[SeattleSuperChronicsParticipant]

 Dwight Howard the comeback player of the year?!? I think they can do some damage in the playoffs..

[Hype Machine]

Its either Howard or Exum.

 

 

[high floorParticipant]

And Elfrid Payton will be an All NBA 1st Teamer. Lol

[ZachAttackParticipant]

 Have you even been watching Jazz games? Exum has only really been playing in the first quarter, and has often been benched for Shelvin Mack! Exum is no where near ready to be a good starter in this league. You can still see the potential, but right now he’s in Quin’s doghouse.

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

I would say it’s been Nick young so far.

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Eric Gordon is having a nice rebound year too. 17.5 points per game shooting 44.1% on 3’s

[OhCanada-Participant]

I think Atlanta is the third best team in the East. People forget how consistent this franchise has been. Nine straight playoff appearances longest current streak in the East. Thier whole organization will be very used to being in the playoffs not just the players which makes a very big difference that time of year. Korver is starting to play well, Schroeder is like a poor mans Kyrie in Rondos body. Dwight can absolutely still dominate. Sap is the best PF in the league not named Anthony Davis and the bench has some sneaky talent with Thabo, Malcolm Delaney who is a stud, Muscala and Hardaway. I really like this team and hope that they don’t meet Toronto in the playoffs before they meet Cleveland.

[Bankroll PJParticipant]

 The Hawks have been very consistent but have they ever been a contender? Even when they had the 60 win season nobody expected to see them in the finals.  They get to the 2nd round and lose every year. The one year they made it past the 2nd round, they didn’t win a game vs the Cavs.  Just how much damage do you expect the Hawks to do? IMO their outlook hasnt’ changed much as it was the 5 past years despite the addition of a motivated Dwight Howard. 

[SeattleSuperChronicsParticipant]

 A motivated Howard has taken his team to the finals…

[DolanCareParticipant]

The Joe Johnson years imprisoned them in mediocrity. They weren’t very good, but good enough to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. The Budenholzer era has been promising because they overachieve and don’t have any bad contracts on the books.

You’re right that they’re not elite, but they have the infrastructure and pieces to contend immedidately if they can land one big free agent- and no, Dwight does not count. 

[evangelion79Participant]

 Honestly I think they miss Horford. Howard is a downgrade at the C position. They miss Hofords versatility. If the playoffs started tomorrow they would not even make it. 

[ThepessimestParticipant]

 I think a fair assessment of the team would also be to evaluate the change in the lead guard position. Jeff Teague is a better player than Dennis Schroeder. He is more stable, more consistent, and lacks many of the mental errors that Schroedeer makes. Also; while saying that Schroeder is a very good player who is starter material and last year would come in and spell Teague. That is called depth. 

It should also be noted that other parts are now gone as well and playing solid roles in other places.

Saying that there has been a downgrade when Dwight is near the lead in double doubles, is shooting 63%, averaging 13 rebounds a game in only 28-29 minutes a game is kind of interesting.

In short this is somewhat of a predictable evaluation. If the Hawks did well as they did early in the year many remained quiet. Now that inconsistency has crept in some are pointing to Dwight’s addition as the reason. Earlier in the year when Atlanta beat Cleveland things were good. Now that there are struggles Atlanta misses Al Horford. The same Horford who had trouble getting more than 1 rebound in playoff games last year vs. Cleveland.

I think time will tell how this works itself out. From the games I have watched what Atlanta needs is more consistent scoring from the perimeter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 D12 is playing solidly as you’d expect a player of his value to do, he is a different type of player to Horford. D12 gives them a better defensive anchor but they lose Horford’s mid range game.

Schroeder is developing well and we all knew that one out of him and Teague were likely to have to be moved on. Both would have been out of contract next summer and Teague as a FA could easily have walked or would have wanted a very large deal, so it made sense to keep the younger Schroeder.

 

[Author]

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