Zach Lowe Labels the Hawks as the NBA's Most Disappointing Team

Atlanta has lost five straight games and is 9-14

It has not been a great season so far for the Atlanta Hawks. They are 9-14 and have lost five straight and are currently outside of the playoff picture. Rising star Jalen Johnson was sidelined with a wrist injury and De'Andre Hunter has missed two straight games. This was a team that was hopeful to be among the best in the Eastern Conference, but they are far from that. 

In fact, ESPN NBA Analyst Zach Lowe called the Hawks the most disappointing team in the NBA in his latest column. 

"This is the league's most disappointing team. The Hawks are going nowhere, with a dispiriting night-to-night sameness. They would likely blame it on the injury to Jalen Johnson, a sizzle of energy and rebounding and defense who was Atlanta's second- or third-best player through 15 games. De'Andre Hunter has also missed time recently, forcing the Hawks to play either super-small (with all three of Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Bogdan Bogdanovic) or super-big with both Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu.

Every team deals with injuries. The Hawks have flat-lined at 9-14.

Their offense looks fine on paper -- fifth in efficiency! Hooray! But so many possessions are your-turn, my-turn exercises in boredom."

Trae Young vs the Raptors / Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

There were plenty more criticisms from Lowe, especially on how the Hawks are operating their offense: 

"Capela shrugs three times before the Hawks trigger any action. Once Dejounte Murray gets the ball, Trae Young turns into a statue; he spends almost the entire possession standing atop the "E" and then the "R" in the "arena" wordmark. Neither Hawks star guard has much juice off the ball. They still take a ton of mid-range shots; Quin Snyder, in his first full year as head coach, has only coaxed small stylistic tweaks.

Playing in such a predictable system where two players do almost everything has to suck some spirit from the rest of the team -- spirit and fight you need to build a competitive defense. That effect might be larger when one of those two players is also the worst defender on the team -- someone others must cover for every possession.

The Hawks traded a bundle of first-round picks to pair Murray and Young, and the experiment has not paid off. The team has been mediocre since the 2021 conference finals -- one game under .500 combined over two-plus subsequent seasons, with three total playoff wins. If they reach Jan. 15 in this state, everything should be on the table going into the trade deadline."

De'Andre Hunter guarding Tobias Harris / Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

This is not the first time this week that Lowe has had criticism for Atlanta. 

Lowe and Kevin Pelton were discussing the Hawks yesterday on his Lowe's Podcast, the Lowe Post, and when talking about the nicest thing he could say about Atlanta this season, this is what Lowe had to say:

"My nice thing to say about the Hawks is that they have achieved clarity and that clarity is that their team is not good. This has not worked. The 2021 Conference Finals run is a long time and mega trade ago. The Hawks are 9-13, they are 5th in offense, which is fine, and 27th in defense and I just hate watching them. I hate watching them. They are -26 with Murray and Young on the floor together with an offensive rating that would be about average and if this is what they are..."

Lowe did have high praise for how forward Jalen Johnson was playing before he got hurt:

"Jalen Johnson was their second-best player before he got injured. They have something in that dude. He was their second-best player. You could argue with the way that Trae Young was shooting that he might have been the best player on the team."

Dejounte Murray vs the 76ers / Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

When appearing on Bill Simmons podcast earlier this week, Doc Rivers was discussing the pairing of Murray and Young and if he thought it would work and he gave his honest assessment:

"It has not worked. They are both small in size. Now, Murray will try to defend and he is very competitive, but he is still small at the end of the day and slight. Yeah... I don't see it working. I'm with you, I thought Q (Haws head coach Quin Snyder) would come in and change them and they have, they have been better on offense at times, but after that, they are not a deep team and you just don't see it on a night-to-night basis with them."

Rivers did praise Young for his ability to be clutch late in games, while also criticizing Young's defense :

"Trae at the end of a game... no one wants to be in a one-point game and you saw it last year against Boston, you don't want to be in a one-point game when that dude is on the floor with the ball because he is capable of making shots, but the defense from him is poor and you have to do both ends if you want to win in this league"

I will say that Young has been better on defense this season and has been putting good effort in on that end. He has his limitations for sure, but his effort level has been pretty good from him.

Atlanta has been thrown in the middle of a lot of trade rumors and if they can't get it going soon this season, more people are going to come to the same conclusion as Doc Rivers and say that Young and Murray are not a good pairing for this team.

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