Atlanta Hawks: Brighter future for Hawks in ESPN.com rankings
In a few short weeks the Hawks transitioned from a good-but-not-great team with no financial flexibility to a franchise that can clear gops of cap space and has a long-term plan.
No surprise, then, that the Hawks moved up in Chad Ford and John Hollinger’s latest future power rankings at ESPN.com (Insider). The rankings are Ford and Hollinger’s attempt to project the on-court success for the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
The Hawks improved from No. 19 to No. 15 largely on the strength of their dramatically improved salary-cap situation. That development moved Atlanta’s “money” ranking (worth as much as 200 points) from No. 26th to No.1 Ford and Hollinger noted this “25-place jump was the largest of any team in any category.”
That was offset by Atlanta’s league-high drop in the “players” ranking (600 points), down to 23rd from 12th. Ford and Hollinger dock the Hawks not just for the talent disparity in the Joe Johnson deal but also because Josh Smith is in the last year of his contract. The authors opine that “[Al] Horford is the only key player who is both signed [long term] and guaranteed to make an impact.”
The Hawks rank No. 13 in the “management” category (200 points), up from No. 17 in the previous rankings. Ford and Hollinger give Danny Ferry high marks for both his tenure as Cleveland GM and his initial moves with the Hawks.
Atlanta ranks No. 14 in the “market” category (100 points), up one spot. The considerations: “Appeal to future acquisitions based on team quality, franchise reputation, city’s desirability as a destination, market size, taxes, business and entertainment opportunities, arena quality, fans.”
Finally, Ford and Hollinger place the Hawks No. 13 in the “draft” rankings (100 points), up from No. 19. That’s based on future draft picks and draft positioning.
The teams ranked ahead of the Hawks in the overall rankings, in order: Heat, Thunder, Lakers, Jazz, Pacers, Mavericks, Nuggets, Bulls, Spurs, Celtics, Hornets, Cavaliers, Rockets, Nets.
(Note to blog people: Please respect the paywall and refrain from reproducing substantial portions of the ESPN.com link.)
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464 comments Add your comment
Butt Healthy Converstion
August 20th, 2012
9:26 am
“Children acting like children calling others children…once again…ironic?” EricS.
Dept. should have a field day with the quotes from this guy. How ironic he/she stays silent.
vava74
August 20th, 2012
9:34 am
OB,
AT BEST, a .500 team.
I think we will win between 34 and 39 games next year, with some of the wins coming against top grade teams.
There will be effort, high pace but little D.
In the end, I think it will be more rewarding for us to go to the lottery for one season and maybe with few ping pong balls get a top #3 pick than crash out 0-4 in the first round.
Sautee
August 20th, 2012
9:35 am
BHC= slimjr
Like we couldn’t tell?
LOL.
FACTS: Slim Jr = JeJe too
August 20th, 2012
9:38 am
lol@People think Josh Smith is going to lead the Hawks to an EC Finals appearance when he cant even make an all-star game. Having a low bball IQ, taking ill advised bricked/airballed jump shots, and trying to be a point guard bringing it up the court and turning it over several times a game is GARBAGE.
FACTS: Slim JeJe Jr
August 20th, 2012
9:40 am
Horford > The Rapper Game Smoove
Sautee
August 20th, 2012
9:43 am
Hey slim, wanna answer my question from last night?
It’s very easy. Just yes or no.
KevinM
August 20th, 2012
9:43 am
vava, I 2nd that! I don’t want to continue to be an average team. I don’t want to just say we made the playoffs and waiting for a big name free agent that we have to overpay to come here.
I have enough trouble seeing us overpay Josh come next season as a SF. LD has proven he isn’t about to discipline the guys woh need to be disciplined.
…when Al does something wrong, look out Petro! You are taking the wrath.
…when Josh dribbles the ball off his foot, look out JT! LD is going to tell the media that you expect the PG to go get the ball.
More of the same from LD and Josh IMO.
And looking at that FA list for next season, how many guys do you see becoming a leader on the Hawks? Gasol? Gay? Deng? Randolph?
I’d rather get back into the Top 3 draft lottery and take my chances there and get it over with. It will take a LeBron major injury for us to even think about competing for a division championship.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
9:51 am
Barring injuries, our two biggest questions this season will be:
1). Anthony Morrow – Is he the 14.8 ppg guy from January, who had several 20+ point games, or is he the Anthony Morrow who got stuck behind Stevenson and Brooks for the rest of the season.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
9:59 am
If Morrow shows up the way he can, we may be a ver difficult team to deal with.
2). LD – How will LD manage personalities and minutes between 11 guys who are used to being in the rotation or starting, and also develop a rook who has been the man on his team for 3 years?
How will LD Coach with quite a bit of talent, but less than ideal pieces to fit in your 1-5 slots.
The answer to those questions will go a long way in determining how the Hawks do this season.
If LD’s. Boneheaded, I can see us sub .500 this season.
If LD manages personnel correctly, I can see us getting to the 2nd round of the playoffs. Probably not beyond however.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:03 am
You cannot add Lou, Harris, Morrow, and Korver to replace JJ, Marvin, Green, Hinrich, and Pargo, and not improve your scoring. You just can’t. This team will be a better scoring team than last season, hands down.
Unless LD finds a way to mess that up.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:09 am
I see the Heat as better than us.
I see the Celtics as better than us
I see the Nets and Pacers as the next teams after them.
And we are very close to being as good as the Nets and Pacers. I could see us equalling or exceeding either of those teams.
The Knicks could be good as well. Alot of question marks on that team for me, from Amare on down.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:12 am
I’m not sold on the Bulls w/o DRose. Their back court looks terrible.
And they signed VladRad to go with Kirk. That can’t be a good sign.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:17 am
The Bulls – Noah, Boozer, and Deng in the Front Court are solid, with Taj coming off the bench, that’s really good.
But Noah’s hurt, Dengs wrist is messed up, and Boozer has been known to get injured on occasion. I’m just not sold on the Bulls at the moment.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:22 am
I could be convinced to like the Sixers if somebody could guarantee me the Andruw Bynum would play at least 70 games, and that he won’t be a malcontent.
Beyond that, I’m not sold on the Sixers yet. But they are my surprise pick if certain things fall in place for them.
But iffy at best
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:27 am
The news in OKC is that Harden is a goner if he’s offered a max deal. You’ve got Ibaka, Westbrook, and Durant due 50 mill (either side) for the next few years. Even if they amnesty Perkins, it’s looking bleak to re-sign Harden. There would be a time in the next few years where the payroll would be 65 mill for those 4 players alone.
Not a good sign for OKC
MsDee
August 20th, 2012
10:34 am
I dont see our team being THAT bad to be in the lottery. Like KenS says, we have a much quicker, faster, younger team than last years. Plus, we have added guys who have averaged basically the same if not more than the guys we traded. Yea, we lost DEF but still NO WAY we end up in the lottery UNLESS we tank on purpose. NO WAY WE ARE THAT BAD TO PLAY TO WIN JUST TO LOSE ENOUGH GAMES FOR A LOTTERY PICK!!
Astro Joe
August 20th, 2012
10:43 am
Steve, your last several posts make it sound like if everything goes really well for the Hawks and if everything goes really poorly for the other teams, then we could have a good playoff slot. It raraely works that way (all badness for others and all goodness for the home team). No doubt, the Hawks should score more than last year. But there is very little doubt that they will likely give up more as well. And in order to optimize the talent on the floor, the Hawks will be a super-small team at times during the game. That may work on the offensive end, but it could easily be disasterous defensively. I expect most Hawks games to be entertaining for 2.5 quarters and then the opposing team will take control in the last 18 minutes of the game. And I stand by my prediction of between 38-42 wins.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:50 am
Hardens max is only around 4 years, 60 mill. I’d give him that kind of money all day if I’m the Hawks. A core of Al, Josh, Lou, and Harden is formidable, and if you can re-sign Teague and Zaza, all the better.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
10:58 am
AJ – Oversimplification of my analysis. And a little wrong.
Basically, I only see Boston and the Heat as clearly better than the Hawks. The rest, including the the Pacers, Nets, Sixers, Knicks, Bulls – I see as roughly equal. Injuries, Coaching, and gelling will all determine slots 3-9 in my opinion.
No team with Josh, Al, Lou, Teague, and Devin is going to fade the last 18 minutes of a game. Too much, talent, experience, professionalism, for that to happen amongst our major players for that too happen – unless injuries take a toll.
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
11:00 am
Typing on an old iPhone – lots of mistakes – sorry
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
11:11 am
AJ – And trust me, I’ve trumpeting our defensive liabilities ad naseum on these blogs. I just think, properly coached, we can outscore most opponents.
44-46 wins is what I see for us.
We were 40-26 with Teague, Josh, and JJ as our bet players last season. The East is much improved overall. But with Josh, Al, Lou, Devin, Teague, Zaza, and Morrow as our top 7, I think we’ll be better than people may think.
Imbalanced, yes. But pretty good nonetheless.
vava74
August 20th, 2012
11:12 am
SteveW,
Teague is an erratic defender and is 6′2”
Lou is considered a sub par defender and is 6′1”
Harris is considered an average (at best defender) and is 6′3”
Jenkins is considered a poor defender and is 6′4”
Morrow is considered a poor defender and is 6′5”
Stephenson is considered a washed up offensively challenged swingman and is 6′5”
Korver is considered a poor defender and is 6′7”
That’s what the Hawks have right now at the PG/SG/SF slots down from having JJ at 6′7” and a well above average defender and Marving at 6′9” at least an above average defender.
That is a tiny bunch of guys who are on average pretty poor defenders. Simply put, we will be porous unless there is a substantial shake up on the roster or unless Josh and Ivan split minutes at the SF slot and…
… even so, we will be just like GS was two years ago with Curry, Ellis and CJ Watson (lottery bound).
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
11:15 am
It’d be great if Grandads analysis of positions don’t matter nearly as much as BB players is true. But obviously you have to have some guys of similar speed and size to match up. A team of rondos couldn’t beat the Lakers, because Gasol and Howard would kill them inside.
But Grandads point overall has some validity. Properly coached this Hawks team is dangerous.
vava74
August 20th, 2012
11:18 am
SteveW,
You mention “coaching”.
In order for this roster to make it to the second round of the playoffs we are talking about having this raggedy bunch coached by Astro’s Frankenstein Coach (I think it was an amalgamation which included, amongst others, Red Auerbach’s ghost and left pinkie…)
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
11:19 am
Vava74 – I know, I’ve made a similar post on another blog. But our depth, talent, and frontcourt is going to be very formidable.
Just watch, you may be shocked.
Ms dee – Malcolm Thomas, if not already signed, is the type player Ferry is looking for according to his statements.
pointguardslim
August 20th, 2012
11:19 am
Future looks brighter…
but Hawks been in dark so long
easily blinded/ flash in pan blinds them /blinded by glimmer.
Someone help me finish my haiku
vava74
August 20th, 2012
11:20 am
AJ,
Who were the components?
(And you said that not even with your Frankenstein they would do it… and I tend to agree)
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
11:21 am
Vava – No, just Greg Popovich. No almagamation needed.
sam'l
August 20th, 2012
11:21 am
If I remember correctly…….and I could be wrong……
Boston gave Miami its toughest challenge on the way to being champs.
We were down to Boston 3-2 and had a good chance to win game 6….but one of the Celtics grabbed Horford near the basket and he missed a free throw..
Seems to me, we weren’t that far from making the big time. Especially when you consider the isolation game and the Josh peculiarities…both of which could have been cured by some vision by the coach and backup from management.
I mean we coud have been champs without all this.
I would let that sink in for a second except I have to say Larry Drew did draw up some good last second plays. just to be fair….
SteveW
August 20th, 2012
11:24 am
Vava – Compare last years San Antonio roster objectively to this years Hawks roster. Greg Popovich would have this as a 52 win team, I’m sure. That guy is a great Coach.
And I’m not sure that Doc wouldn’t get in Al and Josh’s head, among others, so much that he wouldn’t have this as a 50 win, second round team either.
Coaching matters
Ra'mon
August 20th, 2012
11:47 am
Guys, how good or bad the Hawks are will not be determined by how they play against top three or four teams in the East. But it will be determined by how well they play against the next 11-12 teams in the east. How good will the teams worst than the 7th seed be in the east and west. On talent alone, those teams will not be able to compete with the Hawks, even as currently constructed. Guys consider this, out of the top 6 seeds last season in the East, three of the teams came from the Southeast division. Well Orlando is no longer a playoff team. And Washington isn’t either. Brooklyn may be the only team that makes the playoffs that weren’t there last season. In my mind, they just takes Orlando place. So its very difficult not to see the Hawks being a top 6 seed. Rose is out for the entire season, because he was hurt in the playoffs and not early on in the season. And Deng (as well as Boozer) have always been injury prone. Either of those two miss more than 15-20 games, and Chicago likely will no longer be a playoff team. I see the Knicks being good enough to play with the elite teams, but not athletic enough to play with the young teams in the league, night after night. There’s no way that Kidd can guard the young guards in the league now. Philadelphia had problems scoring last season. Yet, they’ve lost four of their best scorers on that team, and they really only have Bynum to show for it. I don’t see Philly making the playoffs this season.
The problem teams will have with the Hawks is, true the Hawks may not be able to stop many teams starting line ups. However, many teams second units won’t be able to score with the Hawks second unit. Going back to 82 games will leave the bench playing more minutes. And most teams in the league will not have the depth to play with the Hawks. Also for what its worth, the Hawks have been there. Josh, Al, Teague, Zaza, Harris, and Stevenson have each played big parts on playoff teams. That experience goes a long way. If you think about it, The Hawks are the youngest team of all the ones with playoff experience.
O'Brien
August 20th, 2012
11:52 am
Doc, Najeh,
How about Melky? Instead of taking the punishment (50 games), and doing the time peacefully, it is being reported that his people tried to alter a website to make it look like Melky bought some cream from the website, but didnt know it was banned. MLB said they are not falling for it though.
Ken Strickland
August 20th, 2012
12:01 pm
STEVEW-DEF can be looked at in 2 ways, TEAM and INDIVIDUAL DEF. Until the Bulls hired TThibodeau as their HC, PG DRose wasn’t considered any better than average as a defender, and PF CBoozer and KKorver were considered DEF liabilities. The fact is, neither of these players were very good INDIVIDUAL DEFENDERS, but became excellent TEAM DEFENDERS.
Once Thibodeau installed a TEAM DEF concept, the Bulls haven’t finished lower than 2nd in total DEF. It’s the same style of DEF that the Celtics have used so successfully, since Thibodeau installed it there as well. I don’t think Philly will be as good as the Hawks, because acquiring ABynum won’t replace what they lost.
I see them being a lot like the Magic were when they had Dwight and very little support around him. Last yr they had difficulty scoring, and that was before losing LWilliams, their leading scorer, and 2 of their remaining top 4 scorers(Iggy and Brand). They also lost 2 or the top 3 in assists(Iggy and LWilliams).
A projected starting lineup of OC ABynum, PF SHawes, SF ETurner, SG JRichardson, and PG JHoliday, won’t scare anyone. In fact, they’ll end up being a strictly half court oriented OFF team, just like all of the other Eastern Conference teams except the Heat. Our newly acquired speed, quickness, and athleticism will serve us well defensively when defending these bigger, slower, halfcourt oriented teams. It won’t be easy, but it won’t be as difficult as you might think.
We should be able to run, run, and run again, against these bigger, slower, and far less athletic teams. Attack their transition DEF, which is always weak with these types of teams. Can you imagine SHawes trying to defend JSmith’s quickness and athleticism, or Bynum coming out to try and defend Horford? What chance would JRichardson have on the perimeter trying to defend DHarris, AMorrow or LWilliams. They’d blow by him like he wasn’t there.
It’s all up to LDrew and his staff, whether our DEF becomes an asset or a liability,
darrell starks
August 20th, 2012
12:04 pm
Yes if your looking at this roster as constructed, Hawks have a loaded of SG and SF that are poor defenders.
As much us bloggers dog out Marvin on basketball court atleast he was and average defender, plus Joe was and above defender for a SG.
Joe 6 ‘7
Marvin 6′9
made the Hawks a better defensive team.
Danny must find a SG / SF defender if the Hawks are going be a good team.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
August 20th, 2012
12:11 pm
Mickael Pietrus and Al Thorton are still out there Hawks should bring in both players, this team would be and legit contender with signing of both players.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken Strickland
August 20th, 2012
12:20 pm
We’ll start this season knowing what to expect from IJohnson, and Petro is a 7′ center that is better in just about every category than both Collins and Dampier were combined. LWilliams give us more versatility, assists and firepower than Pargo and Green combined. And I don’t know if we’ve ever had as much long range firepower as we have with Morrow, Jenkins, and Korver.
We’ve definitely never had as much backcourt speed, quickness, athleticism, penetrating and/or shooting ability as we now have with Teague, Harris, Morrow, Jenkins and LWilliams. Can we be successful playing the same deliberate ISO style of OFF basketball that we played with JJ and Marvin, or the same kind of INDIVIDUALLY ORIENTED DEF, NO?
Can we be successful playing a completely different style of uptempo fastbreaking OFF that features player and ball movement in halfcourt, and a team oriented DEF, OH HELL YES. Again, it’s all up to HC LDrew and his staff.
Astro Joe
August 20th, 2012
12:25 pm
vava, I think I included Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Pop, Doc Rivers and George Karl.
Steve, most teams are “match-up dependent”, meaning that their success is heavily influenced by their ability to match-up with the opponent. IMO, this team’s smallness means that it will be SUPER match-up dependent. There will be times that playing any combination of Lou, Teague, Devin and Morrow will be incredibly challenging (and add Korver and Jenkins to that group as well).
Astro Joe
August 20th, 2012
12:33 pm
Ra’mon, if Kidd can’t re-direct the more athletic PGs into Tyson Chandler or Marcus Camby, then Shumpert will be asked to do so.
darrell starks
August 20th, 2012
12:34 pm
Ken Strickland, Hawks do not want to become the Golden state Warrior’s of the East.
If Hawks going be succesful they must build this team defensively not losing games 110 to 102 every night.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
August 20th, 2012
12:37 pm
Ken Strickland, if the Hawks sign Pietrus or Thorton this would give them size at SG / SF.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Astro Joe
August 20th, 2012
12:38 pm
I guess those of you who are convinced that this roster is built to be successful (top 6 seed) will blame LD for any subsequent failure before considering that maybe the too small, transition roster was just not equipped to do much more (and this is NOT coming from an LD fan).
vava74
August 20th, 2012
12:43 pm
SteveW, Ken,
Let’s be realistic.
Neither Pop nor Thibs are coaching the Hawks. It’s LD who is coaching this bunch of jump shooting undersized pile of SG and swingmen (there isn’t a single pure PG on the bunch).
Both Pop and Thibs are amongst the top 5 head coaches in the league right now and arguably within the top 3 with Doc.
Someone asked above if the Morrow that will show up is the Morrow that averaged 14ppg during a month with the Nets or the Morrow that fell out of the rotation.
Listen: even the Morrow that averaged 14ppg IS STILL a below average NBA player which brings ZERO defense.
Last year’s Hawks made it 40-26 because we played good D with Teague, Hinrich and JJ (and even Pargo on some match ups) making our back court always above average on D and JJ and Marvin at the SF slot well above above average on D.
The Hawks can’t roll out anything comparable right now.
Don’t you remember how GS’s tallented by small back court was murdered by virtually everyone in the league?
Defense wins games.
The only run and gun team which was successful was PHO and that is simply because they had a super talented roster where JJ was a third or fourth wheel and even them they had Marion and JJ at the top of their games manning the SF and SG slots with well above average D.
darrell starks
August 20th, 2012
12:43 pm
HAWKS 2012 TEAM
STARTERS TEAGUE, LOU, JOSH, HORFORD, ZAZA
BENCH DEVIN, KORVER, PIETRUS OR THORTON, IVAN, BLATCHE
RESERVE JENKINS, MORROW, PETRO
STREET CLOTHES DESHAWN, JORDAN
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
vava74
August 20th, 2012
12:47 pm
Ken,
You spent months and months (maybe even years) saying that defense starts in the perimeter.
That Bibby and Jamal where highways into the paint and that with Teague we would improve on D dramatically.
Guess what, we DID, as last year proved with JJ, Teague and Hinrinch on the backcourt our D was pretty solid, making up for the loss of Horford.
WHAT HAS CHANGED IN YOUR MIND?
Unless you start pumping EPO (the PED used by cyclists to increase blood’s ability to carry oxygen) and games are stretched to last 6 quarters instead of 4 we will not be able to run and gun enough to make up for the lack of size and D.
doc
August 20th, 2012
12:49 pm
vava no doiubt jj is ggod. never said he wasnt. however the is a third tier star at best. look he would be welcome on any team. i just dont think he is better than pp, bosh or allen who are simialr in pay structure but far ahead in abilities and play on both sides of the ball. jj is not the stopper of pp, allen or any other big name and he had only one break out game in a playoff game that came unfortunately in 2007 and wasnt consistently recreated through the years. robins are appreciated for sure but not when it is a tam that has to respect the tax and needs its top payee to be a batman and deliver as a top five talent for what he gets paid.
as far as they are going to be .500 next year? look back. they were only 6 games up on that when the core was two years younger. last year was an anomaly, all around when it came to competitiveness around the league and you cant say last years team was say better than woody’s last with both last years and woody’s last years teams were an equal 14 games over .500.
yup o’b read it with interest as i thought initially melkey just said sorry, yes, i took testosterone. it seems like the mlb did some background work to uncover the planned strategy by melkey’s camp. the roid thing is a disaster for all sports and sadly will shorten many players lives pro and non-pro from early use. it is as bad as the concussion issue now facing football from nfl to the pop warner’s. it is a real issue to consider to actually our whole of society putting these things on such a high pedestal to risk body later for riches now. waivers are figured to be part of all sports and i hope that at least puts the responsibility on individuals to who is to blame and accept resonsibility.
Astro Joe
August 20th, 2012
12:50 pm
vava and that Phoenix team also had Quentin Richardson who was also a solid wing defender. This Hawks team will require that Deshawn Stevenson convert his home ATM machine into a time machine and become the above average wing defender he was about 2-3 years ago. And of course, that will come at the expense of John Jenkins (one of only 3 players with a long-term contract and clear developmental needs).
MsDee
August 20th, 2012
12:55 pm
@SteveW,
Ms dee – Malcolm Thomas, if not already signed, is the type player Ferry is looking for according to his statements.
Kool cause at least he could give us SOMEBODY at SF
vava74
August 20th, 2012
1:05 pm
doc,
JJ’s decaying game and/or shortcomings MAY be linked to poor coaching IMO.
Woody and LD? Give me a break.
Woody lived off riding JJ and converting him into something he isn’t and LD had no balls (or knowledge) to do any different.
JJ’s clutch numbers last year were stellar (with substantial increase of points coming off assists – ie. less ISO plays), proving that he can be dependable against average and below average defenses and in catch and shoot situations.
It was up to the coaches to stop that ISO nonsense against top grade defenses.
JJ was in PHO a catch and shoot phenom who had a midrange range game to go along.
It was under Woody that JJ became a ball stopper and that strategy worked when playoff teams couldn’t care less if JJ went for 30 since the rest of the Hawks were cr@p and against non-playoff teams who – most of them – did not have enough D (just like we will not have this year) to stop a very good player like JJ is.
COACHING, as Ken Strickland well said above, converted below average defenders in adequate/above average team defenders (Thibs/CHI).
The same happens on offense.
A good coach sets up his players for success, getting their shots on their good spots.
Hubie said that profusely during the 0-4 debacle against ORL about JJ and Jamal not being able to get to their sweet spots against ORL’s D.
Woody and LD’s offensive strategy simply fed the ISO monster and the ISO monster was destined to fail simply because JJ is not good enough to make it his bread and butter against top defenders.
Buddy Grizzard
August 20th, 2012
2:22 pm
“Basically, I only see Boston and the Heat as clearly better than the Hawks.”
Agree, but AJ is right. A lot has to go right for the Hawks and go wrong for other teams for the Hawks to make the 3 seed.
“But with Josh, Al, Lou, Devin, Teague, Zaza, and Morrow as our top 7, I think we’ll be better than people may think.”
Agree 100%
“Seems to me, we weren’t that far from making the big time.”
We were one Jannero Pargo 4th quarter stint in Game 3 where the Hawks were outscored by 7 points (game ended in a tie, Hawks lost in OT) away from possibly facing the Heat in the ECF. Agree 100%. We were one good coach away.
“Guess those of you who are convinced that this roster is built to be successful (top 6 seed) will blame LD for any subsequent failure” – AJ
No sir. Blame will be assessed and asigned on a case-by-case basis. If the Hawks flame out in the first round while LD gives heavy minutes to Johan Petro while Zaza sits, you can guess who I’ll be blaming then.
glw
August 20th, 2012
2:37 pm
Personally Im not sure what to think about this coming year. I think anywhere from 42-48 win. I hope we can add at least a quality player at the 3. Im one of those guys that would liketo see us get Pietrus or maybe Al Thorton.
ESPN is playing it same with their rankings too. They are only predicting Miami to win more than 50 games. Seems they expect the East to be pretty balance this year with 4 or 5 teams within a few games of each other.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8273488/2012-nba-summer-forecast-east-standings