The Atlanta Hawks certainly aren't having the season that they were hoping for after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals a season ago. In terms of what Atlanta was expecting, they are definitely underperforming as they're currently 15-18 and are the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference.
There are plenty of reasons why the Hawks are not playing to the ability that they are capable of and most of that is due to injuries and dealing with a lot of players coming in and out of the covid-19 protocols. Another reason for that is they are just simply not playing as well as they should be and after what we saw last year with head coach Nate McMillan, many expected the Hawks to be one of the best teams in basketball under his wing once again.
The season is still young and if anybody remembers, the Hawks did not perform well at the beginning of the season a year ago and they still ended up exceeding expectations and almost making it to an NBA Finals. Although they have struggled so far this season, there is still a lot of time to get back on track and that's exactly what Atlanta is going to do. Trae Young is determined to make sure that his team gets back to where they were and if they can just stay healthy, they are certainly one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.
Let's take a look at some New Year's resolutions for the Hawks as they enter the 2022 portion of this season.
Hawks New Year Resolution
3. An elite on-ball defender
The Hawks have a great inside game with John Collins and Clint Capela so there isn't necessarily a need for an inside defender because they also have Cam Reddish, who they might decide to trade, but wouldn't really make sense to do so considering how well he has looked the past few games. The one issue with the Hawks is that they desperately need an on-ball defender who can also score at a pretty high level. In a perfect world, they would get a guy like Jrue Holiday or somebody like that who can come in and defend at the highest levels while also not being a liability on offense. Obviously, Atlanta is not going to get Holiday considering that he is on the Milwaukee Bucks and was a big reason for their championship a season ago. They do however need to find somebody who can be that elite on-ball defender because they desperately need somebody to play defense next to Trae Young.
There aren't a ton of elite on-ball defenders, but if the Hawks do decide to trade Reddish, they should be looking for somebody who can come and do exactly that.
2. Replicate last season
Although the Hawks have not played great this season, they did not a year ago either. There is no reason to think that they can't do what they did a season ago this season. They have more experience than they did a year ago and they are actually potentially better individually than they were a year ago. John Collins has taken a major step forward and Trae Young even looks better than he did last season. It's not easy getting back to a Conference Finals and there's a good chance that the Hawks won't. All they can control at the moment is just playing their best basketball because that's not what they have been doing. Whether that be because of injuries or anything else, Atlanta needs to get back to what they were doing a season ago and play with the chip on the shoulder that they had last year.
1. Stay healthy
Whether this is DeAndre Hunter or any other guy on the Hawks who is having trouble staying healthy throughout their careers. They saw last season that if they are going to make a run, they're going to need everybody healthy. They lost Trae Young for portions of the Eastern Conference Finals and also didn't have DeAndre Hunter for that series. As crazy as it might sound, there is a chance that if they had both of these guys healthy at the time they could have won the Eastern Conference because Giannis Antetokounmpo also went down with an injury.
If the Hawks can just stay healthy and play the brand of basketball that they know how to play, they're going to have another great chance of repeating what they did a season ago. Staying healthy also isn't the easiest thing during this time as it seems like everybody is going in and out of the Covid protocols. Atlanta needs to get through that rough patch of players in the protocols, get back to business, and take care of what they need to take care of.
Follow Us
Subscribe