ESPN and NBA.com have both released their weekly power rankings and if someone had been in a coma since 2003 or so, the number one team would’ve come as quite a shock (actually, it probably comes as quite a shock to anyone who has yet to really pay attention to the NBA this season too).
The Atlanta Hawks are ranked No. 1 in each poll. What’s the bigger shock though is that it’s not a misprint and they actually deserve the ranking at this point in the season.
Going into the season, it seemed like the Hawks only marginally improved on what they had last season. They upgraded slightly on the bench by replacing Flip Murray with Jamal Crawford and they signed Joe Smith to fill the veteran role off the bench (which they did not have last season or the season before that).
They’re about the same defensively as they were last season, which is to say, a rather underappreciated defensive team that’s a little small up front. Offensively, they’re about the same as last season, albeit a bit more efficient (at least statistically, they’re running the offense much better than they were last season).
All of the changes for the Haw ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Beyond the Arc Basketball
The Atlanta Hawks Are Soaring
November 17th, 2009 by Beyond the Arc Basketball Leave a reply »
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