Atlanta Hawks slide in latest Sports Illustrated power rankings

The Atlanta Hawks are playing quite well right now, as winners of three of their last four contests. However, not everyone is quite as sold on the team, at least not in the immediate time frame.

Matt Dollinger of Sports Illustrated has released his weekly NBA power rankings, and the Hawks have slipped from 14th last week to just 15th this week. In fairness, it was a minor slide and Dollinger did have some positive things to say about Atlanta Hawks point guard Dennis Schröder.

"Dennis Schröder’s Player Efficiency Rating has jumped from 5.8 last season to 19.8 this year but he’s seeing just three more minutes per game. With Jeff Teague also having a career year, it might be time for the Hawks to take a page out of the Suns’ playbook and play its two talented point guards together."

It is unquestionably true that Schröder has improved by leaps and bounds, and in conjunction with Teague, Atlanta is getting a lot out of its backcourt right now. Unfortunately, we have not seen the full-fledged “breakout” from Al Horford as he knocks off the rust following his season-ending injury a year ago, and that could be a reason for the lack of excitement nationally.

The Atlanta Hawks will begin a four-game week on Tuesday night, as they host the Boston Celtics at Philips Arena, before playing the Miami Heat on the road in a back-to-back situation on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how the perception of the team changes based on the upcoming results.