Atlanta Hawks. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Atlanta Hawks stars train in star-studded workout with Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving
At this time of the year, NBA beat writers are looking to justify why they think that certain teams are in with a shot at the title and others do not. Fanduel set 45.5 wins for the Atlanta Hawks as their over/under and this feels a little low. The team should be able to surpass that little milestone relatively easily.
Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report also seems to have set the bar at a reasonably low height for the Hawks next season. He believes that the Hawks are destined to have a 47-35 record which is slightly higher than Fanduel, but not by much. Any time that a team is forecast to have a positive record is a good thing though.
If the Hawks had achieved that record last season then they would have finished in the sixth seed, missing the play-in tournament. They then would not have faced the Miami Heat in the first round, meaning that Young could have worked his way into the playoffs. Still, they might not have traded for Dejounte Murray which could have been difficult this season.
The Atlanta Hawks could win more than 50 games this season.
The Hawks have so many weapons that they are going to be hard to stop. If De’Andre Hunter’s form from the playoffs can continue then the starting lineup is going to be one of the best in the entire league. They were already a good lineup last season, but Hunter’s leveling up takes them to the next tier.
On top of that, the one-two wing defense punch of Hunter and Murray is going to help the Hawks win some of those games from last season that they lost. Don’t forget that the Hawks still won 43 games last season and that was seen to be disappointing.
The other thing to consider is that Clint Capela started last season coming back from a procedure and took some time to get into the season. The Hawks will have almost all of their players ready for the start of the season. We are waiting for Bogdan Bogdanovic to get clearance before we can say for sure that the Hawks are all good to go.
This is going to be extremely important for the squad as they are trying to integrate Murray into the lineup. He is going to be an integral part of the team so he will need to learn how to play with everyone so as to hit the running of the season.