The Atlanta Hawks Are Third Best In The East 2016-2017

I’d put Indiana and Boston over the Hawks

ATL no way. I have the top 5 in the east like this

Cavs
Toronto
Boston
Indiana
ATL

My East top 5 is

Cavs – Status Quo

Pacers – PG13 sneaky MVP contender) and possibly best offseason in the L.

Hawks – I like D12 as an upgrade over Horford both in fit and talent, and have faith in Schroeder full time at PG

Raptors – Easy to forecast a 50-55 win season

Celtics – Slightly over rated because they feast on historically bad division rivals. See playoff and non-division record for evidence. Could rise with a trade. Brad Stevens not as good as advertised…Danny Ainge is the real star. 

 I’d love for you to be right, but I just don’t see it. I don’t mind Horford leaving since we picked up D12 who I expect to have a pretty good year.

But we’re going to get eaten alive on the wing where we always do. All of the teams above us have a dynamite wing that we will struggle to defend and match up against. Cavs – Lebron, Toronto – Derozan, and Indiana – George. Even Boston has Crowder who is much better than anyone we have on the wing.

I’m just skeptical for us to remain top 4 in the east, and I see 5th as more likely as stated above.

Charlotte will crack the top 4 if MKG plays >70 games

I’d say the Hawks should have a solid winning season but I don’t see them hugely improving on their 48 wins last year – D12 if fit will give them extra size but he lacks Horford’s shooting range, Teague has moved on and even if Schroder becomes a star then minutes need to be filled, Korver will be a year older too. I’d say the Hawks are between 45-50 wins.

Cavs should win well over 50 games with ease, I can see the Raptors being 50 plus wins again, the Celtics should push on and be 50 plus wins and with the nice moves that the Pacers have made they have the ability to be a 50 win team.

I can see the Hawks being a solid play off team but as a likely 4th-6th seed.

 I see Cleveland comfortably winning the Conference unless the Celtics or whoever make a big move early. Then I see Toronto finishing second, again comfortably. 

I doubt Indiana finishes as highly as people say. They swapped out Hill, Mahimi and S. Hill for Young, Teague and Jefferson. Better known players but they’re gonna strangle spacing without making them better defensively. I think they’ve gotten worse unless we see leaps from Turner or someone else. Not 100% on the coaching either. I’d put them in 5th behind a better Boston (swapped Sullinger for Horford, everyone’s young and improving, might make a trade) and Atlanta.

Atlanta is 4th only because there’s no better choices given Miami and Charlotte losing multiple players in FA. I think Howard for Horford was a downgrade, their rookies aren’t good bets to be NBA ready and Korver/Millsap are a year older. 

Overall I have Cleveland, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Indiana, Detroit, Charlotte and NY/Chi/Mil.

 I think the top 3 teams are Cleveland – then a drop off to Toronto and Indiana – then another small drop off to Atlanta and Boston. 

I suppose Detroit and Charlotte would be my bets for 6 and 7 and then you’ve got Chicago, Orlando, Milwaukee and New York fighting for that last spot. 

The East isn’t nearly as top heavy as the West but the difference between teams 4 and like 11 isn’t that big it seems like. 

 who is more of a perimeter player at this point…… Milsap is a Beats & potting Dwight in a position where he can just focus on Rebounding & Rim protection will gave Atlanata a formiddable Front Line

I also like what Atlanta did in the Draft did in the Draft landing Prince & Bembry

But Teague was a Very solid PG / floor general who also shot 40% from 3 pt range…… It’s all on Schroeder now & that is a Lot for a still developing young player

Idk East to me is still a toss up. Cleveland and then anybody else in any order and you wouldn’t be wrong honestly.

 U guys dont get it. The hawks will b 5 seed or lower no doubt about it. Everyone is saying dwight is such an upgrade for them but he really isnt unless they use him the way he asked to b used. One main reason he left houston was because he said he wanted to be a main scorer and get the ball on the block. Everyone including me know that he is better being a pick and roll player offensively and a rim protector on defense. But thats not what he wants and that has changed his attitude to the game which is y he has dropped so low with a lot of things. So saying this, unless the hawks r able to get howard to b a team player and do what he does best then i dont think they will b above the 5 seed

 & I believe Atlanta will use him that way

It seemed like Dwight was stung by some of the criticism directed his way after Houston’s sub-par season

and he made some excuses for why it was not his fault

I don’t believe Dwight has any interest in being a "go to" post scorer at this point in his career. Milsap is there to do the Lion-share of the post scoring & D-12 can focus on Rebounding, Shot Blocking & Rim protection & he’ll score 10 ppg w/ just clean up duty around the rim

Can someone explain to me why Indiana are better than Boston? I’m just not seeing how they’re getting to vault about 6 teams of the basis what looks like downgrades across the roster. 

I think the Hawks had a rough off-season. 

– Al Horford is a crushing loss in my opinion. No, he’s not a superstar, but he brings so much to the table both on and off of the court. They lost a pro’s pro… A man. The ultimate leader and team player. They replaced him with Dwight Howard, who’s just very questionable when it comes to those things and just immature like.

– They put Paul Millsap, arguably their best player, in trade discussions… How’s that sitting with him? 

– They traded Jeff Teague and are handing over the keys to Dennis Schroder, who’s shown ability, but is still somewhat unrpoven. And his backup, Jarrett Jack, is turning 33 and coming off of an ACL tear. 

– Kyle Korver is a year older

– Their bench is weak

 & study these players Every day feel differently

they landed 2 really nice players in the Draft who fit needs in Tauren Prince & Bembry’

they obviously feel Schroeder is the man to be PG b/c they were dangling Teague all summer

And they also clearly feel that Dwight Howard is an Upgrade over Horford b/c they grabbed Dwight Immediately & were not worried one bit if Horford liked it or not

Milsap is their Low Post scorer & all around Bull. Horford has drifted further & further from the paint as he has gotten older & he’s just not much of a force on the Block.

Dwight Howard & Milsap in the post w/ a Penetrator like Schroeder could be a Nightmare to deal with for opposing teams. But until it plays itself out who knows

 The East looks interesting next season and more depth than in recent years, 9 teams had winning seasons last year and the Wizards were .500 too. We all know the Bucks have good upside, Magic have improved year on year sonce they started the rebuild and have made some big moves over the summer, Knicks have also made some bold moves and if everyone stays sound have a nice scoring punch.

Chicago and Miami have changed their rosters too and Miami will depend a lot on whether Bosh can get healthy and stay so.

I think we can discount the Nets and the 76ers this season although the 76ers must surely improve with the talent they have assembled, so you could possibly have 12-13 teams thinking they can make the play offs. There is a gap between teams with upside, potential and best case scenario and those with established talent but the upside teams will take games off the established teams.

For play offs I’d say – Cavs, Boston, Toronto, Pacers, Hawks, Hornets as very likely and then 2 from Heat, Chicago, Pistons, Wizards and possibly Knicks.