The Hawks fell to the Warriors 113-127 last night. Golden State was coming off the second night of a back-to-back, making me believe Atlanta could steal a road win. Well, Steph Curry reminded Hawks fans he’s one of the most prolific players in league history. Nate McMillan’s squad fell to 4-7 on the season in what has been a sluggish start to a highly anticipated campaign.
Travis Schlenk mostly kept the team that made it within two games of the Finals last year together, and now, there are great expectations to get back there. The Hawks are struggling through the season’s first 11 games, and I have one central point in those early-season miscues — Nate McMillan’s usage of the bench.
The starting lineup of Trae Young-Bogdan Bogdanovic-De’Andre Hunter-John Collins-Clint Capela has taken the court to begin all but one game. The bench minutes have been allocated as such: Cam Reddish (22.4), Kevin Huerter (20.6), Danilo Gallinari (18.0), Soloman Hill (13.8), Lou Williams (11.3), Delon Wright (11.0), and Gorgui Dieng (10.5).
The bench, itself, is struggling; their true shooting percentages are discouraging — Reddish (.533), Huerter (.468), Gallinari (.506), Hill (.333), Williams (.414), Wright (.489), and Dieng (.478). Last year, the league average TS% was around 57%, with anything over 60.0 TS% being elite. Every single member of the Hawks bench is playing poorly. Not one has a positive offensive box +/- — Reddish (-0.9), Huerter (-4.6), Gallinari (-0.1), Hill (-5.5), Williams (-4.0), Wright (-0.1), and Dieng (-2.2).
What was once considered the deepest roster in the Association is now grinding its gears as the Hawks learn which rotations work and which don’t. This is the first time McMillan has had a fully healthy team, and playing a 10- or 11-man rotation can break the flow. Trae Young has somewhat struggled because he seems concerned about getting his teammates going instead of being aggressive and scoring first.
The first quarter of this season (15-20 games) will be experimental for this team and surely won’t be the same squad we see come playoff time. Still, what McMillan is deploying isn’t working. He’s continued to play full bench lineups every game and refuses to let starters play with the second unit. Playing Lou Williams over Delon Wright has to end; Bogi might have to come off the bench; Clint Capela is nearing unplayable territory, not able to make a single field goal right under the basket. Long story short, McMillan absolutely needs to switch things up against the Jazz.
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