Kent Bazemore: Ready to Start?

Kent Bazemore has been the starting small forward for the Atlanta Hawks during the preseason. Is he ready for starter’s minutes in the 2015-15 NBA season?

Kent Bazemore is entering his fourth season in the NBA, his second with the Atlanta Hawks. Bazemore improved his overall game in 2014-15, becoming a more effective three-point shooter (.364) and boasted career highs in both Offensive and Defensive Ratings, 94 and 102, respectively.

Down the stretch, Kent Bazemore’s growth Atlanta Hawks HC Mike Budenholzer’s system essentially made starting SF DeMarre Carroll expendable, or rather too expensive for the Atlanta Hawks. In the 2015 NBA Playoffs, Bazemore had a 98 ORTG and a 102 DRTG. While the entire Hawks’ offense struggled against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, Bazemore proved he could hold his own against the best in the NBA on both ends of the floor.

With DeMarre Carroll signing a multi-year deal with the Atlantic’s Toronto Raptors, the Atlanta Hawks were left with the challenge of replacing Carroll’s productivity at the three. What HC Mike Budenholzer and GM Wes Wilcox decided to do was effectively replace Carroll in the aggregate.

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By trading for C Tiago Splitter and G Tim Hardaway, Jr., signing G Justin Holiday in free agency, and both G/F Thabo Sefolosha and G/F Kent Bazemore’s familiarity in Bud’s system, Carroll’s production was ultimately accounted for. The problem, however, remained as to whom would start at the three for the Atlanta Hawks.

The thought of starting out a game big with Splitter at center, Al Horford at power forward, and Paul Millsap at the three seemed too unorthodox to get away with in the Small Ball Era of the NBA. Naturally, many thought that Sefolosha would assume the starting three spot, as he had been a starting wing with the Oklahoma City Thunder not even two years ago.

However, Sefolosha is coming off a season-ending ankle injury suffered during his altercation with the NYPD and might honestly be better suited as a defensive specialist coming off the Atlanta bench. Of the three primary wing defenders on the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, Sefolosha was by far the most limited offensive player of the group. Both DeMarre Carroll and Kent Bazemore were able to shoot from a high percentage from the outside.

With Sefolosha out for the season after the nightclub incident in New York City, Atlanta had only so much depth out on the wing defensively for a deep playoff run. One could argue that Thabo Sefolosha’s broken ankle was the end of the Atlanta Hawks’ realistic title hopes last year.

When Carroll went down during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals with what then looked like a certain ACL tear, it was Kent Bazemore who stepped up his game and had to start at small forward for the Atlanta Hawks. Here was an UDFA who was getting his first real chance at a regular rotational role having to guard LeBron James in the ECF.

Though the Atlanta Hawks were promptly swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Cleveland Cavaliers, I felt that Kent Bazemore performed admirably and had at worst earned a large role in the Atlanta Hawks rotation in 2015-16.

Kent Bazemore had long relied on his obvious athleticism and defensive prowess to carve out a gig in the National Basketball Association. Through Coach Bud’s system, Bazemore has become a more complete basketball player. He now has the ball handling skills and the soft touch to succeed on offense in the NBA.

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