Is This What We Should Have Expected From The Atlanta Hawks?

With 19 games of the season gone, we cannot help but look back at pre-season expectations and analysis and reflect. The inconsistent 10-9 start has told us so much and perhaps this kind of form is what we should have expected from the very start.

How could we even begin to describe this NBA season so far for the Atlanta Hawks? The start of the season was ideal. Through 11 games, the team was 9-2, including a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers and that doesn’t happen often. Dwight Howard’s first game came with 19 rebounds and Millsap scored 28 points. The next game, Dennis Schroder came up with 11 assists. It was a dream start, aside from losses to the L.A. Lakers and Washington Wizards.

Then came the slump. The next eight games were less than convincing and the Hawks won only once in between losing streaks of three and then four games. Some of those games were tight. Some… not so much. At the Utah Jazz, for example, the Hawks fell to a 68-95 defeat. In that game, Taurean Prince led the team in assists with three and Howard in rebounds with seven. It really was a shocker and that 9-2 start has quickly become 10-9. This season has been impressive then disappointing, consistent then wildly inconsistent. An NBA-leading defense had faltered, valued contributors have struggled and bench players have soared.

What can we make of that?

Looking Back

Well, in a way, perhaps this is what we should have expected coming into the season. With Al Horford and Jeff Teague gone, replaced by Dwight Howard and Dennis Schroder, the Atlanta Hawks were something of an unknown. There were questions. So many questions. Would Dwight Howard fit in with the Hawks? Could Schroder become an effective starter? How would Kent Bazemore deal with a new deal and higher expectations? Was the bench strong enough? And could Paul Millsap work efficiently if all of this went wrong?

The Good

The changes in the offseason drastically altered the team’s shape and expectations. We all identified some strengths that the new roster had. Howard and Millsap could be the best frontcourt in the NBA and Howard’s rebounding was something the Hawks had missed for years. Schroder had the chance to show his potential but the roster had strong depth in Jarret Jack, who had averaged 7.4 assists per game the season before. There were new rookies to contribute and grow, like Prince and DeAndre Bembry. There were optimists among us who thought this team could be really good.

The Bad

And then there were pessimists, those who saw too much uncertainty and upheaval. Horford and Teague had been crucial to the coach Mike Budenholzer’s play-style and that was, perhaps, the main reason Atlanta had found such success in recent years. Their loss worried a lot of people, me included.

As I said, Howard was something of a dubious fit and he was one reason that such a play-style was in jeopardy. He was a fading talent and an unproductive part of the locker room and he would demand too many touches in the post. These were legitimate concerns. As were those about Schroder’s ability to step into a starting role. Kyle Korver was past it. Tim Hardaway Jr. was a bench-warmer. Muscala was nothing important.

What have we seen?

This far into the season, some of these question still await answer but some don’t. Schroder has stepped in and quite effectively replaced Teague statistically, although this system might require more than an average Schroder. Howard has fit in quite nicely with his rebounding and defense and the team has had spells where they worked well. Spells where the defense soared to the top of the rankings. Spells where the Hawks were atop the Eastern Conference, where we thought they might be another diamond in the rough. We had the two leaders in field-goal percentage and vastly improved performances from THJ, Sefolosha, and Muscala from the bench.

There have also been difficult periods, as this 1-7 run tells us. But perhaps this is what we should have expected. Basketball is a streaky sport. Each game has countless scoring streaks to establish leads or to launch comebacks. One team streaks, then the other. The sport, on the whole, is no different. The Hawks had a good streak and now they are having the bad.

Why?

Because there are both strengths and weaknesses to any team, Atlanta included. When the Hawks were on a hot streak, everything was working. The bench was arguably the best in the NBA. The Hawks defended hard and fast and performed efficiently. Millsap and Howard were awesome, at times. Schroder looked like the real deal. THJ, Sefolosha, and Moose were killing it.

But the bad streak shows us a fragility and inconsistency we worried about. Against Utah, Schroder and Howard were inefficient. Bazemore struggled. The bench cooled down. I mean, let’s just take a moment to remember that the Hawks have lost twice to the Lakers already this season. Twice.

What does that mean?

So, of course, this poor streak is alarming but perhaps this is what we should have expected coming into the season. Sometimes, things work and sometimes they don’t. When things were working, when all of our possible strengths came together, the Hawks did well and came out with a 9-2 start.

When the weaknesses come to light, the team struggles. This was a team with so many question marks. So many possible, but not guaranteed, strengths and weaknesses. We knew this was not a Championship-calibre team like the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers. And we knew that they would not tank like the Philadelphia 76ers or L.A. Lakers. We thought they might be middle-of-the-road or narrowly higher and that is what we have seen.

We have seen the good and the bad from the Hawks. The expected frailties and the lack of balance, and the potential strengths. Perhaps this is what we should have expected from the Atlanta Hawks from the very beginning.