Hawks 2016-17 Schedule: Top Games, Championship Odds and Record Predictions
After winning 108 games over the last two seasons, the Atlanta Hawks enter a new era in 2016-17 with Dwight Howard coming back home to try resurrecting his career.
Full Schedule: NBA.com
The Hawks made major changes to their roster, replacing Al Horford with Howard and sending Jeff Teague to Indiana. They still have Paul Millsap, Kent Bazemore and Kyle Korver to form a good nucleus in the Eastern Conference.
This team has made the playoffs in nine straight seasons, the longest active streak in the Eastern Conference and second only to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. They have won at least one playoff series each of the last two years, so this is a team that is not to be taken lightly.
2016-17 Season Details
Season Opener: Thursday, October 27 vs. Washington Wizards (7:30 p.m. ET)
Championship Odds: 75-1 (via Odds Shark)
Top Matchups
First Home Matchup: Saturday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. ET
The NBA can be exciting when two marquee teams are on the court at the same time, but a dirty little secret that doesn't get brought up enough is how terribly imbalanced the sport is.
It's become more apparent in recent years with superteams in Miami—before LeBron James went back to Cleveland—and now Golden State how little parity there is in the NBA entering the 2016-17 season.
The only division race last year decided by fewer than eight games was in the Southeast Division, with the Hawks, Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets all finishing with identical 48-34 records. The Heat took home the division title by virtue of having a better head-to-head record against the two teams.
The Hawks did go 3-1 in four matchups against the Hornets, which was enough to earn them the No. 4 seed in the postseason. Atlanta knocked off the Boston Celtics in the first round before getting swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It's easy to sense that losing once again to the Cavaliers finally started to change the mindset of Atlanta's decision-makers, as Thomas Jenkins of Peachtree Hoops noted:
"These moves suggest that Budenholzer is altering his approach to roster-building. Moving Teague allowed the Hawks to promote Schröder and resign Kent Bazemore, while signing Howard allowed the team to address last season's rebounding problems. While signing Howard didn't rule out a Horford return, the team's pursuit of the former Houston center showed that Budenholzer and his associates were ready to pursue new directions for the Hawks.
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The Hawks' dealings don't necessarily make them better. The Hornets look like the best team in the division right now. Howard has to prove he is going to be focused and intent on making himself part of the team, instead of going after numbers regardless of whether or not the team wins.
If the Hawks are going to continue their postseason run, sending a message to the Hornets will be a good indicator that the Southeast Division in 2016-17 will run through Atlanta.
First Road Matchup: Thursday, February 2 at 8 p.m. ET
While not a rivalry in any way, this provides the pure spectacle of seeing Howard step back on the Toyota Center floor in front of the Houston fans and against James Harden.
We may never know the exact nature of the Howard-Harden relationship, but ESPN's Calvin Watkins did provide some insight last April before the Rockets were eliminated from the postseason:
"They have tried to be friends -- Harden picked up Howard's tab for dinner in New York on his birthday. During dinner in Phoenix at the All-Star break, the two discussed their on-court issues.
But ultimately, the chemistry between the two hasn't been there. One team source said: "It's cordially bad."
Howard feels he's a star and should be respected in the locker room. Howard, known to be playful with media members, was distant over the last two months of the regular season. He was largely frozen out of the offense despite coaches and players saying he needs the ball.
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The Rockets doubled down on their commitment to Harden as the franchise player, giving him a $118.1 million contract extension that runs through the 2019-20 season.
Howard went back to his roots this summer. He is from Atlanta and played high school basketball at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy in the city. This is his best chance to get some peace of mind playing the game, because it's a low-key market without a lot of pressure and he will be playing in front of friends and family 41 times during the regular season.
Things will not be as warm and welcoming for Howard in Houston, but it's his opportunity to show the world that he's a new man who has moved past the dysfunctional chaos that seemed to engulf the Rockets last year.
Record Prediction
The Hawks went from 60 wins two years ago to 48 last year. Their 2014-15 performance was one of the NBA's biggest surprises, as no one saw them posting the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Falling back to earth last season was more in line with where the Hawks have been during this run of nine straight playoff appearances. They have been between 37 and 53 wins every year since 2007-08, with the exception of that outlier season two years ago.
Now that Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer and general manager Wes Wilcox have taken steps to change the roster in the hopes of advancing past Cleveland in the Eastern Conference playoffs, the pressure is on for the team to perform.
While the Hawks are not going to come close to the 60-win plateau, they are not in danger of missing the playoffs. Even if Howard plays like he did last season, which was still decent with 13.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, he's replacing a player in Horford who was worth 9.4 win shares, per Basketball Reference.com. (For the record, Howard was worth 6.6 win shares.)
Budenholzer has built a roster built on balance, with five players who averaged at least 11 points per game last season. That will certainly be the case once again in 2016-17, but they are still missing that one player who takes a big shot with the game on the line.
The Hawks will continue to be a good team next season, but they are still trying to find greatness.
Prediction: 47-35
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