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Atlanta Hawks Post Players Ranked Last in On-Ball Defense

BBall Index shined a light on the Hawks interior defense.

Pat Benson

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It's no secret that the Atlanta Hawks are bad on defense. The team's 113.1 defensive rating is bottom-five in the league. A lot of the blame has rightfully been placed on their perimeter players. However, new metrics from BBall Index shows that the frontcourt has problems too.

Out of all 30 NBA teams, the Hawks big men have the worst on-ball defense, according to the website. If you are looking for a further breakdown of the company's formula, check out the tweet below. 

That is certainly an alarming statistic. But keep in mind these ratings are from just one website and may not capture everything going on with the on-ball defense. If you have watched Hawks games this season, you know that the team's post players are often forced out of position to clean up the guards' mess.

According to Basketball-Reference, Clint Capela and John Collins are ranked first and second on the team for Defensive Win Share (DWS) with ratings of 1.9 and 1.3, respectively. Additionally, Onyeka Okongwu has the fifth-highest DWS on the team, with a rating of 0.6.

At the end of the day, two axioms hold true - basketball is a team sport, and defense wins championships. Finger-pointing won't do the Hawks any good as they try to fight their way into the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's AllHawks.com for breaking news, highlights, and analysis.

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Pat Benson
PAT BENSON

Pat Benson covers the Atlanta Hawks for Sports Illustrated's All Hawks. He has covered the NBA for several years and is the author of "Kobe Bryant's Sneaker History (1996-2020)".

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