The Playoffs are Here!!

Atlanta Hawks – The Numbers*

• Pace: 91.7 (27th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 103.7 (20th)
• True Shooting Percentage: 54.3% (13th)
• Assist Rate: 21.97 (4th)
• Turnover Rate: 13.38 (15th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 23.53 (29th)
• Free Throw Rate: 26.8 (29th)
• Three Point Rate: 22.7 (12th)

Strengths

Off Ball Screens

When the Atlanta Hawks get the players moving off of the ball (an indicator whether or not they are running sets on the offensive end), they are actually a pretty tough offense to stop.  The main problem with the Hawks is that they simply don’t do it enough.  A pretty good indication of this is the Hawks’ success when using off ball screens.  The Hawks are the 5th best team in the NBA in terms of PPP (points per possession), scoring 0.963 points per possession on 47% shooting.  The problem is that off ball screens that result in a shot only take place 3.9% of the Hawks’ total possessions. 
Here, the play starts with Jamal Crawford entering the basketball to the high post.  After making the pass, he fakes that he is setting a pindown screen for Jeff Teague.  Teague instead cuts to the opposite block and Crawford is the one who uses the pindown.  Crawford pops up and gets the wide open jumper:

Off ball screens aren’t just for wings.  Here, Jason Collins gets the ball to Josh Smith on the wing.  He then sets a pindown for Al Horford.  Horford comes off of the screen open at the top of the key and Smith hits him with the pass.  Horford takes and knocks down the wide open jumper:

Joe Johnson Post-Ups

Another area where the Hawks have success is on the block.  When posting up, the Hawks put up a PPP of 0.893, good for 14th in the NBA.  Drilling it down to individual players, you notice that Joe Johnson might be the best post option for the Hawks.  Out of the three players who get most of the post touches (Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson account for 76.6% of all post up percentages – 28.4%, 24.2%, and 24% respectfully), Johnson has the highest PPP (1.08) and the best shooting percentage (52%).  Johnson has the most success and gets most of his touches on the left block.  The reason why Johnson is successful when posting up is because he has pretty good size for his position and that lets him do a number of things on the block, including facing up:

Here, Johnson makes the catch on the block with Manu Ginobili defending him.  Johnson has size on him, faces up, surveys the situation, and then knocks down the step back jumper.

What makes him even more of a threat on the block is the fact that he is very good passing out of the post too.  The Hawks like to enter the ball into him and then spot up around him, and that leads to some successful offense as well:

Here, Johnson gets the ball in the post against a smaller man.  Andre Miller sends the double team and Johnson is able to kick the ball out to Kirk Hinrich for the wide open three.