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

3. Grab over five rebounds per game

The biggest regression Kent Bazemore experienced last season came as a rebounder.

Bazemore averaged 3.1 rebounds per game, an output of 1.9 fewer than the previous year. The sharpest decline came on the defensive end, as his 4.7 defensive rebounds per game in 2015-16 fell to 2.5 per game a year ago.

As with his reduction in defensive rebounds, the total number of games with six or more rebounds plummeted from 28 to nine.

Atlanta’s roster churn this summer, with Paul Millsap, Dwight Howard and Thabo Sefolosha leaving, resulted in the top three rebounders all playing elsewhere next season, creating a drastic need for production from all five positions.

No player on the Hawks roster has ever averaged 8.0 or more rebounds per game at any point in their career.

Expecting one player to replicate the rebounding figures vacated by the previous roster is impossible, so Bazemore, along with the rest of the starting lineup, must chip in to fill the void.