This summer, Atlanta built one of the most fearsome defensive-minded guard trios in the league - at least, on paper.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, and newly-acquired Luguentz Dort haven't played poorly, by any means - that being said, their defensive impact is being undermined by another weakness entirely, resulting in a relatively league-average defense, well below expectations.
The Hawks' frontcourt can't seem to close out possessions, and it's causing Atlanta's otherwise elite defense to suffer in ways previously unseen.
Boxing out without rebounding - an Atlanta conundrum
The Hawks are putting up two of the most unusual stats in the league around the rim.
While Atlanta has been able to box out at an incredibly impressive rate (92.0% on defensive rebounds), good for 3rd in the NBA, they haven't secured rebounds on that end of the floor at nearly the rate you'd expect with such high-ranking boxout rates.
In fact, the Hawks rank 6th worst in defensive rebound rate in the NBA. It begs the question - how can a team be so successful at denying crashers opportunities, and yet still have the ball slip through their fingers at such an incredibly disappointing rate?
The answer is simple - the Hawks are too small. While a boxout goes a long way, unfortunately, many larger frontcourts can extend beyond the boxout to snag a significant portion of offensive rebounds over the bite-sized Hawks.
Hawks' elite defensive backcourt minimized without rebounding
In theory, creating a trio of point-of-attack stoppers is a perfect way to build a defense.
Stop the ball at the head of the snake - any self-respecting playoff offense has a primary creator (or two, or even three) that can dismantle a defense without the presence of a significantly-above-average defender to prevent them from going to work.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, that's only one side of the story. Once that difficult shot goes up after a staunch possession of perimeter denial, Atlanta's undersized frontcourt (currently comprised of Onyeka Okongwu and Jock Landale at the 5) hasn't been able to keep opposing crashers off the glass.
Atlanta has also demonstrated a preference to maintain a small-ball playstyle into the future - selecting undersized center Zuby Ejiofor in the first round this year lends credence to the idea the Hawks prefer to remain small going forward.
Okongwu and Landale's poor play has already caused the heavy question to arise - is it finally time to move on from small ball?
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