They may not be winning, but these Atlanta Hawks are exciting
The Atlanta Hawks are one of the youngest teams in the league. The team is coming off of a season where they lost 58 games and fired one of the franchise’s most successful coaches. Now, the only way to go is up and the Hawks are one of the few teams making their rebuild fun.
On Nov. 3, the Atlanta Hawks came into a home game against the Miami Heat on the heels of four straight losses, highlighted by a 146-115 beatdown by the Sacramento Kings.
The Hawks played subpar defense throughout the contest against Miami, surrendering 47.7 percent shooting, but were able to combat that with a high mark of their own at 52.3 percent. Atlanta had over 100 points at the end of the third quarter.
For the first time this season, head coach Lloyd Pierce opted to make a change to his starting lineup. He inserted Omari Spellman at the power forward spot to combat the lineup Miami used that featured both Kelly Olynyk and Hassan Whiteside. Vince Carter came in shortly after the start of the game in favor of some defensive support.
Carter has been more than a mentor for this young squad. He has been a solid contributor and can still be an energizer when called upon. In much of the early season, he’s come through in some key situations where the offense was struggling. Adding to that, VC has shot 40.5 percent from 3-point range on the season. This was an overlooked acquisition coming into the season, but it has been paying dividends in more than just a mentorship sense.
The Hawks have fully embraced the movement toward floor-spacing. They are shooting 35.9 percent from 3-point range while attempting 36.2 of them per game. Atlanta scored 41 points in the first period while shooting 60 percent from the field in their hot start.
Unlike last season, Atlanta has been within striking distance in the majority of its games. After completing a comeback of more than 20 points against the Dallas Mavericks in the home opener, it was clear that this season would be different. There may not be all that many wins, but these games are going to be fun to watch and the players will be exciting to watch develop.
Trae Young has been off to a historically good start, Taurean Waller-Prince has taken control of this team as an aggressive scorer, and both Alex Len and DeAndre’ Bembry have begun to show some of that untapped potential that fans have been waiting to see. Pierce has seemingly gotten the most out of his squad so far, minus the defensive potential.
The team has struggled defensively so far, giving up over 100 points on all but one occasion. This statistic has flown relatively under the radar though because of the power of the offense.
Atlanta has only scored under 100 points on two occasions while averaging 110.8 points per game. In order to remain competitive, the defensive effort needs a ton of work. Hawks fans shouldn’t be worried though, because Pierce is a defensive mind and will almost certainly solve this puzzle.
The potential is there though:
The fact that the Hawks have done this without one of their best overall players in John Collins has been nothing short of surprising. Collins is the energizer and enforcer for this team, but coach Pierce has found guys who have been able to fill that void so far. Trae Young and Taurean Waller-Prince have taken this team and made it their own, which is exactly what Atlanta needed from them.
This is the most potential we’ve seen from an Atlanta team since the 60-win team or the days of the high-flying Josh Smith and Joe Johnson. The highlight factory might be making a comeback with the likes of these high-profile young guys on the roster now.
Moving forward, these Hawks have a very bright future. Fans will be more engaged this season as the team is not getting blown out night after night. Vince Carter shows flashes of those days we called him Vinsanity or the Flying Man.
All three first-round rookies have been solid contributors if not stars. We haven’t even seen the debut of one the most exciting players on the roster. The three pointers are flying. The offense is scoring. These Hawks might not win 40 games, but they sure are fun to watch.
