RealGM

Been super slow on the NBA Front regarding news.

http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/atl/atlanta-hawks

The new schedule is out. November is gonna be an easy month for the Home Team. I see us getting out to a strong start with games against Dallas, Toronto, Orlando, Boston and Philly in the opening weeks.

We get to face J-Smoove and the new look Pistons on Nov 20th in ATL and Nov 22nd in DET.

Coach Bud returns to SAS to coach against his mentor on Dec 2nd.

We get yet another early season road trip to the West Coast in the first week of the season. But this one seems fairly winnable against the Kings, Nuggets and Lakers (likely without Kobe at full strength).

December starts out a bit tougher, but I can easily see us at 12-6 at the end of November.

Sadly only 6 nationally Televised games of us. With 3 of them on ESPN and 3 of them on NBATV.

Thoughts?

- From Dec. 4-20 the Hawks will play seven home games, with the lone road game at Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks on Dec. 14. From Dec. 4-13 Atlanta will host the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards in their longest home-stand of the season.

- The longest road-trip of the season will be from Feb. 26 – March 10 when the Hawks will play six road games. They will begin their trip in Boston against the Celtics before heading to the west coast to play the Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz.

While I know the team will develop over the season, I believe the first month should be an indicator for the rest of the season. If they jump out of the gates and win like we would have with the previous roster, we should expect a playoff team in the middle seeds. If they struggle early where they ought to be winning, we might as well make some trades and look forward to next draft.

^Good points, jagstang.

In my enthusiasm, I keep forgetting that n addition to a new coach and a new system...this is Bud's first time as Head Man.

We should expect some growing pains as he gets used to a new group of guys in a new city with the new responsibilities of being a Head Coach. 12-6 was me being ver optimistic, but with those things in mind I might need to adjust that win total slightly. Maybe 10-8 after November.