Expert predictions: Atlanta Hawks

Originally Published: October 22, 2010

ESPN.com

Predicted Finish For Atlanta Hawks: 2010-11

ANALYST	COMMENT	PREDICTIONS
	J.A. Adande, ESPN.com \| Adande's picks They stayed the same when teams all over the East were loading up. They're fine physically, which made their mental checkout in the playoffs even more alarming.	Southeast: 3 East: 6
	Chris Broussard, ESPN Mag \| Broussard's picks The Hawks have reached their ceiling. They need a big-time frontcourt star to join the elite. Josh Smith is strong but may never take the leap his talent says he can. Al Horford is very good but not great. They should be better and more fluid offensively under Larry Drew, but defensively they could suffer.	Southeast: 3 East: 6
	Chad Ford, ESPN.com \| Ford's picks The Hawks broke the bank to re-sign Joe Johnson and seem to have a late first-round gem in Jordan Crawford. Josh Smith, Al Horford and Marvin Williams intrigue, but they can't continue to use youth as an excuse. If the Hawks can't turn the corner this season, it may be time to shake up this team.	Southeast: 3 East: 5
	Zach Harper, Daily Dime Live \| Harper's picks Whatever new coach Larry Drew runs with the Hawks offensively this season, it will be better received after six seasons of Mike Woodson's play calling. Getting Al Horford some help defending the paint will be the key to getting home-court advantage in Round 1.	Southeast: 3 East: 6
	John Hollinger, ESPN.com \| Hollinger's picks The Hawks basically had everything go right last season and won 53; that's the ceiling. With virtually the same team we can't expect a collapse, but between a bit more adversity and likely declines from the three main backcourt players, they'll land in the mid-40s.	Southeast: 3 East: 6
	Tim Legler, ESPN \| Legler's picks They were exposed in the playoffs as a team that, when they play against great defensive teams, the ball got very stagnant. It didn't change sides of the floor and there was a lot of one-on-one play. They re-signed Joe Johnson; is he a max player? Now he has to earn it.	Southeast: 3 East: 5
	Chris Sheridan, ESPN.com \| Sheridan's picks Still boggles the mind that this was the third-best team in the East last season, going by regular-season record. Then the playoffs happened, and we saw what they were really made of. They are still playoff material, no doubt, but they'll be road kill again if they face Boston, Miami or Orlando in the first round.	Southeast: 4 East: 8
	Marc Stein, ESPN.com \| Stein's picks Joe Johnson somehow landed last summer's biggest contract and Larry Drew got just about the least lucrative contract that a coach can receive, when Johnson really needed more help and Drew didn't need a low-dollar deal undermining his authority. Two big reasons why the Hawks are going to slip.	Southeast: 3 East: 6
	Michael Wallace, ESPN.com \| Wallace's picks Some teams got better in the offseason. Some grew worse. The Hawks essentially stood still, and settled simply for re-signing Joe Johnson to a max deal. Replacing Mike Woodson with Larry Drew won't be enough to shake things up and get the Hawks beyond the first round of the playoffs.	Southeast: 3 East: 5
	Brian Windhorst, ESPN.com \| Windhorst's picks They're talented, they're fairly deep, and they are the exact same team that has been swept out of the second round in the last two years. Can new coach Larry Drew change that cycle? Not unless he's got a trick up his sleeve we haven't seen yet.	Southeast: 3 East: 6
AVERAGE RANKING Southeast: 3.1 \| Standings East: 5.9 \| Standings