Atlanta Hawks: Should Kent Bazemore Play More Minutes?
By Adam McGee
It’s hard to take issue with the Atlanta Hawks’ rotations, as coach Mike Budenholzer has guided the team to an excellent start to the season at 16-7. If it wasn’t for a Tobias Harris buzzer-beater rattling in last night to give Orlando a win, the Hawks would even be tied for No. 1 in the East on a 10-game winning streak.
Still, if there is one guy who may have a case for saying he deserves a bigger opportunity, it’s Kent Bazemore.
Bazemore transformed his reputation across the NBA last season. Having previously been best known for his cheerleading antics from the bench, last year, during a short but sweet spell with the Los Angeles Lakers, Bazemore showed himself to be a really capable player.
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What really catches the eye about Bazemore’s game is his length and versatility, and how they make him a truly well rounded player. On the offensive end, the 25-year-old can drive and slash to the basket before finishing with thunderous slams, but he’s also just as adept at shooting jump shots.
The other end of the floor might be where Bazemore has potential to be even more valuable though. At 6’5″, the former Old Dominion Monarch is legitimately capable of guarding across positions 1-3 on the floor.
In fact, although he’s more naturally a shooting guard, when he has been on the floor for the Hawks this season, Budenholzer has shown a preference for having Bazemore guard the opposing point guard.
It’s only because he is so athletic that he can get away with such versatility though. Bazemore has the foot speed to keep up with point guards, while although he’d be criminally undersized matched up against many small forwards, the North Carolina native’s long wingspan ensures that he can still pester his opponent.
Despite all these positives, Bazemore hasn’t really got significant burn as a Hawk yet though. In fact he has only played a total of 166 minutes so far this season, figuring sporadically in 18 games.
The easiest reason to point to, to explain why Bazemore isn’t playing a bigger role so far in Atlanta is his shooting.
Bazemore has only made 41.5 percent of his field goal attempts as a Hawk so far, while from behind the three-point line the outlook is slightly worse again with a mark of 33.3 percent. Although those percentages aren’t disastrous, on a team with such a focus on shooting, like Atlanta has, it’s understandable that they would want a little bit more.
Saying that, one of the main reasons Bazemore probably deserves more time is due to the terrible offensive play of Thabo Sefolosha. Signed alongside Bazemore this summer, Sefolosha is currently the first wing player off the Hawks’ bench.
The Swiss native’s rebounding and defensive work have been excellent, but it seems hard to believe that Bazemore couldn’t improve significantly on the offensive output he offers.
Sefolosha is only shooting 34 percent from the field, and much more troubling, 12.5 percent from three-point range. Last night, in the Hawks narrow defeat to the Magic, Bazemore had probably his best game for Atlanta, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, and playing six minutes more than Sefolosha.
The question now is whether he’ll get further opportunities to continue that trend.