Grading Every Hawks Player In Preseason Loss vs Grizzlies

The Atlanta Hawks did not start the preseason the way they wanted to and fell to the Memphis Grizzlies last night, largely due to a second quarter in which they were outscored 49-26 and allowed the Grizzlies to shoot 8-11 from three. The starters only played one stint in the first half before the reserves took over for the rest of the game.

So how did each player grade out?

Starters

Kingston Flemings: B-
Dyson Daniels: B-
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: B
Jalen Johnson: C-
Onyeka Okongwu: B

It was a solid night for the starters, who were without CJ McCollum in the game.

Quin Snyder allowed the rookie to take the start, and he had his typical ups and downs that you would expect. He scored 11 points and had two assists, but he continued to compete all night on both ends of the floor and helped the second unit in the second half start the comeback that got Atlanta back in the game.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 10 early points in the first quarter and ending up with 14 in the nearly 16 minutes that he played in the first half. He was not able to contribute much else aside from scoring in the game and he only shot 1-4 from three. Solid night, but far from the best.

Daniels did a little bit of everything against the Grizzlies. He did not hit a three-point shot (0-4), put scored six points, four rebounds, and two assists while only having one turnover.

Okongwu shot the ball well last night, 3-4 from the field and 1-2 from three, totaling eight points and grabbing four rebounds. Again, solid night from a starter, but was not the best he has looked.

Of the starters, Johnson had the toughest game. He scored only eight points and six of them were from the free throw line. He shot 1-7 from the field and 0-3 from three while not playing great defense either. He was solid as a playmaker passing the ball, but he could not find any consistency scoring.

Bench

Asa Newell: B-
Corey Kispert: B-
RayJ Dennis: A
Jock Landale: C-
Keshon Gilbert: B-
Jalen Wilson: A
Zuby Ejiofor: B
Aaron Wiggins: D
Dorian Finney-Smith: C
Kobe Johnson: C
Cameron Corhen: NA

It was an up and down night for the bench.

Newell, Kispert, and Landale came in the second quarter and were a part of the defensive issues that the Hawks had for the entire night. Newell finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds and finished the game much better than he started it. He got the first crack at the backup power forward spot and it was an uneven night for the former Georgia Bulldog.

Kispert was not very good on defense in the first half, but he brought it in the second half when it comes to three-point shooting and he led the team with 19 points. If he can shoot like that, he could find minutes, but he is going to need better defense when he is in.

Dennis and Wilson were arguably the two best players for the Hawks and the plus/minus showed it. Dennis finished as a +12 and Wilson a +8, showing how talented the Hawks two-way players are.

Landale did not make a great impact on the game and struggled on defense. Ejiofor played well in limited minutes, but did not play with any starters, a slight surprise.

Keshon Gilbert hounded any Grizzlies ball handler, but was just ok on offense when it came to scoring and playmaking.

It was not the debut that Wiggins wanted as a Hawk, as he only played 10 minutes and finished with a team worst -13 in those minutes. He will need to be much better going forward.

Finney-Smith and Johnson did not play long enough to get consideration for better grades. Corhen played just 2:45.

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