Five questions about the Hawks season

[HMFFL]

1. Does head coach Mike Woodson finally trust his reserves enough to play them regularly?

He better. Woodson can’t afford to wear his starters out during the regular season if he expects them, particularly Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, to have anything left for the playoffs. Those days of back-to-back 40-minute nights by Johnson and Josh Smith should be a thing of the past because of the increased depth and balance of the roster.

With veterans like Flip Murray, Mo Evans and Zaza Pachulia to go along with Acie Law IV and Solomon Jones, Woodson finally has a second group that is a complete unit. If he wanted, Woodson could substitute his entire second five and not lose major ground. The key will be Woodson sticking with his reserves even when they are struggling, and inevitably there will be those nights when they are not playing at a high level collectively.

4. How realistic is the Hawks’ goal of a 50-win season?

Totally unrealistic. Few teams make double-digit improvements in their win totals over a two-year span. That would mean going from 37 wins to 50 in one season without the addition of All-Star caliber talent — like Boston a year ago with the additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The Hawks haven’t sniffed a 50-win season in over a decade, so anything close to that this year will be a real accomplishment.

The more realistic goal for the Hawks should be a 42-win season, which would constitute a solid five-game improvement from a year ago. It’s always easier to go from horrible (13-69 in Woodson’s first year) to respectable (37-45 last year) than to from respectable to fantastic (only three Eastern Conference teams — Boston, Detroit and Orlando — won 50 or more games last season).

5. Was last season a one-time deal or is this a playoff team for the second straight season?

Provided the Hawks’ showing in the playoffs last season was not just a two-week adrenaline rush, a return is a realistic expectation. After all, 37 wins was good for a playoff bid last year. And with Miami, Chicago, New Jersey, Indiana, Washington, Milwaukee, New York and Charlotte all in seemingly worse shape than the Hawks, that leaves in the top half of the Eastern Conference.

Outside of Boston, Detroit and Orlando the hierarchy of the Eastern Conference isn’t set in stone. So if the Hawks could challenge Philadelphia, Cleveland and Toronto for the middle ground.



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[killbuckner]

If he wanted, Woodson could substitute his entire second five and not lose major ground.

I have no idea what to day about this. seriously- I can't even believe someone wrote that trying to be serious with that. wow... I have no clue how people can take Sekou seriously when he says total crap like this.

[JoshB914]

I'm confused. If our bench is as good as Sekou says, then isn't a 50-win season is very "realistic?"

[conleyorbust]

Either Morris or Solo is going to have to be something for the bench to be a factor. Morris has to decide that he wants to be more than a poor man's Eddy Curry, he's big and wide with great hands, he should be a factor on the boards and defending the post.

Solo is another guy where, its nice that he has a little midrange game and seems to be comfortable around the hoop with the ball but if he's going to be a contributor, he can forget about offense and just be a pogo stick on D going after blocks and boards.

Other than that though, losing Chil is a talent downgrade but I feel better about Acie, Flip, and Mo than I did about rookie Acie-Chil last season. Especially on D. I feel a tiny bit better about our frontcourt depth just because we have more bodies than we did after the trade. Our D was better in the first half of last season because we had a Shelden and Blo to throw out on the court, hopefully O and Morris can be effective as a disrupter and roadblock respectively, just to bother certain players.

Zaza looked back to form in the pre, that could be important too.

Anyway, our bench is still weak but if there is something to be said for Woody its that he'll put his faith in vets so Mo and Flip could help.

[killbuckner]

ha. Just thought the difference in opinion was pretty funny. Here is Sekou:

If he wanted, Woodson could substitute his entire second five and not lose major ground.

here is Bill Simmons:

C. Did you know that Atlanta's bench this year consists of Ronald Murray, Zaza Pachulia, Mo Evans, Solomon Jones and Acie Law? Really? That's your bench? The Hawks should just have Feces Night and have their cheerleaders shoot dog doo out of T-shirt cannons at their fans. What a disgrace.

slight difference of opinion

[Skyhawk1]

Our bench is way better, for a couple of reasons. We can score if JJ is not on the court. Murray and Evans can knock shots down, last year we had Salim and Richardson who could shoot. Law has to be more confident. I hope he learned a bit from Bibby. Morris is another big body we can use, last year we had S. Jones, and Zaza struggling big time. I know we lost J. Chill, but we got to address what we needed the most, shooters who can score when our main guy is resting, so I'm satisfied with our bench. I also agree that 50 wins is not realistic. Something around 42 +/- 2 would be my guess.

[HoopsGuru25]

Bill Simmons' basketball analysis is a joke. The only time he's ever been right about something was Chris Paul. Law was his top point guard in the draft in 07 and Morrison was his top overall player in 2006 and now he's trashing them less than 2 years later?