Atlanta Hawks:
Trying to soar above the East

The Atlanta Hawks have enjoyed a good amount of success since moving from St. Louis to Atlanta in 1969. In the 36 seasons of playing in Atlanta the team has advanced to the postseason 23 times. The greatest postseason game the Hawks have ever played has to be game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Celtics in Boston. The Hawks were carried throughout the season and the playoffs by superstar Dominique Wilkins. Wilkins was doing the same thing in the deciding game of this series and through three quarters he had scored 31 points. In the final 10 minutes the shootout between Wilkins and the Celtics superstar, Larry Bird, started. Bird scored nine points in the span of two minutes but Wilkins went on a run of his own and tied it up at 99 with 5:57 left in the game. The Bird went on to score the 11 to finish out the quarter and Wilkins matched him point for point until Bird hit a miraculous three over Wilkins that put the Celtics up by three and Wilkins couldn’t bring the team back and the Hawks fell with a final score of 118-116. The shootout between the two superstars made the game on of, if not the, best postseason game of all time. “It was like two gunfighters waiting to blink,” said Celtics forward Kevin McHale who was covering Wilkins for most of the game.

In more recent memory, the Hawks could use a gunslinger like Wilkins. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since the 1999 strike shortened season when they were booted out by the eventual Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks in four games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Since ’99 the team has failed to make the playoffs in each of the five seasons and, in that span, has accumulated a record of 149-261 which is a winning percentage of .363. Last season the team didn’t fare much better finishing 28-54 in a very weak Eastern Conference outside of the Pacers and the Pistons. The highlight of their season came when Bob Sura put up two straight triple doubles and got his third when he missed a layup on purpose and got his own rebound. The NBA went back and disallowed the rebound and ended his run at two. In the off-season the Hawks have been a very active team in trying to get better. Management fired head coach Terry Stotts and hired Detroit assistant coach Mike Woodson who was one of the architects in the suffocating Pistons defense that toppled the mighty Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals. The team also made two big trades that basically transformed the face of the team. The first trade was sending small forward Stephen Jackson to the Pacers for Al Harrington. The second trade brought in All-star forward Antoine Walker and point guard Tony Delk and sent away guard Jason Terry, forward Alan Henderson and a future first round pick.

In the draft the team also picked up some very talented young players that should help jump start this flat-lining franchise. The team tried everything they could to trade up so they could get hometown high school standout Josh Howard, but failed and had to settle for the sixth and 17th overall picks. With the number six pick the Hawks picked up Stanford guard/forward Josh Childress. At 6’7” Childress could play small forward but since he only weighs 205 pounds he’ll probably log more minutes at shooting guard. With the number 17 pick the Hawks selected high school small forward Josh Smith. Smith almost has the body to play small forward in the NBA with a 6’8”, 220 lbs. frame.

The projected starters for the Hawks are Tony Delk as the point guard, Josh Childress as the shooting guard, Al Harrington as the small forward, Antoine Walker as the power forward and Jason Collier as the center. The team looks like a much improved team from last season. The Hawks brought in a great deal of talent and some veterans with playoff experience. In the East that could take them to the playoffs.

The Hawks bench doesn’t look particularly deep, but could be better than most think due to their wealth of youth. The three guys the Hawks drafted guard Royal Ivey, forward Josh Smith, and forward Donta Smith should log a lot of minutes and bring some athleticism to the court when needed.

Are you a Atlanta Hawks Fanatic? Check out AtlantaHawksFanatics.com!