Quinn Snyder details the major shift in Atlanta’s new identity

The Atlanta Hawks looked a little different on offense last week, and there’s no surprise why. With Trae Young is sidelined with a sprained MCLthe team must find ways to generate offense, and it may not be as easy as it used to be. Young’s gravitas and playmaking ability make for easy shots for his teammates, and he makes it look effortless.

Now there are a few players making those ball plays, and they’re getting used to doing it. Head coach Quinn Snyder was asked what he likes about the offense since Young’s absence.

“There’s a lot of situations where guys are in an unknown realm because Trey dictated the style so much because of his ability,” Snyder said. “We have to be spaced out to recognize those situations and connect. And we have to play the pass.”

“We have to move the ball, make quick decisions and attack so we don’t get into isolation situations. I don’t think that’s our strength with our group right now. There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes we say that, and it seems like it’s less than, and it really isn’t. It’s just maximizing the team.”

Although Nickeil Alexander-Walker has taken Young’s starting spot, there are several players which they try to replace what led to the transgression. Jaylen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and Alexander-Walker are all ball-playing starters. Then you have Keaton Wallace, Luke Kennard and Vito Krejci coming off the bench to help with the workload.

There’s no doubt that it will take a collective group effort, and the Hawks need to move the ball as much as they can if they want to create good shots.

The Hawks are adjusting to life without Tree Young

So far, the team has looked good on offense at times without Young, while at other times they undoubtedly need a real point guard on the floor. A good example was against the Toronto Raptors, where the Hawks played well in the first half, but fell into a hole in the second half because the offense was cold.

after the game Kristaps Porzingis shared his thoughts about what life has been like without Young and how the team is adjusting.

“I think we’re doing a good job,” Porzingis said. “We won a couple of games, we lost one tonight. The firepower on offense isn’t the same; that’s just the truth. But we still have a lot of firepower. We can run, we can go, and we’ve got guys stepping up and playing well. He’s just going to add more when he comes back, but it’s also not ideal because we want to pick up those minutes.

“We want to start developing more of that chemistry, but that’s what it is when we have to adjust, and try to do other things better without him. We’re getting bigger, we can run more, we can see more and we can do some other things. When he’s there, we have a lot more firepower on offense and we’re going to be a different beast.”