Atlanta Hawks: 3 Players That Disappointed This Season

The Hawks got a taste of fresh young talent in the form of Trae Young and John Collins this year, but unfortunately, that was all. Both of them led the team in scoring and gave the franchise tangible hopes of a bright future, to say the least. Moreover, 42-year-old Vince Carter laced up for what would've been his last season in the NBA as Atlanta finished 12th on the Eastern Conference standings for the 2018-19 season.

The NBA draft is an effective way to harness vibrant and cheap talent, and evidently so, the Hawks benefited in a big way from it this past season. Trae is right up there with Luka in the race to win 'Rookie of the Year' and in the process of getting there, has provided his organization with a spark it so desperately needed.

Nevertheless, there were only a handful of games when the Hawks looked anything more than just Trae or Collins, and that's where our attention lies. To call the supporting crew in Atlanta non-cooperative would be an understatement. Apart from the two freshly baked talents, no other player could average more than 14 points per game throughout the regular season.

Let's try and pick out the three Hawks players who tempered all expectations laid upon them before the start of the season.

#1 Kent Bazemore

In his fifth season with the Hawks, Kenneth Lamont Bazemore Jr. played 67 games and started in 35 of them. Clearly, the entry of youngsters into the mix left Kent with lesser playtime than what he got last year - when started all 65 games he appeared in.

Coming off a near-career-high season in scoring, Baze could afford only 11.6 points per game for his team's 2018-19 campaign. With a subpar field-goal conversion of 40%, he finished with just 2.3 assists and less than 4 rebounds per game. One of his very few highlights from this past season was his career-high score of 32 against the Pacers back in December.

Despite his sober numbers, Bazemore declared recently that he would exercise his $19.2 million player option and return to the Atlanta Hawks for the next season.

#2 Kevin Huerter

Kevin Huerter was picked 19th overall by the Hawks in the 2018 draft.

Huerter went to Maryland and declared for the NBA draft after his sophomore year. In his rookie season with the Hawks, Kevin appeared in 75 regular season games and got to play an average of over 24 minutes per game. Having been kept out of the summer league due to a hand injury, it took him a while to get the hang of the Hawks rotation.

Despite Coach Lloyd Pierce entrusting the 20-year-old with ample playtime on a consistent basis, Huerter was not able to make a noticeable impact amongst his peers. He averaged as high as 15 ppg in college but couldn't cross the double-digit scoring mark in a Hawks uniform.

His averages for the 2018-19 season were 9.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists. For a catch-and-shoot 2 guard, he shot 41% from the floor and finished 11th among rookies in scoring. He was on pace to finish All-Rookie team back in December but fell off the radar in the last few months.

#3 DeAndre Bembry

DeAndre Bembry finished his third straight season with the Hawks.

Bembry played all 82 games for Atlanta this past season, starting in just 15 of them. With only one season left before he becomes a restricted free agent in 2020, DeAndre finished with 8.4 points per game on less than 29% shooting from downtown. The Hawks will most likely be observing his upcoming season closely to make a decision on what has to be done with his contract.

In this day-and-age of perimeter shooting oriented NBA basketball, Bembry's outside shooting woes have really been a cause of concern for the Hawks for quite some time now. Playing over 23 minutes per game during the 2018-19 regular season, he finished with a 10.7 Player Efficiency Rating.

To put things into perspective, he doesn't space the floor well and is not the go-to guy on offense, making him more of a liability on the roster.