The Atlanta Hawks are getting healthy just in time for the playoffs, and with the Hawks getting their best wing defender and two way player back in De’Andre Hunter on Monday, Solomon Hill told Dukes and Bell yesterday that he believes “the Hawks can get those stops.” Hill said that after Carl asked him if the team will be able to get the important stops in the playoffs. However, Solomon Hill also knows how important De’Andre Hunter is to the Hawks as a whole, and more specifically their defense and Solo talked about it with Carl and Mike at length yesterday.
Before De’Andre Hunter suffered his knee injury he was arguably the Hawks’ best and most consistent player. Not only was Hunter doing what everyone already knew he could do in locking down the opposing team's best defender, but he also emerged as a true scorer and not just a spot up three point shooter as he showed off his ability to create his own shot early on in the season. It’s safe to say De’Andre Hunter and Clint Capela carried the Atlanta Hawks early on in the season while Trae Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and John Collins came into their own, and also while Bogi recovered from his injury early in the season. While the Hawks definitely missed Hunter’s two-way talent, they survived off the efforts of Trae Young, Clint Capela, and Bogdan Bogdanovic during Hunter’s absence. However, now that the Hawks are the closest they’ve been to 100% since the start of the season, only missing Cam Reddish, Solomon Hill believes that adding De’Andre Hunter back into the mix opens things up for the team saying “A lot of things change when you get that guy (Hunter) back.” Hill also said “Beginning of the season, for like that first strong month that he was available he was arguably our best player.” Hill called Hunter’s ability to guard positions one through four on the court “dynamic”, and Solo also says that “he’s a guy that definitely changes how we defend out there.”
Solomon Hill also told Dukes and Bell that it’s great to have De’Andre Hunter back “at the moments that matter”, and even though no one has been able to witness what a fully healthy Hawks team can do this season, and won’t get a chance to this season with Cam Reddish more than likely to miss the rest of the season, including the postseason, this basically healthy Atlanta Hawks team could make some noise in this year’s NBA Playoffs, and De’Andre Hunter’s ability to be elite on both sides of the ball will be a huge boost and x-factor for the Hawks.