Guerry Clegg: Hawks have finally convinced me
My apologies. I realize that I'm a tad late to the party. You know, the "Hey, these Atlanta Hawks really could win the NBA championship" party.
Let me explain. First, It was college football season, you know. It was not your typical quiet December, not with Mike Bobo leaving Georgia and Alabama playing in the first ever college football playoff and Will Muschamp returning to Auburn as defensive coordinator. You know, lots more important news items than Atlanta's NBA team quietly ascending up the Eastern Conference standings.
Then there was this whole weird offseason the Braves have had. And Columbus State was (and still is) cruising, so I had to drop in on the local team. Oh, and the Herbert Greene floor dedication. And the Falcons search for a new head coach.
And
Well, OK. Let's just be real here. I've put off writing about the Hawks simply because I refused to believe. How many times must Charlie Brown wind up flat on his back before you just stop rooting for him to kick the football?
The Hawks have teased us with a few exciting regular seasons before. But other than that magnificent Boston series in '88 -- the great Bird-Dominique shootout -- have we really thought this franchise had a chance of even reaching the Eastern Conference finals? That was 27 years ago. Vince Dooley was still coaching at Georgia. Ronald Reagan was still sleeping in cabinet meetings. Berlin was still separated by a wall and a cold war.
The one time they did lead the East, in 1994, they wrecked their chances when they traded Dominique Wilkins for Danny Manning.
So naturally, I kept thinking that eventually this nice little hot streak the Hawks were on would just fade away like Myspace and walkie-talkie phones. That seemed to be the case the day after Christmas, when the Hawks -- winners of 14 out of 15 after a very Hawk-like 7-6 start -- got embarrassed at home by Milwaukee, losing 107-77.
"Back to Earth," I thought.
Then the oddest thing has happened. They haven't lost a game since. The count is now 16 consecutive wins going into Wednesday night's home game against Brooklyn. A win over the Nets would match Golden State for the longest streak in the league this year.
They are three home wins away from a perfect January. They are now a full seven games ahead of Washington for the best record in the East. They're a half game behind Golden State for the best record in the league. They lead the league with 37 wins, one better than the Warriors.
That's 30-2 since the 7-6 start. Only nine other teams in NBA history have won 30 of 32. Six of those teams won the championship.
Coach Mike Budenholzer and his staff will coach the East in the All-Star game.
The Hawks have done something even more amazing than win games. They have won credibil
ity throughout the NBA. Even more astonishing, they have also won the attention of Atlanta fans, who aren't easily sucked in when it comes to the Hawks.
They've accomplished all of this without the benefit of one deflated ball. What they have deflated, organizationally, is their ego. That began when Danny Ferry, hired from the San Antonio Spurs as general manager, started the rebuilding project by tearing up the roster. He shipped Joe Johnson's massive contract and ball-hogging habits off to the Nets. He let Josh Smith leave as a free agent. He hired Budenholzer from Gregg Popovich's staff.
Together, Ferry and Budenholzer assembled a roster of selfless players who could defend and pass but also knock down the open shot. What they've built is almost unprecedented: a great team without a franchise player. Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap are All-Star candidates. Kyle Korver is one of the league's best shooters. DeMarre Carroll is an excellent role player. Dennis Schroder is rapidly developing into a solid point guard.
Budenholzer has become the odds-on favorite to win NBA Coach of the Year. Ferry would be almost a shoo-in for Executive of the Year if not for one egregious error that had nothing to do with basketball.
Last offseason, as the Hawks considered making a push for free agent Luol Deng, Ferry read a scouting report on a team conference call.
"He's a good guy overall but he's not perfect," Ferry said reading the report. "He's got a little African in him. And I don't mean that in a bad way."
No, this was not anywhere near on the level of former Dodgers general manager Al Campanis saying black people "lack the necessities" to manage or run teams. But it was not smart, especially coming right after Clippers then-owner Donald Sterling made a series of racist statements that prompted the league to oust him.
Ferry remains suspended. There's a good chance he won't be reinstated until after the season.
The way the Hawks are playing, that might be a while. Here's where the old skepticism creeps back in.
The playoffs are entirely different than the regular season. They've never made it past the second round of the playoffs. Even the Falcons have made it to three NFC championship games.
Maybe this really is the Hawks' year after all. Hard to believe. But impossible to dismiss any longer.
-- Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com.
This story was originally published January 27, 2015 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Hawks have finally convinced me."