Atlanta
Hawks
Southeast
| 2011-12 Team Rating | |
| Offense | Defense |
| 102.4 | 98.6 |
| 15th Overall | 6th Overall |
2011-12 Season Stats
W
40
L
26
PCT
.606
GB
6
CONF
31-17
DIV
11-3
HOME
23-10
ROAD
17-16
LinksVideo | Statistics | Tickets | Team
|
Category | Grade | ||
 Though the Hawks underwent quite a bit of change, their bigs basically remained the same. But they're getting back a healthy Al Horford, who missed the final 55 games of last season.
|
B |
||
 None of the guards the Hawks added are of the caliber of Joe Johnson, but Lou Williams, Anthony Morrow and Devin Harris certainly give the team depth and take some pressure off of Jeff Teague.
|
C |
||
 The Hawks were the third most improved defensive team in the league last season, a testament to the maturity of Josh Smith. But Williams and Morrow will hurt them on that end of the floor.
|
C |
||
 The Hawks' bench will be potent on the perimeter with Teague or Harris, Williams or Morrow, and Kyle Korver, but still very weak up front. Zaza Pachulia, Johan Petro and Jordan Williams won't cut it.
|
B |
||
 The Hawks have taken a step back offensively under Larry Drew, but he's kept them competitive in the Eastern Conference, even last season without Horford. Winning without Johnson is a new challenge.
|
B |
||
C
Summary
Danny Ferry found a way to unload Joe Johnson's burdensome contract and added more flexibility by swapping Marvin Williams for Devin Harris. As a result, the Hawks could have more than $30 million in cap space next summer.
But cap space doesn't win you any games. And now that Dwight Howard is in L.A., the Hawks' dreams of bringing him home have been vanquished. Further, beyond cap space, Atlanta didn't get much of value in exchange for Johnson.
So just how well Ferry did in his first month of the job is very much TBD. The Hawks had reached a ceiling with their core of Johnson, Horford and Josh Smith, yes. But they're taking a step backward now, and there's no telling when they'll get back to where they were.
-- John Schuhmann
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