Atlanta Hawks: Eastern Conference Power Rankings, Jan. 7
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Hawks have lost three of their last four games. How does this slide affect their standings in this week’s Eastern Conference Power Rankings?
After winning seven of eight games to essentially close out 2015, the Atlanta Hawks have lost three of four and back-to-back games to the New York Knicks to fall to fifth place in the Eastern Conference Standings as of Thursday, 4.5 games back of the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers.
What has hurt the Atlanta Hawks in the last week or so has been suspect perimeter defense. Really the strange disparagement of threes favoring the opposition while sharpshooter Kyle Korver struggles from the outside has brought the once-surging Atlanta Hawks back to earth.
We’ve seen players like center Walter Tavares, guard Shelvin Mack, and even guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. get more playing time over players like point guard Dennis Schroder, forward/center Mike Muscala, and wing Justin Holiday.
It seems like head coach Mike Budenholzer is trying to work out some inefficiencies in the Hawks’ playing style. Perhaps it was the injury to center Tiago Splitter that Spurred (pun intended) Bud to mix and match a bit with his bench rotation.
I expect Budenholzer and general manager Wes Wilcox to make a trade rather than sit pat during next month’s NBA Trade Deadline. However, with the Eastern Conference being as competitive as it has been in years, it seems that there will be more potential buyers than sellers once the NBA Trade Deadline does role around.
The Atlanta Hawks are still one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, but it still is not clear to whom the second-best team in the conference is to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first week of January. Without further ado, here are this week’s Eastern Conference Power Rankings.
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