HereMy first impression is that rebounding, by far the biggest weakness for the 2015-16 Hawks, should be drastically improved. Howard, Millsap, Humphries and Splitter are all good on the boards. That’s a good big rotation for rebounding.
The Hawks’ defense ranked No. 2 in efficiency last season and that shouldn’t change much in 2015-16. Howard no longer is a defensive force but he’s a strong rim protector. Splitter is a good post defender. The Hawks ranked worse than all but two teams in post defense efficiency last season; that should drastically next season. They still should get plenty of steals.
So the Hawks should be a bigger team that rebounds well and protects the paint. Those are not insignificant improvements.
But the main problem for the Hawks going on two seasons is inconsistent offense, especially when the chaos of the playoffs stifles pace-and-space, and I don’t see how the 2015-16 roster will be any better at scoring.
Millsap is a good overall offensive player who so far is aging gracefully. Now that Schroder owns the point, it’s possible he can improve and mitigate some of the issues with the team’s offense.
I don’t see how the Hawks will be much better offensively in 2015-16 and it’s hard for them to get much better defensively.
There’s been a lot of changes for the Hawks but I think that while they’ll look different their results will be about the same.
Thoughts?
Predictions?
Concerns?