Atlanta Hawks Postmortem: A Failure To Launch

It is now time for the Atlanta Hawks to praise Mike Woodson for what he did with this moribund band they call a team. Woodson knew he had to formulate his game plan around a bunch of athletes who after essentially five years together do not know how to function as a team.  

Mike Bibby's days of running an offense is over.  He was supposed to be the wise sage who could help direct traffic, instead he slipped into the same comatose state as the rest of the Atlanta Hawks.

Time and time again Atlanta would go into a spread offense and take turns going one and one.  This strategy may work during the regular season but when you face the same team for possibly up to seven times, you must make an adjustment by setting picks and increasing ball movement.

It is easy to blame Mike Woodson and it is hard to praise the team. Joe Johnson is not a top tier player, he is a nice complimentary piece.  The Hawks seem to get up only for one team and that is the Boston Celtics.   When they do that it seems like they are invincible, stack them up against other teams they fall flat.

How else do you explain the Milwaukee Bucks taking them to a game seven in the first round series.

The Hawks roster needs to be revamped and it begins with them either trading Josh Smith or Marvin Williams.  Al Horford is the only one that deserves to stay because he knows how to play his role.  

Joe Johnson is on his way out because he knows that he doesn't have help.  Yes he said all the right things after the Hawks were swept by the Orlando Magic.  But deep down he knows his teams roster has major holes.

Johnson knows his financial options have now officially dwindled and that he is no longer considered a top tier free-agent.  However he is slightly above Rudy Gay, and that is till nothing to sneeze at.

Joe must now ask himself is it about winning or is it about the money.  If it is about the money then by all means he should go and sign with those lottery bound teams and get paid.

He can go to Chicago but he still won't get past the second round with them.  Chicago is in turmoil and they do not have a coach to boot.  So Mr. Johnson should come back to  Boston.  There he will have a point guard that will get him his shots.  In Boston he will have a better than average chance of winning because the team is well rounded.

Another scenario would be for him to team up with LeBron in Cleveland, I think Cleveland could probably pay him a little bit more. They have Shaq and Illgauskas coming off the books next year.

There is no doubt about it Joe is flying the coop and his best chance is to go and play for either the Cavaliers or the Boston Celtics.

The Hawks are looking at a major drop off next year and as it stands not even the return of Josh Childress can help them. Atlanta management must trade Josh Childress' rights along with one of their starters to upgrade the teams mental IQ.

As it stands now they are nothing more than an AAU team with overrated NBA talent.