Atlanta Hawks: Paul Millsap Provides Stability Amid Uncertainty

The talk around the Atlanta Hawks leading up to the regular season has focused on Dwight Howard and Dennis Schroder. Despite that, Paul Millsap is still their best player.

Everyone loves a shiny new toy. Something they haven’t seen before. Dwight Howard in an Atlanta Hawks uniform certainly fits that description.

It’s easy to see why most of the headlines surrounding the Hawks 2016-17 season have been about how he will fit in with his hometown team.

Dennis Schroder also fits into the shiny new toy category. Sure, he’s been on the roster for three seasons, but now he’s got the keys to the kingdom. No longer just a high energy backup, he’ll replace Jeff Teague as the starting point guard and his training wheels will finally be taken off.

The volatile nature of Schroder’s performance is both terrifying and exhilarating. Naturally, it’s become a point of interest when discussing the team and its future.

Then there’s Paul Millsap, the steadying presence on the roster. Millsap is set to begin his fourth season with the Hawks, somehow still flying under the radar, despite his importance to the team.

Millsap is the stable force keeping the Hawks together through this period of change. He’s the foundation of the house. The one thing they can count on to remain consistent as the pieces around him figure out how to settle in.

Howard could be great, or he could miss 35 games with an injury. Schroder could be the dynamic offensive force to take this franchise to the next level, or he could be a turnover machine that Mike Budenholzer can’t trust late in games. With these two there are more questions than answers.

Not with Millsap. Atlanta knows exactly what they are going to get from him. Sixteen to 18 points per game, seven to nine rebounds per game, efficient shooting numbers, and outstanding defense. Boring? Perhaps, but they’ll take his quiet production.

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If the Schroder/Howard pick and roll fails to produce an open look, Millsap will be the safety valve. Millsap is the one guy on this team that can face up his defender down low and go get a bucket.

His game may lack the sparkle some of the other stars around the league possess, but it gets results.

Last season he led the Hawks in scoring at 17.1 points per game. He shot 47 percent from the field, but his three-point percentage dropped to 31.9 percent.

Despite the dip his his efficiency from outside, Millsap still had a fantastic season. He just did most of his damage in the paint.

The majority of his field goal attempts came between two feet and the rim and he shot 63 percent on those attempts. If he can combine the interior dominance he showed last season with the proficiency from three-point range he showed in 2014-15 he could have an All-Star level season.

If the Hawks can find a way to blend Millsap’s funky post game with the Schroder/Howard pick and rolls Atlanta could be a deadly offensive team. Those three are surrounded by shooters in Kyle Korver and Kent Bazemore, giving them all the ingredients for a high scoring starting five.

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Millsap’s defensive contributions will be just as important. Last season he and Al Horford formed a potent inside defensive presence, helping the Hawks post the second-best defensive rating in the NBA.

He’ll hope to replicate that success with an elite shot blocker in Howard. It may look a little different, but in theory it should be as effective.

The only concern surrounding Millsap at the moment is his health. A non-surgical procedure performed on his right knee kept him out for most of the preseason, but he returned Oct. 16 to put up 19 points in 19 minutes against the Orlando Magic.

His preseason games since then were less than stellar, but trying to glean anything from preseason minutes is difficult.

If the Hawks can’t make it work with Schroder, Howard, and Millsap as their “big three” this could be Millsap’s final season in Atlanta.

Millsap can opt out of his current contract at the end of the season. He could choose to test the open market once more before he exits his prime (Millsap is 31 years old entering this season).

Hawks General Manager Wes Wilcox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that their goal is to hold onto Millsap “long-term”. That situation won’t be settled until next summer.

For now Millsap remains as a stabilizing force that should comfort Hawks fans as the regular season approaches. Plenty of things have changed, but Paul is still around.

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