Hawks preview: Who will start at shooting guard alongside Trae Young?

Editor’s note: The Hawks’ 2024-25 season begins next month. Each week leading to training camp, the AJC will examine important questions that face the team headed into the season.

The Hawks tried two seasons of running their offense through two ball-dominant guards. But the partnership between guard Trae Young and Dejounte Murray simply did not work, and the team opted to move in another direction. Now, the Hawks will look to find a new backcourt partner to pair alongside Young.

Through 54 games last season, Young played 99% of his minutes as a point guard, per Cleaning the Glass. He ranked in the 80th percentile in points per 100 possessions, with his teammates making 43.1% of his assists. Young bolstered the Hawks’ offense, with the team averaging plus-2.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the court.

By comparison, Murray netted the Hawks plus-0.8 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court, with 27.4% of his teammates making shots off his assists.

So, the Hawks pondered what their future looked like and began to shape their roster for the coming season after they dealt Murray to the Pelicans at the end of June.

“Just evaluating where we’re at,” Hawks general manager Landry Fields said July 10. “It was a hard decision. It was challenging. We knew that where we ultimately want to be was gonna require some challenging decisions. Just not being at that point, currently, where we felt like we can continue on with what we have.

“So, wanted to reshape some things, and this is an unfortunate part of the business. Dejounte is a fantastic player. But we’re excited for him and in his journey on in New Orleans, but we’re also very excited about the guys that we got back, got a few assets with it, too, which are going to be helpful for us to continue to build, so I wish him nothing but the best. He and his family been great with us.”

The Hawks have less than three weeks until training camp opens and more than a month before the regular season begins. So, they still have some time to mull over there options and decide who will start beside Young in the backcourt. Here are five candidates:

The Hawks acquired Daniels from the Pelicans in the trade that sent Murray to New Orleans. At just 21, the Australian guard would add a lengthy guard who could bolster the defense in the backcourt.

Last season, the Hawks languished in the bottom half the NBA in transition defense, as well as opponent points in the paint.

With Daniels in the backcourt, the Hawks have a strong point-of-attack defender, who tends to give opposing guards trouble with his strength, quick feet and his feel for defending angles. Per Cleaning the Glass, Daniels ranked in the 92nd percentile in steal percentage thanks to his elite awareness of the ball and quick hands. That allowed him to swat away careless dribbles from opponents, as well as crowd the passing lane or disrupt plays on the weak side.

While Daniels has shown that he has the makings of an elite defender, his offense raises questions of whether he could be a starter.

Daniels thrived at the rim, ranking in the 88th percentile, but made only 32% of his shot attempts from 15 feet or greater. He made only 31.1% of his 3-point shots, though seemed to have some success in the corners, where he sank 38% of his 53 3-point attempts.

He had a solid showing for Team Australia at last month’s Olympics, where he averaged 8.5 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists while making 38.5% of his 3-pointers.

The Hawks have made continuous internal development a priority. So, they could give Daniels, who turns 22 in March, more time to develop the offensive part of his game.

The team does know what they’re getting in the veteran Bogdanovic, who has started in 96 of the 240 games he has played in a Hawks uniform. Last season, Bogdanovic averaged a career-high 16.9 points.

Bogdanovic unlocks plenty of space for the Hawks, with his ability to knock shots down efficiently at a high clip. He made 37.4% of his career-high 8.1 3-point attempts off 30 minutes per game.

He likely will look to build off his bronze-medal performance at the Olympics last month, where he averaged 18.3 points, four rebounds and 3.8 assists per game on 36.2% shooting from 3.

The 32-year-old could end up as the Hawks’ starting shooting guard, especially since he has plenty of experience playing alongside Young. He made 43.3% of his 3′s off assists from Young, with the Hawks averaging plus three more points per 100 possessions with them on the floor together.

While the Hawks could have some defensive holes with a Young-Bogdanovic backcourt, Bogdanovic played some of his best defense last season. The team allowed minus-7.4 points per 100 possessions with Bogdanovic in the lineup.

The Hawks drafted Bufkin last year with the 15th pick, looking to develop his skillset. They primarily wanted to see the ball in his hands, which positioned him as a backup point guard behind Young and Murray.

So, the team likely won’t position Bufkin as a starter when the regular season begins Oct. 23.

Though the guard would give the Hawks backcourt some additional help on defense, he still needs to fine-tune his skills on offense. Bufkin, who turns 21 on Sept. 21, averaged 4.8 points on 37% overall shooting and made 23% of his average 2.4 3-point shot attempts in 12 minutes.

Third-year Hawks coach Quin Snyder tends to hold his rotations to eight to nine players. So, there could be room for Bufkin to come off the bench to continue his development.

The Hawks could get a lot of rotational versatility out of Krejci, who logged 78% of his minutes at shooting guard last season. The Czech wing started in 14 of his 22 games last season with the Hawks because of the numerous injuries that plagued the Hawks.

Though Krejci primarily started in the absence of Jalen Johnson and former Hawks forward Saddiq Bey, scouting reports listed him more as a combo guard heading into the 2020 NBA draft.

He averaged 6.1 points and 2.3 assists per game last season and shot 41.2% from deep.

Like Krejci, Mathews saw an increase in playing time because of injuries last season. But he earned every minute of it because of his hustle on defense and propensity for making shots.

Mathews ended last season fourth in the league in 3-point shooting percentage after knocking down a career-best 44% of his attempts.

The 27-year-old wing started five games last season, but more than likely will come off the bench.

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