The Hawks have lost point guard Speedy Claxton for the season before he even played in a game. Claxton might need microfracture surgery on his left knee which could cause him to retire. Look for Anthony Johnson, Acie Law and Tyronn Lue to continue to split minutes at the point this season. Johnson has played in 26 games so far this season and he’s averaging 6.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He will continue to get the bulk of the minutes until Law starts to pick up his play. Law has played in 23 games this season and he’s averaging 4.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. But, Law is only shooting 37.2% from the floor so the Hawks can’t give him big minutes until he improves from the floor. Tyronn Lue has been banged up this season as he’s only played in 18 games this season. Lue is the best shooter of this motley crew but he’s not much of a passer as he’s averaged 6.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Rookie point guard Acie Law and reserve shooting guard Salim Stoudamire are both shooting up a ton of bricks so far this month. Law is only hitting 29.6% of his shots from the floor in December and Stoudamire is hitting only 20.8%. Law has played in 5 games this month and he is averaging 18.2 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He will need to shoot better if he wants to earn more playing time. Salim Stoudamire has played in 5 games this month and he is averaging 9.2 minutes, 4.0 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.0 assist per game.

The Hawks need more from point guard Anthony Johnson or he might start to lose minutes. In his first 8 games of the season he has averaged 24.4 minutes, 4.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game so far this season. With rookie Acie Law getting healthy it will cost Johnson playing time if he keeps playing poorly. Johnson is also only shooting 37.1% from the floor and that’s another reason he could wind up on the bench.

With Speedy Claxton out for the season the Hawks really need Anthony Johnson to play more minutes, but he’s not doing well with the added playing time.  In 5 games in April so far, he’s averaged 6.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.  He also is only shooting 37.8% from the floor this month.  He’s playing the last few games to solidify what his role on the Hawks will be next season, so he better get his act together.

If the Hawks are going to continue to start Lorenzen Wright, they need him to step up and do something because he’s taking minutes away from Zaza Pachulia and Shelden Williams.  Wright is averaging 17.4 minutes on the floor per night and he’s not doing much with the time.  He’s only averaging 2.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this season and that’s just not enough to keep playing him.  Wright is only shooting 42.5% from the floor and that’s not good enough seeing how most of his shots are putbacks or dunks!  Also, he’s only hit 30.8% from the free throw line this season and that is downright pathetic.