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Mike Muscala: Where He Fits in Bud’s Rotation

By John Buhler

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PF/C Mike Muscala will begin his third season in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks.  After playing sparingly as a rookie in 2013-14 and for most of the first half of 2014-15, Moose continued to progress in Atlanta’s player development program to crack the Hawks bench rotation in the second half.

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Muscala even played big minutes as a stretch four/five for the Hawks in the 2015 NBA Playoffs.  Had it not been for Paul Pierce‘s clutch bank shot in DC, Moose would have been the hero in Atlanta for his miraculous long-range three-pointer to give the Atlanta Hawks a Game 3 in the Eastern Semis over the Washington Wizards.

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Entering Year Three, Mike Muscala is the featured player on the Atlanta Hawks Summer League squad as he looks to further polish his game and become a reliable rotational piece for HC Mike Budenholzer in 2015-16.  On a deep Atlanta Hawks team, can Mike Muscala break into the 10-man rotation of Coach Bud this upcoming season?

The reason the 10-man rotation is significant is that it basically means that he will play in most regular season games and be a factor coming off the bench in the playoffs.  Ideally, Atlanta’s starting five for 2015-16 will be Jeff Teague at point guard, Kyle Korver at shooting guard, Thabo Sefolosha on the wing at small forward, Paul Millsap at stretch four/power forward, and Al Horford at stretch five/center.  One could argue that newly acquired C Tiago Splitter could start some nights for the Hawks with Horford and Millsap moving down to the 4 and the 3 respectively, opting to bring Thabo off the bench as a Sixth Man.

If you add in backup PG extraordinaire 22-year old Dennis Schroder, that’s seven of the ten guys obviously in Bud’s rotation.  Wing Kent Bazemore elevated his play in 2014-15 in his first year with the Hawks, becoming a strong outside shooter and continuing to prove his value as an outstanding wing defender.  He will likely stay in Bud’s 10-man rotation this upcoming winter.

I feel that the 9th through 11th players in Coach Budenholzer’s rotation will be Mike Muscala, Tim Hardaway, Jr., and recently signed wing Justin Holiday in some order.  With C Pero Antic electing to return to play in Europe next year and rookie C Walter ‘Edy’ Tavares still very much a work in progress offensively, I see Mike Muscala playing huge minutes for the Atlanta Hawks in 2015-16 as the 9th player in Bud’s rotation.

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Behind only Horford, Millsap, and Splitter, I see these four bigs continue to thrive in Bud’s system.  Each player including Splitter who was with Bud in San Antonio are well indoctrinated in what Mike Budenholzer wants to do on the court.  The crucial part to Moose’s elevation is that he seems more coachable than sharpshooting PF Mike Scott.  Muscala proved he has a more well-rounded game than the Emoji Man with his superior rebounding and low-post presence, as well as stretching the floor with a smooth jump shot.

Though I like Mike Scott’s energy coming off the bench, I feel that his inability to grasp Budenholzer’s defensive concepts may leave him out of the 10-man rotation in 2015-16 and ultimately out of town after the season.  Because in my opinion that Mike Muscala has surpassed Scott on the Hawks depth chart, I feel that Moose will have plenty of opportunities to shine for Atlanta and possibly continue to climb up the rotational hierarchy.

Next: Atlanta Hawks: Top 5 Head Coaches

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