The Atlanta Hawks (15-18) will reportedly get wing Wesley Iwundu back just in time for Wednesday’s road matchup with the Chicago Bulls. It is the second leg of a home-and-home that saw the Hawks fall 130-118 for their eighth straight loss on their home floor.
Now, they have to try getting their road groove back with very little in the way of perimeter threats.
Chicago has two weaknesses. First, they aren’t a big team so they can be beaten on the boards. Unfortunately, Clint Capela’s offensive limitations kept them from taking advantage of that, and Bulls center Nikola Vucevic would up having a solid outing.
Trae Young had 29 points and nine assists with just two turnovers. But he shot poorly, going 34.8 percent from the floor and 1-of-6 from three-point range.
The floor will shrink around Trae Young with few shooting threats around him
Now, with Bogdan Bogdanovic joining the rest of the Hawks shooters on the sidelines, things will be even tougher. Danilo Gallinari, Kevin Huerter, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Lou Williams are still under the old rules and thus not eligible to return for Wednesday’s tilt under the new, shortened isolation period under the revised COVID protocols.
Barring a negative test, they’ll all stay out for the original 10-day timeline.
As it stands, the Hawks are without nine of their top 11 three-point shooters if you include the likes of Gorgui Dieng and the injured De’Andre Hunter.
Cam Reddish went absolutely nuts from outside in the first meeting with the Bulls on Monday, canning a career-best eight triples on his way to 33 points, his second 30-point game in the last four outings.
So with this in mind, these dates looks like the earliest possible returns, unless they test out...
— Mike Conti (@MikeConti929) December 29, 2021
1/3 at Portland: Gallinari, Huerter, Williams, Luwawu-Cabarrot, Cooper
1/5 at Sacramento: Okongwu
1/7 at Lakers: Wright, Bogdanovic, Dieng, Ellison https://t.co/9M9JduPzAt
His numbers in those games are impressive on the whole; 23.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. Reddish has shot 44.6 percent from the floor and 44.1 percent from deep in that span.
The Hawks still have 11 players in protocols leading them to sign guard Chris Clemons and forward Cameron Oliver to bolster the roster for the time being. But, obviously, none of the new additions – nine on 10-day contracts in total – are replacements for the players the Hawks have on the self, even if many of them have struggled this season.
Bogdanovic and Huerter are behind only John Collins as the most important pieces to get back from protocols, with Gallo and Williams right behind them.
That getting Iwundu back is even somewhat of a big deal is all one needs to know about the state of things for a Hawks squad that was trying to get back on track before getting derailed by COVID.