The Good, Bad and Ugly from the Atlanta Hawks' Early Season
The Atlanta Hawks have started the 2014-15 regular season with a 1-1 record. The team lost its first contest in Toronto to the Raptors 109-102 on October 29 and won its home opener on November 1 against the Indiana Pacers 102-92.
Neither the Hawks' overall performance nor their record screams "good," "bad" or "ugly"—"average" would be the most appropriate word. But certain players and team-wide trends have been better or worse than advertised.
The Good
Jeff Teague's Brilliance
You know how it's usually easier to score points when you're closer to the basket?
Well, Jeff Teague is spitting in the face of that assumption. The 26-year-old floor general is shooting just 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) at the rim while shooting 8-of-9 (88.9 percent) from everywhere else on the court through two games.
Hopefully the percentage from in close improves, but Teague is still in the middle of a stellar beginning to the season. If people were sleeping on his All-Star candidacy before the season, they shouldn't be now—Teague leads all Eastern Conference guards in player efficiency rating (32.2).
Look at Teague's numbers compared to last year's All-Star point guards from the East, Kyrie Irving and John Wall.
| Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | True Shooting % | PER | |
| J. Teague | 22.5 | 3.5 | 7.0 | 3.0 | 70.0 | 32.2 |
| K. Irving | 22.5 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 57.0 | 18.9 |
| J. Wall | 21.7 | 4.7 | 11.0 | 3.0 | 56.3 | 25.8 |
It's still early, but the improvement Teague has shown is encouraging.
The Return of Al Horford
Al Horford was supposed to take awhile to get his rhythm back. In five preseason games, Horford scored a total of 38 points on 45 shots, per ESPN, and didn't quite look himself, especially on the offensive end.
But in two regular-season games, he's picked up right where he left off from when he injured his pectoral in 2013-14.
Horford was satisfactory against the Raptors (12 points, 13 rebounds on 6-of-15 shooting in 31 minutes), but he really got the better of the Indiana Pacers' big men in the November 1 matchup. His full highlights from the game against Indiana are below, courtesy of YouTube.
Overall, Horford's PER (22.3) is a hair above what it was above last season (22.0). Considering the Hawks won 16 of their 29 games with Horford in the lineup and were the East's No. 3 seed before his injury last year, this is an encouraging sign for the team.
Three-Point Shooting
Atlanta leads the league in three-point field-goal percentage (47.6). This represents a sharp increase from the No. 13 rank and 36.3 percent success rate the team had a year ago. The solid ball movement through two games (26 assists per game) is no doubt contributing to the team's good looks from beyond the arc.
Shooting guard Kyle Korver is leading the barrage with a stellar 8-of-10 from behind the arc so far. Stretch 4 Mike Scott has connected on five treys in seven attempts, and Teague has chipped in with two makes on three shots.
However, the Hawks only rank No. 18 in the league in threes attempted (21.0 per game). Moving forward, the squad mustn't be afraid to pull the trigger on the open three-point shots its offense creates.
The Bad
Rebounding
Old habits die hard, I guess—the Hawks have ranked No. 20 or worse in rebound differential every season since 2009-10, per ESPN.
So far this season, the team ranks No. 28 in the statistic.
How should the team work to improve the problem? The onus is on the post players to improve their physicality and technique on the boards. Every big man who has stepped foot on the court for the Hawks this season (Horford, Paul Millsap, Pero Antic, Mike Scott and Elton Brand) is rebounding at a rate below his career average.
Well, except for Mike Scott. He's averaging 3.5 boards per game compared to his career mark of 3.3.
Atlanta cannot expect to be a serious Eastern Conference contender if it continues to get bullied down low by opposing big men.
Free-Throw Shooting
Cashing in from the charity stripe was mainly a problem against Toronto. In a seven-point loss, the Hawks missed eight of their 17 freebies (52.9 percent). Atlanta was only down four points with 32 seconds remaining, and a better free-throw shooting percentage might have swung the game's outcome in the Hawks' favor.
Overall, Atlanta's team free-throw percentage of 68.0 ranks it No. 26 in the NBA.
From here on out, guys like Millsap (7-of-13 from the line), Brand (0-of-2) and Scott (2-of-4) need to stay focused and composed when they earn free shots.
The Ugly
Atlanta's One-Man Bench
This is a blanket statement here, but it needs to be said: the Hawks' reserves, outside of Scott, have played terribly.
Look at this discouraging table displaying the statistics of each Hawks sub:
| Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | PER | |
| P. Antic | 20.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.6 |
| M. Scott | 17.5 | 12.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 28.4 |
| T. Sefolosha | 15.5 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| S. Mack | 15.0 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 10.5 |
| K. Bazemore | 13.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 8.1 |
| E. Brand | 12.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -1.2 |
| D. Schroder | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -3.3 |
Keep in mind, the league-average PER is 15. Scott is the Hawks' only bench player above that mark. Only Shelvin Mack is above 10, and he's still far below-average at 10.5.
Thabo Sefolosha has to be the most disappointing player off the bench. The new Hawk has shot 1-of-8 from the field for a total of three points in his first two games, with a PER of 1.4. He's averaging more fouls per game (2.0) than points (1.5). Sefolosha's known more for his defense, but no amount of skill on that end of the floor makes up for how badly he's playing offensively.
However, the Hawks should have the pieces to fix the bench problem in-house.
Kent Bazemore averaged 13.1 points per game in 23 contests for the Lakers last season, and Mack averaged 17.4 points per 36 minutes in the Hawks' first-round playoff series loss to the Pacers last spring. They should regain their scoring chops pretty soon. And rookie power forward Adreian Payne is dealing with plantar fasciitis (per Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), but can be an offensive threat when he joins the lineup.
Conclusion
As we can see, it's been a real mixed bag for the Hawks to start the season.
The team has its share of issues to deal with: rebounding, free-throw shooting and, most of all, a lack of a spark from the reserves (outside of Scott).
But the star power the Hawks are displaying is encouraging, and so is the three-point shooting.
While some of the more encouraging numbers from the early season will probably fall back down to earth, some of the team's struggles will also work themselves out.
Although it's still early, the even balance of positive and negative early-season trends shows the Hawks are playing like the team we thought they would be: a mid-tier playoff squad in the Eastern Conference.
Note: All statistics are from Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated. Season stats are updated through all November 1 games.
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