The Atlanta Hawks are 15-19 and, while no one will say they were playing their best basketball heading into this COVID mess, it has not helped. It has gotten to the point where the team is commenting on the disparity in having to play their last two games with as few as four rotation guys available while other teams have their games postponed to mitigate outbreaks.
Their opponent for the last two games, the Chicago Bulls, had two of their games postponed a couple of weeks ago as they got hit with a string of players entering health and safety protocols that included Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
The Atlanta Hawks are getting the short end of the stick from the NBA
Speaking with reporters after Wednesday’s loss, Trae Young said he showed up at shootaround and didn’t even know most of his teammates. The Hawks currently have nine guys on 10-day contracts with 26 players currently under contract, an NBA record. Only two of those – Solomon Hill and De’Andre Hunter – are non-COVID related.
Head coach Nate McMillan said he has had to show guys around and has had things made tougher by the outbreak, forcing him to conduct walkthroughs via Zoom.
The division-rival Miami Heat had their game on Wednesday postponed due to being unable to put eight healthy players on the bench for the game. Why they were not able to use the hardship exceptions like the Hawks have is a secondary issue.
It was because of the other team that the Hawks saw their matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers postponed. Now, there have been 10 postponements with none rescheduled.
Nate knew it was going to be an uphill climb with four regulars and a bunch of new faces. pic.twitter.com/bCWLGByi0C
— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) December 30, 2021
To their credit, the Hawks have gotten good production out of their 10-day guys.
But it is clear they are overmatched and have gone 1-4 since he went out and are 0-2 since he’s come back. After the second loss to the Bulls, Clint Capela spoke on still feeling the effects of COVID like not having his stamina where he’d like it to be. Capela finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds in over 29 minutes but was visibly gassed in the first quarter.
They also don’t get the benefit from reduced isolation times announced this week as all of their guys were “grandfathered” into the old rules and must wait their full 10 days barring negative tests which, up to this point, haven’t come.
Again, many of the issues the Hawks have had this season precede their delayed bout with COVID this season.
It is just hard to ignore that they have seemingly gone above and beyond to field a viable team – one that hung 117-plus in back-to-back games on the second-ranked team in the East – while others are getting a chance to get healthy and not dig themselves into a hole.