NBA Analyst Says This One Thing Should Be The Hawks Goal For The Rest of The Season

What should be the biggest goal this season for the Atlanta Hawks?

Nov 9, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) controls the ball against the Chicago Bulls during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Hawks are 6-7 and have seen some real ups and downs to start the year. They have some bad losses to the Wizards, an 18-point blown lead to Chicago, and a loss at buzzer to the Pistons, but there have been good moments as well. They pulled a huge upset vs the Celtics, beat the Knicks, and young players like Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Zaccharie Risacher are showing how much young talent the team has on the roster. With so much youth and inconsistency though, what should be the top goal this season for Atlanta? Bleacher Report NBA analyst Grant Hughes had one take on that question. He says that the top goal for the Hawks should be keep Trae Young moving and get him involved in other ways in the offense:

The last thing an NBA offense should be is predictable. Though it hasn't produced meaningful change yet, the Atlanta Hawks should continue to work on varying how they use leading scorer Trae Young.

"Something the Hawks haven't utilized before is Trae's gravity," center Larry Nance Jr. told Jared Weiss of The Athletic. "Him being on the court means 1.5 guys need to know where he is at all times defensively. ... We're excited to start using decoy Trae Young a little bit."

Young has been an on-ball, heliocentric, high-usage threat for most of his career, but the Hawks are trying to use him in ways that elevate the play of his teammates while making it harder for defenses to establish a plan.

This season, a slightly higher share of his shots are of the catch-and-shoot variety (as opposed to off the dribble), and he's scoring a higher percentage of field goals via others' assists than ever. Though those tactics haven't produced meaningful change yet—the Atlanta Hawks are 11th in offense, just like they were a year ago—it's still worth finding more ways to make Young dangerous when he doesn't have the ball."

This has been a point of debate for Young's entire career. He has always done better with the ball in his hands and has not been the same kind of threat off the ball. If he can find a way to change that, Young and this team could really elevate on offense.

One player who has elevated this season is Daniels, who Young praised a lot in his postgame presser last night after the win over the Wizards:

"Yeah I mean I see first team defense I mean as many years as he wants to, as many years as he's playing and yeah I mean you're going to see what he's able to do now that he has the opportunity to play a lot. I mean, offensively, it's not forced on him. He doesn't have to force anything. He just allows the game to come to him and that's what makes it easier for everybody. I mean, I can shoot not really good at all and he can still go out here and play really well just because he's letting the game come to him and just playing off each other, off us, offensively and defensively, we're just playing on him. So I mean, that's what we love from him."

Young struggled shooting the ball last night, but it did not really matter. Some of that is the Hawks's supporting cast is good around Young and some of it is the Wizards are pretty terrible. Young was 5-18 last night and aside from some threes, he struggled to get comfortable and find rhythm. It is no cause of concern, but Young has struggled in two of the three games vs the Wizards this year.

Additional Links:

Trae Young On Dyson Daniels: "I See First Team Defense As Many Years As He Wants It"

Biggest Takeaways From Atlanta Hawks 129-117 Win Over Washington

RECAP: Hawks Defense Leads The Way In 129-117 Win Over Washington