Dyson Daniels regathering a significant skill could push the Hawks into contention

Dyson Daniels has had an interesting fourth campaign.

It's been great, for the most part. When breaking down the season he's had, it's difficult to find many drawbacks. There is one, in particular, that's stood out. His outside shot. Of all the improvements he's made, his ability to knock down threes consistently has dwindled.

When looking at the year as a whole, that's putting it lightly. Before his recent two outings, Daniels was shooting just 13% from deep. No joke. That mark was a significant decrease from last season, his first in Atlanta, when he shot exactly 34% from deep.

What went wrong? It's hard to tell. It could be attested to a variety of factors, most notably with the departure of Trae Young limiting the amount of open looks he's been able to receive. Daniels and Young had developed elite chemistry during their short time together, and it possibly played a big part in the efficiency he was able to showcase.

The worst part of this noticeable dip was that the national media caught on. Of course, they never shed any spotlight onto his growth as a playmaker or offensive rebounder, just his unexpected regression in a key aspect of his game.

Luckily for Hawks fans, that negative attention is no more.

Seemingly, that is. Daniels has practically forced them to respect him, without doing any talking. Just elite hoops. Atlanta's 11-game winning streak came to end, but that didn't stop them from continuing their late-season climb.

Since the rare loss in Houston, the Hawks have won two straight, extending their home winning streak to eleven games. In each of those two wins, there's been a key development. Yes, Daniels has been letting it fly from deep and it's paid off.

He's knocked down multiple three-pointers in two consecutive games, a statistic that sounds ridiculous considering how his season's gone so far in that specific category.

On Saturday against Golden State, Daniels scored 28 points, shooting 2/5 from deep in the process. One could make an argument that it was his best performance of the season. He followed that dominant performance up with another solid night, going 2/3 from beyond the arc on Monday against Memphis.

Now 4/8 from long-range over his last two outings, it looks like he's slowly starting to integrate that valuable aspect back into his arsenal. Already one of the league's top defensive players and underrated playmakers, Daniels getting back to form from the outside is a terrifying thought for the rest of the league.

As the Atlanta Hawks aim to lock in a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference, Daniels' in-season growth could eventually be what takes them from a pretender to a contender.