The sports world has a lot of time on it’s hands. The NFL is still two weeks away from waking up, baseball is currently on All-Star break and NBA summer league is almost ready to wrap things up. Naturally, all we can really do is look ahead and project, predict and guess what may be coming our way.
With NBA rosters starting to take form for the 2015-16 NBA season, that’s precisely what we’re setting out to do as we take a stop at each pro basketball squad and carve out the ideal starting lineup for each team – in our image, of course. Ever wonder if a team could maximize it’s potential if they just started the right guys and had the right guys in the right roles? We sure have, and if you ask us, plenty of teams already have the talent in place to make a serious playoff run or at least improve considerably next year.
It isn’t until just now that they had the perfect lineup to make it happen, of course. Join us on our team-by-team journey leading into next year, starting with the Atlanta Hawks:
Ideal Starting 5
PG: Jeff Teague
Teague remains a top shelf point guard who defends at a very high level and can also get his own shot and create for others very easily. Consistency is an issue for Teague, but he’s still a very solid lead guard that can take over games at times and knows how to play within Atlanta’s offense.
SG: Thabo Sefalosha
With DeMarre Carroll now in Toronto, the Hawks’ biggest question for 2015-16 is who will start alongside Kyle Korver on the wing. It’s got to be Thabo, who allows little (if any) drop-off defensively. Sefalosha is a fantastic iso and team defender and while he doesn’t offer much offensively, he’s certainly capable of hitting the open three. Sefalosha has played on several good teams and has solid playoff experience, so he’ll be a bigger boost than some may think.
SF: Kyle Korver
Korver is a weak iso defender but he can be masked in Atlanta’s elite team system on that end and we all know he’s on the floor for his offense. One of the best spacers in the game, Korver knows how to get his own shot off of screens and can be a total game-changer when he’s on. Korver crumbled in the playoffs last year due to defense and injuries, but as long as he’s healthy he’ll remain a key piece in ATL’s offense.
PF: Paul Millsap
Millsap could have left in free agency but instead he returned to the Hawks and should play a big hand in keeping them near the top of the Eastern Conference. He’s not really the traditional four, as he’s a little under-sized and has more of a perimeter game, but he’s a fantastic offensive threat that also gives great effort on the defensive end. His versatility is here you’ll see his value the most, as Millsap can score inside and out and is a serious matchup problem for most power forwards.
C: Al Horford
Horford’s health was key for Atlanta a year ago and they clearly come and go with him. Horford is a very solid source of offense inside the paint and from the mid-range game, but he really offers value as a defender. Horford doesn’t give up easy points around the basket and even at times can be a stiff rim protector with his shot-blocking.
Key Bench: Dennis Schroder, Shelvin Mack, Tim Hardaway Jr., Kent Bazemore, Tiago Splitter and Mike Scott
Atlanta’s starting five really isn’t up for debate. They need Thabo to replace Carroll as a strong defensive presence and as long as he can give them just something on offense, the Hawks really might not miss a beat overall. With their starting five looking strong, their roster rounds out with scoring threats in Schroder, Mack, Hardaway, Baze and Scott. Splitter is an underrated depth addition, as he can spell Horford in stretches as a solid paint defender and rim protector.
Atlanta’s roster still looks quite strong from top to bottom, but if they’re going to succeed two very key things need to happen. For one, they need to not fall in love with Schroder as much as they did last year. Teague sets a better tempo within the offense, has better awareness and is by far the better defender. More specifically, Schroder’s awareness is terrible in penetration, as he usually has tunnel vision when trying to score. In fact, his inability to create under pressure almost lost Atlanta a key playoff game, had Horford not rescued a missed shot with under a second left.
On top of better utilizing their point guards, the Hawks need to stick with their system at all costs in 2015-16. They seemed to try to adapt to the opposition too much during their playoff run – specifically against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals – and it led to them deviating from what they do best. They need to stick to their guns and use better in-game management to maximize their ability on both ends.
The Hawks are not a consistently explosive team and they lack even one true All-Star. They do have three very strong players in their starting lineup, an ace in the hole in an outside shooter in Korver and a very solid bench. If they play this roster right, they could be right back where they were a year ago – competing to reach the NBA Finals.
