The Atlanta Hawks are flashy, young, and have the potential to become a future NBA champion. Below, we'll break down the key impact players for the Hawks and their development in helping the team compete for championships.
Trae Young, Point Guard
Well, who better to start with than your widely acclaimed star point guard? Trae Young has always had his playing style compared to the likes of legendary Golden State point guard Stephen Curry in terms of how he scores the ball and how he distributes the ball among his teammates in such a skillful manner. Young shot 37.1% from the three-point line and 42.6% from the field overall during the 2023-2024 regular season.
Young is also very fast and runs the fast break in an instantaneous, quick-paced manner, helping the Hawks rank 5th in terms of pace. While Young is very solid in terms of offensive ability, his defense and maturity are still questioned for improvement. His perimeter defense stands solid with 1.0 SPG. However, he hardly competes in defense otherwise when it comes down to rebounding, sticking to opposing point guards, and defending other positions. He has never played an entire season in his professional career, only playing between 60-76 games after his rookie year. He is still a great player, but he needs to continue to mature mentally to reach his prime.
Dejounte Murray, Shooting Guard
Next, we have our sidekick star player, Dejounte Murray. Murray seems like a maturing shooting guard who steps up to the plate when the other players don't contribute as much. Murray has established himself as an excellent and respected scorer in the league with 22.4 PPG, ranking 26th among all players.
He also steps up in other categories, such as rebounds (5.3 RPG) and assists (6.4 APG). His presence is so crucial when it comes down to crunch time for the young and growing Hawks team in clutch time. From time to time, he has become a threat to appear and capitalize in various clutch scenarios for Atlanta and has selflessly put his team on his back to victory in many games.
Murray does need to monitor and limit his isolation possessions while going one-on-one with opposing players so often, as he has turned over the ball 191 times this season. Murray can continue to grow into a perennial NBA All-Star if he continues improving his game and overall hustle. He is also a strong defender, currently 1.4 SPG this year.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, Shooting Guard
Bogdan Bogdanovic is a legitimate and talented 6th man and bench player for Atlanta. He can shoot the three ball well with a 37.1% three-point field goal percentage, a 43.0% percentage from the field, has averaged 16.9 ppg and maintained a 91.4% free-throw percentage this season. He has an important impact on Atlanta’s up-tempo and three-point shot finesse style of play for the league.
He also averages 3.1 APG this year, making him a decent passer at the shooting guard position. He generally lacks speed and quick ball handling while running the floor. Bogdanovic also needs to stay healthy, as he played onlyames and started in nine last regular season. He does well defensively, averaging 1.4 SPG as well.
Clint Capela, Center
The closing topic ends on the note of the only post player discussed in this article, Clint Capela. Capela is widely regarded as the Hawks best post-player and the strongest interior game on the team. Capela plays a crucial part in Atlanta’s fast-break offense, with many of the successful buckets in transition resulting from him being on the receiving end of a smooth alley-oop connection.
His post-game is strong but is also considerably in need of more variation of post-moves and abilities. Atlanta is very exciting to watch, but as we continue to observe the various all-around games of the Hawks as a complete team, it lacks dimensions in the team game, such as players who could attack and score the ball in the paint. Murray is the only player for the Hawks who can slash through the point and score consistently.
Capela does well scoring and dominating the paint standing at 6’10” tall and weighing 256 lbs. He is very strong and presents himself as a power threat for Atlanta, with his 10.7 RPG ranking 8th in the league and his 56.9% field-goal percentage ranking 15th this year, along with 11.5 ppg to complement his scoring efficiency. He does this mainly by putting back rebounds and alley-oop's.
He has great leaping ability and explosiveness for a post player his size, so if he adds more variation of a good post-up game package and mobility to his interior dominance, he will grow more and become better down-low. He also needs to attempt to become healthier and not miss as many games.
