Rewind a year – or even less than that – and things looked good if you followed the Hawks. Now though, it’s very much squeaky bum time.
Here we take a look at what’s gone on and what’s to come as we ask ‘will the Atlanta Hawks make the playoffs?
The season in a nutshell
Just a season removed from exceeding expectations and making it all the way into the Eastern Conference Finals, the Atlanta Hawks are struggling badly right now. This season they have been hit hard by COVID-19 protocols and other injuries that have spread across the roster.
The rotation has been flipped around constantly and their defense ranks towards the bottom of the barrel in terms of points allowed per game. They have over 20 games left and are tied for the 9th seed right now.
What needs to change for the Hawks to make the playoffs?
Defense
If the Hawks are to make the playoffs then the first step has to be improving defensively. They are 27th in the league at defensive rating with 113.3 right now.
We all know that it’s hard to compete against the best teams in the league when you allow a bucket on almost every possession down the court. Teams that really compete for championships are usually in the top 15 at the very least both offensively and defensively; you know the old saying “defenses win Championships”. Massive changes need to be made to this area.
John Collins
The next step should be to utilise John Collins a bit more. The coaching staff just doesn’t seem to put in gameplans that get him involved outside of just pick-and-rolls and back-door cuts. Atlanta usually like to run a lot of lineups that can shoot the lights off and they live and die by the three-ball. Despite that, Collins was just signed to a massive five-year extension and needs to be used like they are paying him for. It may mean shaking some offensive schemes up but it could be a needed change to a team below .500 on the season.
Nail down a center – and preferably that’s Okongwu
Finally, the Hawks need to stick with a center for the rest of the campaign. We have seen them rotate between Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu all year long. Capela has dealt with numerous injuries this season and hasn’t been that great when returning to the floor.
Yet, he still gets the starting job straight away. Meanwhile, Okongwu has been fantastic on both ends of the floor.
He is a great rim protector and has very strong chemistry with Trae Young. The team also has to realize that both of them can’t be on the floor at the same time due to a severe lack of shooting. Okongwu needs to get more minutes; he seems to be the better of the two at least until Capela can get back into a groove.
So, will the Atlanta Hawks make the playoffs?
All in all, the Hawks still have a good chance to make it into the playoffs. As it stands, they are sitting at an opportunity in the play-in tournament.
Whilst that isn’t a good spot for them to be in considering that they would eventually have to play the Brooklyn Nets, who own the eighth seed, it is something. Brooklyn are 2.5 games ahead of Atlanta at the All-Star break, and the Toronto Raptors are 4.5 games ahead in the seventh seed.
Final Thoughts
The Hawks are running out of time here and we think the only way they get in is if they win the play-in tournament.
If that doesn’t happen, the odds are that teams like the Boston Celtics, Raptors and Nets will keep them out of the lower seeding. You can check the NBA current odds here: edge.twinspires.com/nba/odds/
There you have it, our look at whether or not the Atlanta Hawks will make the playoffs. It is in the balance, but do you think they have what it take
