The Atlanta Hawks' decision to move on from franchise legend Trae Young was initially met with heavy criticism. Trading away the cornerstone of your franchise is never easy to come to terms with as a fan, but in return, Atlanta showed that they're building for future contention.
With the newest arrivals of veteran CJ McCollum and former first-round pick Corey Kispert, there has been an immediate shift in both rotations and offensive identity. McCollum has complimented the newly-minted franchise player Jalen Johnson with a microwave scoring combo guard. While McCollum won't be the co-star of the future, the concept of a player like McCollum working alongside Johnson has worked quite well. A less-expected change, however, came at the small forward position.
Before Kispert's arrival, 5th-year guard Vit Krejci was rapidly climbing up the depth charts. At his peak back in December, Vit Krejci was seeing over 24 minutes of action per game. But after acquiring Kispert on January 9th, Krejci's minutes have fallen steadliy.
In fact, Atlanta is currently on a three-game win streak, with wins over Phoenix and Memphis, and Vit Krejci only saw the floor for a total of 22 minutes between those three games. Even worse, Zaccharie Risacher didn't play in these games. Krejci might be out of the rotation entirely when the former first overall pick returns.
Is Vit's honeymoon over?
Through 8 games with this new roster, Quin Snyder has shown a greater focus towards spacing and efficiency, characteristics that fit Kispert's playstyle to a tee. Vit Krejci, however, is still showing that he's still developing even as a fifth-year player, so it's understandable for the Hawks to start incorporating what they traded for in favor of a flawed guard.
But to almost completely phase out a player that was contributing valuable minutes on a struggling team seems a little excessive. With only 5.5 minutes played on average in Krejci's last two games, fans can only hope that this downward trend doesn't continue.
When Vit Krejci was drafted back in 2020, his draft profile praised his high basketball IQ and his well-rounded abilities. This season, he has shown those traits to the fullest, averaging 11 points in his last full month in the rotation.
These are traits that still needed to be developed further, and he was making promising strides before the arrival of Corey Kispert. Atlanta still has to prioritize developing their young guys, and bringing in CJ McCollum alongside Kispert has been a great way to provide mentorship for the younger guys on the roster.
But the pieces that were brought in can not diminish the development of the player's already on the roster. It's understandable right now for the Hawks to be a little shaky as they figure out their new rotations, but phasing a young, developing player like Krejci out of the offense cannot continue if the Hawks wish to keep this win streak going.
A contending team doesn't just come from one or two guys taking over games anymore, and the last two NBA championships have proven that. Vit Krejci isn't the only one is this debacle either, as Zaccharie Risacher, the team's former #1 overall draft selection, has been stagnant in his development as well.
At a certain point, that means the issues lie within the organization. Atlanta must emphasize development over strategy if they wish for this roster to continue on an upward trajectory. Incorporating your newest trade pieces into the offense is a good thing don't get me wrong, but once that starts eating away minutes towards players still in their development, that's when a system can implode an organization's growth.
Bringing in CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert has been a great move for the Hawks thus far, but if that keeps phasing their young guys out of vital developmental opportunities, then the effectiveness of the Quin Snyder system will start to be put in question.