Through the early part of the season, the Atlanta Hawks have found themselves in a decent spot. They're 7-5 and 5th in the Eastern Conference, but there's clearly room for them to improve. Part of that improvement will come with more time on task. Even so, it'd be unwise to pretend that some adjustments to the rotation shouldn't be in play.

In particular, there are two players on Atlanta's roster who have made a strong case for having their minutes altered. These changes may not last for the whole season, but it'd be interesting to see how the team performs if head coach Quin Snyder made those alterations. Snyder has shown some hesistance to change rotations in the past, but he already made a bold call by elevating Kingston Flemings to the starting spot and bringing CJ McCollum, a veteran who salvaged two playoff games for Atlanta just last season, off the bench. He also scaled back Corey Kispert's minutes after he underperformed last season.

If the Hawks want to both maximize their chances of winning and answer more questions about what their future looks like, here are two changes I believe they should make.

Increase Zuby Ejiofor's Minutes

Ejiofor is a backup center and there's obviously not a huge sample of minutes to draw on thus far. However, the little opportunities that he has gotten are encouraging.

Thus far, the Hawks are significantly better on defense when he plays. It's only 78 minutes, but the Hawks field a defensive rating of 102.4 when he's in the game. That falls to a significantly worse rating of 115.2 when he sits. The offensive impact of Ejiofor hasn't quite been there, but his defensive impact is so noticeable that he's been a +6.4 in his minutes so far.

That's very unusual to see among rookies. It's also unusual to see a player with as much hustle and effort as Ejiofor brings. He's stepped up for the Hawks when they've been at a deficit of avaliable bodies in the frontcourt and his physicality is already translating to the NBA. I believe it'd be worth exploring some more run for Ejiofor as he's only playing 11.1 minutes per game. Even with the expected return of Mo Gueye at some point, Zuby has shown he's worthy of more opportunities.

Scale Back Lu Dort's Minutes

The Hawks took a gamble by trading for Aaron Wiggins from the Thunder after he'd basically fallen out of their rotation. So far, that gamble has paid off resoundingly. Wiggins is 5th in minutes per game and has a legitimate chance at Sixth Man of the Year this season. He's been a flamethrower off the bench for the offense and still brings plenty of effort on defense.

Unfortunately, Lu Dort hasn't quite found his place on this roster. Some of it is unfair as Dort's been asked to step in as a backup power forward to account for injuries. However, it can't be ignored how underwhelming he's been on the whole. He's been a negative on offense (3.6 points better without him on the floor) and a massive target on defense (12.5 points better without him on the floor). He's been one of the worst finishers at the rim in the entire NBA, shooting only 46.7% from point-blank range in the restricted area this season. Furthermore, he has the highest USG% he's had in two years. He's getting plenty of opportunities thus far and it's resulted in him shooting a career-worst 39% from two-point range.

He's shooting 35% from deep on decent volume, but it's a far cry from the nigh-40% seasons he had in OKC. It's not good enough to account for his offensive limitations, penchant for fouling on defense and terrible shot contesting numbers.