The Atlanta Hawks are always going to be a perimeter-oriented team because Trae Young steering the helm. Quin Snyder has drawn up schematics that revolve around this style of play. He has also surrounded his star with defenders and rebounders such that Young could thrive on the offensive part of the court. These are all efforts to minimize the small guard from getting hunted on defense. But, it becomes a problem once he needs a secondary and third scoring option. All of these concerns were exposed right in their face during the NBA Preseason. The New Orleans Pelicans and Cleveland Cavaliers knew exactly how to defend this squad with Clint Capela and Dejounte Murray.
The Hawks are ice-cold from beyond the arc
Trae Young often gets comparisons to generational shooters like Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry. The big difference that the Hawks bear is their problem in searching for another shot creator. Their offense stalls at times and they have to rely on kickouts for when their star is trapped. Or, they take a shot from far out consistently because they could not salvage a broken play or call for a better floor general who could execute in isolation. These concerns were shown and exposed right in front of them by the Pelicans.
Trae Young and the Hawks attempted 42 shots from far out in their NBA Preseason showdown against a decently-loaded Pelicans team. This was all because their offense was designed that way. At times, they could not find better passing or driving lanes to bail out their schematics. However, this led to them only drilling nine out of these 42 three-point attempts which would surely make a Hawks fan furious. They still got away with a win because of the poor rebounding of the Zion Williamson-led squad. But, it will still be a huge concern for them once the season commences. The problem seems to also be recurring.
Their game against the Cavs also made them face the same problems. Donovan Mitchell and Co. made the Hawks rush their shots from the perimeter. This meant that they were good at closing out on the 41 attempts that Atlanta launched from three-point land. All of this effort from the outstanding Cavs wings and poor shot selection from Quin Snyder's squad resulted in a 29.3% clip when shooting outside the arc.
How do they patch up these woes?
Quin Snyder is not new to helping his big men thrive. This is despite the roster bearing a lot of talent in the frontcourt. He was already able to pull it off with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert on the Utah Jazz. Flashes of good big men usage and minutes were also on display in their matchup against the Pelicans. They even notched 62 points in the paint because of this.
Being able to use Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu as lob threats and giving them opportunities to rebound is already one-dimensional. This is because these all still rely on Young and the guards creating space to use the lob. Getting his bigs in a position to post up or even outmuscle opponents on the inside creates a plethora of opportunities in their offense.
Relying a little bit too much on their outside shots when they can train bigs to create for them inside during the NBA Preseason seems like an implosion waiting to happen. It is never too late to develop these Hawks bigs like Clint Capela such that they can contribute better on offense.
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