How ‘experienced’ CJ McCollum is helping Hawks’ playoff push

The Atlanta Hawks have seen different iterations of their team come and go this season, but this group they currently have is the one to get used to down the stretch. With a mix of veterans and young players, the Hawks have the perfect ingredients to make a playoff push, and they’ve been doing so, as shown by their current winning streak.

One player who has been a big help to the Hawks since January is CJ McCollum, and he looks like he has fit in nicely with what the team is trying to accomplish. Quin Snyder recently made the move to insert him into the starting lineup, as statistics show that they’re a much better team when he plays with Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu.

The players also see the difference that McCollum makes when he’s on the floor.

“From the experience standpoint, we have CJ who is experienced, and the same thing with Nickeil, Okongwu said. “They’re just leading us to better basketball we’re having fun out there.”

“CJ’s been great for us,” Daniels said. “That vet presence, a guy that can do a bit of everything. He’s a leader for us. A guy we can lean on, a guy that can go get a bucket when he needs. It’s been really good having him come over.”

When the Hawks need a bucket, McCollum is there to bail them out more times than not. It’s what he’s done for most of his career, and those buckets are helping the Hawks as they try to climb the Eastern Conference standings.

Snyder believes that the Hawks have found something with McCollum and the other new guys who have been added to the team.

“There was about a week or two-week period when those guys were really trying to figure it out,” Snyder said. “The thing that allows teams to gel is throwing yourself into the team and being able to not worry about a lot of the numbers. I think those guys have really started to embrace that, and that makes the whole become greater than the sum of the parts.”

The Hawks are clicking at the right time of the season, and if they keep taking care of business, they could find themselves higher than the ninth seed by the end of the year.

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