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 understood that improving the team’s defense should be among their top priorities in the offseason. Heading into training camp, the Hawks have added a few pieces to the roster that could bolster the team’s defense in the regular season.
Last season, the Hawks consistently ranked among the bottom of the NBA in defensive performance. Through 82 games, the Hawks ranked in the 26th percentile in points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass. They allowed opponents on average 119.4 points, with an effective field-goal percentage.
In six of the past seven seasons, the Hawks have ranked 21st or worse in points allowed per possession.
They struggled with defending opponents in the halfcourt, where the majority of the game takes place. Roughly, 78.3% of the Hawks’ defensive plays began in the halfcourt, where they allowed opponents 101.8 points per 100 plays, according to Cleaning the Glass.
When the Hawks managed to get stops, they still allowed 23.1 points per their opponents’ missed shots, with teams averaging 19.2 plays per miss.
The Hawks did not fare much better in slowing opponents in transition. They ranked in the 29th percentile points per 100 transition plays, giving up on average 134 points.
But the Hawks acquired one of the league’s top young defenders in Dyson Daniels this offseason, as well as veteran big man Larry Nance to the roster.
Daniels ranks among the top 20th percentile in the most defensive categories. He ranked in the 93rd percentile of offensive rebound percentage (4.9%) and the 88th percentile in defensive rebound percentage (12.4%) of the Pelicans’ misses.
His lateral quickness, fast hands and elite awareness of the ball potentially will allow the Hawks to create more possessions. He averaged 1.4 steals per game because of his ability to swat away careless dribbles from opponents, as well as crowd the passing lane or disrupt plays on the weak side.
“I feel great about him,” Hawks general manager Landry Fields said of Daniels in July. “He’s playing with his national team for the Olympics. So, it’s been good for him, and the feedback that we’ve gotten and the amount of film and in person studying that we’ve done of him as a player really fits what we’re looking to do more and more of so couldn’t be more thrilled. We’re excited about is his talent and his fit for us.”
The Hawks also added size and versatility to the frontcourt when they acquired Nance. Particularly when healthy, the Hawks get a speedy and agile defender who can quarterback them on the defensive end of the floor.
His situational awareness also allows him time to plug gaps that can give teammates time to block shots or disrupt looks at the rim and force the extra pass. It also allows him to be an effective help defender that moves into place and help teammates with potential blow-bys.
He ranks in the 94th percentile among bigs in steal percentage with 2.3% per play.
In addition to Daniels and Nance, the Hawks also drafted Zaccharie Risacher. The 6-foot-9 forward provides length and size on the defensive end.
The rookie still will need time to adjust to the speed of the NBA, but he has a high basketball IQ and has shown solid instincts on the defensive end while playing in Europe.
The rookie could handle the point of attack against smaller and faster guards, and if he gets beat, his length and size allows him to recover. He can fight over screens to return to his man and contest the shot.
The addition to the Hawks roster could help the strong defenders they already have in De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson and Clint Capela.
Hawks sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin also flashed his defense last season and likely will take a step forward with his added weight and strength from the offseason. In 13 games last season, Bufkin ranked in the 97th percentile in block percentage after blocking 1.5% of opponents’ shots, per Cleaning the Glass.
He also ranked in the 59th percentile in steal percentage (1.5%) and the 72nd percentile in defensive rebound percentage (11.2%).
They also signed guard Keaton Wallace, a defensive-minded guard, to a two-way contract.
It took Hawks coach Quin Snyder two full seasons before he transformed his former team, the Jazz into a top-five defense anchored by center Rudy Gobert. Of course, the Hawks don’t have a Gobert as the pillar of their defense, but they’ve added some strength.
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