Rebuilding Atlanta Hawks drop Detroit on the road; 3 takeaways

3. Mixed bag of results with rookies

The season opener featured two of the three rookies the Atlanta Hawks drafted (or acquired via the draft), Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter. Reddish was the team’s sole first-round draft pick as the Hawks traded their two other first-round picks (and other assets) for Hunter.

It’s not surprising that Reddish and Hunter made the starting lineup as that could be the case most nights. DeAndre’ Bembry and Kevin Huerter were used off the bench and that expects to be the case early on. But the performances from Hunter and Reddish were polar opposites.

Hunter got involved very early in the game, playing for 25 minutes and posting 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed two rebounds and turned the ball over twice in his NBA debut.

Reddish, however, couldn’t find the basket all night, going 0-for-6 from the field; he did get his first NBA point off of a free throw though. Reddish was able to hit all the other stat categories though, grabbing seven rebounds and finishing with one assist and one steal.

Neither Reddish or Hunter played a lot, but with the draft capital invested in them, we should expect to see them early and often. And we hope for more passes like this from the veteran of all veterans, Vince Carter, to Hunter.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1187535186340306947

Whether its Vince or Young or anyone else, Hunter and Reddish were drafted to help spread the floor and nail open looks. Consistently doing so as rookies could be tough, but could go a long way to helping the Hawks push for a playoff spot.