The Atlanta Hawks got themelves a good one when they selected Jalen Johnson late in the first round of the 2021 NBA draft. The rookie struggled at the start of the season but showed that he could bounce back in a major way.
Johnson has been improving all season long and even improved his offensive efficiency which helped the College Park Skyhawks three victories for the season. He even flirted with a triple-double in the second win of the season.
In the first game of the showcase, Johnson had an incredible game, starting to work on a quadriple-double. In 41 minutes, Johnson had 19 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and five steals which is just an incredible stat line. He did have eight turnovers but when you have the ball as often as Johnson did, that can be expected.
The Atlanta Hawks may start calling up some good young players soon
As mentioned in the title, Cat Barber had an incredible game off the bench. He had a season-high 29 points, to go along with nine rebounds and seven assists in a tremendous game off the bench. Without this performance, the Skyhawks would lose the opening game of the showcase.
This was a complete team performance where seven of the nine players scored ten points or more. The ball was moving with four players having four or more assists and the Skyhawks also creashed the boards, with five players having six or more rebounds.
This benefits the Hawks as the NBA and the NBPA have agreed to new replacement player rules due to the latest outbreak of COVID-19. The Skyhawks are grooming plenty of young talent who are already performing in a system similar to that of the varsity squad.
Sharife Cooper was promoted to the varsity squad recently and had some junk time minutes but the Hawks have not really used their rookies or two-way players much this season. Given the state of the league with Covid, this may be about to change.