The misery of watching Atlanta Hawks basketball I believe is finally coming to an end. With the 2020 season underway and game 2 of the preseason wrapping up, the team is looking at rejuvenating basketball in the city of Atlanta. With the pandemic still looming among us, it’s still unclear if or how many fans will be able to enter State Farm Arena to watch a game. If nothing else, the games will be broadcast of the Fox affiliates FoxSportsSouth and FoxSportsSoutheast.
The team is young and looking to put a mark on the NBA as the next big thing. Two years ago the Hawks drafted in the first round Luka Doncic and Shooting Guard Kevin Huerter, then quickly traded Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks for their first round draft pick Trae Young who only played one year out of the University of Oklahoma before entering the 2018 draft. I believe that trade has panned out for both teams. Doncic and Young are two different types of players. Doncic plays the boards and grabs rebounds and is the big man in the middle whereas Young is the court manager playing point guard setting up the offensive setup going down court.
Last year the team had the No. 4 and No. 10 overall pick in the draft and drafted two small forwards in De’Andre Hunter No. 4 and Cam Reddish at 10. This year’s draft at No. 6 overall the Hawks selected out of Southern California Onyeka Okongwu.
Last year year Young averaged 29.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 9.3 assists per game. Huerter last year averaged 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. Reddish averaged 10.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. Hunter averaged 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.
This year both Reddish and Hunter will see more playing time to go along with Young and Huerter. Huerter reminds me of Kyle Korver when Korver was playing in Atlanta. Line Huerter on the post and let him shoot.
The starting 5 for the Hawks are:
PG Trae Young
SG Bogdan Bogdanovic
SF Cam Reddish
PF John Collins
C Clint Capella
Then you add in Huerter, Hunter, and rookie Okongwu and I believe the Hawks have a solid lineup to compete with any team in the league. The cliche goes “only time will tell.” This lineup will compete night in and night out, but this is not my father’s Hawks starting lineup. The Hawks regular season begins next Wednesday, December 23 at Chicago Bulls. Tipoff set for 8:00 amHeader Photo Courtesy of NBA.com
Follow me on Twitter @makirkley for up-to-date tweets, and my views on what’s going on in the world of sports.
Kirkley's Sports Korner 