The Hawks’ perimeter defense is about to look a lot different.
For years, Atlanta has been a team opponents could target on the outside. That’s why the idea of rolling out Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luguentz Dort together feels so new for this group. After the Hawks brought in Dort for essentially three seconds and added Zaccharie Risacher, they suddenly have a backcourt and wing mix built around defense instead of survival.
A likely alignment next season has Daniels at point guard, Alexander-Walker at shooting guard and Dort at small forward. That’s a real shift for a team that spent last season leaning heavily on Trae Young and CJ McCollum.
Young remains one of the worst defenders in the league, while McCollum brought effort and intelligence but no longer has the quickness in his age-35 season to change games on that end. Dort is clearly a different level of defender than either of them.
The question is how far that takes Atlanta when you stack it up against the rest of the NBA.
Dort’s scoring dipped last season, but his defense stayed right where it usually is. CraftedNBA had him in the 100th percentile for matchup difficulty, which fits the way Oklahoma City used him. The Thunder trusted him with the opponent’s best perimeter scorer or ball-handler more often than not, and the results held up.
Databallr had Dort in the 87th percentile for STOP% and the 99th percentile in drawing offensive fouls. At 6-foot-4, he plays with real force.
He can fight through screens, handle tough on-ball assignments and has taken on everyone from small guards like Jamal Murray to seven-footers like Lauri Markkanen. In the playoffs, he’s even drawn the LeBron assignment and held up.
Still, his sweet spot is hounding shooting guards like Anthony Edwards, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and Tyler Herro.
Alexander-Walker doesn’t get the same attention on defense, even though his two-way season for Atlanta was a big part of his value. He landed in the 90th percentile for STOP%, averaged 1.3 steals per game, which was the 89th percentile, and forced 3.5 deflections per game, good for the 98th percentile. He also draws offensive fouls well.
His matchups weren’t as difficult as Dort’s because Daniels handled so much of that load, but Alexander-Walker still did solid work against players like Quentin Grimes, Keyonte George, Devin Booker and Kon Knueppel. He hasn’t reached the borderline elite level of Dort or Daniels, but he’s a strong defender who can create turnovers.
Then there’s Daniels, who belongs in the top tier of perimeter defenders. He combines the best parts of the other two: the matchup burden Dort takes on and the turnover production Alexander-Walker brings.
Daniels was in the 90th percentile for STOP%, averaged 2 steals per game, which was the 98th percentile, and piled up 4.1 deflections per game, a 100th percentile mark. CraftedNBA had him 4th in matchup difficulty.
In this group, Daniels should still be the first name called when the other team’s best perimeter scorer needs to be checked. Dort is the next-best defender, and Alexander-Walker comes third. Atlanta should also have help behind them with Onyeka Okongwu and possibly Jalen Johnson if he can clean up his off-ball defense.
Since none of these three are true rim protectors, the cleanest way to judge them is against the best three perimeter defenders on each team around the league.
By that standard, the Hawks still trail a few teams. Oklahoma City, San Antonio and New York sit above them.
The Thunder still have Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace, a pair of elite perimeter stoppers. The Spurs have Victor Wembanyama, whose ability to guard on the perimeter and recover to the rim makes him a nightmare, and Stephon Castle, who was 2nd in matchup difficulty this season and regularly takes on star ball-handlers.
The Knicks bring Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, an elite defensive duo that can bother both wings and guards.
Houston also ranks ahead of Atlanta with Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Marcus Smart. Thompson is the headliner, but Eason and Smart are both excellent defenders and give the Rockets more size for bigger wing matchups. Alexander-Walker is more limited to point guards and shooting guards, while Dort can run into trouble against oversized wings.
Even so, Atlanta lands fifth in this grouping. If Dort’s shooting returns to normal, he should stay on the floor and keep doing what he does best: making life miserable for opposing perimeter players.
That would give the Hawks one elite defender, one very good defender and one solid defender to throw at ball-handlers. Compared with last season, that’s a major upgrade, and for once Atlanta doesn’t have an obvious weak spot at the point of attack.
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