Atlanta Hawks: Why Kent Bazemore Should Start At SF

As a Golden State Warriors fan, watching Kent Bazemore’s growth with the Atlanta Hawks has been a bittersweet experience. It was hard to watch him leave midway through the 2013-14 season, especially since he was being used wrongly under former coach Mark Jackson.

Bazemore came off the bench for the Hawks and really flourished during the playoffs. Now, with last year’s starter DeMarre Carroll no longer in Atlanta there are reports suggesting that Bazemore will start for the Hawks at small forward for the first game of the season.

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From being the bench celebration guy to starter, Bazemore’s NBA journey is very much a “rags to riches” story. But there are still many who look at his status as an undrafted player as a sign that he doesn’t deserve to start. The decision to start Bazemore came as a bit of a surprise, as not many would have anticipated his meteoric rise.

So, are the Hawks right to start the Baze-god?

Bazemore’s role on the team is simple – play hard perimeter defense and score assisted buckets. He isn’t tasked with running the offense or calling plays. Usually, he’s the end product of the Hawks’ ball movement – as evidenced by the fact that 93.8 percent of his three-point field goals and 62.4 percent of his two-point field goals were assisted.

But to his credit, Bazemore excels at his somewhat simple role. His defensive rating of 102 points per 100 possessions was second best on the Hawks last season (for players who logged more than 1,000 minutes). He shot 36.4 percent from three — a number which can be improved upon greatly, considering he was logging most of his minutes with the Hawks’ second unit, which lacked shooters on the floor.

If he ends up being a starter for the Hawks, Bazemore will find himself in space more frequently, which will greatly improve his three-point percentage. His 41.5 percent three-point accuracy last season when his defender was six feet or further (per NBA.com) proves this.

His critics will point to his shambolic performance in the Hawks’ Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, where Bazemore was heavily exposed against LeBron James.

The counterargument here is that James is arguably the best small forward of all time, and could easily make the best of defenders look bad. Kawhi Leonard’s 2014 Finals MVP performance is often lauded as a good example of stellar defense on James, but even in that series, James averaged 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.

The truth is that Bazemore will have big shoes to fill – Carroll was a fan favorite and a key cog in the Hawks’ machine. He was their best perimeter defender, and his ability to play as a small-ball power forward gave the Hawks some flexibility with their small-ball lineups.

Don’t expect Bazemore to be seeing minutes at the power forward spot, especially since he’s already playing up a position at small forward. The talent gap between Bazemore and Carroll is clear, but there is little doubt that the Hawks will be able to narrow the gap.

The Hawks have been referred to as the San Antonio Spurs of the East. The Spurs, famed for their reliance on their “system,” are able to overcome any player injury or absence simply by plugging another player in their spot. The belief is that if each player is familiar with their role and carries it out, every player is easily replaceable. The Hawks are aiming for this type of consistency, and will hope that their system can alleviate the drop from Carroll to Bazemore.

All the Hawks need from the small forward spot is a perimeter defender and a knockdown shooter. Carroll managed to do all that and much more for the Hawks, but Bazemore is a reasonable, albeit lesser facsimile of Carroll. After spending most of his career on the bench, Bazemore is finally getting the start and opportunity that he has continually worked hard for.

The Junkyard Dog may have left, but all hail the Baze-god.

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