Atlanta Hawks: Season Ends with a Whimper Leaving Questions
By W. M. Lawson
The Atlanta Hawks lost Game 6 of their playoff series against the Washington Wizards Friday night, ending their season and leaving multiple questions about the future.
There were a lot of questions about the 2016-2017 Atlanta Hawks at the beginning of the season. The vast majority of the cast from the 60 win team a few years ago had left town. New faces came in to replace them. Young faces came in to try to make a name. Now, at the end of the season, a myriad of substantial questions remain.
Let’s be clear about this…any time the Hawks can make the playoffs it is something worthy of applause. If you are older than 10 years old, you can remember them being awful. Making the playoffs was a joke. That isn’t a joke these days. It is an expectation. Coach Budenholzer has done that.
But there are serious…serious issues with this team. Whatever was expected from the 2016-17 version of our beloved Hawks, this was not it. In fact, for most of the season, they didn’t look like a “Coach Bud” team.
Leaving the regular season aside, with its roller coaster ups-and-downs and baffling losing streaks, a quick look at playoff production tells the story. Reality is they didn’t play well. Reality is they looked awful at times.
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The off-season makeover included the extension of Kent Bazemore, a $70 million contract, and the addition of Dwight Howard. Bazemore averaged a paltry 9.8 points/game and under 40% shooting from the field. Howard, while carrying the team at times during the regular season, averaged only 8 points/game on 50% shooting from the field. They were the cornerstones of the future at this point last year.
In addition, the team as a whole continued to struggle shooting free throws (remember…they are uncontested) and absolutely terrible at turning the ball over (they had 22 TOs in Game 6). Coupled with the fact that, as a team, they shot 30.5% from behind the 3 point line, and this team barely resembled what is thought to be a “Coach Bud” type team. Meaning, a team that controls the ball, shoots well, and plays defense (John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 91 points in Game 6 alone).
Paul Millsap, who averaged 24.3 points/game during the playoffs, is out of contract and will get paid big money. Chances are he is gone. Dennis Schoder, while playing wild and reckless in spurts, did average 24.7 points/game vs. Washington, and is still very young. He’ll be around, but will he progress?
If this sounds pessimistic…it kind of is. But more than anything, it is confusing. Coach Bud is a good coach. We know this. What we don’t know is… where is this team going? Who is this team? Who will even be on the team to start 2017-2018?
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These are all questions that have no answers as of this writing. Kind of strange for a team that just went to the playoffs for the 10th season in a row.