After letting go of Lloyd Pierce last season, the Atlanta Hawks went on a fantastic run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite being undermanned without De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish, the defense did not deteriorate in the playoffs. It was the first postseason appearance for majority of their key cogs, including budding superstar Trae Young.

With a fully healthy squad entering the 2021-22 campaign, expectations were high on the Hawks. Fans and experts alike even have them reaching the third seed in the East.

Since it is just early in the season, it is still plausible for them to reach this feat, but Atlanta is off to an atrocious start to 2021-22. Their shooters have not found a consistent rhythm yet, and head coach Nate McMillan is having a difficult time balancing out the minutes of his talented wings.

With that said, here are three reasons for the Hawks' slow start.

3. Inconsistency of wings

The Hawks are one of the franchises in the association that have a plethora of wings that could contribute on various aspects of their system. However, McMillan is having trouble finding the combination that would flourish with the trio of Young, John Collins and Clint Capela both offensively and defensively. The return of Hunter and Reddish bolsters their defensive unit, but other players like Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic are playing less minutes than usual.

With the drop in their playing time, the shooting rhythm of Huerter and Bogdanovic are not at their best and their production has drastically dropped from last season. Another intricate piece in their playoff run was the sensational shooting of Danilo Gallinari. He's only averaging 7.3 points per game this season on an abysmal 38.5% shooting from the field.

With their subpar 4-6 start, McMillan must find their chemistry before its too late.

2. Clint Capela's slow start

Acquiring Capela from the Houston Rockets last February 2020 was a tremendous addition to a squad that lacked a reliable big man. In his first season with the team, he averaged 15.2 points and a whopping 14.3 rebounds. The tandem of Capela and Collins caused headaches for their opponents that were undersized. However, his averages has dropped to only 10.6 points and 11.2 rebounds for the Hawks this 2021-22.

As the anchor of their defensive system, Capela must also replicate his 1.8 and 2.0 blocks averages from the two previous seasons. The Swiss international's ability to defend bigs like Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo is an asset that Atlanta must utilize in order for them to go back to their winning ways.

Even if Capela just plays around 25-28 minutes, his impact is huge on the performance of the Hawks.

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Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray appearing at an airport with bags packed and a plane ticket in hand

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Trent Forrest in an Atlanta Hawks jersey with the Hawks arena in the background

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1. Where's the defense?

Several Hawks players are not known for their defensive prowess, but it is worth noting they showed great defense during the playoffs.

However for this season, the Hawks are currently 25th in the league in defensive rating.

If the Hawks intend to replicate any sort of the success they had from the past campaign, their defense must be at least in the Top 15 in the league–not at 25th as they have defenders like Hunter, Collins and Capela. This must be a focal point in their next few games because their offense is already at a high level. It is not hard for them to covert those long-range shots because of Young's playmaking, but the defense is the differentiating factor this squad.

Expectations are going to increase for this Hawks team, but its up to Young, McMillan and the rest of the leaders to propel this franchise to another deep playoff run.