Atlanta Hawks 2014-15 Season Preview

Oct 18, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap (4) and forward DeMarre Carroll (5) box out Detroit Pistons forward

(6) in the second quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Predictions

And finally, we come to the most useless portion of this preview, where resident Hawks expert Brad Rowland and I offer up our vain and futile predictions for the team this season. There’s no real reason to do this, we’re undoubtedly going to both be wrong… but if somehow one of us turns out to be correct? Well, neither of us are going to turn down bragging rights, so let’s get started.

Carlos

Sure the Hawks look great this year. Horford’s back, the team made some big pickups to improve the depth, Kyle Korver is an animal from 3-point land and Jeff Teague is always so promising.

But guess what? This is the “Atlanta” Hawks for a reason. And that reason is to get us all excited about possibilities and dreams of deep playoff runs in the preseason, only to inevitably crush those dreams when the season comes to a sooner-than-expected end. Maybe I’m being too cynical, but maybe I’ve just witnessed too many Atlanta letdowns. (I’m staring at you Braves. Falcons.)

So, despite all of the promise this team offers I’m going to say they slip into the playoffs with the seventh seed, tease us in the first round for a bit before eventually dipping out in the last game of the series. Again.

Brad

I’m a bit higher than most about the Atlanta Hawks this season, and I will cop to that. Al Horford remains one of the 20 best players in the NBA, and with the fact that the team managed to win 38 games virtually without him, the ceiling raises considerably if he is able to play even 60-70 games. More than that, though, it will be good for virtually the entire roster to be back together in year two under Mike Budenholzer, and cohesion in the system that models itself after the San Antonio Spurs should be huge.

There is more insurance to this year’s team, as the squad was simply unable to tolerate any hiccups to the starting wings in 2013-2014, and the whole package should be improved. There are certainly some question marks, ranging from the development of Jeff Teague to repeat performances from guys like DeMarre Carroll, Shelvin Mack and Mike Scott, but I see the positives outweighing the negatives.

This is a team that is capable of winning as many as 50 games, but I’ll settle for a 48-34 record and the fourth seed in the East.