The Atlanta Hawks seem to have rid themselves of the uncomfortable presence in the locker room when they traded Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks. In return, they received Kevin Knox who is in a contract year, meaning he is playing for his NBA future this season.
While Knox may not appear to move the needle, one of the many benefits of this trade is that he is going to buy into his role, given that he wants to get a deal next season. This makes life a lot easier for the coaching staff to implement systems and structures.
As a result, the second unit is now playing incredibly well. Delon Wright is playing really good defense and is finally able to run an offense. While this offense may be as simple as getting the ball to Danilo Gallinari on a mismatch, he is looking so much surer of himself on that end of the floor.
How did Kevin Knox fit into the Atlanta Hawks in his first game?
While Knox only played three minutes of game time. what he did when he was on the court helped the Hawks. While he had a zero plus/minus impact on the box score, Knox performed his role well. Three minutes, as we saw against the New York Knicks, can win or lose a game.
He had most of his playing time in the first quarter. For the first few possessions, Knox ran to the corners, making sure that he was able to keep the middle of the floor open for others to continue to create against the Timberwolves.
He took one corner three which missed but as he gets the flow of the Hawks offense, he will make a high number of these shots. Knox did score for the Hawks in his first outing though. Wright drove to the basket and was caught by the defense. Knox, sensing an opportunity drove to the basket, Wright found him and Knox got the dunk. He was able to release the pressure with his heads-up play.
Defensively, Knox did not get to play much five-on-five defense. The Timberwolves are the best team in the NBA at pressuring turnovers which meant that Knox was in transition most of his time on the court. What he did do was run hard. Every time that Timberwolves got the ball, Knox was running up the middle of the floor, looking after his man, making sure he did not score.
Grade: Solid B-