A tough-fought opening night win for the Atlanta Hawks was followed by the biggest margin of victory in team history in the second game. The team looked like it was in midseason form from the first tip-off. Everyone was clicking, and it looked like the new acquisitions were going to be seamless fits.
Then, the Hawks ran into a back-to-back with the Rockets for their third and fourth games of the season, and it wasn't nearly as pretty. They were losing by 16 with four minutes to go in game one, and down 17 with a minute to go in game two. The now 4-0 Rockets started to expose some of the Hawks' flaws, and one glaring one is Lu Dort's offense, or lack thereof.
Dort was overshadowed in Atlanta's opening night victory by the Hawks' other key acquisition: Aaron Wiggins and his 16 points. The 6'4'' wing was just 2-for-5 from the three and a -1 in the box score. In the second game, when the Hawks won by 47 points, the Canadian was only +8 and shot 1-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Games three and four are where the problems truly started to shine through. In 23 minutes, Dort had just seven points and was 1-for-4 from three-point range. He ended the game at -6. Game four was easily his worst, though. He shot 0-for-5 from beyond the arc and tied for the team low with -17.
Dort's elite defense isn't translating to offense
Elite defense is great, but it can't come at the expense of the offense. Dort's hustle and grittiness have already been on full display. It was what he was best known for with the Thunder, and it's translated to Atlanta. His offense in OKC had also been slowly declining, and that's followed him to Atlanta, too.
There were warning signs that Dort was already on a downslope. His points per game had decreased each of the last five seasons, his FG% each of the last three, and he had a career-low .344 3PT% last season.
The lowering efficiency was a concern, but some thought his drop in points and minutes could've been related to the Thunder's growing bench. After four games with the Hawks, maybe they should have listened to the warning signs more.
Dort is shooting just 23% from three on over four attempts per game so far. Even though he is a great defender, his plus/minus shows that it isn't making up for his lack of offense.
Atlanta already has Dyson Daniels, who is a negative from beyond the arc, but he makes up for it everywhere else. If Dort can't find some efficiency from beyond the arc, it will make him and Daniels almost unplayable together. In that scenario, they are almost certainly playing Daniels more.
Dort is a great defender, and that's what the Hawks knew they were getting when they traded for him. They were hoping that a larger role would help him find his offense, but after four games, that hasn't been the case, and that may have been predictable.
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