After almost 1/3 of the National Basketball Association season, the Atlanta Hawks are teetering in the Play-In zone, which will allow them to play transitional relegation matches for the right to get into the Playoffs. However, the distance is still quite long and a lot can happen before the end of the regular season. Fans of bets make their predictions for the NBA using mostbetuz apk, and teams like Atlanta are the most interesting, because with equal opponents or outsiders, bookmakers offer quite “tasty” odds for the victory of the Hawks, and with confrontations against the leaders of Western and the Eastern Conference, and there is every chance to significantly increase the rate.
Let’s take a look at what the Atlanta Hawks’ chances of making it to the Playoffs this season are and what to expect from Trey Young, DeJonte Murray and company in the remaining games.
Atlanta roster update in the offseason
The Hawks finished last season with a 43-39 win-loss record, were able to clinch wins in the play-offs and eventually qualified for the Playoffs. However, in the first round, the Hawks had to fight against the Miami Heat, a team that came into the meeting as favorites and proved their superiority. Miami beat their opponent 4-1.
After last season’s ignominious end, Atlanta began recruiting De’Andre Hunter in the preseason, who showed promise in a losing streak against Miami to lead the team in Summer League scoring with 21.2 points per game. The player was signed to a new rookie contract.
On the eve of the new season, Atlanta acquired a talented point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, Dejont Murray, who was supposed to improve the team’s game in attack. However, pundits say Atlanta will need to improve defensively first, as they allowed opponents to average a whopping 112.4 points per game last season.
What to expect from a bunch of Trae Young and Dejont Murray in the new season?
If you combine usage percentage and assist percentage, the top five in the NBA from 2021 to 2022 are Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Nikola Jokic, Dejonte Murray and Ja Morant. Young and Murray are now teammates. However, there is only one ball, and now Atlanta has two starting point guards. Both of these players are accustomed to thinking through almost every aspect of their teams’ offense. For this reason, Young and Murray will have to somehow share the ball offensively.
The obvious benefit of having a top-notch perimeter defender in Dejounte Murray, who can spare Young’s strength to work offensively, is also great. Of course, at the beginning of the season, the players will “grind” to each other and play well, but rest assured, the moment will come when we will see a completely “different” Atlanta.
At the beginning of the season, we already saw that in individual matches, Young and Murray form a chemistry and then the Hawks are simply unstoppable.
Can the Atlanta Hawks make the Playoffs?
This is probably the most important question that interests Atlanta fans. Previously, the Hawks relied on Young to be productive on offense, but now DeJonte Murray has arrived and will be stealing a lot of shots and passes from Trey. Whether this is good or bad, time will tell, but now Atlanta has one more talented player, and this cannot but become a plus.
For the Hawks to make it to the Playoffs, their two stars will need to find ways to make each other better no matter who has the ball, or they will become bystanders, waiting for their turn to make a shot or a key pass. This does not mean that Atlanta is doomed. This means that the club’s coach and the basketball players themselves need to do a lot of work in order to understand how to play in the new conditions. By simply being on the lineup, Murray should almost single-handedly prevent the Hawks’ colossal problems with players off the bench, which was a big problem last season.
We believe that the Hawks should perform at least as well as last season and take a place in the Play-in zone. In order to climb to the 6th position in the Eastern Conference, the Hawks will have to try very hard. It will be difficult to beat the competition with Boston, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and Toronto.
