Atlanta Hawks: What’s Next For Mike Scott In A Contract Year?
By Adam McGee
Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott performed well in spite of off the court troubles last season, now what can he bring in a contract year?
It almost would have been excusable if Mike Scott had struggled to find his form for the Atlanta Hawks last season, as at the very least there was a readymade excuse waiting for him.
Arrested after a traffic stop in July 2015, police found MDMA and marijuana in a vehicle that Scott and his younger brother were travelling in, and having taken sole responsibility for the drugs, the Hawks’ forward was playing with the shadow of a potential 25-year prison sentence looming ominously over him.
In light of those uncertainties, the obvious legal headaches that come with them and frequent speculation about what action the Atlanta Hawks would take, the former Virginia Cavalier required exceptional concentration to be a productive player for his team and he delivered with arguably the best season of his four-year NBA career to date.
Scott had posted better per game numbers and played more minutes in the past, but with a team like Mike Budenholzer’s Hawks nothing is more important than embracing a role and contributing responsibly within the team concept.
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For Budenholzer, it’s all about concepts. As Kyle Korver once described:
"“We don’t really run a lot of plays. We run a lot of sets. They’re actually concepts more than sets. [Budenholzer] gives us a lot of freedom, but he always preaches variety. Don’t get caught doing the same thing over and over again.”"
Scott has always had the versatility to fit in with that kind of philosophy, but it was often the execution that let him down. With small but meaningful adjustments that may have changed.
In 2015-16, Scott reduced his volume of inefficient mid-range jump shots (10-19 feet) to a career low 14.6 percent share of his field goals attempts, down from 20.5 on the previous season.
He also maintained a steady scoring presence in the restricted area, converting on 64.4 percent of his attempts.
Most importantly of all though, was undoubtedly his three-point transformation. During his time in Atlanta, Scott has shown a penchant for being a streaky shooter with a knack for getting hot on the big stage, but the problem always lay in a tendency to disappear the rest of the time.
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That changed last season as Scott’s usage dropped to a career low
, while his success from deep also hit career levels coming in at an impressive 39.2 percent.
Three-point shooting has been a key to Atlanta’s success in recent seasons, but with the regularity with which Paul Millsap and Al Horford turned to stretching out the floor from the frontcourt positions last season, it became even more important that the bench could replicate that same style.
The Hawks took a step back in terms of three-point percentage last year, often largely credited to the relative drop-off of Kyle Korver, but generally lost in that shuffle was the way in which the three-point emphasis gradually started to shift from their backcourt to the frontcourt.
Even outside of the starters, with capable floor-spacers like Mike Muscala and Kris Humphries competing for frontcourt minutes with Scott, reliability became a key factor.
For Scott, that extended beyond his offense for the first time too. In the past Scott had been a defensive liability due to lapses in concentration as much as anything else, but with greater focus the 2015-16 season saw him move closer to the league average in that department.
Scott posted a defensive rating of 95.3, which may be somewhat unsurprising considering the Hawks were the league’s second best defense, with an overall rating of 98.8, but that difference with the 28-year-old on the court remains noteworthy.
It was comfortably the best year of Scott’s career in terms of individual defensive metrics, as his defensive box plus minus came in at a respectable -0.4 and his defensive win share finished at 1.5.
Finally, Scott not only seemed to have found consistency across the court, but was also playing within himself for possibly the first time of his pro career.
That doesn’t make him a world-beater, and as a 43rd overall pick Scott was never truly billed as such, but it makes him a quality role player.
That’s a title that holds real value in today’s NBA, and as such it was no real surprise that the Hawks decided to retain Scott’s services for this season by guaranteeing the final year of his contract.
At $3.3 million in the current cap, it should be a bargain.
In spite of the threat of an upcoming trial following Scott’s plea of not guilty to his felony drug charges back in July, as a player he will need to keep his eyes focused on the prize.
This season, not only is that going to be team success for the Chesapeake native, but also his own individual play as he enters into a contract year.
On the basketball side of things, the objective should be just as simple as doing the same again. It has become clear that as an individual Scott is at his best when he plays for a team rather than for himself.
Whether Scott’s capable of maintaining the discipline or focus necessary to do that, or whether other events in his life allow him to perform at that level remains to be seen.
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Either way, Mike Scott is facing a decisive year in multiple aspects of his life. At least in a basketball sense, he controls his own destiny. Now the rest is up to him.