The Atlanta Hawks continue to make moves in free agency as they sign Kris Dunn to a two-year deal. How does he fit with the team?
You’ve probably heard it all this past season about the Atlanta Hawks.
“The Hawks are one of the worst defensive teams in the league.”
“Trae Young was the worst defender in the league.”
“The Hawks can score a lot of points, but they can’t defend.”
If you heard it, that means Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk heard it as well, and he finally did something about it.
Saturday morning, the Hawks signed guard Kris Dunn to a two-year, $10 million deal. If this team was bad on defense back then, they definitely have just improved by adding Dunn to the fold.
Dunn has become one of the league’s best defenders at the guard position. With a team full of offensive-minded players, he’ll bring some grit to the Hawks. At 6’3″ he has shown the ability to guard multiple positions and he has a niche for getting into pass lanes as he averaged 2.0 steals a game last season.
This move also fills the backup point guard position that the Hawks needed to address this offseason, which should give the second unit a boost when Young is off the floor.
Though Dunn is a good defender, his offense is something that still needs work. Throughout his career, he’s only shot 30.6 percent from the 3-point line.
He still can help on the offensive side of the ball, as he shot a career-best 65.0 percent at the rim last season. Being able to put pressure on the interior of a defense is important, especially if you have perimeter shooters on the floor.
Kris Dunn made my All-Defense ballot. One of the great unseen pleasures of last season was Dunn absolutely terrorizing point guards, SGs, and even some SFs. 3-point shooting fell further, but Dunn hit career-best 65% at the rim. Worth a look for the Hawks for sure. https://t.co/ELgYfd3xOi
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) November 21, 2020
Defensively, there are different ways the Hawks can get creative with Dunn, including having him and Young on the floor at the same time. Teams will target Young because of his poor defense, but Dunn can erase that when he’s on the floor.
If the Hawks need a few stops on defense, deploying a possible lineup of Dunn, Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter, John Collins, Clint Capela or recent draft pick Onyeka Okongwu could cause problems for opposing teams.
On offense, having Young play off the ball when Dunn is on the floor could make him more dangerous as a player, and the offense showed glimpses of it last year with Kevin Huerter being the ball handler at times.
There was noise before the start of free agency that the Hawks were interested in signing Rajon Rondo, and they recently signed him to a two-year deal as well. It will be interesting to see how the Hawks use him, Dunn, and Trae, but it’s evident that Rondo will bring a veteran presence to the team.
With Dunn, the Hawks could say that they have a younger version of Rondo at a considerably low price.
Signing Dunn makes the Hawks a better team and closer to the type of team that can make the playoffs this season. So far, the Hawks have made solid free agency moves by adding Dunn and Danilo Gallinari, which suggests what their goal will be heading into the season.
With more cap space still under their sleeve, expect the Hawks to make another move or two to fill out their roster in pursuit of a playoff appearance this coming season.