Atlanta Hawks Looking to Fly High

With the most successful post season in the last 20 years behind them, the Atlanta Hawks are poised to make even more noise than they've made over the last two seasons.

After a few abysmal seasons, the Hawks finally turned it around in '07-'08 by picking Al Horford and trading for Mike Bibby.  They stunned the league by not only skating into the playoffs, but taking the top seeded Celtics to seven games.

Detractors still questioned the worth of the team, and yet last season, the Hawks started on a tear and then held onto the fourth seed in the East and took down a surging Miami Heat team with superstar Dwayne Wade.

Although swept out of the playoffs by the Cavs, Rick Sund not only kept the Hawks core, but drafted a promising rookie and added some much needed veteran depth to the bench.

What can we expect from the Hawks this season?  The following are my predictions for the '09-'10 season. 

First, the Hawks will hold onto the fourth seed in the East for most of the year, but will also challenge for second or third.  This year's Hawks are significantly better than last year.  They have a valid 10 man rotation, if Woodson will juggle the minutes the way he should.  Jeff Teague has looked like a steal in the preseason, and with Jamal Crawford, Mo Evans, and Joe Smith off the bench, the second unit should literally run over any other team's second unit.

Their starting five is among the top in the league, and if the veterans stay at their level (Johnson and Bibby) and the youngsters continue to get better (Williams, Josh Smith and Horford), the results will be scary. 

Second, once the Hawks get to the playoffs, this will be the year we see Joe Johnson turn it on in the playoffs.  While the Hawks have done well in the postseason the last couple years, they've essentially done it without their best player.  Johnson did not sign an extension, so this is a contract year for him, and if he wants his payday to be in the same ballpark as Wade, LeBron, or Bosh, he will have to play at that level in the playoffs.

Third, if the Hawks are in the fifth seed or higher in the East, they'll make it past the first round.  Making it past the second round against Orlando, Cleveland, or Boston will be difficult.  Realistically, they probably won't make it this year to the third round (they are still a true starting center and a great coach away from being a championship team), but they'll give whoever they meet in the second round fits.

Fourth, and unfortunate, unless the Hawks severely underachieve, Woodson will stay on as coach.  Sund doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'll swing for the fences with a championship caliber coach.  But that is the next step for this team.  Woodson has done well, but he's been out-coached time after time by the top coaches in the league.  For the Hawks to make that next step, Woodson has to either become a significantly better coach or they have to get a new one.  They seem happy to ride with Woody for now.

All of these predictions, of course, could all be undermined if there's a season ending injury to one of the core guys.  But we'll pray the guys stay healthy and see what they can do.

Peace.