11/30/2023 0 Comments Atlanta nba roster![]() ![]() The Hawks are not a team anybody should be sleeping on. And with both Young and Murray, nobody should count them out.Ī second year under their belt should make them more effective and better. While there are a lot of exciting up-and-coming teams in the Eastern Conference (including the Orlando Magic), the Atlanta Hawks are still among the teams jockeying for position. Related Story: Playoff Lessons: Memphis Grizzlies' development is no straight line They did not change course with that duo. They still believe in playing this guard duo together. The Hawks clearly were not panicking or changing course. And Atlanta still has a lot of potential for growth even as the team seems to have gotten stuck in the mud of the Play-In Tournament. It was a major change and any change of that magnitude takes patience to try to make it work. And the idea of getting an extra ball handler to try to get Young some easy shots was a sound conclusion to make after their playoff loss in 2022. The Hawks clearly had something that worked, even if for just a little while. But he hit on only 37.0 percent of his 1.3 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game according to Second Spectrum. He had a rough shooting year overall making only 42.9 percent of his shots and 33.5 percent of his 3-pointers. Young for his part indeed struggled off the ball. The duo went 103.0/117.8 (-14.8 net rating) in the playoff series against the Celtics. The duo of Young and Murray had an offensive/defensive rating split of 115.0/114.6 (+0.3 net rating) for the season but a split of 111.7/121.1 (-9.4 net rating) after Snyder arrived in February. 26, the Hawks ranked fourth in the league in offensive rating at 119.5 points per 100 possessions and 26th in defensive rating at 118.3 points allowed per 100 possessions. Atlanta ranked 22nd in the league on defense at 115.4 points allowed per 100 possessions.Īfter Snyder was hired on Feb. But the team again struggled to establish much defensively, something the team hopes to correct under coach Quin Snyder, who was hired in the middle of last season. ![]() Especially for Young, playing off the ball was a major struggle and adjustment.Ītlanta had the seventh-best offense in the league at 115.5 points per 100 possessions. The duo spent a good chunk of the season trying to figure out how to play together. The pairing with Young and Murray just felt off. They wanted to get back to the level they were at in the 2021 season - the Eastern Conference Finals.Ītlanta certainly had some depth and injury issues preventing them from reaching their true potential - De’Andre Hunter missed 15 games, Clint Capela missed 17 games and Bogdan Bogdanovic appeared in only 54 games. The Hawks still played well in that series thanks to Young’s individual brilliance - especially his showing in Game 5 to force the series to a sixth and ultimately decisive game.īut this is not where the Hawks wanted to be. But such a major change clearly needs some patience to work and help the team grow.ĭespite stellar seasons from both Young (26.2 points per game and 10.2 assists per game) and Murray (20.5 points per game and 6.1 assists per game), the Hawks found themselves right back in the Play-In Tournament, upsetting the Heat to earn the 7-seed. So what went wrong? Did something go wrong? The Atlanta Hawks did the right thing in trying to learn from their playoff mistakes. They learn from their playoff defeats and spend their offseason trying to plug those holes.ĭejounte Murray was an All-Star caliber player and gave the Hawks a second scorer the team desperately needed - and perhaps was not getting from John Collins. This is what a team is supposed to do, of course. The Heat in that playoff series put multiple players on Young and played him physically, wearing him down. The acquisition of Dejounte Murray was meant to remedy one of the biggest issues they had in that 2022 Playoff series against the Miami Heat - the amount of pressure Young had being on the ball all the time. They worked to try to make their team better. So the Hawks did what any team would do when they faced a disappointing season. But falling to eighth was not the order of the day. The Hawks were still good enough with Young to make the playoffs and win in the Play-In Tournament, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers to take the last playoff spot. They had young players and key veterans eager to help the team take the next step. They had a dynamic and star-making point guard in Trae Young that was sure to attract eyeballs to the team and keep them competitive. Three seasons ago, the Hawks reached the Eastern Conference Finals and seemed like a team on the rise. The Atlanta Hawks feel like a team in some turmoil.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |