Delon Wright’s defense is finally helping fuel the Atlanta Hawks offense

The Atlanta Hawks are starting to settle into their roles now that the budding young star Cam Reddish has been traded to the New York Knicks. They are also about to get their starting shooting guard back from his knee injury meaning that the Hawks have no long-term injuries on their squad.

This means that players are going to be able to develop even greater chemistry with others in their unit. One of the most crucial players who is starting to develop confidence in his role and those around him is Delon Wright.

Wright has come into his own with after the trade of Reddish. He has been playing solid defense all season but has stepped it up another level in Januray. This has led to an increase in so other key metrics as well, helping the Hawks turn their fortunes around.

The Atlanta Hawks are starting to get more out of Delon Wright

For the month of January, Wright has dished out 36 assists, which is four more than the month before. While this does not sound like much, if you combine it with the fact he has only turned the ball over seven times, compared to 14 last month, it becomes significant.

This has led to Wright having an assist to turnover ratio of 5.1 which is so much better than 2.28 from the month before. This has helped Wright’s ofensive rating to jump from 117 in December to 134 in January.

The secret for Wright all stems back to his defense. Without that, he would barely be on the court as his fit with Reddish on the team was terrible offensively. So far this month, Wright has collected 16 steals which is well up on the ten he collected in both November and December.

With him getting these stops, Wright has been able to stay on the court alongside Trae Young which has allowed the Hawks to not be predictable with their lineups. It has allowed Nate McMillan to play different people at different times, which has been crucial, especially during this current winning streak.