Hawks' league-worst fatal flaw stains their otherwise solid start to the season

The start to the season has been anything but regular in Atlanta.

From losing Trae Young to a multi-month injury five games into the campaign, to going on a huge road win streak, to seeing Jalen Johnson begin to break out before our eyes, it's certainly been an entertaining first month of the basketball year.

In spite of the Hawks' predominant success (even in the Trae Young void), however, there remains one key statistical category that the franchise keeps falling short on, especially compared to league average: getting open looks.

As can be seen, not only are the Hawks in the bottom third of squads in both open 2-point and open 3-point looks through the start of the year, but they're also cashing in on a frighteningly low percentage of their open 3's. Their status as an outlier becomes immediately apparent when combining their minimal open 3's with their conversion frequency on such looks.

Hawks can't wait to get Trae back to solve this issue

What's the easiest way to patch up an offense that can't seem to get open? Adding in one of the league's best facilitators.

While Trae's addition may or may not harm the Hawks' net defensive capacity, there should be no doubt whatsoever in Atlanta fans' minds that the offense will get right back to how productive it's been over the last six years with Trae at the helm.

Not only will adding Trae back begin to open things up for the Hawks, but it will also allow their existing weapons to continue to flourish in a more open system. When asked about his status as a more heliocentric player before the season started, Young was emphatic about how he couldn't wait to play more off-ball to accentuate his team's strengths in every way he could.

While Young may be able to generate more open looks, he's not a wizard. A pass from Trae in an already open look doesn't necessarily make the ball go in the hoop. Statistically speaking, however, the random variation has to turn at some point. Either that, or the Hawks may need to get in some extra reps in the gym to knock down more of those open looks in-game.

Be it from getting more open looks or knocking more of them down, the Hawks are bound to improve in this league-worst category. When they do, look out, as an already top squad will continue to rise up the rankings.