Atlanta Hawks
The 2021-22 Atlanta Hawks can be defined by squeaking into the playoffs thanks to winning both Eastern Conference Elimination Play-In Games and then losing to the Heat in the first round in five games.
What did we learn?
The Hawks did not make it back to the second round of the playoffs, let alone the Eastern Conference Finals.
After coming within two wins of The Finals last season, the Hawks barely made the playoffs at all.
Trae Young went from playoff revelation to playoff dud faster than you can say “Gabe Vincent.”
Looking back, it seems so obvious now that the Hawks would underachieve this season after overachieving so significantly last season. Hindsight is always 20-20, yes, but repeating that type of success when you have such a young and inexperienced team is difficult to pull off in the NBA, especially in today’s Eastern Conference. And in general, high expectations for teams that just overachieved have a history of not boding well. (Just look at the Knicks.)
Make no mistake, Trae Young still had a helluva season, and the Hawks dealt with a bunch of injuries once again.
Ice Trae started slow from 3, but he more than found his way, finishing with his best 3-point shooting season yet at 38.2 percent from downtown on high volume of 8 attempts per game. He also led the league in total assists while averaging 28.4 points a night, tied for the 5th-highest points per game average, tied with one Luka Doncic.
Forever the Hawks engine and maestro, Ice Trae led the Hawks to the #2 offense in the NBA. But defense was the glaring problem for Atlanta. Trae can sometimes fall asleep and too often at the most inopportune times.
De’Andre Hunter’s terrible injury luck continued, lost for two months of the season due to wrist surgery. As expected, the Hawks defense was even worse without him, a bottom-5 defensive rating, right where they finished for the season. But when Hunter returned to the lineup in mid-January, Atlanta was at least the #19 defense the rest of the way.
Mid-January, when Hunter returned and Cam Reddish was traded away, that is precisely when the Hawks turned their moribund season around. Trading Reddish was a move that we understood but didn’t like — Game 6 Reddish in the 2020-21 ECF forever stuck in our minds. However, the move helped Nate McMillan gain clarity with his rotations, flipping the script and looking like second-half-of-last-season Hawks when Hunter returned and Reddish was out with an Achilles injury.
On Jan. 11, the Hawks were 17-22 and in 12th place in the East, looking like roadkill. Over the final three months of the season, the Hawks went 26-17, good enough to soar to a 9th-place finish to make the play-in.
In February and March, Trae Young had seven games of scoring more than 40 points. SEVEN. Atlanta’s record in those seven games? 7-0.
It was a stark reminder that Trae Young can be the best player on the court on any given night. And a lot of nights, he is exactly that.
Trae wasn’t the only one who picked up the pace as the season went along. Bogdan Bogdanovic increased his points per game in every month, up to 18.4 a night in March after just 11.6 in October/November. Bogdanovic played fantastic when he was healthy. He missed a large chunk of December, but helped pick up the slack without John Collins.
John the Baptist dealt with a foot sprain in February which graduated to plantar fasciitis in March. Collins played in just four games after the All-Star Break.
Clint Capela took a while to shake off the Achilles injury that was plaguing him, and his numbers were down across the board.
There were portions of the season where Onyeka Okongwu was the Hawks big man wreaking the most havoc. Okongwu missed the first two months of the season recovering from his torn labrum in last year’s playoffs, but he showed some real glimpses of being a force inside. (Just ask the Lakers.)
Gallinari really struggled for a lot of the season, especially at the beginning. The Rooster looked like he was his age, 33 years old with 12 years of service in the league.
Kevin Huerter dealt with an ankle injury at the beginning of the season but averaged a career-high from 3 at 38.9 percent on 5.6 attempts per game. As a primary catch-and-shoot guy (91% of all Huerter’s 3s were assisted), Red Velvet is a nice complimentary offensive weapon for Trae, but Huerter’s lack of defensive prowess next to Trae is a definite problem.
Atlanta’s defense was 26th for the season and gave up 130 or more points eight times. (To be fair, Atlanta’s offense scored 130 or more points 11 times.)
The Hawks at least did make it back to the playoffs which looked quite unlikely at several different points in the season. They also stomped the Hornets in the play-in and then won on the road in Cleveland. And Trae did have that game-winning floater at home to prevent getting swept by the Heat.
But the Heat’s defense and physicality was far too much for the Hawks to handle. Trae averaged 6 turnovers in the series and scored less than 12 points in three out of the five games.
A roster shake-up here seems likely. (Travis Schlenk has hinted as much.)
The Hawks went on their big run post-All-Star without John Collins. The Rooster isn’t getting any younger. Clint Capela regressed.
At least they won’t have to worry about that early-season mindset of the regular season being “a lot more boring than the playoffs.”
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Additional Notes
Shout out to Lou Williams who is contemplating retiring. Lemon Pepper Lou didn’t do much for the Hawks this season, but we know he’s the greatest Sixth Man of All Time.
Also shout out to Delon Wright who played the most games for the Hawks this season at 77. It’s rare that you see the guy that played the most games for a team average just 4.4 points per game.
Given all of the Hawks’ injuries that occurred this season, it was frustrating that high-flying rookie Jalen Johnson didn’t see more action. Johnson only played in 22 games. He should be catching lobs from Trae next season on the regular.
The Hawks took a flier on Kevin Knox, part of the return for Cam Reddish. Knox did not exactly live up to being the #9 pick in the draft, but perhaps he can be an end-of-the-bench player.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
There is too much firepower here for the Hawks not to soar. Over 47.5 wins.
Hawks 2021-22 record: (43-39)
Nope, our preseason Hawks Over/Under prediction did not hit.
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What’s Next?
The #16 pick in the draft. Sure seems like a versatile defensive-oriented player fits the bill.
De’Andre Hunter is due for a contract extension. A bit of a tricky one given his injury history. Hunter has missed 91 games already in just three seasons.
As it stands now, if the Hawks bring back Gallo, they will enter the luxury tax. A tough pill to swallow for a team that barely made the playoffs.
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Favorite Hawks Highlights of the 2021-22 Season:
Don’t worry, we didn’t forget that “Ice Trae, bombs away” was still very much a thing.
