Atlanta Hawks: Introducing the All-Time Second-Team
By Nate Friesen
F – John Drew
John Drew was taken with the 25th overall by the Atlanta Hawks back in the 1974 NBA Draft. Drew was a 6’6 small forward/shooting guard out of Gardner-Webb University. Obviously, for the purposes of the All-Hawks second-team, we’re considering Drew a small forward.
Drew, during his eight seasons with the Hawks, averaged 22.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He also had good shooting numbers at 47.4 percent from the field and 73.3 percent from the free-throw line.
As I mentioned, Drew played eight seasons for the Hawks and during that time he made two All-Star teams and an All-Rookie team. While he wasn’t even close to being named a Hall of Famer or anything like that, Drew still had a very impressive career for the Hawks.
Unfortunately, Drew struggled with a drug addiction throughout his NBA career which caused him to miss games on a number of occasions. While it’s impossible to know if the drug addiction held Drew back during his career, it’s certainly a possibility.
John Drew will likely go down as one of the greatest, oft-forgotten Atlanta Hawks in team history. I honestly don’t think the casual NBA fan or even the casual Atlanta Hawks fan knows John Drew, but they should, because he’s clearly one of the top ten players in Hawks history.