Atlanta Hawks

Coach Budenholzer on replacing DeMarre Carroll: 'We have good depth'

Published Jul. 17, 2015 2:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

There's probably not a single player on the Atlanta Hawks who can provide everything that DeMarre Carroll did last season -- and at the same level. And that means that coach Mike Budenholzer will have to rely on his team's depth and hope for a little better health luck when the postseason rolls around next time.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this week, Budenholzer addressed Carroll's absence and how the Hawks can go about making up for his departure by pointing to the various players Atlanta has on the wings and what they bring to the table:

"Having Thabo (Sefolosha) having played for a year with us and having him know how we do things defensively and offensively. He’s played on really good teams and on teams in the finals and on teams that have had really good success. I think we are very hopeful that he gets healthy and ready. That gives you some confidence that there is a start. I think Kent Bazemore’s growth and development as the season progressed, including the playoffs. He is a unique player with his length and everything. Then adding Tim Hardaway Jr. and Justin Holiday gives us what we feel like is a lot of depth. You can argue there are big 2’s and small 3’s in our system, and the wings are interchangeable. Of course, defensively it helps to have some size. Thabo naturally has that. We might have to mush it around with some of the other guys a little bit, but we have good depth on the wing."

During the regular season, that approach absolutely makes sense. Atlanta can replace what it's lost with piecemeal rotations for 82 games.It's in the playoffs that Atlanta might truly find out how much it misses Carroll. The Junkyard Dog was the Hawks' best player in the 2015 postseason for long stretches, and the team might not have made it out of the second round were it not for his versatility and all-around game.

(h/t Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Photo Credit: David Tulis/AP