The Hawks’ best starting group still appears to run through CJ McCollum.
That’s the choice hanging over Atlanta as opening night gets closer: McCollum or Lu Dort in the starting five. McCollum moved into that role after the Hawks brought him in last season, and he handled the primary ball-handling load from there. But nothing says he has to keep that job when the new season tips off.
The preseason opener didn’t do much to clear things up. Neither McCollum nor Dort played, and rookie Kingston Flemings got the start alongside the other four usual starters.
What Atlanta has to sort through is pretty simple: McCollum and Dort give the Hawks two very different offensive looks. Last season’s starting group - McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu - clearly found a rhythm.
Among five-man lineups that played together in more than 15 games, that unit ranked third in scoring at 34.8 points per game, with 123.1 points per 100 possessions.
That group also shaped how the wings were used. It pushed Daniels and Alexander-Walker into wing roles on offense.
That wasn’t a major issue for Alexander-Walker, who had a strong season. Daniels’ shooting issues made him less effective away from the ball, but Atlanta still found ways to work around it and got results.
The bigger point is that the Hawks’ offense dipped without McCollum last season, and that has to matter here.
If Dort replaces McCollum in the starting five, the ball-handling burden shifts back to Alexander-Walker and Daniels. That could help Daniels, who has shown he can be a useful facilitator, but it might not be the best setup for the lineup as a whole.
McCollum brings a true lead-guard presence; Dort does not. He’s an off-ball player, and that changes the whole shape of the group.
There’s also another lineup from last season that helps show the difference. The five-man group of Alexander-Walker, Daniels, Johnson, Okongwu, and Zaccharie Risacher ranked 17th among lineups that played more than 15 games, producing 25.9 points per game and 117.9 points per 100 possessions. That’s still solid, but it’s nearly a 10-point drop from the McCollum version.
Dort isn’t Risacher, but the comparison still gives a good sense of how the Hawks function when they have a true wing instead of a true primary ball-handler.
So even if McCollum doesn’t start, there’s a strong case for him being first off the bench. Atlanta doesn’t have a proven scorer in that second unit without him, and that could matter over the course of games. Still, last season pointed to the same conclusion: the starting five looks most dangerous with McCollum in it.
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