We make a jump into 100-1 land together with the Atlanta Hawks–one doesn’t feel nearly big enough.
Before Al Horford went with (another) torn pectoral final year, Mike Budenholzer’s birds were 16-13, appearing like the third-best group in the East. Atlanta closed the year with a 22-31 mark out after dropping its best player.
Obviously, since the East was the East, the Hawks made the playoffs.
Horford is looking just fine in preseason play and healthy, this year . Plus, Paul Millsap is playing for a contract, Jeff Teague remains one of the league’s least valued talents and Thabo Sefolosha is in town to deliver a few stifling perimeter defense.
Nobody is saying that the Hawks are a bunch of world-beaters, however they feel just like postseason locks. And they may very well finish among the conference’s top four.
In the very least, they will jack a lot of threes (only the Houston Rockets tried more in 2013-14) and take care of the chunk (Atlanta’s assist-to-turnover ratio had been second best in the East). That’s a recipe for success.
Don’t sleep on the Hawks.
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