The Atlanta Hawks put together one of their best performances of the young NBA season in their dominating 117-98 win over the previously unbeaten Milwaukee Bucks despite playing without Trae Young. Behind fantastic performances from Dejounte Murray and rookie AJ Griffin, the team moves to 7-3 for its best start since 2016-17 (and they have never missed the playoffs when starting this fast).
Mike Conti joined the Morning Show on Tuesday morning to discuss the impressive showing, and he had an interesting takeaway. He believes that from AJ Griffin's performance, we may have had our first glimpse at what this team could be when they have Bogdan Bogdanovic return to the bench.
"What stood out last night, maybe even more than what the Dejounte did, was what AJ Griffin did," Mike Conti told the Morning Show. "I think it's kind of put a spotlight on how little the Hawks bench has been able to do up to this point. You finally got a 20-point contribution off the bench last night."
The 19-year-old rookie was impressive off the bench for Atlanta last night, logging career highs in nearly every statistical category. He scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting (2-of-6 from three) with four rebounds, one assist, and three steals in 31 minutes.
This was a critical performance for the Hawks, and one that they had been lacking off the bench before Monday night. Without their sixth man in Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Hawks are 22nd in the NBA in bench scoring (31.8 points per game). Last night Atlanta scored 59 points off the bench, fueled in large part by the play of Griffin.
Bogdanovic, who is still recovering from an offseason procedure, has been a fixture for the Hawks for the last two seasons both in the starting lineup and off the bench. He averages 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game while shooting just a hair under 40 percent from three.
"When this team gets [Bogdan] Bogdanovic back, the Hawks are going to be a real problem," Conti continued. "Because now you're going to be able to roll a second unit with Murray at point guard, Bogdanovic at the two. You're going to have a perimeter shooter who's a flamethrower off the bench, and if AJ Griffin can be another one of those guys, now the Hawks on the wing are coming at you with a barrage of flamethrowers and it's going to open things up for frontcourt players like John Collins potentially or even in the second unit Onyeka Okongwu."
The hope is certainly that Griffin can continue to play at this level, but the return of Bogdanovic will certainly be a boon for a team that seems to be just starting to scratch the surface of its potential.