Following the wake-up call in the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Miami Heat, the Hawks knew they needed to make a change. They did just that with their addition of All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. The 25-year-old guard is coming off his first All-Star appearance and, overall, one of the best seasons of his young career.
The Hawks were aggressive in their move to acquire Murray, sending multiple picks and Danillo Gallinari to San Antonio. That front-end investment is being matched on the back-end by head coach Nate McMillan.
The critical question heading into the 2022 season is whether or not Young can play an off-ball role with Murray taking on the role of primary ball-handler. To this point in his career, Young has been the heliocentric player of the Hawks' offense. In 2022, he ranked third in the NBA in time of possession minutes per game (8.7 minutes) and he was fourth-highest in unassisted field goals (83 percent).
Simply put, the Atlanta offense lived and died at the hands of Young. Most of the time - translated to the regular season - that would be perfectly fine. But the Heat were able to exploit that in the playoffs.
Enter Murray, another primary ball-handling guard that ranked in the top seven of time of possession (7.4 minutes per game).
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On the surface, having two ball-dominant guards doesn't make much sense. But that is what makes Nate McMillan's trip to Oklahoma so significant. Both of these players need the ball in their hands for some measure of time in order to see success, but there appears to be a willingness for the pair to make it work.
Albeit in a small sample size, Young has shown the ability to be an absolute terror off of the ball. As a catch-and-shoot player, Young shot an astounding 45 percent in these situations -- a 7 percent increase from his season average.
The Murray/Young combination has all the makings of being one of the elite backcourts in the NBA, but this will take some time. Both of these guys are primarily point guards and there are going to be some growing pains early. McMillan is simply trying to stay ahead of things with his star in an effort to mitigate the learning curve.