Grading Every Hawks Player in Preseason Win Over San Antonio

Last night was much better for the Atlanta Hawks than Monday's loss to the Grizzlies.

While far from perfect, Atlanta was able to claw their way back into the game vs. San Antonio after an early deficit and earn a road win, their first win of the preseason.

When looking at the top performers from last night, how did each Hawk grade out in the win?

Starters

CJ McCollum: B-
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: C
Dyson Daniels: B
Aaron Wiggins: C+
Onyeka Okongwu: B

It was an uneven night for the Atlanta Hawks starters, but there were some bright spots. This group had to navigate not having Jalen Johnson in the starting lineup and there were some highs and lows.

McCollum displayed his best skills, being able to knock down shots. He scored 14 points and shot 4-6 from the field in his first preseason action and played 19:22 last night. He also grabbed five rebounds and had four assists. It was a pretty solid night for McCollum, who was one of the only players early on in the game who could make shots.

After a solid night on Monday, Alexander-Walker struggled shooting the ball last night. He scored seven points, but shot 2-8 from the field and only had two assists. He started the game guarding Dylan Harper and had an average night on that end.

Daniels aggressiveness stoot out to me. He scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as well, but he shot 16 times in a little over 21 minutes. While some of that is due to Johnson being out, the Hawks need a more aggressive version of Daniels and one that can shoot from outside. He was 1-3 from three last night.

Onyeka Okongwu was one of the Hawks better players last night. He scored 13 points, dished out five assists, and grabbed four rebounds, while also shooting 2-5 from three. He made good decisions and ran the offense well.

Bench

Kingston Flemings: A
Corey Kispert: B-
Asa Newell: B+
Jock Landale: B
Zuby Ejiofor: B-
Jalen Wilson: C+
RayJ Dennis: C+
Kobe Johnson: B-
Dorian Finney-Smith: C+
Cameron Corhen: NA

Flemings was the star of the show for the Hawks last night. He scored 15 points, had five assists, and three steals in nearly 20 minutes. He looked confident in his three-point shot off the dribble and was a pesky defender as well. It was the kind of night that you want to see from a Top 10 pick and it is an encouraging sign that he was able to get the Hawks back into the game.

Newell also had a solid night. He was not the first power forward off the bench in this game, but finished with 16 points and was a team best +21 when on the floor. After a shaky first game, this was a good performance for the second year forward.

Jock Landale was not perfectly, especially on defense, but he finished with 10 points and five rebounds while shooting 2-3 from three.

Zuby Ejiofor got some first half action, unlike on Monday night, and played solid defense while contributing seven points and four rebounds. He continues to battle with Newell for playing time.

After strong performances from two-way contracts Jalen Wilson and RayJ Dennis on Monday night, both players had down games when it comes to scoring. Dennis had the better game, as he also had four assists in 12 minutes.

While only playing eight minutes, Kobe Johnson did have three steals, earning him a B-, which is hard to do in that amount of time.

In what might be pretty telling, Dorian Finney-Smith only played a little over seven minutes and made little to no impact on the game. If he is not playing much now, I doubt he sees much time when Mouhamed Gueye returns either.

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