Are the Atlanta Hawks Still Facing an Identity Crisis?

With the playoffs lurking, Hawks fans are going to learn a lot about the team in the next few weeks.

On Wednesday the Hawks face off in the "highlight factory" versus the Lakers, followed by a game in Cleveland on Friday.

The Birds are on an eight-game home winning streak, however their recent road losses have come against the Knicks, Raptors, Bucks, and 76ers.

It's hard to try to critique this team with a serious face. Hawks fans (if they even existed five years ago) have not gotten a taste of a quality team in a long time.

Atlanta sports fans, in general, are always thirsty for one of their teams to pick it up.

But, even though the high-flying Hawks own a 47-26 record, they have fallen behind in most website's NBA Power Rankings, behind teams who have less wins than them.

John Hollinger of ESPN.com, who updates his power rankings daily, currently has Atlanta in ninth place behind teams like San Antonio and Portland (both teams have less wins than Atlanta).

The Hawks have been hovering around the ten spot in the power rankings for the entire half of the season, despite competing for the third seed in the East with Boston week in and week out.

This much is clear: Experts are scratching their heads over the Hawks, as they have done all year.

Last season, during a year where Atlanta went 47-35, NBA analysts had a set opinion on the Hawks.

The Hawks were a flashy, young, and talented group, but not championship caliber. With the addition of Jamal Crawford's sixth-man of the year campaign the Hawks got off to a rocket start to this season, snagging the number one spot in the power rankings after the first twenty games.

They have fallen since (but I guess you can't improve on being numero uno, but still).

After the first month many felt the Hawks were ready to take that next step, but as of now they are starting to look a lot like last year's team.

They are 30-7 at home in Philips Arena, but just 17-19 on the road. Their road losses havn't come against very good opponents either.

In late game situations the Hawks have reverted back to their isolation offense, hoping that Joe Johnson can succeed in a one vs. five situation and score a game winning bucket by fading away from twelve feet.

That's getting old.

Mike Woodson, despite the fact the Hawks win total has improved every year since his arrival, has become a running joke in the NBA thanks to his run-in (literally) with Jason Kidd, which was a microcosm of the game vs. Dallas when Atlanta blew a huge lead by becoming conservative on offense.

Now Atlanta is in a tussle with the Boston Celtics, who are just as inconsistent as Atlanta despite being a completely different team in terms of age and experience, for the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

And despite having the best season in years, the Hawks are running around with big question marks floating over their heads.

No question mark is bigger than Joe Johnson's, who's denial of a contract this past offseason hinted a very probable departure come the end of the year.

Hawks fans seem to be upset with this potential loss, and are wondering if the Joe Johnson situation is becoming a distraction with the team.

I wouldn't think so, but J.J's chances of leaving Atlanta have left a cloud over the Hawks rather impressive season. Many feel that this successful process, which has come with the development of young talent through the past four years, will all be for naught if number two leaves.

So essentially the fans are in a crisis as well. Josh Smith is having the best season of his career by far, yet he's still had mental lapses.

He still can't seem to give up the ball on fast breaks, and you wonder if coach Mike Woodson has ever tried to talk to Josh about that. Mike Bibby, the Hawks' "starting" point guard, has become less and less of a factor.

And, many wonder just how good Atlanta could be if they had a true center. Al Horford, despite being an All Star, stands only 6'9" and becomes a target against teams like Orlando.

This team is continuing to improve, but they are leaving fans more and more confused.

I guess all we can really do is wait for the playoffs, and hope the trend of breaking milestones under Mike Woodson continues.