The shorthanded Atlanta Hawks fell to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, where the East’s top team dominated the Hawks by being more physical. The Hawks aren’t exactly the strongest team. Their wings, with the exception of Dyson Daniels, are all on the skinnier side of NBA players, and this was readily apparent against Detroit.
Since drafting Cade Cunningham, Detroit has assembled a team of the fastest, strongest, and highest jumping prospects to surround their lead guard. Their recent draft acquisitions – Ron Holland, Ausaur Thompson, Jaden Ivey, and Jalen Duren – shared a common trait on their scouting reports: elite athletic ability. Contrast this with a team like the Hawks, who valued skill and feel over athletic traits in selecting Asa Newell, Zaccharie Risacher, and Kobe Bufkin.
Hawks must address their lack of strength to be contenders
In a vacuum, I prefer Atlanta’s approach to teambuilding. A player like Newell, with proven shooting and a high IQ (for a rookie, at least), is a far safer bet than a player like Holland, who failed to impress in any department outside of athleticism with the G League Ignite.
But we don’t live in a vacuum. The Hawks’ overall lack of size allows teams like the Pistons to dominate them inside. The Pistons scored 72 points in the paint – over half their total points and 22 more than Atlanta’s tally. They shot at an 82.6% clip at the rack, which ranks in the 91st percentile this season.
The problem? Detroit is the 10th-worst team finishing at the rim. They get to the paint often, but don’t convert at an efficient clip.
Isaiah “Beef Stew” Stewart was the most clear example of Atlanta allowing a preventable offensive advantage by just not having the requisite physicality. Stewart is allegedly only 10 pounds heavier than his most common matchup, Onyeka Okongwu, but a glance at the two players shows Stewart is clearly the stronger man. Stewart went 6/6 from two point range, and his furthest shot from inside the arc was from 5 feet.
But Stewart is a good rim defender. It is much more excusable to allow a dominant interior performance from him than Jaden Ivey or Ron Holland II, as both of whom historically have failed to convert at the cup with efficiency. As you might expect, Atlanta allowed Ivey and Holland to dominate them inside as well. Ivey went 5/6 inside the arc, and Holland went 3/3.
The Hawks need a couple of big bodies on the roster to counter the heavier teams in the league. Of their healthy ten-man rotation, Dyson Daniels is the only player considered particularly strong for his position. The Hawks could use some beef down the lineup, but they have no real pathway to trading for a physically dominant player (outside of Giannis, but the team has shown little urgency to get this move done).