The Atlanta Hawks shouldn’t play new additions over Johnson, Cooper

The Atlanta Hawks have come down from above the fray and are now dealing with a mini-outbreak of COVID. Trae Young was first followed by Clint Capela and Danilo Gallinari only to have Lou Williams and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot join them on Wednesday. That’s three current starters and their two veteran bench threats.

In response, the Hawks have signed three players to 10-day contracts as they navigate their personnel issues.

Two members of the trio – consisting of Lance Stephenson, Malcolm Hill, and Wesley Iwundu – are veterans in Stephenson and Iwundu. But that alone should not mean they see the floor ahead of the Hawks own draft picks, Jalen Johnson and Sharife Cooper.

The Atlanta Hawks rookies need to be in the rotation with so many players in health and safety protocols

Head coach Nate McMillan said the Hawks had an eight or nine-man rotation ready for their tilt with the Orlando Magic. Among the remaining incumbents, Bogdan Bogdanovic is the most noteworthy as he was listed as probable for the since-postponed matchup with the Cavs and remains that way at last check.

The Hawks needed him and his 39.1 percent shooting (in a down year) from three-point range even before all the COVID absences.

Johnson and Cooper are back with the big club along with second-year man Skylar Mays as extra reinforcements. However, something McMillan said with regards to Johnson (and Cooper) a little while ago should be back in focus.

The head coach said that it would take “even more injuries” for the young guys to see the floor.

That was two weeks ago and, while not your traditional injury, the Hawks do have a decent amount more players out this time than they did then when Young and Kevin Huerter were dealing with soreness. Even Young, who was the first Hawks player on the list, is in danger of missing the big Christmas day matchup with the New York Knicks.

Granted, the Hawks still have several regulars still available including Huerter, John Collins, Cam Reddish, Delon Wright, and Gorgui Dieng.

Onyeka Okongwu is also back in the rotation but will remain on a minutes restriction for now.

It made some sense for McMillan to trust his team’s veterans, and even Luwawu-Cabarrot, over Johnson and Cooper. But it should be very different for the 10-day guys. Stephenson hasn’t played in two years, appearing last with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019.

Hill has yet to appear in a game in the NBA since coming out of Illinois in 2017.

Iwundu split last season between two teams and, while he is intriguing in many ways, he doesn’t have the track record (or the potential) to justify playing him or any of the other recent adds on this team ahead of Johnson or Cooper.

The former is averaging 20.1 points on 44.8 percent shooting and 37,5 percent from downtown with 11.8 rebounds on top of it. He’s also notched 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per contest in 12 G-League appearances. Cooper is averaging 19.2 points on 45.0 percent shooting overall and 35.9 percent from downtown adding 5.5 assists, and 3.0 boards.

Neither has been able to make much of an impact at the NBA level, appearing sparingly in seven games apiece.

No, Johnson hasn’t played much if any three for the College Park Skyhawks.

He does, however, have the athleticism for it and McMillan said before the season he could play the position for them. It may be a bit much to expect him to take on all of Gallo’s minutes at the backup power forward position.

Cooper’s case is a little more difficult to make but he should probably have less of a barrier.

Without Young or Williams, Cooper is the only point guard on the roster. Skylar Mays is a combo guard and all three of the new guys are 6-foot-6 wing players. There should be very little (beyond McMillan, of course) standing in the way of Cooper getting to see his most NBA action to date while everyone is out.