The Atlanta Hawks are 7-11 on the season.
Despite that harsh reality on the eve of arguably their most daunting challenge yet, they also boast one of the NBA’s 10 best lineups.
The Hawks starting lineup of (1-5) Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Rischer, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela has a plus-4.3 net rating, per NBA.com’s advanced stats. That ranks eighth among all lineups to log at least 100 minutes together.
It gets even better the more you drill down too.
That group’s net rating ranks fifth among all lineups with at least 150 minutes together, and they have not even gotten high-level shooting from long distance out of any of the five players.
Young is having another down season from deep. Johnson has not shot it with the same consistency as last season, though that was an outlier for his career so far. He has also shot it better recently.
Neither Capela nor Daniels have ever been big threats from the outside.
Daniels has flashed potential there, but the Hawks need consistency. And Risacher is 7-for-36 from deep since canning 6-of-10 against the New York Knicks nine games ago.
The 3-ball has been a staple of Quin Snyder teams throughout the coach’s pro career. It is even more imperative now than ever given they are still not a great or even good defensive team. For that reason, their matchup against Cleveland looms large.
We have already touched on how potent the Cavaliers’ offense has been. Cleveland has the best record in the Eastern Conference entering play on November 27. But they also boast the top-ranked offensive rating in the league.
Less discussed but equally important, the Cavs have the 10th-best defensive rating too.
That is a tricky spot for a Hawks team that ranks 23rd and 22nd, respectively, in those categories this season.
Injuries have been a big part of why the Hawks have struggled. Unfortunately, they have continued to struggle despite getting healthy over the last few games. Getting back on the right track against the Cavs is a tall task.
However, the Hawks did overcome the odds to beat the Celtics in Boston earlier this season.
The Hawks are 53-68 under Snyder in less than two full seasons’ worth of games; despite his tenure already spanning three campaigns.
Like Young’s slow shooting start, patience might be best when discussing Snyder.
His first two seasons in Utah ended with 38 wins and 40 wins. The Jazz won 51 games and made the playoffs in Year 3, snapping a four-year franchise drought. Snyder helped the Hawks finish getting to the postseason after joining the organization for the final 21 games in 2022-23.
They made the Play-In Tournament last season for the second straight year but missed the playoffs.
In that respect, the Hawks can get ahead of schedule with a playoff berth this season.
