After one of the most fruitful offseasons in franchise history, the Atlanta Hawks' preseason was one to watch. While the team retained the same starting core, they made significant upgrades to the center position and key bench roles.
The team is loaded with talent, headlined by seven starting-caliber players, but lacks a clear identity due to the numerous offseason changes. Everyone was curious to see how Quin Snyder would use this reloaded roster in action.
The team clearly had some rust to shake off in the first quarter of their first preseason game against the Houston Rockets, opening with an abysmal shooting slump and miscommunications that should be solved with greater familiarity within the team. In the second quarter, however, Atlanta went on a captivating run centered around strong transition play.
This Hawks squad was made to play with pace. They are the third-youngest team in the league, possessing the energy to tire older teams. Trae Young is a terrific passer capable of delivering touchdown passes to teammates running the floor. The team has a host of dynamic finishers in transition, with Jalen Johnson being the most intimidating for opponents. Crucially, the team now has transition three point threats in Luke Kennard, Kristaps Porzingis, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Their transition ability finally moved from the paper to the court on Monday
While Atlanta has the talent to be a dominant force in transition, it is not uncommon for players, particularly point guards, to choose to slow the game down. The team's conscious decision to push the pace was an optimistic sign that they will continue to look for opportunities to exploit defenses in this way.
Hawks fans are used to seeing Young and Johnson’s brilliance in transition. What was most surprising was Alexander-Walker’s fastbreak play. Not only was Alexander-Walker in the correct position and able to finish on these looks, but he also actively sought to create opportunities by pushing the pace.
Atlanta’s creation of artificial fastbreak opportunities was another encouraging aspect of their play in this phase of the game. The team was able to create easy looks that were converted to points multiple times by quickly pushing the ball after Houston scored. Made baskets are not the typical genesis of counterattacking opportunities, but again, the Hawks made it a point of emphasis to play with pace even when inbounding the ball.
The team will need to find its rhythm playing alongside each other, but the ingredients and recipe for a team that can steal games via transition success are there. Now the team must simply gain familiarity with each other and execute in these opportunities. The fast break is the key to stealing games from more talented teams. If Atlanta can become a dominant force in transition, they could prove to be a true playoff threat.