Atlanta Hawks: 5 goals for Kent Bazemore in 2017-18

As part of the rebuilding efforts for the Atlanta Hawks, Kent Bazemore will reclaim his role as the starting shooting guard. For him to secure the job long-term, he needs to improve several aspects of his game.

A successful season for the Atlanta Hawks may ultimately hinge on the production of Kent Bazemore.

Atlanta supplanted Bazmore’s starting shooting guard position during last year’s playoff run with Tim Hardaway Jr., a gunner who was supposed to provide some explosiveness to the offense. Instead, he struggled to find his rhythm, connecting on 32.9 percent of his attempts from the field as he added 12.8 points per game.

Even after his struggles in the postseason, New York presented Hardaway with a four-year, $71 million contract.

Bazemore essentially provided the same figures during the playoff series against Washington,  totaling 9.8 points on 39.6 percent shooting. With Hardaway’s departure, the shooting guard position belongs to Bazemore.

Atlanta is hoping he can return to his level of productivity from two years ago. The Old Dominion product set career-highs in 2015-16, exceeding the 2,000=minute mark for the first time ever while averaging 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

Last year, he experienced a steep drop in production, shooting 40.9 percent from the field, while his scoring, rebounding and steal figures all took a step back.

The Hawks enter the 2017-18 campaign with a largely unproven cast of players, and for the team to have any hopes of extending their playoff run into an 11th straight season, elevated productivity from Bazemore is a must.

Here are five contributions Atlanta needs from Bazemore next year.