The Hawks have added 4 new players this year; I expect to see minutes to varying degrees next year… So how could these guys fit the Hawks, and what could we see their role be on the team using past film? This must be read in chronological order because I mention things in other parts, etc.
Shoutout to Hawks Film Room at https://youtube.com/@dlee4three11?si=XP1XxK13EXkoghqs
You can find him on Twitter (X) or YouTube, and he does this thing in YouTube form, but I do want to touch on things he doesn’t while bouncing off some of his points using some of his compilation posts for these guys and going back to the Hawks film from last year to see where they could fit into Quinn Snyder’s system. Obviously it would be malpractice to change this style with new archetypes of players on the roster and a new roster complexion, but we can’t fully predict what Quinn could cook up.
I want to start by touching on the type of players I see in the NBA, and that's outside of positions and roles. There are certain archetypes of players that impact winning in different ways, and I think separating these archetypes into 3 different types.
Ceiling Raiser
Floor Raiser
Connector
Floor raisers are the most important type of player to me; simply, the other two have to have a number of floor raisers around you to succeed. Connectors especially have issues since they need a level of creation around them, which typically a floor raiser brings. Meanwhile, a Ceiling Raiser is someone that typically starts, runs and wins you tough games but is maybe someone you don’t want playing that many games in a year. Connectors are versatile, typically consistent but easily downscale and upscale where needed. And players don’t have to be a type for their whole career, but how a team uses them typically decides how they are viewed on this scale.
So now we have this description of the three types of players we have; I can explain somewhat how each player will bounce off each other on the court and how ideally they can be used in the Hawks system going forward. Last year I felt the Hawks had a good number of floor raisers and connective pieces but relied on some guys maybe too much to be ceiling raisers. Jalen Johnson was the Hawks true ceiling raiser on the team, and when he went down, it switched to being LeVert and Niang and even Risacher at times, and I don’t think that's ideal for LeVert and Risacher, in my opinion, and although that's how Niang is used, I think he simply had to play too much for his role. We traded him and found a replacement. Luke Kennard is the same type of ceiling raiser as Niang and is much better at that to me compared to Niang. Niang has more size, and the downside of him and Kennard are somewhat similar, primarily being on the defensive end, and the primary roles as spot-up shooters are somewhat similar, but there are some uses of Kennard which separates them…. So let’s start here.
LUKE KENNARD
Let’s begin by discussing some statistics and the roles Luke Kennard has played throughout his career, along with a brief description for those who may not be familiar with his background. Luke Kennard went to Duke in college and is now an 8-year NBA vet that has played for 3 teams in his NBA career (DET, LAC, MEM). Since he entered the NBA, he’s been right at the top of the most consistent NBA 3pt shooters and similarly high as a free throw shooter on incredibly low volume from there. He’s been a 46% 3P shooter on 9.8 3PA/100 over the last 3 seasons in the NBA, shooting his highest percentages a few years back. That's most of the background that you need to know, but the key thing I believe Kennard adds to the Hawks is somehow offensive versatility. And for a lot of you who are aware of Kennard or have somewhat limited knowledge of him, it could sound very confusing, as he is primarily a movement and spot-up shooter, which you would usually class as a specialist, but let me explain.
Kennard’s best skill is his movement to me. Yes, the three-point shooting is great, and he’s one of the best in the league at that, to me, for sure, but the movement is what makes him valuable. Being able to create off-ball for yourself and use that to his advantage is so useful in offensive schemes. Memphis used Kennard very creatively; it makes for a very fun and effective offence where he can fly off the ball and create space using his off-ball gravity to space out the interior or create a lot of space for himself so he can get an efficient, high-percentage look at the rim. Yes, Kennard moves well off the ball and gets open 3pt shots for himself, but he can also use various pump fakes and hesitations to create space for himself in the mid-range, where he is consistent, and to make space for him to drive into the paint with a consistent handle and quick decision-making. So now we see Kennard doesn’t have to be shooting the ball to be effective as a player since there are three levels to his offensive play.
Three-point shot
Off-ball spacing
Attacks Closeouts
And these are so useful for an off-the-bench player who can initiate runs on offence all by himself. But the key part of this to me is the attacking closeouts.
Kennard’s ability to attack a closeout is incredibly useful. First, it's a very consistent way to get points, and with his volume of shots, he can generate a lot of opportunities to attack closeouts with his off-ball movement. He has a variety of moves, and because defences have to jump on his shots and attack aggressively on closeouts because he’s a consistent high-level shooter, he can easily create space behind, and because he is still efficient in the mid-range, if he has space, he has an open shot there. If he doesn’t, Kennard has an underrated ability to find the open man on the switch and do that accurately and quickly, creating open shots for others. So now we’ve got a great example of how a player can be both a connector and a ceiling raiser because you can ask him to downscale and be just the ceiling raiser who flies around the court and is the shooter, and then he can be more of a connector who channels himself into more of a driver off these actions who creates opportunities for his teammates.
Niang was basically this type of ceiling raiser last year, but Kennard is more useful because he fits a different position where he archetypically makes sense, where he’s faster and more agile to run great actions around him in the half court where the Hawks struggled last year. So there is an obvious upgrade on the past roster. Not only that, but Kennard is in a situation where he can get a lot better looks, where Trae will have enough gravity to create very open shots for him, being the best passer he has ever had, and generate even more looks for him. Another thing is the Hawks ability to generate turnovers and then play with pace. Dyson Daniels last year generated a tonne of deflections and a tonne of steals that created a lot of transition looks. Kennard can excel with taking transition threes off the dribble or just spotting up, which allows them to capitalise on these high-volume opportunities. Adding on to this, the Hawks added Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is another high-percentage deflection generator and creates chaos on defence, so if they can fine-tune and create a turnover machine, then Kennard can become a flamethrower of a bench piece for the Hawks off the bench.
I’ve talked a lot about his offensive abilities for a reason; he is a poor defensive player, not particularly positionally undersized, but he is a weak spot defensively, so it does add a lot of worry for Trae + Kennard rotations. Because although you have a super-ideal offensive fit on one end, you have the opposite on defence, so now you have this duo; you can’t afford to add weak defenders in the rotation. The Hawks have done a great job of this, but there’s a lot more to add on to the team to make this a fully consistent idea all year, and that's why I think Kennard’s role is going to be reduced to just being small, and while he can still be a connector for us, they are just going to try to maximise his value when on the court and make him do this ceiling raiser sharp shooter and focus on the off-ball movement rather than using more of his offensive versatility as a closeout attacker. On the other hand, Quinn Snyder is a very creative coach offensively, and if I was going to trust anybody to use Kennard to his max, whether he is just an off-ball movement shooter or we use him as the closeout attacker and connector with more on-ball opportunities and trust, or whether we do what I would want, which is to balance that and match up based on that, I think Quinn will be able to maximise his value and his skill set.
I think that's enough on Kennard. I think he’s going to be the 8th man in rotation, which I think is pretty ideal for him on this roster, but there are still spots to be added, and it's pre-season, so this could change. But he fully fits Quinn Snyder's system, and he is going to love using him in the team, so hopefully I broke down his game and showed you how Quinn could use him and what I would like to see from him as a Hawk.