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The Atlanta Hawks have made a lot of changes lately by letting go of a lot of bench players, trading long time starters, and picking up new free agents. A team that had not made more than one change to the starting lineup in over 5 years has now completely mixed it up and fans are very happy too. But patience will be necessary with this team. Even tho they still have Teague, Smith, and Horford they have not made up for the talent that was let go.

Joe Johnson is now on the Nets. His talent will be missed, his contract will not be. Marvin Williams is on the Jazz. He was not a fan favorite after being drafted 4th overall in front of CP3 and Darron Williams, but he did average over 10 points per game and had a good amount of rebounds as a small forward. Fans are okay with these players being traded away, but the Hawks now lack the talent and the height. The lineup has always been a little short but now without the two huge wing players they are even shorter.

Joe Johnson is 6'7 and Marvin Williams is 6'8. Those were probably the two biggest wing players in the NBA and gave the Hawks many advantages, especially on defense. But those two players are gone, Hawks have still not replaced either starting position but we can assume the new players will not be as tall as they were, and the front court is still very short with Al Horford at 6'10 and Josh Smith at 6'9.

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Right now I'm sure the small forward position will be filled by a free agent pickup, but the shooting guard position seems it may be filled by one of the very talented point guards who are all also not over 6'2. But it is one of the biggest questions for the Hawks right now and fans wait for the answer. Will it be the very smart and well known Devin Harris? Or could it be the player known for instant offense off the bench, Lou Williams? It could even be the lights out rookie that is actually a shooting guard, John Jenkins.

One thing we do know is no matter which way they go the Hawks will be one of the shortest teams in the NBA leaving them at a big disadvantage for the 2012-2013 season. Now nobody is expecting this team to win the finals this season while they are rebuilding, but many analysts still expect them to have a winning season and even make the playoffs. Others expect them to be in the lottery. It's amazing how people could have such different opinions about one team, but we will have a much better picture of where they stand once they have a 15 player roster. When will that be? Who knows... All we know right now is that Danny Ferry is changing things up and we like it.