After an embarrassing loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the Atlanta Hawks may have to rebrand to the Atlanta Fledglings.
While it was Charlotte's scorching 3-point shooting that ultimately won them the day, box-score watchers wouldn't be able to glean where these easy looks came from. It was a beautiful inside-out effort for the Hornets all night long.
LaMelo Ball was able to utilize his plus size at the point guard position in tandem with young titan Ryan Kalkbrenner's plus size at the center position to dominate the smaller Hawks guards (Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Vit Krejci, Luke Kennard, Trae Young) and smaller Hawks bigs (Onyeka Okongwu, Jalen Johnson). At the half, the Hawks had allowed an unacceptable 100% mark (10/10) at the rim. You can't win basketball games while playing this way.
The Hawks have sorely missed Kristaps Porzingis, and this game was truly the cherry on top of the sour-tasting sundae.
Porzingis' health problems represent a gaping hole in Atlanta's strategy
While adding Porzingis for nickels and dimes this offseason was no doubt a beautiful move by Onsi Saleh, it may not have been the one-size-fits-all solution that fans may have thought it was in the summer.
Porzingis is already missing game after game with various ailments, chief among which is his continued battle with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, better known as POTS. Missing the majority of playoff games last season with the Celtics due to this exact same condition, the Hawks must prepare for a reality in which the same outcome comes to fruition this April.
In an ideal world, Porzingis isn't earning $30M, eating into precious cap space that the Hawks would otherwise be able to use on fully available players of similar talent. It would be a true blow to Atlanta if they were forced to trade him - even off the court, Porzingis has been praised for his good vibes and work ethic (not to mention his championship DNA), something any team would be lucky to have on their side.
Onsi Saleh has his work cut out for him at the deadline - bank on Porzingis' health for April, or bite the bullet and trade away the unreliable star for something more concrete for their inevitable playoff run? Regardless of the outcome, the Hawks need to be bigger on the interior - Unicorn or not.