NBA Power Rankings: Hawks Fall To No. 10 In SB Nation Power Rankings
by Kris Willis on Jan 17, 2012 4:00 PM EST
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The Atlanta Hawks had an otherwise solid week despite suffering a devastating injury to All-Star center Al Horford that will keep him out of action for at least three months. The loss of Horford combined with a road loss to the Indiana Pacers has the Hawks falling six spots to No. 10 SB Nation's NBA Power Rankings.
10. Atlanta Hawks 9-4 W: NJ, CHA, MIN; L: IND Peachtree Hoops Atlanta's edged out two wins since losing Al Horford, but the schedule will get much tougher later this week with games against Portland and the Sixers. Atlanta's schedule has been rather soft so far this season.
The Hawks fell four spots in John Schuhmann's NBA.com rankings to No. 13.
Atlanta (9-4)
Pace: 92.6 (23), Off: 103.3 (8), Def: 95.9 (5)Eventually, the Hawks will probably struggle without Al Horford, but they're 2-0 since he was ruled out for the next 3-4 months. Maybe Ivan Johnson, who won the game for them on Saturday, can keep them afloat.
ESPN.com NBA writer Marc Stein drops Atlanta six spots this week down from No. 6 to No. 12.
A shame it happened so soon after those big wins over Miami and Chicago, but there's no getting around it: Atlanta just lost the guy on the roster closest to irreplaceable, because Al Horford ranks not only as its best big man but also its smartest player.
Also at ESPN.com, the Atlanta Hawks are ranked No. 4 in John Hollinger's Daily Power Rankings.
For more on the Atlanta Hawks check out SB Nation Atlanta, follow Jason Walker and Kris Willis, along with Peachtree Hoops on Twitter and check out the Peachtree Hoops Facebook Fan Page.
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As much as I despise Hollinger...
I like his rankings more, for the power rankings should only look at what teams have done to this point, not hypothesize about the future. Sure, we are likely going to be worse without Horford, than we would have been with Al playing, but look at how well the Hornets played last season with all the injuries… Let’s at least see how we play against good squads first.
GATA!
no 10 no way this team right now is top 5 or 6
they are playing well, I don’t care what the history says. If they implode then drop them
Schuman thinks we've had a soft schedule?
Ivan Johnson does not buy ground beef, he just takes a whole cow, runs it through his beard, and fully cooked hamburgers come out.
And people ask me why I hate the power rankings
Ivan Johnson does not buy ground beef, he just takes a whole cow, runs it through his beard, and fully cooked hamburgers come out.
This x100000000
Two games against Chicago and Miami EACH in an 8 day span? Give me a break.
Question: Woody, what happened to the ball movement? Answer: I think our defense was pretty solid tonight. We held them to under 200 points so we did our job on that end.
Explanation
Yes, we’ve played four games against elite teams, but:
1) We’ve played three games against the Nets, who are very nearly the worst team in the league.
2) We’ve played the Wizards, who are the worst team in the league
3) We’ve played Charlotte, who is another team in the running for the worst team in the league, twice already
4) We played a Miami Heat team that was down 2 superstars.
Schedule isn’t soft, but it’s definitely softer than a lot of others. I don’t think people can even argue that.
Braves will be fine. I'm not worried.
by Bronn on Sep 18, 2011 4:26 PM EDT
The test of Al Horford's value
starts now. My answer is – we’ll see that he wasn’t as irreplaceable as everyone thinks he is.
Hawk Str8Talk
because of Ivan?
i don’t think people were saying Al’s irreplaceable, but people did panic on the entire season. But that doesn’t mean we trade him. When a team is gelling and winning why in the world would you stop that? That kills momentum and it would take something drastic for a trade of anybody at this point
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
because they're fools gold wins. Teams were a combined 11-29 or something like that.
Al’s definitely replaceable. In fact he’s upgradeable for a true center but only via trade. You’re not going to replace Horford with Ivan Johnson and Jason Collins.
But to say the Hawks are nothing without Horford is garbage. Or that he’s the smartest guy on the team.
Phil Jackson was the smartest guy on the Bulls and Lakers but I didn’t see him stepping up to make big shots or dominate on defense.
You don’t win games by knowing that you need to single cover Dwight. Or “knowing” that someone should stand in the corner and spread the floor.
You have to be able to deliver. And Horford hasn’t been able to do that.
He’s a souped up Chuck Hayes. If we arent contenders with him at center then whats the point? Move him.
* Hawks trade {Al Horford + protected 2nd rounder} for {Perimeter F Jon Leuer and C Andrew Bogut}
* Jeff Teague * Joe Johnson* Jon Leuer * Josh Smith * Andrew Bogut *
by PointGuardSlim on Jan 18, 2012 12:22 AM EST up reply actions
look
You have no evidence for your baseless anti-horford stance. No advanced stats or anything and the only “dominant” big men are Dwight and Bynum, and whos selling the farm for them? Last i hear, dwight wants to play with blake griffin.
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
by maxxj3 on Jan 18, 2012 9:14 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Well
my answer there isn’t about trading Al per se. I’ve always been an advocate of trading someone because the mix hasn’t worked in the past 3 years and I have traded in my belief that it ever will. So, you have to trade Josh or Al to get the most out of them. If we could get a better coach, I’d rather have Josh than Al, but if I’m just trying to start over then I’d rather have Al. Anyway, who we trade is really a function of what gives us the best return. So, it’s not really about gelling and all because the best we’re going to get is still not beating the Bulls or Heat in a 7 game series, so that’s where we need to spend our time.
Hawk Str8Talk
by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 18, 2012 11:09 AM EST up reply actions
So you didn't think we could beat the Bulls or Heat in a series...
With a healthy Al…I disagree.
I think we would have had a harder time beat the Heat, but the Bulls at best would have got to 6 games.
The Bulls won last year because of their bench. This year our bench is equal and our starting 5 has more TALENT….The Bulls would have lost by 40pts if LD played his statrters longer….That is not a FLUKE….
Bulls, yes I do
Heat, no. All depends on a motivated, stat stuffing Smooth. But no, we don’t have the weapons to run with the Heat. The Bulls, just let Teague and Hinrich work Rose defensively, focus on shutting down their poor surrounding cast.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
Regular Season Wins mean
nothing to me. Great for growth and seeding, but I don’t have belief in our ability to be tough, to coach well, and to get the leadership necessary to win against either team. Thibs coaches circles around Drew. So, no – I’m not going to believe that we can beat either team. Can we compete? Sure, but winning – nah.
Hawk Str8Talk
by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 18, 2012 5:26 PM EST up reply actions
Regular season wins matter..
Unless a major change happens to the roster. The formula for beating a team is developed in the regular season….And we didn’t just beat the Bulls, we KILLED the Bulls. You don’t think that has an effect on the players..I do. Al and Josh, own Noah and Boozer and that effects the entire team.
The Hawks Orlando series.
The Mavs gave the Heat trouble with that zone during the season.
IPS. It still is only the 2nd year in the Bulls rise.
Listen
I understand that they have an effect psychologically, but here’s my point – talent ultimately wins out. A 4 out of 7 series relies on talent. We are not equal in talent to the Bulls. We can defeat the Bulls and I agree we basically owned them in 2 games. But why are we 1-1 this season vs. the Bulls – because our bench faltered and our coach didn’t recognize it quick enough to keep the reigning MVP from willing his team to a victory. You think that’s not how they look at it. If I’m the Bulls, I’m saying – these guys couldn’t beat us twice when we played our worst. We got them covered and esp. when we get Rip back – we’ll be fine. So, no – I don’t think anyone is scared of the Hawks. 1-2 good victories aren’t changing that psyche. Not when like I said – we’ve been beating good teams for years. That’s nothing new – what’s new is us having a pulse come playoff time. Now, I will admit Teague changes the game for us, but only if we actually commit to letting him change it. I’m not convinced that Drew is capable of that, so we aren’t going to grow as a team – we’ll just hope to hit jump shots and win a series. I don’t see it happening. Want it to, but don’t see it.
Hawk Str8Talk
by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 19, 2012 12:12 AM EST up reply actions
Who gives a shiz! We know what we are and as long as the Hawks now where they stand
then that is all that matters! We are still a top 4 team in the East and we will prove that throughout the season.
I like how they rank, based not on achievements, but on what they think will happen.
the schedule will get much tougher later this week with games against Portland and the Sixers. Atlanta’s schedule has been rather soft so far this season.
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