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Overall
Win/Loss Record (At Season’s End): 44-38, second place Southeast Division
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21
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At
Season’s End:
9
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Team
Statistics and League Rank (At Season’s End)
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Individual
Statistical Leaders (At Season’s End)
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Taking a Look Back at the Season that Once Was . . .
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SDH Player of the Year:
Jeff Teague 
Jeff Teague was certainly another player who had undergone a major transformation from being a solid young role player to becoming a potential all star candidate in the future. He had been posting solid, if not unspectacular numbers for the first half of the season, then suddenly came alive posting All Star worthy number as the season progressed. His best performance came in February where he averaged career highs in points (18.3), assists (9.3) and steals (2.3) per game certainly placing him among one of the top young point men in the league. With the departure of Joe Johnson, Jeff Teague has certainly become one of the key players in a Hawks teams heading into transition to possibly rebuilding. Hopefully, there will be more to come, from this up and coming young player as his teammates and fans will be expecting a lot from him thanks to his improvements.
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Analysis:
Many believed that trading away Joe Johnson's contract to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for useless spare parts whose contracts were expiring was a sign that the Atlanta Hawks were looking to scrap the team and start all over. Their premier player, Josh Smith, was on the last year of his contract and all signs pointed to him either being traded by mid season or Atlanta parting ways with him come season' end. It would not come as much of a surprise to the fans and for those who covered the Atlanta Hawks that the team was planning to go in a new direction because most could see the writing on the wall and it looked as if the high flying Hawks were headed to a slow descent to the ground. After resigning him to that onerous 100$ million contract extension, Joe Johnson was no longer the same all star caliber player who arrived in Atlanta in eight years ago as much of his speed, quickness and athleticism dwindled as well as his shooting stroke. Add the fact that the Hawks had three sub par seasons after finishing the 2010 season with 53 wins, it looked as if this Atlanta team had reached its peak and that it was time for a change. So image the surprise on everyone's faces when the Hawks entered the regular season not as a team headed downhill, but a revitalized reemerging powerhouse as they spent much of the season among the top ten elite teams. They certainly did not miss Joe Johnson as Atlanta started the season an impressive 19-10 record by the end of December, second place behind the Miami Heat and third of fourth place in the Eastern Conference, which meant that they could the possiblilty of having home court advantage for the at least the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Hawks simply could not maintain that momentum any longer as they finished the season 25-28 falling all the way to sixth place in the East come playoff time; however, despite stumbling in the second half of the season, Atlanta managed to bounced back and put forth a solid performance in playoffs. Against the Indiana Pacers, who had the third seed and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, Atlanta bounced back from losing the first two games on the road by winning the next two games on their home floor evening the series at two games apiece. After a disappointing game five performance where they got blown out by Indiana, the Hawks put forth a heroic performance in game six to stretch the series to a deciding game seven; however, despite their strongest efforts in which Atlanta held the Pacers to only 81 points, it was not enough the Hawks were subsequently eliminated as Indiana moved on to face the New York Knicks in the second round. With the season finally at an end, Atlanta now faced a dilemma on what to do next: should they keep the team together as it performed rather well despite mitigating circumstances or seeing that their team is headed nowhere fast, choose to simply just scrap the team period? Upon season's end, Atlanta has eight players entering free agency--seven of them being unrestricted, being able to sign with any team, and just one restricted free agent in Jeff Teague, who the Hawks can match any offer that any team give him. The most notable of those heading into free agency is the team's leading scorer and shot blocker in Josh Smith who is eligible to earn the same maximum level contract as his former teammate Joe Johnson--120$ million over the next six years; however, he, like Johnson before, has shown little justification for deserving such money. Despite leading the team in scoring, Smith's play did not live up to expectations seeing him to fill in the void of Johnson's departure as he did not seem to have what it took to be the face of the franchise for the next six or so years. This leaves Atlanta at a crossroads which will determine whether the team maintains the same marginal playoff status that it has enjoyed for the past seven years, or decides to close this chapter of its history and start a new era. To put it bluntly, the Atlanta Hawks have never been a team that many have even fathomed to be a championship contender as throughout the team's history, have been at best a marginal team only capable of going so far. Since the team's inception in 1946, the Hawks have never won an NBA title nor have been able to even reach the NBA Finals let alone contend for a title. For more than fifty years, the team has only won 50 or more regular season games 11 times, with the franchise record being 57 which was only accomplished as far as 1987, and has overall winning percentage of .495. At its very best, the furthest the team has ever gotten in the playoffs is the second round before they would get unceremoniously booted out thus giving the denizens of Atlanta very little to be optimistic or hopeful about. The apathy and lack faith base has come to a point to where the Atlanta Hawks have the ominous distinction of having the worst fan attendances and turnouts in the league beating such historically futile teams such as the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors--and for a team that resides in a rather large and lucrative sports market such as Atlanta, that is quite shameful to say the least So upon closer inspection of this team, it can be logical deduced that the Hawks are in the unenviable scenario of being either damned if they do or damned if they don't. If they go forward with rebuilding, the team will only manage to go so far until they will have to do it all over again and with the rather uninterested fan base and limited national media exposure, the Hawks do not have the goods to be an attractive destination for marquee name free agents such as Chris Paul or even Dwight Howard. The best the Hawks were ever able to get from free agency was Joe Johnson, who was at the time, not even the third offensive option on his previous team, the Phoenix Suns. So what else is there for a team that has so few options and so little to look forward to? Perhaps the Hawks should consider relocating to another city which would appreciate having a winning team despite the baggage of being able to go so far because it is more than apparent that they will neither be appreciated if they remain in Atlanta or even missed if they were to leave. |
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Tuesday, July 9, 2013
SDH Presents the 2013 End of Season NBA's Worst to First: 9. Atlanta Hawks
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