Amigos' NBA Previews- Atlanta Hawks

Recent Past: After years of post 'Nique(and later)Dike' sucktitutde, the Hawks managed to make it to the playoffs in 07-08, albeit with a losing record. They proceeded to take the Celtics to game seven, in a series that probably seemed more dramatic than it actually was (they got killed in every road game, and managed to squeak out the home games). This seemed to sort of give the team a newly found meaning, and last season they almost got to the 50 win mark, finishing fourth in the East in the process. They won a seven-gamer against Miami, in a series that (you might recall) had us all questioning our will to live. They probably deserved to get swept against Cleveland, just for putting us through that shit. And on that note, let's just move on...

Offseason: They managed to get Jamal Crawford for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton, which was pretty awesome. Obviously, there were mitigating circumstances on GSW's end, but this is definitely an upgrade over Flip Murray, in what ought to be pretty much the same role. Other than that, they didn't really do anything.

Probable Lineup: Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford. Jamal Crawford, Joe Smith, and Zaza Pachulia as key subs.

General Outlook: ...does it seem weird to anyone else that the Hawks are a genuinely good team now? I mean, they aren't going to win a title, but they're sort of like an Eastern Conference Utah Jazz (perhaps not as good). This just doesn't sit well with me, and my first reaction is to expect them to somehow become a disaster. But, you look at this roster, and barring some weird injury mess, it just doesn't look like one that's going to fail. Bibby had a somewhat resurgent season last time out, and I guess it wouldn't be shocking if he got worse/hurt/traded, but none of the other players look real likely to have anything mess with their season. They're just a really solid squad, without a real star, but their starting five doesn't have a true weak link, if we assume Marvin Williams will at least sustain the improvement he made last season. Somehow Joe Johnson's considered an All-Star now, and, as the joke goes, he's so often been referred to as underrated that he's now overrated. But that's fine; it's sort of just cool that there's a player on the Hawks that people are willing to look at as an All-Star. And you add in Josh Smith's general coolness, Jamal Crawford's potential to go for 50 points in any game, and the running "Marvin Williams is not Chris Paul" storyline, and this is a somewhat captivating team.

They really lack meaningful depth beyond the eight I listed before, and if anything happens with Bibby they'll have to fuck around with Crawford at point. And, well, that's probably not a good thing. Johnson and Smith will likely have to play big minutes again this season, as outside of Crawford they really lack a non-big to come off the bench. The Joe Smith signing could help, in that they may be able to work out the rotation with Marvin and Josh Smith (and even Johnson) so that they'll not have to play ridiculous minutes. This is assuming Joe Smith still has nothing left. Honestly, I have no clue, but he was decent enough for Cleveland last year, and let's just sort of assume he can do that again. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Mike Woodson deals with that rotation, and if he can make it really work for him. Because those eight are all pretty good, and if that can last for 82+ the playoffs they could be looking at 50 wins and another shot at the second round. Of course, if they fuck around and have a couple injuries, or just have a player or two fall off a bit, they could be down around the seven or eight spot in a weirdly-deep (but still not really that good) Eastern Conference.

If they were a hip hop act: Little Brother. The Hawks are quite good, probably in the NBA's top 10 teams, but like Little Brother, people only sort of pay attention to them, and in the end you get the feeling all the pieces will end up leaving before they really make it big.

Guessing how they'll do: I don't know. I guess I'll put them in the four spot in the east, and then they're probably pretty iffy for the second round, depending on the opponent. Not exactly an "out there" prediction, I know.