Atlanta Hawks

A Young–Dybantsa pairing is tactically viable, but only if Washington commits to a layered creation model rather than “your turn, my turn.” Start with the base: Young in high ball screens remains the engine because he bends coverage at 28–30 feet. The key is what Dybantsa does while Young is dragging two to the level. If Dybantsa is parked as a static corner spacer, you waste his advantage creation. Instead, you’d want him as the primary weakside “trigger”: lift from the corner into the wing slot as the screen comes, then attack the closeout on the first swing. That turns Young’s manipulation of the big into a two-phase action—first advantage (the screen), second advantage (the rotation).

The cleanest way to blend them is to invert the pick-and-roll and vary the screener. Put Dybantsa as the ball-handler with Young screening into a guard-guard slip. If defenses switch, Young can short-roll into a 4-on-3 as a passer; if they top-lock or blow up the exchange, Dybantsa’s size lets him reject and get downhill. The goal is to force teams to decide: switch and risk Young’s pull-up plus Dybantsa’s mismatch creation, or play at the level and give up pockets.

Against drop, Washington can lean into “snake” dribbles and Spain concepts: Young uses a high screen, Dybantsa back-screens the drop big (or the chasing guard) to free the roller, then pops or cuts into the gap. That stresses the low man, and Dybantsa’s timing as a cutter matters more than his catch-and-shoot volume.