The Atlanta Hawks had high hopes for this season and those haven’t panned out. The team is 13-38 and heading toward the NBA Draft Lottery in 2020. Despite their shortcomings, the Hawks set out to improve the team and they did just that by adding Clint Capela. Atlanta was apart of a four-team, 12-player deal Tuesday night that was centered around Capela to the Hawks and Robert Covington to the Rockets. The move gives the Hawks a Big 3 of sorts with Trae Young and John Collins. Already exciting to watch, does the move positively or negatively affect Capela in fantasy? We take a look.
Fantasy basketball analysis: Clint Capela to the Hawks
Atlanta has been saying for a while that it wants to add another big body to its core of John Collins and Trae Young. The Hawks did exactly that with Capela, who is more of an old school big who can rim run and defend. Collins is more finesse so I think they’ll compliment each other nicely. The issue is both will take a bit of a hit in usage, at least Collins.
Capela should vulture rebounding chances and there’s also a scenario in which the two don’t mesh well together. The plus side for Collins is he won’t have to play around the rim as much and he’ll be able to play on the perimeter, take more 3-point shots and do more off the dribble. The Hawks want spacing and Capela helps cover the paint.
If anything it helps Young and could increase his fantasy stock, as if it can’t get much higher right now. Like I said, floor spacing is key here and Capela is another big who can run the pick-and-roll with Trae, rolling to the basket for easy points. Young’s assist numbers should get a nice bump the rest of the season.
As for the other players on Atlanta’s roster, well, none of them offered much value prior to the trade. Kevin Huerter, DeAndre Hunter and Cam Reddish should still see minutes when healthy. All three are young and the Hawks will want to develop them with the core. Alex Len and Damian Jones won’t see the court nearly as much when healthy.