NBA Draft 2019: 5 targets for the Atlanta Hawks
By Ian Levy
4. P.J. Washington, Forward, Kentucky
Projecting Washington into the Hawks future requires taking several things on faith. He did make 42.3 percent of his 3-point attempts last season, but that high percentage came on just 78 attempts and he was just 5-of-21 on 3s as a freshman. Given that he was a career 63.2 percent free throw shooter there’s reason to doubt his jumper. But Washington does have nice touch around the basket and if he can be a consistent outside threat, it unlocks a lot of things.
Washington primarily played the 4 at Kentucky but he’s not a great rebounder and lacks the strength to really compete at that position full time in the NBA. He’s shown some chops at defending in space but he’s also probably not quick enough or a good enough ball-handler to play full-time on the wing either. The result then, again, assuming he can hit 3s, is a 3-and-D combo forward whose position is largely dictated by the other team’s rotation. There’s value in that template and it doesn’t take too much imagination to see how he could be a solid bench contributor on a good team, but he probably doesn’t have the upside of some of the other options available for Atlanta.