By Sean Kennedy
At 4-4 on the season, Atlanta’s franchise finds itself in a situation the Sixers were trying to avoid this past offseason: good enough to compete for a playoff spot in a top-heavy Eastern Conference, but not good enough to be a title contender. However, since taking over as GM, Danny Ferry has done a great job of unloading the team’s bad contracts ($124 million to Joe Johnson!), and the Hawks have a lean roster with a bunch of nice, movable assets. The big move this past offseason was the decision to let Josh Smith walk in free agency and sign Paul Millsap in his stead for 2 years, $19 million. Averaging 17.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg, Millsap provides similar production as Josh Smith at a huge discount, missing some of J-Smoove’s flash but providing much more efficiency. The current state of the Atlanta roster allows them to jump up to contender status by adding one big piece, but without being bogged down by any bloated contracts.
The Hawks feature a very conservative strategy on the court, as they make a concerted effort to take care of the ball, sporting the second-lowest turnover rate in the league, and opt to get back on defense rather than crashing the offensive boards, resulting in the second-lowest offensive rebound percentage in the NBA. However, don’t confuse that with Atlanta being a poor rebounding team, as the Hawks are the second-best at preventing opponents from grabbing offensive rebounds. Just as you know what you’re getting from the Hawks philosophically, you also know who’s going to be out on the floor for them at any given moment. Like the Sixers, Atlanta relies heavily on their starting five, with that exact five-man lineup playing over a third of the game.
The lynchpin of the team is former Florida Gator Al Horford. The best big man no one really talks about, Horford is off to another great start this season, averaging 19.4 points on 55.4% shooting, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks (the points and blocks numbers would both be career-highs). However, the guy the Hawks are counting on to make the leap is young point guard Jeff Teague. Given full reins of the offense for the first time, Teague is averaging career-highs in points (18.1) and assists (9.9). Whether or not Teague makes the leap to being a top point guard in the league will likely determine the trajectory of the Hawks franchise; so far, the returns this season have been positive. The other major player of note is former Sixer Kyle Korver. The heartthrob of 15-year-old girls everywhere, Korver is perennially among the league leaders in three-point shooting. This season is no different as Korver is shooting an outstanding 51.2% this year on over 5 attempts per game. The Sixers cannot afford to lose him within their defensive rotations on the perimeter.
You pretty much know what you’re getting from the Hawks on a nightly basis. Their four wins have come from beating bad teams in Toronto, Sacramento, Orlando, and Charlotte. The question is whether or not the Sixers qualify as a bad team. At this point, I’m not even sure if they know the answer to that question. Philadelphia matches up with Atlanta well and they’re certainly capable of keeping things close. We’ll have to watch and see which Sixers team shows up in Hotlanta.
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