In a season full of disappointing turns for the Atlanta Hawks, they are coming out on the other side of their roster maladies. The key will be keeping themselves within striking distance of the playoff field. They are currently six games back of the fifth seed and four games behind the sixth seed.
There is less than a month now until the trade deadline and we already have talk of roster moves from the general manager, unhappiness with the performance from point guard Trae Young, and power forward John Collins dissatisfied with his role.
We discussed if the Hawks issues can be attributed to health and, now, per Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk, De’Andre Hunter will practice in full on Tuesday.
There is even a chance that he could even get on the floor on Wednesday.
De’Andre Hunter is nearing his return to the Atlanta Hawks lineup
Hunter has played in just 11 games this season. He came into the year recovering from meniscus surgery only to get injured again, this time requiring wrist surgery. It marked his third procedure in less than a calendar year. The Hawks struggled to a 3-8 record with Hunter missing an additional win and loss before going down.
Now, just a couple of games after getting both Bogdan Bogdanovic and John Collins back, the Hawks are as close to whole as they’ve been since the preseason.
The caveats are Clint Capela who missed the loss against the Los Angeles Clippers with an ankle injury and Cam Reddish who left that contest with an ankle injury of his own. They did get Onyeka Okongwu back recently, though.
He played well enough in Capela’s stead with nine points and 10 boards against L.A.
However, the real excitement for fans should be the prospects of him, Hunter, and Reddish and what that will mean for a Hawks team struggling with defense. Opponents are currently shooting 47.6 percent (25th) from the floor against the Hawks and 35.7 (22nd) percent from deep.
They are also 22nd in points allowed in the paint.
The Hawks offense isn’t the problem. At least, it wasn’t before the loss to the Clippers, as Young noted. Getting Hunter back will go a long way to cleaning up the Hawks poor defense.
Reddish, a talented defender in his own right, hasn’t graded out as such this season.
He’s expended more energy on offense. But his gambling on defense has been more harmful than good. Getting Hunter back alongside him pushes Reddish (and, to a lesser extend, Kevin Huerter) down an assignment, back into a proper role; a hot topic at the moment.