Atlanta Hawks season question #1) Who are we?
This is one of the most fundamental questions in basketball. One which can define whether a team is successful or not. So the Atlanta Hawks have to ask themselves the question of who they are, and what style of basketball they are going to play.
The answer to this question lies in the moves that they made over the offseason. They set themselves the goals of getting veteran leadership and perimeter defense. So, did they achieve them? Absolutely they did. The Hawks will not have a 26th-ranked defense this season.
So what does this mean for the Hawks’ identity? What does it mean for the Hawks going forward? These are the questions that the Hawks coaching staff needs to answer. They need to work out their rotations so that they can manufacture this identity. This is going to be the most crucial part of training camp, working out who they are.
The good news for the Hawks is that this vision has come down from the very top. Their coach was a defensively-minded player and the players that they bought in are mainly defensive-minded players. So who are they? They are going to be a defense-first team who will use this to create offense, especially in transition. So, this then brings us to the next question.