Many factors have been credited as the Atlanta Hawks (26-28) have made strides in turning their season around. But many point to the return of De’Andre Hunter as the impetus for their resurgence over the last three weeks or so. They have lost three of their last five but are 9-6 overall since his return.
Hunter is averaging 14.7 points on 45.4 percent shooting and 41.4 percent from beyond the arc over those 15 games (14 starts) with 3.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
All of those numbers are above his season averages.
He’s scored at least 13 points in all but five of those contests and has scored at least 20 points the same amount. The last month or so would look even better for him were it not for a three-game scoring slump.
The Atlanta Hawks are getting a more diversified offensive attack from De’Andre Hunter
Atlanta has seen their field goal and three-point efficiency rise with Hunter back in the lineup and is scoring 3.7 more points per game as well. But there are only three players who have seen their scoring output go up in those 15 games and it’s not Trae Young or John Collins who has played well in spite of constant trade rumors.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, who has found a new home as the primary bench scorer, has gone from 12.1 points per contest to 13.4 while Kevin Huerter has seen a smaller bump going from 11.3 points to 11.9 points per.
The other is Hunter who has gone from averaging 10.4 points before suffering his wrist injury that required surgery to the aforementioned 14.7 points.
What’s even more impressive is how Hunter has gotten his offense going this season.
Hunter’s usage rate is up just 0.1 percent, a negligible amount. But he has diversified the way he is attacking opposing defenses. The former Virginia Cavalier has scored out of isolation at a rate that is 3.0 percent higher than he did last season. It hasn’t translated into efficiency quite yet – his effective field goal percentage is down 2.0 percent this season.
However, his scoring frequency out of isolation has increased from 38.9 percent to 46.7 percent this year. This has come at the expense of his spot-up game but not by much as he’s attempting about 0.2 fewer such attempts per game.
Yam on 'em, Dre pic.twitter.com/T4YbdNlUIz
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 9, 2022
He’s been effective either way, shooting 41.1 percent on catch-and-shoot looks and 40.7 on pull-ups.
Hunter has gotten a higher percentage of his looks off of assists in this span.
But that is as much a product of his being more decisive than anything else. He’s also back to a similar amount of drives over the last few weeks as last season.
Perhaps the most important aspect is that Hunter is simply touching the ball more since he’s been back; 5.9 more times to be exact. It could be that simply feeling more involved has led to him attacking with such confidence.
We’ve talked ad nauseam about them needing another go-to scorer and have acknowledged they got by last season with different players stepping up on a nightly basis. It appears we are getting back to that as Bogdanovic and Collins have joined Hunter in playing the role of second-option at different moments recently.
Whatever the case, the Hawks need this to continue if they are really going to stand pat at Thursday’s impending NBA trade deadline.