been divided into chapters with them starting out alright at 4-3 before losing six straight and then winning seven in a row to now as they have won just two games in their last five tries.
Finding themselves in the win column most recently makes this stretch look better.
Overall, however, the season has felt every bit as uneven as it has been, with their current record having the potential to be viewed as disappointing. Consider where they finished last season especially after the way they started.
Coming into this year they were supposed to be better if for no other reason than health with emphasis on “supposed to”.
The Atlanta Hawks are doing better at dealing with adversity compared to last season
Atlanta came into this season with several players dealing with injuries previously unbeknownst to the public. That added context makes their 4-3 start look even better. They were mostly healthy during their slide, however, and got back to winning after losing De’Andre Hunter.
With injuries piling up again, albeit to a lesser extent, the Hawks are far from panic mode.
At this point last season, the Hawks were 11-14 and at the beginning of a stretch that would see them go 4-11 in the month of February. They were also dealing with in-fighting and on the verge of firing their head coach, Lloyd Pierce.
This time around, the Hawks were 8-7 even with their skid to begin November.
The 2021-22 Hawks are averaging 1.8 fewer points per game than they did last season but have been more efficient from the floor this season. They shot 44.8 percent overall and 35.8 percent from three-point ranges last year compared to 46.5 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively.
They lead the NBA in three-point efficiency this season.
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Atlanta is averaging roughly the same rebounds, assists, and even steals through this point in the season. But they have reduced their turnovers by 2.3 per contest.
While they came into the year without Onyeka Okongwu and have watched De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Cam Reddish, and Solomon Hill all join him on the sidelines, the latter of whom will be out for the remainder of the season with a hamstring tear.
It was Hunter, Reddish mostly last season. But the Hawks also lost virtually every other significant contributor for a long time too. Despite the number, only Hill’s injury knocks him out with the rest expected to be good to go early in the new year.
This year’s Hawks boast a better net rating, a better assist to turnover ratio, as well as improved effective field goal and true shooting numbers. Perhaps most importantly, however, they have better chemistry. Instead of pointing the finger when things got rough, they circled the wagons and turned things around.
Trae Young leads the NBA in total points and is second in total assists ahead of Wednesday’s action while John Collins has taken his game to an entirely new level.
The Hawks lead the NBA in three-point efficiency.
There is still a long way to go and the Hawks would probably admit they haven’t started exactly as they wanted.
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They’ve still kept themselves in the thick of things in the conference and have done well at navigating injuries and poor showings, giving themselves a better starting point for any late-season surge once they (hopefully) are fully healthy.