Like what most teams did this summer, the Atlanta Hawks also made some changes to their lineup. However, instead of adding key pieces to improve it, they decided to rebuild by trading Dwight Howard and not extending an offer to Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. They are now left with Dennis Schroder and Kent Bazemore as the only remaining starters from last year and are already being thought of as one of the teams to have the worst records in the NBA after the end of next season.

ESPN has released their projected win-loss records for all teams last week and now, the league's official website has made theirs. The piece made by John Schumann of NBA.com made a valid argument on why they may end up as the cellar dwellers next campaign.

“The Hawks could have five first round picks over the next two drafts, and the best of the five will likely be their own. Their 23-year-olds returning starters – Dennis Schroder and Taurean Prince – will continue to get plenty of playing time, but throwing No. 19 pick John Collins (who turns 20 next month) into the fire early (at the expense of a bunch of veteran bigs) could be an important long-term play.”

“The good news is that they can't get much worse offensively than they were after the All-Star break last season (101.0 points scored per 100 possessions – last in the league)”

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If there's any good news for the Hawks, they were able to receive Marco Belinelli as part of the Howard deal, signed free agent Dewayne Dedmon and drafted John Collins to still help them be a competitive group. Should their roster be enough to make them win a lot of games remains to be seen, but with the improvements made around the league, it doesn't look good for them at this point.

What they can bank on is the experience their holdovers have, which could be the difference between winning and losing games in some nights. They may be projected not to fare well starting in October, but playing as a cohesive unit and sticking to their system may still give them a chance to do better than expected.