In his first season running the show for the Atlanta Hawks, head coach Lloyd Pierce has managed to put his fingerprints on the team already. Former head coach, Mike Budenholzer, is getting a lot of praise for revamping the Milwaukee Bucks offense to help lead them to the NBA’s best record; however, this year’s Atlanta’s team is molding itself into something new under Pierce’s tutelage

At his introductory press conference, Pierce made mention of the importance of defense and how he envisions making this team into a top tier defensive team similar to the work he did to help transform a youthful Philadelphia 76ers team into an elite defense.

Yet, the Hawks currently sit 28th in the NBA in defensive rating (only the lowly and tank-enthusiasts Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers are below them). Teams are shooting 47.3 percent (fifth-worst)–despite playing at the second fastest pace in the league, they are only giving up the 12th most shots per game (89.5 attempts per game)–against Atlanta. Overall, the defense is still a work in progress, which is to be expected in year one.

However, the team has been able to latch on to what Pierce has been preaching on the other side of the ball. Two of the biggest factors are the tempo at which this team plays (104.45 possessions per game) and the play of rookie point guard Trae Young.

Playing fast in today’s NBA means maximizing the number of chances a team gets with the ball. This is especially important as the youthfulness of this roster likely means they will be very turnover prone (Atlanta tanks dead last in turnover percentage this year). Yet, just getting the ball more times doesn’t always translate to a good offense.

Shot quality is a big part of the Hawks transformation on offense. Budenholzer system relied heavily on three-pointers and motion offense in the halfcourt to create advantageous situations for the team.

Under Pierce, the three-pointer is an even bigger part of the system. According to CleaningTheGlass, 36 percent of Atlanta’s shots are three’s. From 2013 to 2018, the highest percentage under Budenholzer came last year when the team attempted 33.7 percent of their shots from deep.

Pierce is also playing less in the halfcourt than the Budenholzer-led Hawks did. Currently, 77.4 percent of the Hawks possessions occur in the halfcourt whereas the low during the Budenholzer era was 79.5 percent. Getting the ball quickly up the floor is not a new strategy in Atlanta, but Pierce has just pushed the pedal to the floor compared to Budenholzer.

A big reason why this team plays faster is because of Young. Atlanta moved down in the draft and gave up Luka Doncic to secure Young and a 2019 first-round draft pick and Young has piloted the team to offensive success.

Young has been handed the keys since he came to Atlanta. There were some eye-opening growing pains in the Hawks two summer league stints in Utah and Las Vegas, but since the games started to count Young has continued to progress at a rate almost unheard of for rookies–particularly rookie point guards.

While his shooting made him a household name, it’s been Young’s ability as a passer that operates as the lynchpin. By simply spacing the floor and running some type of ball screen for him, the team creates open looks without much effort.

If a team traps Young he has an array of passes to hit the rolling big. If a team switches a big on Young he can beat his new defender off the dribble. Trail behind Young off the screen and he gets into the paint for either a floater or drops it off to the open man as the defense rotates to stop him.

On average, NBA players shoot up to five percentage points higher from three on catch-and-shoot opportunities than they do off the dribble. 27.7 percent of the Hawks three-pointers come from catch-and-shoot situations according to NBA Stats; on those shots the Hawks are shooting 36.7 percent.

Getting players like John Collins, Dewayne Dedmon, Alex Len, etc. to become actual perimeter threats is creating more spacing for Young and others to operate–40.9 percent of the Hawks shots come at the rim, third best in the league.

In just one season, Atlanta has already become more in-line with modern offense and the additions of Pierce and Young are a huge reason why.