The Atlanta Hawks rewarded Cat Cat Barber earlier in the season when they signed him to a 10-day contract during the COVID-19 crisis. While he only saw a little bit of court time, it was enough. It seemed to light a fire in the point guard.
The beneficiary of this step up in performance has undoubtedly been the College Park Skyhawks where Barber has been fantastic. He was the cause of the Sharife Cooper problem as he outplayed the rookie at the point and this, in turn, gave the Hawks a headache with the second two-way spot.
However, Barber has been out with injury and Cooper has put in some really good performances including a huge triple-double. Now that Cooper has figured out how to play off the ball, the Skyhawks have one of the more dangerous backcourts. Both of them were on against the Wisconsin Herd, however, Barber was the best player on the court by far.
The Atlanta Hawks need to look seriously at Cat Barber after his career-high.
Barber scored a career-high 43 points to go along with nine assists, seven rebounds, and two steals. He went 18-of-33 from the floor and 5-of-11 from deep. He got good help from Cooper who had 24 points, seven assists, and four rebounds.
The Skyhawks also welcomed back Justin Tillman who had 24 points and nine rebounds. He was incredibly efficient, going 10-of-14 from the floor. His play made life so much easier for Barber and as a result, the Skyhawks are 2.5 games out of the playoffs.
Still, the Hawks are the more important team of the franchise and the Skyhawks would love to be able to fill their last roster spot with either Barber or Tillman. After this performance, it is more than likely that Barber would be the one taken, given that Trae Young is starting to feel the effects of being the superstar on a team that is struggling.
The attention that he gets from opposition defenses is taking a toll on his body. Getting another point guard into the system would not be a bad thing.