The Atlanta Hawks have been hit extremely hard by the latest COVID-19 crisis. At the time of writing, they have 13 players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, with three more players entering the protocols in the last 24 hours.
They have been hit so hard by the crisis that they even have two of the G League assignees that they called up have been hit by Covid. They have also had one of their ten-day hardship signees, Wes Iwundu and Malik Ellison go into the protocols.
Fortunately for the Hawks, they got their superstar Trae Young out of the protocols before the first Chicago Bulls game. However, this still leaves them short at both the point guard and power forward positions. They have tried to cover this off with the signing of Chaundee Brown and Malcolm Hill, but despite the energy they bought to the court, the Hawks need more.
This is why the Atlanta Hawks signed Cameron Oliver and Chris Clemons per Shams of the Athletic
Cameron Oliver played four games for the Houstons Rockets at the end of last season. He got some decent minutes which allowed him to average 10.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.5 steals in 21.8 minutes. These are good numbers although it was on a struggling Rockets team.
He has been good for the South Bay Lakers this season, averaging 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 1.4 steals in 27.3 minutes per game. On top of this, at 6’8″ he adds a bit of size to the squad that is missing so much due to players being out.
Chris Clemons is the other player signed and he is there to bolster the Hawks’ depth at the guard position. At 5’9″ he is a very undersized shooting guard but when he gets it going, Clemons can flat out shoot the ball.
Clemons has only played 33 NBA games, with his size effectively holding him back. He is averaging 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in 27.6 minutes per game for the Maine Celtics, a team loaded with NBA talent this season. It remains to be seen if these signings are enough to stop the postponement of the second game of the home and home against the Chicago Bulls.