Atlanta Hawks Report Card

*Update - PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS FOR ATL*
Keep the team winning 45 or more games, Ideally 50 or more. Keep the team as a Top four team in the Eastern Conference, catch Orlando off guard if you can. Fend off Miami, Washington, and Charlotte and establish your team as a Southeast Powerhouse, as all five teams are playoff contenders

My overall grade based on pre season expectations: A

Overall: This team is very balanced offensively. Four players score 14 ppg or more. Three players have at least 300 assists this year. Al Horford has solidified himself to become one of the NBA's premier centers getting his first All Star nod this season.

Key to their success: The Hawks avg 21.8 apg, and 11.4 TO a game. That's almost a 2:1 assist to TO ratio for the team. You're gonna win a lot of games with that type of efficiency. They also beat their opponents by 4 ppg on average.
Bad points for the Hawks: They're in middle of the pack defensively in nearly all categories, but they're not bad either.
LeBron money available: Over 18 million. Expect that nearly all of it will be used for Joe Johnson. He is part of their very talented core, can't see him leaving there.

How far ATL can go right now.
Hawks could be in the Eastern Finals this year, could get lucky and make the Finals too. It will be tough to win a ship this year, but can I see the 2010 NBA Champion Atlanta Hawks? Absolutely.

Good report

yeah... and A is fair.

they're gonna win 50 games for the first time in like.. 16 years.

they just gotta work on closing out close games.

I don't see them winning the title because they don't really have a big man... Howard or shaq would dominate horford in a 7 game series

Cool and interesting points
I lke the grade, and think its fits.

Recently the Hawks have had trouble in the last quarter of games, but I dont think that will continue for long.
And about the big man, while I dont think that Al Horford i the best ideal big man, he works and is constantly getting better, and has proved himself throughout the season.

For now, my only concern is this summer and the JJ situation.

I think Al Horford is good.. but he just isn't a C. he would be better at PF imo. same with David Lee.

both of them CAN play C... but they just aren't big enough to guard actual C's. That's the only thingholding hte Hawks back imo

Nenadidas wrote:

I think Al Horford is good.. but he just isn't a C. he would be better at PF imo. same with David Lee.

both of them CAN play C... but they just aren't big enough to guard actual C's. That's the only thingholding hte Hawks back imo

I don't see much difference between PF and C, esp. a banger at PF. Same with SG/SF. My categories of players are

1. Peytons (Rajan Rondo, Jason Kidd)
2. Scoring playmakers (Nash, LeBron, Paul)
3. Scoring Wingmen (kobe, Kevin MArtin)
3. Bangers (Haywood, Shaq, Elton Brand, Varejao)
4. Post Perimeter (Dirk, Antawn, KG)

yeah but who do the hawks struggle against the most? the Magic and cavs.. why? they get owned down low. Horford cannot stop Howard in a 7 game series and he cannot stop Shaq in a 7 game series. They're just too big for him. Yeah horford will still put up 15 points and grab 8-9 rebounds... but Howard would have like 24 points 18 rebounds.

grade: B

they played solid, but they didn't really make the jump to an elite team. they have a solid record, but they don't do well against the best teams. i don't see them going anywhere past the second round, and see them possibly getting surprised by Miami. they're a good team, a solid team, but they aren't a great team, and we expected that coming into the season (expected them to be good not great).

My preseason expectation for ATL was to remain above .500, 45-50 wins ideal, and to have more legit all stars besides Joe Johnson. This was accomplished with Al Horford, and to a degree, Jamal Crawford was an all star of sorts, and he's the sixth man of the year for their team, if not the NBA. All of those expectations were met and then some, which was I gave them an A.