May 3, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford (15) shoots a basket over Indiana Pacers center Ian Mahinmi (28) in the first half of game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

As the Atlanta Hawks 2012-13 season came to a close, the emotions of the fanbase ran the full gamut. On one hand, the pure emotion of losing a brutal series (at home, no less) is never a pleasurable one. Despite the fact that the Indiana Pacers are a better basketball team than this version of the Hawks (look at the numbers if you don’t believe me), the last loss of the season is always accompanied by lackluster feelings. On the other hand, however, this was always supposed to be a “rebuilding” or “retooling” season for Atlanta, and with it out of the way (along with what seems like a full roster of expiring contracts), the future is potentially exciting for this franchise.

Today, we’ll take a look at what the season looked like for this roster, and we’ll do so by “grading” the players one-by-one.

Jeff Teague: B

Speaking of contract years, Jeff Teague just completed an under-the-radar walk year, but he did so with the best season of his young NBA career. Teague finished the campaign by averaging 14.6 points, 7.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting a ?45/36/88 slash line for the year. There is some debate about Teague’s ceiling, but he ranked #20 among NBA point guards (including all qualified players) in PER this season, and it was certainly an improvement.

On the other hand, Teague did pull his disappearing act at times this season (admittedly, it was less often) and there wasn’t the full-fledged “breakout” that some fans/pundits were calling for. He is a limited offensive player because of his inconsistent jump shot, and he also struggles defensively against big, physical point guards.

As far as ceiling is concerned, Teague is probably near it, but if you compare his performance this season to reasonable expectations, it was a nice year for the young point guard.

After the leading trio, it was an interesting year for the rest of the Hawks core. There were two huge injuries (Lou Williams and Zaza Pachulia), a fantastic year from Kyle Korver, and some interesting emergences.

Devin Harris: C

Before I talk about Devin Harris, let me remind everyone of one thing. The Marvin Williams-for-Devin Harris move would’ve been a fantastic one even if Harris was terrible. Williams was owed nearly $17 million for 2 years, and Utah inexplicably flipped Harris’ similar one-year contract for Williams straight-up. That was a fantastic coup for Ferry even before the season began.

On the court, Harris was solid, but unspectacular. Gone are days when he was a 20+ point scorer (21 ppg average in 2008-2009 with New Jersey), and he was stuck in a difficult position on the roster. Harris is a guy who needs the ball in his hands to be effective, and he was often deployed a slot-in shooting guard next to Jeff Teague. As a result, he shot a lot of spot-up threes/jumpers, and ended the year by shooting 44% from the field and 33.5% from three-point land while adding just 3.4 assists per game.

With the caveat of a role that he wasn’t particular suited for, I thought Harris was just fine. He’d have to take a massive pay cut to come back next season and I don’t see him returning, but he’s still a solid, low-level starting point guard in this league and, at worst, he’s a very good 3rd guard who can run the show with the second unit of any NBA team. He was a valuable, valuable asset.

Kyle Korver: A

When Kyle Korver was acquired from the Bulls (for virtually nothing, by the way), it was seen as a fantastic move league-wide. Korver has a reputation for being one of the game’s best shooters, and on a team starving for outside accuracy, his acquisition was a God-send. Then, he somehow exceeded all of my expectations.

Korver finished 2nd in the NBA in three-point percentage (46%), 4th in total three-pointers made, and did so without taking anything off the table. No one in the league is better at coming off of screens and/or knocking down kick-out jump shots, and it’s a pleasure to see him shoot. His shooting displays are the stuff of legend, but it was really the ability to play better defense than I thought (and most people thought) that made Korver infinitely more valuable than I had previously believed. With the exception of Paul George (who torched him), Korver proved to be more than “just” a shooter throughout the year, creating his own offense at times, and providing league-average defense.

In short, the Korver move was a great one for Danny Ferry, and he should be one of the only guys that this regime targets as a potential candidate for next year’s roster.

Josh Smith: C+

In his contract year, it was a total circus for Smith. He posted his always-balanced defensive numbers (8.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.2 steals per game), but on the offensive end, it was a bit of a mess. His 46% field goal percentage was woefully under what it should be, and his free-throw numbers (52%) were frankly an abject disaster. Much of Smith’s inefficiency can be tied back to his sometimes-atrocious shot selection, and while we could be here for days, I will simply point out that he took a career-high 201 three-point attempts (30.3%) and a staggering 3.8 long, two-point attempts between 16-23 feet per game (31.6%). Until he decides to stop taking these shots at this pace, he’ll never be the player that he could be, but for the purposes of this exercise, we can and will hold his inability to command reality against him.

On top of his lackluster shooting numbers, he managed to cause a circus around the trade deadline with a semi-demand of a trade followed by a back-off before Danny Ferry elected to have him play out his contract (and rightfully so, in my opinion). It’s always difficult to compare on-court performance versus off-court distraction, but the controversy around his future certainly didn’t impact the team in a positive way.

As far as the positives go, Smith turned himself into a defensive stopper at times during the season. His on-ball defensive numbers were the best of his career on the perimeter, and Larry Drew’s decision to deploy him on Paul George in the Indiana series made the match-up much, much competitive. In the end, Smith was (as always) a very valuable player, but we have to dock him on the grading scale due to his refusal and/or inability to adapt his game.

Al Horford: A

I’ve chosen to go with Al first, and I’ve done so for a variety of reasons. First, I believe he is the team’s best player. He led the team in PER (19.8), rebounds (10.2 per game), field-goal percentage (54.3%), and estimated wins added (12.7) while being the backbone of the defense and, in my view, the team’s best leader. My affinity for Horford is well-documented, but there’s no denying that he made another leap this season.

It was an absolute career-year for Horford from start to finish, but he played the best basketball of his life in the second half of the year. After the All-Star break, Horford averaged nearly 20 points a game (19.7) and over 11 rebounds per contest while shooting an absurd 55% over that window of time. If this is a new baseline for Al, he is probably a top 15-20 player in the NBA, and he is the one member of the roster who is a consistent performer from night to night. I could go on all day about Al, but he deserves the team’s highest grade.

John Jenkins: B+

With a late 1st-round pick, the Hawks may have secured a rotation player for a long time. Jenkins appeared in 61 games (including 2 starts) and performed very well, shooting 38% from three and averaging 6.1 points per game in 14.8 minutes per contest. The end of his season fell flat as he was basically buried for the playoff series, but Jenkins shot the ball well, and that’s the reason why he was picked.

The move to secure Kyle Korver (and Anthony Morrow, who was later dealt) probably didn’t help the growth of Jenkins with on-court time, but he seemed to improve vastly in coming off screens as the season went along. On the defensive end, he’s certainly a work in progress, but reports of his inability to guard anyone (true in college, by the way) were slightly overrated. It’ll be important for Jenkins to improve on defense and in creating his own shot, but his rookie success was an unquestioned success in the time he was allotted.

Mike Scott: B+

For the life of me, I can’t understand why Mike Scott didn’t garner more playing time as the season went along. He posted the 4th-highest PER on the entire team (16.3), scored at a 18 points per 36 minute pace, and grabbed over 11 rebounds per 36 minutes on the year. In addition, Scott was quite efficient, shooting 48% from the field, and could have provided another legitimate front-court option (i.e. bigger than Tolliver) once Pachulia went down.

The concern with Scott is on the defensive end, and while he’s pretty athletic for a 4, he lacks in size to be effective in the post. He’ll need to improve in that area to become a legitimate rotation guy, but for a 2nd-round pick, his offensive arsenal is very nice, and he’s a commodity to be tracked.

Deshawn Stevenson: C

There was a lot of Deshawn Stevenson. Despite not being an effective NBA player for a period of years, Stevenson appeared in 56 games, made 31 starts, and averaged 20.7 minutes per game. He shot a better-than-expected three-point percentage of 36.4%, and as a result, didn’t completely murder Atlanta. With that said, he’s a terribly limited offensive player (shooting under 40% and being unable to create a shot inside the arc) who’s defensive accumen is pretty overrated. Stevenson carved out playing time on the back of the fact that no other Atlanta wing could defend the opposition’s best scorer, but when Jones arrived and Larry Drew began to trust Korver defensively, Stevenson’s minutes evaporated.

Frankly, it isn’t Stevenson’s fault that he played so many minutes (which is why he gets a C), but this should be the last time in his career that he plays this level of time.

Anthony Tolliver: C

Speaking of excess playing time, Anthony Tolliver falls into the same category. He grabbed an affinity from Atlanta fans with some big, big three-pointers during the year (including during the Indiana series), but overall, he was a pretty lackluster option the majority of the time. Tolliver played 15.5 minutes a game, but shot only 38% from the field for the year and is basically a zero defensively. He does provide some nice size from the 3/4 spot, but as a whole, he’s probably a net-negative (and his 8.4 PER illustrates that).

With that said, his effort level and professionalism are tremendously high, and all reports are that he was a tremendous veteran in the locker room. This is a similar situation to that of Stevenson in that it simply isn’t his fault that he played so many minutes, but Tolliver’s contributions should have been limited more by Larry Drew. A “C” seems fitting, as he did exactly what I thought he would do coming into the year.

Ivan Johnson: B+

Ivan is incredible to watch. He plays the game with a reckless abandon, and generally terrifies the opponent to the point of noticeable fear. With that said, it is easy to ignore that he’s actually a very effective basketball player and a tremendous 4th big. Ivan put up a 18/10 line per 40 minutes (6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game this year) and when Zaza went down in a heap, Ivan filled in admirably.

He’s a limited player and he did show that at times this year. Defensively, he lacks the height to guard legitimate centers (see Hibbert, Roy) and offensively, he falls in love with a maddeningly inconsistent jump shot, but when he’s doing the things that he does well, it’s a joy.

Johan Petro: B-

As some of you may have noticed, I was quite a bit critical of Petro’s inclusion in most lineups during the playoffs. While I don’t believe he should’ve been deployed in crunch-time situations (outside of emergency), this was not a criticism of Petro’s level of play versus what was expected of him.

Coming into the year, Petro was a 3rd-team center at best, and he performed admirably in that role. His PER on the year (11.0) is respectable for that kind of player, and he was able to add nearly 4 rebounds per game in his 11 minutes a night. Once Pachulia exited with injury, Petro was thrusted into a more prominent role, and frankly, he isn’t suited for it. With that said, his effort was always there, and his offensive production is actually solid from that position. He leaves a lot to be desired defensively for a 7-footer, but there are far worse options as a 3rd center in the NBA (and they’re employed), so Petro’s contributions were just fine.

Zaza Pachulia: B

The love affair that Hawks fans/pundits have with Zaza is well-documented. He is the clear fan favorite, and with his hard-nosed/aggressive play, you can certainly see why. On the court this year, Zaza produced just about what you would expect (6 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, 47% field-goal percentage), and when he exited for the season with a blown achilles, it was a huge blow an already-depleted front line.

There are many teams that would love to have Pachulia as a “third big”, and he provided Larry Drew with the ability to move Al Horford out of the 5-spot freely when needed. He certainly isn’t a star and he’s probably not even a legitimate starting center, but the loss of Pachulia was felt in a huge way when Johan Petro was forced into action in the playoffs on Roy Hibbert. It is not unreasonable to think that Pachulia’s impact could have changed the complexion of a game or two in the playoffs, and for that, his absence will be remembered.

Lou Williams: A- and/or Incomplete

Sigh. When Lou Williams exited with his season-ending knee injury on January 18th, the Atlanta Hawks were sporting a 22-16 record. After that? The team spiraled a bit to the finish, going just 22-22 without him, and lacking the shot creation (and free throw aptitude) and creativity that he produced.

Before the injury, Williams averaged 14 points and 4 assists per game, while shooting an efficient 55.5% in true shooting percentage and attempting a much-needed 3.1 free-throws per game. He provided the best crunch-time option at the two-guard position, and was frankly better than Devin Harris in just about every aspect of the game. With his contract (very, very cheap) and a solid rehab, he’ll be a valuable piece on next year’s roster, and if he can duplicate his production from this year’s small sample size, I believe that Danny Ferry and company would be thrilled.

Anthony Morrow/Dahntay Jones: C-

I’ve combined these two vastly different players into one because they were traded (straight-up) for each other midseason. Morrow was brought in as a sharp-shooter, but once the Hawks grabbed Kyle Korver in the offseason, he was almost immediately relegated to emergency duty. In his limited time, Morrow shot 39.5% from three, and I always believed that Larry Drew should have deployed him more at the shooting guard spot instead of Stevenson (we’ll get there). With that said, he only played 24 games in Atlanta, and really, his grade should be an “incomplete”.

After Jones arrived, expectations dropped a little bit from this spot. He is a completely different player in that he can’t shoot… at all, but is more of a defensive stopper in the mold of Stevenson (but better at it). He was buried a lot down the stretch of the season, but in his time, he provided exactly what you’d expect from him in giving the Hawks top-flight defense and just 39% shooting. Hilariously, he’ll be remembered most as a Hawk for the controversy surrounding Kobe Bryant’s ankle injury at the buzzer of the Lakers only visit to Atlanta.

——

There you have it. I took the liberty of leaving off the Jannero Pargo/Jeremy Tyler/Shelvin Mack trio, as they didn’t garner enough time on the roster to contribute in a significant way, but that is the extent of the roster. As the off-season approaches, it is time for roster evaluation, and Danny Ferry will have his hands full with the amount of decisions (i.e. Josh Smith, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague extension) that he has.

Stay tuned for some additional wrap-up material in the coming days.

Apr 27, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford (second from right) hugs teammates after they responded to a foul against the Indiana Pacers in the first half during game three in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Hawks used a smothering defensive effort to flatten the Pacers in Atlanta 90-69. The 69 points were the fewest Indiana has scored in the regular season or postseason since 2006. It was the perfect statement after losing decisively twice in Indiana. In front of an announced capacity attendence, the Hawks brought their way back into this series and left no question about the winner tonight.

The Pacers seemed to settle for fall away jumpers and contested threes tonight. Take a look at the shot chart below. It’s pretty obvious that Indiana is not a great shotmaking team and they thrive on their defensive exploits, but 69 points simply will not get the job done. The Hawk bigs picked on Tyler Hansbrough in the post and routinely spun past him for layups and dunks. Atlanta only assisted on about half of made field goals and instead used their speed in isolation or pick and roll sets to create offense.

The Hawks forced 22 turnovers, which is the same amount of field goals they gave up. Most impressive, however, was the three point defense. The Hawks only gave up 4-25 shooting there (16%) for a team that shot a combined 16-40 (40%) in the first two games. No shot was left uncontested and it was clear the Pacers were very frustrated by the lack of execution throughout the entire game. Another good sign was that the Atlanta was able to get to the free throw line as much as the Pacers.

Unfortunately, they left a lot of points there by shooting a poor 57.1%. If this trend continues, it may be a deciding factor in a future loss. Still take the game for what it was. The Hawks told the nation that they are not going away quietly or without a fight. After giving up 220 points in the first two game, they found a way to undo the ugly losses in Indiana. The Hawks will look to knot up the series Monday.

***

Game Grades: Each player is given a grade on an A+ through F scale based upon their performance.

Jeff Teague: C+

Despite some shots not falling, Teague kept pushing the tempo and setting up others. Indiana simply could not keep up pace. He also stayed in front of George Hill for the entire game and harassed him in to a 1-8 night from the field.

Devin Harris: C+

Ditto for Devin. He played 39 minutes but generally didn’t do a whole lot of anything. Still, despite giving up size to the Pacers shooting guards, he held his own on the defensive end.

Josh Smith: B-

Josh was pretty quiet for the most part, other than a couple of roof rattling dunks. He got into foul trouble in the second half and most of the offense was being ran through Al Horford anyway. He still found a way to stuff the stat box with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.

Al Horford: A

What can you say about this fantastic performance? Horford has been the Hawks best player all night long and with the team starting a huge 3 games to none deficit, Al took control of the game and left no doubt about the result. He led both teams with 26 points and 16 rebounds and bullied the likes of Tyler Hansbrough and David West in the post.

Anthony Tolliver: C

He didn’t do much other than stretch the floor offensively. Tolliver hit a couple of timely three pointers to help boost the sometimes stagnant Hawks offense.

Kyle Korver: C+

Korver still hasn’t found an ability to get open this series, which mostly speaks to the stout defensive ability of the opponent. Still, he along with the others made for a tough night shooting the ball for the Pacer wings.

Ivan Johnson: B-

Ivan was everywhere: flying in for offensive rebounds, diving on the ground for loose ball or in the referees’ grills after a bad call. You have to admire the guy’s never ending hustle.

Johan Petro: B-

Last game, he had one mission: to use his allotment of 6 personal fouls. He came close, stopping one shy of getting disqualified in only 14 minutes of play. This game he repeated that effort but also made himself available for a couple of put back buckets. No complaints here.

Larry Drew: A

Larry Drew pushed all the right buttons in the time between Game 2 and Game 3. I have no idea what was said or done in the locker room in that time period but clearly it left a mark on the players. He started Johan Petro to add some size to the starting lineup and removed Dahntay Jones and DeShawn Stevenson from the rotation. Even so, the Hawks had a masterful gameplan to allow the Pacers to shoot themselves out of the game. 27% shooting for Indiana is no accident. Drew came under fire for some of his foul trouble treatment but he allowed Al Horford to go a strong 40 minutes until garbage time. Even with a microscope, it will be impossible to criticize his decisions tonight.

Indiana Pacers: F

All of Atlanta thanks you for missing your flight down to Hartsfield Jackson. There’s no way they repeat this putrid performance but we will enjoy it while it lasts. Not much to say here, other than clearly Vogel’s team failed to put their foot on the throat of the Hawks when they had the chance. They have get into the right mental state for Game 4 lest they allow the Hawks to tie up the series heading back to Indiana.

Apr 24, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (24) brings the ball up court against Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during game two of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Atlanta 107-90. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the chippy nature of the game throughout, it was well executed and very entertaining playoff matchup. Al Horford even received a very rare technical foul call. If you look past the high-flying dunks and outburst from fans on Twitter, the Hawks did a much better job at playing fundamental defense near the paint and forcing the Pacers to run down the clock and shoot jump shots.

Unfortunately, they did this a little too well, often failing to run Pacers off of the three point line. As a result, many yellow jerseys were left wide open in the corner and they went 6-12 from behind the arc in the first half.

The Hawks had some problems operating their own offense, however, as the 10 first half turnovers will attest. Their free throw shooting woes continues as well, as they only hit 5-10 first quarter chances from the stripe. They finished a disappointing 11-20 from that range and saw lazy defense lead to 29 tries for Indiana in that department.

Larry Drew’s rotations remained thoroughly baffling. To rely on a Hawks lineup with Stevenson, Jones and Petro in the lineup to keep the Hawks in the game is nothing short of a pipe dream. Unfortunately, Josh Smith picked up his 4th foul early in the third quarter and had to sit out for the entirety of the third quarter. By the time he was able to return, the game was firmly in the Pacer’s grasp.

It was a slow, precipitous decline for the Hawks who remained within striking distance until late in the third quarter. The Hawks had a few inexcusable lapses that included allowing a court-length pass for a bucket with 1.7 second left in the third quarter. Who knows what Larry Drew can say to this bunch as they head back to Atlanta but it’s clear one team has the proper chemistry and composure to go far in these playoffs and the other is presently searching for those elements.

***

Game Grades: Each player is given a grade on an A+ through F scale based upon their performance.

Jeff Teague: B+

Teague had the best game of any Hawk. He kept the Hawks in the game for a long time by blowing by Pacers in transition for easy buckets. He also had 5 assists but it wouldn’t be nearly enough to spring the upset.

Devin Harris: B+

Devin certainly had his moments when he looked like the spryest fellow on the floor. He led the Hawks in points by doing his best Jeff Teague impression. It’s remarkable how similarly he and Jeff play but neither could generate nearly enough offense to combat the Paul George and George Hill onslaught.

Kyle Korver: C-

Yeesh. Shooters shoot but he gave up too many possession with the early trigger in transition. He has to be more efficient than 9 points on 10 shots.

Josh Smith: B+

Josh seemed to make a conceited effort to reign in the amount of jump shots tonight and it paid dividends. Even when he started to take threes in the fourth quarter, due to the large lead for Indiana, it was impossible to be angered at the shot selection. He only played 20 minutes due to foul trouble but had 16 points on 10 shots, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He he can provide that production for 36-40 minutes per game in Atlanta, the Hawks can certainly bring this series to a 2-2 tie.

Al Horford: B-

With the length of Roy Hibbert draped over him and strength of West forcing him away from the basket, Horford often had to throw up awkward fallaway shots that went wayward. He was able to at least clean up on the glass by leading the Hawks with 10 rebounds.

Mike Scott: C-

Meh. Not much of an impact positively or negatively.

DeShawn Stevenson/Anthony Tolliver/Dahntay Jones: C

Likewise for DeShawn, Tolliver and Jones.

Ivan Johnson: C-

Ivan couldn’t replicate his work from Game 1. After picking up a technical foul, he wasn’t heard from for the rest of the game.

Johan Petro: D

He had one mission: to use his allotment of 6 personal fouls. He came close, stopping one shy of getting disqualified in only 14 minutes of play.

Larry Drew: D

Yuck. Not the way Hawks fans want to see the team bounce back. Drew continues to hamper star players with short leashes when it come to foul trouble (see Al Horford in Game 1, Josh Smith in Game 2) and continually trots out subpar offensive lineups. This Hawks teams does a poor job of creating their own shots so why compound that issue by trotting out the likes of Stevenson, Jones and Petro in important minutes together? For a Pacer team that scored only 94.7 points per game in the regular season to torch the Hawks for an average of 110 points in two game speaks very poorly on Drew and his chances of remaining in Atlanta past May.

Indiana Pacers: A

I praised Vogel for their work last game and the same compliments remain true today. Many Pacers are gifted with an incredible ability to pass and their defense even improved considerably as the game progressed. You could tell the Hawks were very frustrated during the entire 48 minutes. Though this series looks almost secured for Indiana, who knows if they carry this same mentality into Atlanta starting Saturday.