It’s no secret that for most of their 2019-2020 season, the Hawks were one of the worst defensive teams in the league.
They finished with the third-worst defensive rating (114.4), gave up 119.7 points per game, tied with the Wizards for the most in the league, and opponents scored an average of 19.5 points off turnovers, the second-most behind the Cavaliers. They also gave up 53.6 points in the paint per game, tied for the most with the Cavaliers. The Hawks finished 20-47, 15 games short of a full schedule, since they were more than six games out of playoff contention at the time of the season’s suspension March 11 due to the coronavirus, and thus excluded from the NBA’s plans to restart the year in Orlando.