You can as much or as little as you wish from this comparison between team stats from 100% of last season's and team stats from 15.85% of this season's games.
all stats from Knickerblogger.net
PACE
| Season | Poss | Rank |
| 2007-08 | 91.1 | 18th |
| 2008-09 | 90.5 | 22nd |
2007-08 TEAM OFFENSE
| Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% | |
| 106.9 | 48.3 | 26.2 | 29.7 | 16.2 | |
| Rank | 16th | 21st | 6th | 4th | 26th |
2008-09 TEAM OFFENSE
| Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% | |
| 108.9 | 50.2 | 23 | 28.4 | 15.1 | |
| Rank | 6th | T-8th | 19th | 9th | 13th |
Last year the Hawks were good at getting to the free throw line and rebounding their (frequent) own missed shots. This year, the aren't getting to the line/making free throws* nearly as often or grabbing offensive rebounds as often (though they're still in the top third of the league in that regard) but their much improved offensively because they're attempting more three-point shots and making a higher percentage of their shots from beyond the arc.
*07-08 FT%: 77.2
08-09 FT%: 73.3
FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
| Season | 2PT% | 3PT% |
| 2007-08 | 47.3 | 35.6 |
| 2008-09 | 45.1 | 42.7 |
The Hawks are actually shooting much worse on two-point attempts (This may be a concern as their three-point percentage inevitably declines.) this season but that's more than made for by attempting more than 21 three-point shots a game and making almost 43% of those threes.
3PT FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS
| Season | 3PTA/G | 3PTA/2PTA |
| 2007-08 | 13.1 | 16.4% |
| 2008-09 | 21.6 | 27.1% |
2007-08 TEAM DEFENSE
| Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% | |
| 108.9 | 50.1 | 21.7 | 28.3 | 14.9 | |
| Rank | 18th | 15th | 13th | 26th | 15th |
2008-09 TEAM DEFENSE
| Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% | |
| 107.7 | 48.4 | 23.3 | 28.4 | 15.3 | |
| Rank | 25th | 14th | 13th | 21st | 18th |
The opponents' eFG% and FT Rate should go down some once Josh Smith returns and their TO% should go up. Josh Smith makes it difficult to make shots, he creates turnovers, and he doesn't foul as often a the guys who have taken his minutes, be it Zaza Pachulia, Solomon Jones, Randolph Morris, or whoever's taking a turn as an undersized power forward. He probably won't make much of a difference on the defensive glass. The Hawks just aren't a very good defensive rebounding team.