Atlanta Hawks Capsule

The only reason I can envision seeing the Atlanta Hawks moving forward is if they have a leader on the team who can step up and make big shots in the stretch during crunch time. If they do not have a go-to guy, the Hawks will lose big games down the stretch. Joe Johnson is the likely option to be the go-to guy. I think he should be the number one guy to make big shots down the stretch. If it is not Johnson, I would give the ball to Josh Smith and see how he operates with the basketball. If the Hawks keep losing basketball games, it will be because they do not have a primary offensive scorer to go to in close and tight games. I think coach Larry Drew is doing a remarkable job of keeping tabs on his players. The only way he can rein in victories for his squad is keep encouraging enthusiasm and keep telling his players not to lose hope when things get tough. The weakness with this Atlanta squad is that they fail to win basketball games when things get tough. This is how the Hawks will lose games as a team. When they fail to go through adversity as a team. As a team to win games, they need a go-to guy who will give them automatic points. It can be Joe Johnson. It can be Jamal Crawford. It can be Josh Smith. Atlanta needs to decide who is their primary scorer, who is their secondary scorer, and who is their third option to go to in scoring. This is how we can decide Atlanta is a good basketball team. Right now, they are battling with inconsistency. Time will tell if the Hawks do become a good basketball team.