Hawks' early season grades: the starting five has been lethal, with one exception

Want the full picture? Read our overall team grades and our bench player grades.

The Atlanta Hawks have had a tumultuous season, first plummeting near the bottom of the East with two regrettable losses before surging to fifth in the conference. The starting five has been the driving force behind the emotional rollercoaster the team has been, with good, bad, inconsistent, and ugly performances from each member.

Note that all grades are relative to their expectations within the team; an A+ offensive effort from Trae Young is very different than an A+ performance from Dyson Daniels.

Trae Young: B*

Young's grade gets an asterisk due to his minuscule sample size. He started the season off on the wrong foot, shooting a dismal 19.2% from deep and what would be a career-low from the free throw line. But Young has always started the season slowly, and he was injured right as he appeared to be picking up steam.

Let's assume Young's shooting regresses to last year's average. He has still been the heartbeat that leads the offense, and the Trae-less offense has struggled to take care of the ball and convert its opportunities.

Some fans believe that the Hawks would be better without Young, as the Hawks have stormed to a 7-2 record without their star. But this is an unfair comparison; the Hawks have had the easiest stretch they'll see all year in his absence. We all know who Trae is, and barring a disastrous shooting slump, he will continue to be the engine that powers Atlanta's offense.

Jalen Johnson: A-

Jalen Johnson has had a weird start to the season. He looked straight up bad on defense through the first five to ten games, and even now he doesn't look like his old self. This shouldn't last, and therefore, I am opting to give Johnson the benefit of the doubt here. He has never been a bad defender, and he is dealing with an increased complexity in his role as he adapts to his new teammates. With time, Johnson should return to an average defender at worst.

On the offensive end, however, Johnson has looked dominant. He he's shot below league-average effective field goal percentage just twice through 11 games while averaging a career-high 21.5 points. Johnson cannot be stopped, and he appears to only be started as he's dropped 30 in two consecutive days. He is also one of the only positive contributors on the defensive glass, a massive weakness for the Hawks when Kristaps Porzingis plays.

Kristaps Porzingis: C+

Porzingis's days of being an elite center may be over, but his days of being an elite power forward are not.

What does this mean for the Hawks? In short, Porzingis isn't going to fill the holes in their team they need him to. He has struggled mightily on the glass, even by his standards He's posting a career-low defensive rebounding rate, which places him in the 21st percentile of centers. He hasn't been able to get to the rim, and he can't convert when he does.

Porzingis still brings a lot to any team, but it is time to ask if Atlanta is his best fit. Perhaps a move to a team with a sturdy presence at the five but poor shooting, such as the Heat, Spurs, or Clippers, would be a better use of his talents. Alternatively, Johnson is a monstrous rebounder at the four, and the Porzingis-Onyeka Okongwu minutes are a delight to watch. Perhaps all the Hawks need is another NBA center to support Porzingis when he cannot play with Johnson or Okongwu.

Zaccharie Risacher: B

Zacch hasn't had the start to the season we had hoped for, but he hasn't given any reason to be concerned.

His most impressive leap has been his defense, where he has lept from a clear negative to a positive. He has been incredibly active in help defense after struggling to handle the complexity of an NBA D as a rookie. Not convinced? Take a look at one quarter of his defensive involvement below and see for yourself.

While the defensive leap is important, it was also expected. Rookies are always worse than their physical tools would suggest on defense as they learn the nuances of defense in the big leagues. On the offensive end, Risacher has had a performance similar to Young. The deep shot isn't falling, but his game passes the eye test and will pass on paper if he can get his three-ball above the league average of 35.9%.

Most importantly, Risacher has improved inside the arc. He has improved this mark from 53.9% to 59.4. What changed? Risacher has been hitting his shots from floater range. Whether this improvement is real or a flash in the pan remains to be seen, but the early-season improvement can't hurt.

Dyson Daniels: B

Yes, two B's in a row is boring, but Daniels has had a similarly unremarkable start to the season. It took him a few games to settle into his groove on offense, but Daniels has rediscovered his old self.

The three ball still will not fall, but Daniels has never been a shooter. He instead provides offensive value through his playmaking and slashing, two areas he has continued to thrive in. He has been a remarkable playmaker in slashing opportunities by freezing defenders and hitting the open man. While he hasn't finished at a particularly high rate on the inside, he has done a masterful job of creating these looks for himself. He hasn't improved on offense, but he has managed to not be a negative despite being a non-shooter.

On defense, however, Daniels has fallen back to earth after last year's ridiculous season. He still is elite on that end, but he no longer leads the league in deflections and steals. Like his offensive performance, there hasn't been defensive improvement but he has performed up to expectations, thus the B grade.

The Hawks had a rough start to the season, and the starters were no exception. After losing Young, however, the starting five picked up the slack. Risacher and Johnson look to be on the path to improvement as a player this season, while Young and Daniels appear to be remaining at their level from last season. Porzingis doesn't look worse per se, but he isn't the perfect fit we all thought he would be.