Season's practically over with... have the 18-19 Hawks outperformed your expectations?

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce discusses expectations, looks ahead

Q: Do you feel like this team has exceeded your expectations?

A: No, because I didn’t place a ton of expectations on our group. Once you start you expect everything to go well, you want to win the game, you want to be efficient, you want your defense to be better. That’s day to day, you’re always trying to find ways to get better and win the day.

Yes, because the expectations I really had was for us to make this an unbelievable place for our guys. I think we really exceeded expectations there. I think people know what they are going to get when they watch us play, and they enjoy watching us play. And maybe I’m just speaking to the right people, but I think we have an identity, and we wanted to create an identity that represented true to Atlanta, that represented the city of Atlanta. New staff, new ownership, new GM, all coming together in this year and new arena. And we felt it was the right time, right opportunity to really start this transition, start this growth, start this however everyone says rebuild, whatever you want to call it, it all came together and we were able to create an identity in that year.

AJC.com

[kg01]

I predicted 28 wins, happy to be very close but wrong on that one. Also predicted the 30-win threshold was very obtainable, so hoping for a win tonight. Also predicted 12th in the East. So they’re about where I expected. Dr. Feel-Not-So-Good, who said he probably needed to adjust his 18-win prediction downward since rookies can’t perform in year 1 and CLP was crap since no one else even interviewed him and Hawks would be worst team in the NBA, called me “delusional” for those predictions. Yat, Doc?

The good doctor deserves to eat a heaping portion of crow after his second consecutive season of wildly inaccurate predictions. I'm glad this time it was the Hawks that he grossly underestimated instead of the Sixers!

Has anyone found any signs of life from the "doctor"? Seriously, he needs to show himself. This disappearing act is shameful.

[atlantabbq99]

I'm not a fan of the Doncic/Trae trade, but I have to admit that TS gamed this perfectly. He got the rookie he wanted, Trae and a second draft pick that will likely fall between 6 and 10.

[Hazer]

I predicted 28 wins, happy to be very close but wrong on that one. Also predicted the 30-win threshold was very obtainable, so hoping for a win tonight. Also predicted 12th in the East. So they’re about where I expected. Dr. Feel-Not-So-Good, who said he probably needed to adjust his 18-win prediction downward since rookies can’t perform in year 1 and CLP was crap since no one else even interviewed him and Hawks would be worst team in the NBA, called me “delusional” for those predictions. Yat, Doc?

The good doctor deserves to eat a heaping portion of crow after his second consecutive season of wildly inaccurate predictions. I'm glad this time it was the Hawks that he grossly underestimated instead of the Sixers!

Someone mentioned a few months back that he now only exists in that “land of trolls”, The Twitterverse.
Has anyone found any signs of life from the "doctor"? Seriously, he needs to show himself. This disappearing act is shameful.

[jayu70]

I predicted 28 wins, happy to be very close but wrong on that one. Also predicted the 30-win threshold was very obtainable, so hoping for a win tonight. Also predicted 12th in the East. So they’re about where I expected. Dr. Feel-Not-So-Good, who said he probably needed to adjust his 18-win prediction downward since rookies can’t perform in year 1 and CLP was crap since no one else even interviewed him and Hawks would be worst team in the NBA, called me “delusional” for those predictions. Yat, Doc?

The good doctor deserves to eat a heaping portion of crow after his second consecutive season of wildly inaccurate predictions. I'm glad this time it was the Hawks that he grossly underestimated instead of the Sixers!

Has anyone found any signs of life from the "doctor"? Seriously, he needs to show himself. This disappearing act is shameful.

Someone here said he's on the 'Tweety bird' thingy.....saying he was wrong!

[kg01]

The good doctor deserves to eat a heaping portion of crow after his second consecutive season of wildly inaccurate predictions. I'm glad this time it was the Hawks that he grossly underestimated instead of the Sixers!

Has anyone found any signs of life from the "doctor"? Seriously, he needs to show himself. This disappearing act is shameful.

Someone here said he's on the 'Tweety bird' thingy.....saying he was wrong!

I want proof.

[jayu70]

Has anyone found any signs of life from the "doctor"? Seriously, he needs to show himself. This disappearing act is shameful.

Someone here said he's on the 'Tweety bird' thingy.....saying he was wrong!

I want proof.

[Hazer]

Cowardly to flee to another venue trying to come across like “Hmmmm, I thought this but I was wrong about that” instead of facing the music in the venue where he condescended to everyone that he’s never wrong and we’re delusional. He knows we migrated here after Squawk died, knows where to find us. He can’t face it...

[The Real Dejay]

I had them around the 24-28 win mark but as someone mentioned earlier, I thought that they would hit that figure because of Prince, Vince, Dedmon, Lin, and other vets doing their best Bobby Sura impersonation and winning needless games down the stretch in order to get new contracts elsewhere. But what I didn't see coming was Collins averaging near a 20/10 every night, Huerter looking like he belongs, Alex Len making plays, and Trae making me look absolutely ridiculous in my gloom and doom predictions from that trade. They made the second half of the season must-see TV and tickets worth shelling out for; that's something most of us couldn't say even when they were making the playoffs several years back (think Osh Smith, Iso-Joe, LD, and Marvin).

In my 40+ years watching this franchise, I've never been more enthused for the next season after they've lost 50+ games the previous year. There's a lot to imagine here in the next 2-3 seasons, especially if the ping-pong balls land the right way. From looking at the playoffs, the road to the top of the Eastern Conference may not be as long as we once thought, Milwaukee notwithstanding...

[jayu70]

I had them around the 24-28 win mark but as someone mentioned earlier, I thought that they would hit that figure because of Prince, Vince, Dedmon, Lin, and other vets doing their best Bobby Sura impersonation and winning needless games down the stretch in order to get new contracts elsewhere. But what I didn't see coming was Collins averaging near a 20/10 every night, Huerter looking like he belongs, Alex Len making plays, and Trae making me look absolutely ridiculous in my gloom and doom predictions from that trade. They made the second half of the season must-see TV and tickets worth shelling out for; that's something most of us couldn't say even when they were making the playoffs several years back (think Osh Smith, Iso-Joe, LD, and Marvin).

In my 40+ years watching this franchise, I've never been more enthused for the next season after they've lost 50+ games the previous year. There's a lot to imagine here in the next 2-3 seasons, especially if the ping-pong balls land the right way. From looking at the playoffs, the road to the top of the Eastern Conference may not be as long as we once thought, Milwaukee notwithstanding...

Winning with the young guys is what made this season especially fun!