What to watch for during the Hawks’ five exhibition games

After the last five months off, the Hawks will play basketball again.

On Monday, the Hawks open exhibition play a couple of weeks ahead of their regular-season opener Oct. 21. It all begins with the Hawks hosting the Grizzlies at State Farm Arena, before they face the Spurs on the road Thursday.

The Hawks added several new faces to their roster and will use the exhibition period to test the foundation they laid in training camp. So, here are some things to watch for during the Hawks’ five exhibition games.

Lineup combinations

Since the Hawks acquired Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins, there has been some anticipation of how they could deploy them. The team also added Dorian Finney-Smith, who adds even more depth to the Hawks’ frontcourt.

The preseason won’t give the Hawks a complete assessment of the different lineups. But, it could at least give an inclination of which players are in the rotation and what it could look like.

Got space?

That being said, the Hawks’ addition of Dort and Wiggins raised questions of what the team’s 3-point shooting could look like.

Both players had down years beyond the arc with the Thunder last season. The Hawks also have a couple of players on the roster who struggled from 3.

So, the exhibition games will give the Hawks some idea of where the team stands in terms of their spacing habits.

Will Nashville bonds translate to the court?

The Hawks will need to time for the team to mesh after adding several key pieces. But players have said they’ve been together since optional training activities, and camp provided a chance to take that bonding to the next level in Nashville, Tennessee.

The exhibition season will give them a chance to see how much they’ve learned about each other in that time and how it can translate into their on-court communication.

Playmaking by committee

The Hawks re-signed veteran guard CJ McCollum and they drafted guard Kingston Flemings with the eighth overall pick in the NBA draft. So, the Hawks have a couple more floor generals in their unit compared to the start of last season.

But the Hawks will still rely on the ballhandling by committee that dictated their backup point guard minutes. They’ll also still look to lean on forward Jalen Johnson in transition.

Rookie debuts

Hawks fans have already gotten a look at Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor when they played at Summer League in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. But fans will get to see what they look like against veteran NBA players.

Some teams won’t play all of their stars for all four quarters or all the games. But the rookies will get a taste of the NBA speed before the season kicks off.