Atlanta Hawks 2023-24 Player Review: AJ Griffin

After a relatively impressive rookie season, the road ahead looked much different for AJ Griffin. The 20-year-old barely logged any minutes in his second NBA season for a variety of reasons. He missed numerous games early in the regular season for “personal reasons,” which have not been disclosed, and I’m not going to speculate. However, after that point, Griffin barely logged any real minutes. Even when injuries left holes on the wing, he didn’t play. So it’s time to answer the question fans have been asking since the start of the season: Why?

Compared to his rookie season, Griffin played 52 fewer games, played 1,232 fewer minutes, attempted 471 fewer shots and scored 591 fewer points. Sure, he’s missed time due to personal reasons and injuries, but more importantly, it’s obvious he doesn’t have the trust of head coach Quin Snyder. After seeing his productive rookie campaign, fans are placing the blame on Snyder for not recognizing Griffin’s talent. However, if we look at Griffin’s short stints of playing time, Snyder’s reasoning for sidelining him becomes more rational.

To start the season, Griffin logged 8.5 minutes in the first four games and made five three-pointers in that span. As disappointing as it may seem, it would be his best streak of the year. Appearing in seven games in November, he made just four of 23 field goal attempts. He played 9.6 minutes per game on average, largely due to 12 minutes against the Celtics and then 15 minutes against the Cavaliers in a rather uncompetitive game. In those two games, he combined for 0 of 13 from the field. Unlike last season, he was very ineffective in limited minutes of play.

Although it probably wasn’t his shooting success, or lack thereof, that kept him from hitting the floor. After playing an average of 3.8 minutes in just six games played in January, it was no longer clear why he was with the big club. The lack of minutes made you think he should be sent to play meaningful minutes in the G League. As I mentioned earlier, his short stints with the Hawks were far from promising. Against the Pacers on January 5, he displayed subpar defense in limited minutes. He struggled to stay in front of Jordan Nwora and made little effort to get past a screen to take on Ben Sheppard.

He had a habit of making three-pointers out of rhythm. If he never hesitated in his shooting, a few bad misses and low efficiency raised question marks.

This game featured its only two turnovers in the six games, but its decision-making was inconsistent throughout. He didn’t record an assist, which is understandable with few minutes, but on several occasions he didn’t look comfortable with the ball in his hands.

To be completely frank, Griffin didn’t look like an NBA player when he stepped into games this season. There’s not much more to muster in his other 2-5 minute stints from January, other than what I’ve shown above.

Note: I analyzed Griffin’s performance in the G League in depth earlier this season and encourage you to read it here.

I shared a quote from Landry Fields in the article above, before the Hawks chose to send Griffin to the Skyhawks.

“At this point, you’ll see him be more in College Park, just as we continually define his developmental path to narrow him down a little more specifically on the defensive end. This is an area of ​​growth for AJ. Everybody knows he’s an elite shooter, an incredible shooter for where he is at this point in his career…we’re going to have to look at the defensive side of his game, and that’s This is what we are going to focus on. now post the deadline.

On February 21, AJ Griffin was assigned to the College Park Skyhawks. He played six games in the G League and got hurt at the wrong time. In those six games, he scored 14.2 points per game on 43.2 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc. He averaged 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals. Whether or not Griffin dominates the G League, fans were going to be disappointed in his second season. If you recall, there were obvious intentions to make him more comfortable with the ball in his hands as early as Summer League 2023. This continued when he joined the Skyhawks, and his defensive progress was subtly evident . However, that was cut short by injury, so we didn’t get to see full development like Ryan Schmidt probably hoped.

He played a combined 38 minutes in the final two games of the season, including the ugly (for lack of a better term) loss to the Pacers to end the season. He shot just 4 of 14 from the field and 0 of 5 from three in this game.

It’s possible that AJ Griffin stays healthy and spends more time in the G League, we’d be encouraged by his development. It feels like the road ahead starts with the Skyhawks, which may not be a negative, since he’ll start next season at 21. However, the impressive rookie’s promise has become less desirable and his potential is turning into a question mark.