Atlanta Hawks: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs Detroit Basketball
The Bad
Trae Young’s Three Point Shooting and Turnovers
Trae Young is really laboring from beyond the three-point line. In the month of November he has made just 3/26 attempts from beyond the arch. His three-point percentage is down to a paltry 26 percent.
Trae Young only attempted three shots from beyond the arch against the Pistons, and missed all 3. To be fair one was a heave near half court at the end of a quarter. One attempt was a long pull up three that rimmed out, and the other was a spot up attempt.
Trae Young has been rushing his spot up attempts when the ball swings back to him. This is something that he should be able to notice on tape and correct fairly easily.
The Hawks coaching staff would also be wise to run Trae on some screens off ball, in order to get him some open attempts from three-point range. Trae is too good of a shooter to be struggling the way that he has been recently.
Opposing teams have started trapping Trae Young hard against the pick and roll. Some games Trae has responded well to the traps, and when his teammates make shots, he has picked teams a part. Other games Trae has rushed his passes and turned the ball over too much. The latter happened against Detroit.
Trae Young turned the ball over six times in the loss to Detroit. That was one more turnover than assist for Young, and more than one-third of the squad’s turnovers for the game. Trae really gets in trouble when he jumps to pass. That’s something coaches teach against at the earliest levels of basketball.
Trae must be more patient against the trap and make the proper pass. The Hawks coaching staff must also install some sets designed to make teams pay against the trap. This will put Hawks players in the right position and ensure that Trae Young knows where his outlets will be.
Atlanta Hawks Wing Play
The Atlanta Hawks didn’t get nearly enough production from the shooting guard and small forward positions in losing to Detroit. Combined, the Hawks wings made only 8/25 shots, shooting only 32 percent from the field. They scored only 26 points in 100 minutes of playing time.
Starting wings Taurean Waller-Prince and Kent Bazemore played only 22 mins each due to the blowout nature of the game. Prince scored six points shooting 2/5 and making 1/3 threes. He also had five rebounds and two steals in the match up.
Taurean Prince has been hampered by an ankle and wrist injury. It’s essential that he get healthy as he’s the team’s most capable scorer. The Hawks should definitely run sets designed to free Prince for open jump-shots. They did so against the Miami Heat and it was effective. Interestingly enough that was the team’s last victory.
Kent Bazemore had a quiet night, scoring only eight points. He was 3/6 shooting and did not attempt a three. He seemed mush less aggressive than normal. Kent only had three rebounds, one assists and failed to get a steal. Atlanta needs much more consistency from Kent, the team’s longest tenured player.
Deandre’ Bembry has provided energy and play-making for the Atlanta Hawks this season, although he has been quite erratic and out of control at times.
Against Detroit Bembry was often out of control on drives, making just 2/5 shots in the paint. Overall he was 2/6 from the field and missed his only shot from beyond the arch. Even worse, he made just 4/8 free-throws, a Shaquille O’Neal like 50 percent.
Deandre’ Bembry scored eight points in the game. He didn’t add much value elsewhere, as he had only three rebounds, zero assists, and zero steals. Bembry has to play well more often, if he doesn’t want to lose mins to Justin Anderson when he returns from injury.
Kevin Huerter returned after missing one game due to personal reasons. Huerter has recently shown signs of the NBA game slowing down for him. Unfortunately against Detroit, Huerter had a bad outing. Huerter led the teams wings in minutes played with 29, but scored only two points.
Kevin had an off night, scoring only two points and making only 1/5 shots. He missed the only two threes he attempted. Huerter did add value by pulling down six rebounds and dishing three assists.
It was a bad showing for Kevin Huerter but that’s typical of rookies. The Hawks should stick with Kevin and even start him as they continue to develop him.
Tyler Dorsey saw ten minutes of action against the Pistons and did not make the most of it. Dorsey was ice-cold, missing all three shots he tried, and both three pointers hoisted. What was really concerning, is Dorsey was a brick Mason from the free throw line, making only 2/6.
If Tyler doesn’t play better when given the opportunity, he will soon hear the footsteps of wing Daniel Hamilton who has recently recovered from injury.