Welcome to the inaugural edition of eDraft’s NBA Season Preview. We turn our attention on to the Southeast Division, covering everyone from the pretenders to the contenders. Today we take a look at the Hawks, a team in transition, who hope to prove they can win without Joe Johnson.
Key additions: Devin Harris (G), Lou WIlliams (G), Kyle Korver
(F), Johan Petro (C), Anthony Morrow (G)
The Hawks have their sights set on the 2013 off-season, when they will have plenty of cash and a nice foundation to build around. But there are games to play before then, at least 82, and the Hawks should be able to win at least half of them.
With “Iso-Joe” Johnson gone it would be easy to write-off this team, but this year’s Hawks might even be better than last year’s with the new talent Danny Ferry has brought in. Devin Harris and Lou Williams are both excellent scores and will push the ball, something that rarely happened under the Johnson regime. Kyle Korver should further open up the floor with his three point shooting and Anthony Morrow is an exciting talent with a career three point shooting average of 42%.
As talented as the new additions are it’s the holdovers that should give Atlanta fans real hope. Big men, Al Horford (career 12.8PPG-9.5 RPG) and Josh Smith (career 15.1 PPG-7.9 RPG), are considerable talents who can dominate games seemingly at will. For my money Josh Smith (a free agent after this season) is the single most exciting dunking big man in the league right now, and I know that’s not supposed to matter but it does to me. We don’t pay to watch the Princeton office after all. Horford looks to finally be healthy after missing all of last season and has been working hard on his post game all summer. But for all of their ability I have also witnessed contests where both players completely vanished, so coach Larry Drew will have to emphasize consistency with these players. If they can bring their A-games each night, the true measure of stardom, then the Hawks should make the playoffs once again.
But its next summer that ultimately matters, for the Atlanta ownership knows that the talent they’ve cobbled together this season isn’t enough to advance deep into the playoffs. And what a special summer it could turn out to be. This year’s batch of free agents is spectacular with Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Andrew Bynum, and James Harden all potentially available. Atlanta is an attractive, vibrant city, and the Hawks may be able to add another star or two before July is out.
Reason for optimism: Howard is an Atlanta native and he may find both the L.A. media glare and Kobe Bryant too harsh.
Reason for despair: The Hawks will likely: fail to attract their top free-agent choice, settle on a nice player rather than a superstar and be a 45-win, first round playoff team for the rest of eternity.
Projected record: 35-47