Time To Blow Up The Atlanta Hawks?

Make A Decision At Point Guard

After two straight playoff runs filled with frustrating Mike Budenholzer decisions, one continues to stick out like a sore thumb: Bud’s unwavering trust of backup point guard Dennis Schroder over the more experienced Jeff Teague. No matter what direction the Hawks go in — complete rebuilding or simple retooling — they need to pick one point guard and stick with him.

In the regular season, Teague averaged 15.7 points and 5.9 assists in 28.7 minutes per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 40.1 percent shooting from three-point range. In the playoffs, those numbers plummeted to 14.5 points and 6.2 assists in 27.9 minutes per game on 38 percent shooting from the floor and 25 percent shooting from deep.

Dennis the Menace, on the other hand, saw his numbers stay relatively level despite playing fewer minutes, averaging 11.7 points and 3.6 assists per game on .452/.343/.846 shooting splits in the playoffs. Against the Cavs, he averaged 15.3 points and 4.8 dimes per game on .500/.474/1.000 shooting splits, including a 27-point Game 1 performance and a 21-point outing in the Hawks’ playoff finale.

It’s like Teague and Schroder completely flip-flopped in the postseason, with the third-year German looking the part of “seasoned veteran” at times — particularly late in games, when Teague was glued to Bud’s bench for most of Atlanta’s fourth quarter runs.

There’s no question that Schroder represents the future. He’s only 22 years old, while Teague is already 27, and Bud benching Teague in favor of the younger backup suggests a seismic shift that will leave the lay of the point guard spot looking very different soon enough.

The only problem is, with as good as Schroder looked at times during the postseason, he’s also still extremely young and has quite a few kinks to work out.

Bud too often rode Schroder’s flows until his inevitable ebbs drained the team of its momentum, such as that Game 1 loss. In a four-minute third quarter span that saw Atlanta chop an 18-point deficit down to five heading into the final frame, Schroder was the catalyst of the 16-3 run, scoring eight points, draining two threes and chipping in an assist that led to another three-pointer.

But in the fourth quarter, with Schroder only getting a minute and a half to rest after playing 10 and a half straight minutes, he was drained for the final 5:22, finishing the game going 0-for-3 with two turnovers. Dr. Dennis and Mr. Schroder is a real thing, and with one year and $8 million remaining on Teague’s contract, the Hawks have a real decision to make at point guard.

If they stubbornly cling to this core and want to run it back one more year, the Hawks will re-sign Horford and Kent Bazemore, keep Teague, and continue this awkward tango between a great regular season point guard and an antsy backup whose playoff heroics back up his rhetoric about wanting to start.

But if the Hawks choose to restructure a roster that’s not good enough to contend for championships, unloading the final year of Teague’s contract is the play, either to bring bench help in via trade or shed salary for additional free agency signings.

Empowering Schroder like that is a risky move since he might not be ready to be a starting-caliber point guard in this league, but it’d be better than this current Sisyphean drill of pussyfooting between the two.

In the same vein of facing reality, it’s time to acknowledge that Teague may have already peaked. He’s shrank from the moment against the Cavs in two straight playoff series, he’s only got one year left on his contract, he could have some trade value, and shedding his salary (plus that of Horford and Tiago Splitter in a start-from-scratch move) would free up two max contract slots in free agency.

For better or worse, it might be time to commit to Good Dennis Schroder and hope he leaves Bad Dennis Schroder behind.

Next: Covering The Other Bazes