They need a good pass first distributor like a TJ Ford or Brevin Knight. Joe Johnson can not be their only point-forward (lulz). Acie Law and Claxton won't cut it as playmakers the team needs either. They've been drafting guys that fit the same mold, so it's likely they might lose some to free agency in the coming years. The Hawks aren't cheap, but I still think they're Clippers of the East and the contract question might cause them to implode in the years to come.
I'm fully expecting them to be bad again this year, though maybe not as bad as last year. And, since they are in the EC, maybe they can get a 8th seed, but they'll still be bad.
We play them at home Feb 9 & in Atl on Mar 12. That's a long way off. For now though, Teams better not take them litely especially in Atl. I think they have the ability to finish in the 7th or 8th spot.
Young/immature teams play out of their minds against the big guns, but underachieve against everyone else. I'll wait and see. Is there another team out there with as many lottery picks on the roster as these guys??? Williams, Childress, and Smith are awfully nice versatile guys that you can fill positions with and get points and boards from. JJ is a nice combo forward, if maybe a touch overrated. I'm surprised Shelden Williams has been such a bust - boards are tehre but he makes Dale Davis look like Michael Jordan on offense. Horford's playing great out of the blocks. Acie Law could complete this team, but he's got to be a distributer; Salim Stoudamire is already there as a runt SG playing the 1. Evan
Dude, they had 19,000 plus in attendance last night. And they were all there at the END of the game. This isnt the Braves were talking about. The city is excited about the Hawks. As far as if theyre for real? I think so. I even called it before the season started (In the rookie of the year besides Durant thread). I also picked Horford for rookie of the Year as he has more of a chance to get his team into the playoffs than Durant does. They won last night and Joe Johnson had a piss poor game. Josh Smith is in a contract year and worked out with Hakeem and Calvin Murphy all summer. I think this is the year he leaps to All-Star. Marvin Williams playing good is a positive sign for a pick the organization has gotten a lot of flack for. 44-38, and 7th seed is my official prediction before the season began. I think they COULD surpass it, but I will stick with my original prediction.
No. Phoenix was on the second game of a back-to-back, both games were on the road and they didn't play Amare Stoudemire Dallas was on the road without Josh Howard. Sorry, Hawk fans. No disrespect meant, but neither of those wins is against a team that was at full strength. The Hawks are improved, but they're only a contender in the East.
I live Atlanta, but I'm certainly not Hawks fan. But that team is improving, rapidly. They've playing with alot of confidence and could be in top half of Eastern Conference by years end and even make noise playoffs. I could see them finishing above teams, like Miami, Cavs, and even Wizards. It wouldn't be big shocker, they've got talented on their team and if the defense steadily gets better. The Hawks can become a formidable. Atlanta was on a back to back, too. They had just gotten blown out by the Nets on Tuesday night. They could've easily lost both of those games, because inexperience and 4th quarter breakdowns. But they didn't and they ended up winning both games. Besides, our Rockets team just played a back to back against the two best teams in NBA from last season, we had a clear advantage/control in both games for good period of time. The back to back is questionable excuse. Dallas and Phoenix should beat any team that struggled to win 30 games and hasn't had any significant roster changes. They're good teams, personally I think both are a bit overrated. Even with one injured player (not the MVPs), both teams should still be formidible and feared teams....and shouldn't show much of drop off. 1) You're telling everybody that Dallas can't beat Atlanta without Howard. Their problems are much worse than we thought. I thought they had reigning MVP on their team and myraid of above average role players and borderline all-stars. And, it's no big deal to lose to lowly EC team. 2) Same for Phoenix, aren't they supposed to be a good team without Stoudemire...don't they have a guy who won two MVPs and almost third with any serious doubts or questions. With the likes of Barbosa, Hill, Diaw, Marion, and Bell, can't handle little small Atlanta team. I mean honestly the NBA analyst say that these are two of three best teams in the league. Many have even picked both teams for championship this year, even more so than San Antonio. So, they should be beating Atlanta, Charlotte, Seattle, and Los Angeles. I mean it could be case of it's too early in the year or that these teams are getting better or even that the championship quality are really nothing more than very good teams with very spotty defense and really no inside game. People say ah.....well it's early in the year, games in November and December are pretty meaningless. Lakers winning by almost 30 doesn't mean anything, or even losing to Atlanta or even struggling to beat Seattle. Getting out rebounded by the Cavs, Hawks, and Lakers. And have their big men or front line just completely look like all-stars...getting double doubles. 1) 4 Atlanta players with double digit rebounds and three with doubles doubles. 2) Gooden and Big Z, both having over 20 points and 13/14 rebs, respectively. 3) Getting embrassed by the Lakers 4) Struggling with Seattle who actually almost beating them at their own game, by running and gunning. Doesn't this look eeriely similar to last few seasons, which ended with them not having Championship banner. Not playing enough defense or getting enough rebounds. While S.A. is not the only capable team in West with good Jazz team and improving Rockets and unpredictable Nuggets. As the Spurs might be team beat, but not the only team that is capable of beating Phoenix or Dallas. It's hard to say. But most of the time, teams that start off well are usually the ones that end up going deep into the playoffs and even the finals. It's almost proven every year. Because their margin of error actually grows as the season goes along, if your team jumps with a good record, you always have better chance of getting the playoffs. Case in point, the Lakers from last year started season 26 - 13, if they played .500 ball from that point on around 21-22 or 22-21, 47-48 wins, which still probably gets them into playoffs and possibly 5th or 6th in West. In the East, you might see home field in first and possibly the 2nd round. Still, they finished 16-27 and still beat out the lowest seed and others fighting 8th spot by 2 games. The Lakers afforded themselves time to have injuries and even develop young players/rookies or even play players who haven't been getting alot of time. And even, freefall somewhat. And still sort of be out of harm way. Teams do it all the time, can position themselves for playoffs as right now, if you have 5 to 8 game cushion on another team competing for a division or home field. Doesn't team with the big cushion always have the advantage. For instance, if the Lakers or Clippers happened to jump in front of the Suns with a big lead or cushion and say those teams beat or split even the Suns, won't that favor those teams for head to head competition and give them a good chance of finishing ahead. It's ok to coast, but I wouldn't too early in the year or too late in season.
They are about to be 2-3. Let's see them get a few decent road wins before entertaining the idea this is a 500 team. Look at the teams underneath them record wise in the east--Mia, Wash, Chi, Cleve & Toronto. I would be suprised if Atl ends with a better record with all but one of these teams. So I say longshot for the playoffs, well less than 50%. Problem areas are PG, and just overall veteran leadership/presence. Even Joe Johnson seems a lot more skillfull than he does scream a leader of men when the going gets tough. Unless that changes, another lotto for them.
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Atlanta is certainly improving and I believe they will rank pretty high in the East this year and will make the playoffs. And I'll grant that I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Hawks beat the Mavs, even if the Mavs were without Howard. Phoenix was a different story. Like I said, they were playing back-to-back games, both on the road. That's very draining.
The record is irrelevant from now until maybe January. The point is they beat two teams who are legitimate, and should have beaten Atlanta. It is true they started similar last year, but I can't stress enough what Horford brings to the table. His presence makes Marvin Williams serviceable, freeing him up for offensive looks and allowing him to body up against the lesser of the two opposing post players and in doing so against Diaw he looked more than simply serviceable. He will not be able to grab 10 boards a game against good low-block teams though. The wins against these teams tell us, more than anything, that Atlanta can officially be added to the list of teams that intend to run teams off the floor. I think they took a note from GS last year. Running Horford at the 5 was effective against Phoenix, but that notion would get squashed by teams like us or the Spurs who would do what Phoenix wasn't able to: force the issue down low. Granted they didn't have Amare, but they did alright without him a season ago and are still better in theory than the Hawks. IF the point play works as fluently as is has (much to my surprise), then Acie Law/Salim Stoudamire/Claxton could get it done. They must limit turnovers, and much of it will depend on AL4's development as a scorer. I for one, am excited to see how they will materialize and more importantly, how they will matchup with other fast teams, now that they have been exposed as a potential hyper-offense threat.
What do you think now after KG went for 27 (12-16 shooting I might add), 19 boards and 3 blocks--basically whatever he wanted, versus Horford, Smith and Co. Somewhat tongue and cheek (knee jerk reaction the other way), obviously KG and Boston are playing out of this world right now, but does show it is way too early to conclude a very young 2-3 team is any kind of playoff threat.
this years Golden State Warriors nobody wants to play them in them playoffs because of all their long wing players and scary talent.
I think they don't have a Garnett stopper. Horford did a decent job, but overall the Celtics are a better team. The Celtics could possibly be BETTER than advertised, which is insane considering how highly touted they have been. I still see the Hawks making EC noise (ala 4-7 seed).
