Both Trae Young and Dejounte Murray off the floor
This one is probably easier said than done, and the Hawks hope they have done enough to make this a non-issue. But the team was understandably bad when their two best players were off the floor last season.
The Hawks actually posted a plus-2.0 net rating on 958 possessions without either Murray or Young on the floor last season. But many of the supporting cast that helped make that happen are gone, namely Aaron Holiday and, to a lesser extent, Trent Forrest, both of whom have moved on this offseason, replaced by Patty Mills and rookie Kobe Bufkin.
https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1645447328990482433
With either Forrest or Holiday in the game instead of Murray or Young, the Hawks posted a minus-1.7 net rating on just 222 possessions.
Mills and Bufkin will help, though neither is proven with this group.
With Murray on the floor with the other returning Hawks and Young off, the Hawks posted a minus-3.9 net rating on 762 possessions. But, with Young on and Murray off in those circumstances, their net rating was plus-18.3 on 565 possessions, ranking in the 100th percentile.
But the biggest takeaway could be that the Hawks have to make sure they have their backup point guard spot sorted out, something that should happen during the preseason.
If Bukin proves he’s ready, great. But Mills has proven he can still be effective, at least scoring.