The Reddish trade might be the makings of Delon Wright for the Atlanta Hawks

When the Atlanta Hawks traded Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks it left many heads being scratched. The stories have come out about how Reddish asked to be traded in the offseason and how there was a level of uncomfortableness in the locker room.

Well the Hawks played their first game after the Reddish trade and they looked better. This was partially helped by getting De’Andre Hunter back into the starting lineup which shuffled Kevin Huerter to the bench.

This then meant that there is greater potency coming off the bench which has the added impact of taking pressure off Delon Wright. While Reddish was able to produce off the bench, it was at the epense of cohesion within the unit as shown by the 1-3 record this season when Reddish scores over 20 points this season.

The Atlanta Hawks will be looking for Delon Wright to produce more.

Without Reddish creating his own shot, the onus has fallen to Wright to create more. He had four assists in the latest game against the Heat but it would have been more except for players missing shots. There was one point where he penetrated into the paint and kicked the ball to Danilo Gallinari which resulted in three free throws.

This does not get credited as an assist but is a big part of the reason that Wright had a plus 14 impact on the box score. This is the first time in a long time that Wright had such a positive impact on a game from the bench.

He was ably assistsed by Huerter who had 15 points and Gallinari who had 18 points, both players taking good looks with time left on the shot clock. Wright also got three steals, one of which resulted in an assist and a Huerter three off an inbound pass.

This is a classic case of assition by subtraction with Wright having to step up now that Reddish and his bench production have now gone.Let’s hope this Heat game was not a fluke and he is now able to grow into the role as the second half of the season in now upon us.