The Atlanta Hawks have looked a bit different on offense for the past week, and there's no surprise as to why. With Trae Young sidelined with a sprained MCL, the team has to find ways to generate offense, and it may not be as easy as it was. Young's gravity and his playmaking ability allow easy shots for his teammates, and he makes it look effortless.
Now, there are several players making those plays with the balls, and they're getting used to doing it. Head coach Quin Snyder was asked about what he's liked about the offense since the absence of Young.
“There are a lot of situations where guys are in an unfamiliar realm because Trae dictated a style so much because of his ability,” Snyder said. “We have to be spaced to recognize those situations and to connect. And we have to play with the pass.
“We have to move the ball, make quick decisions, and attack so that we don't get into isolation situations. I don't think that's our strength with our group right now. There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes we say that, and it feels like it's less than, and it's really not. It's just maximizing the team.”
Even though Nickeil Alexander-Walker took Young's starting spot, there are several players who are trying to replace what he brought to the offense. Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Alexander-Walker are the starters who are all making plays with the ball. Then you have Keaton Wallace, Luke Kennard, and Vit Krejci coming off the bench to help with the load.
There's no doubt that it's going to take a collective group effort, and the Hawks have to move the ball as much as they can if they want to create good shots.
Hawks adjusting in life without Trae Young
So far, the team has looked good at times on offense without Young, while other times, it's no question they need a true point guard on the floor. A good example was against the Toronto Raptors, where the Hawks played well in the first half, but fell into a hole in the second half because the offense went cold.
After the game, Kristaps Porzingis shared his thoughts on how life without Young has been, and how the team is adjusting.
“I think we’re doing a good job,” Porzingis said. “We’ve won some games, we lost one tonight. The firepower offensively is not the same; it's just the truth. But we still have a lot of firepower. We can run, we can go, and we have guys that are stepping up and playing well. It’s just gonna add more when he comes back, but it's also not ideal because we want to get those minutes together.
“We want to start developing more of that chemistry, but it is what it is when we have to adjust, and we're trying to do other things better without him. We’re going bigger, we can run more, we can see more, and we can do some more stuff. When he’s there, we have a lot more firepower offensively, and we're gonna be a different beast.”
