Are the Hawks for real

[DrReality]

Are The Hawks For Real?

By: Jon Mladic Last Updated: 10/7/08 7:43 PM ET | 854 times read

:Last night, the Atlanta Hawks put on quite the show, beating the Orlando Magic 118-101, and scoring 45 points in the third quarter. But before getting too caught up in the outstanding performance the Hawks put on, let's take a closer look at what this team is actually about. Are they ready to surprise the Eastern Conference? Is this finally the year they breakthrough? In other words, are the Hawks for real?

It certainly seems that Acie Law has come of age considerably. He had twenty points in 25 minutes, shot very well from the floor and tacked on five rebounds and four assists to finish off his night.

Ultimately though, for the Hawks to be for real, the discussion needs to start with Mike Bibby. A healthy Mike Bibby was on full display last night, living up to the potential a point guard of his caliber should. As Mo Evans put it, "we definitely need a healthy Mike Bibby this year – you can see what it does on the court."

Bibby was never healthy in Atlanta last season after arriving via mid-season trade.

Atlanta's depth is also very real, scoring regardless of which players were on the court.

Acie Law, a big part of the Hawks' scoring (and their depth), explained his view of the bench players' outpouring. "It shows you how deep we are as a team and that we've got guys that can really shoot the ball."

Even if the Hawks' potential is real, how good they are will depend on their attitude and motivation. Their goals of staying "aggressive on the offensive and defensive end," as Law put it, will need to be maintained to keep them in contention.

Of course, more time and a training camp together will help too.

It appears that the Hawks have passed that painful period of waiting for things to come together, and are ready to pose a serious threat night in and night out to whichever team they face.

It's only the preseason, but as Josh Smith and his teammates know, this very well could be a sign of things to come. "If we come out with that focus and play like we did tonight in the regular season, we'll be ok."

Last night's game has fans thinking they will be much better than ok.

[Gray Mule]

It's still pre season. And, it's only one game.

That being said, things ARE looking good for the Atlanta Hawks right now.

Most impressive? Has to be the bench. We all knew what we had in the

starting five and were satisfied with them - - We kinda know what to expect

from them - - And a healthy Bibby.

We hated losing Childress. We THOUGHT that the new guys would be pretty

good and our returning bench would be improved. Right now, we believe our

outlook was justified.

Now, we just wait, watch and hope that things continue.

[Atlsportfanz]

My belief is for our bench to truly be considered deep either Morris or Solo are going to have to be able to contribute. We've got to have more than ZaZa coming in and manning the post. Otherwise, Smith and Horford are going to wear down over the season. Or heaven forbid one of them get hurt and we're forced to start ZaZa and have no one else to replace them.

We should be fine with Law, Evans, and Murray. We need our back-up bigs to produce and give quality minutes for us to be strong playoff contenders.

[crimedog]

My belief is for our bench to truly be considered deep either Morris or Solo are going to have to be able to contribute. We've got to have more than ZaZa coming in and manning the post. Otherwise, Smith and Horford are going to wear down over the season. Or heaven forbid one of them get hurt and we're forced to start ZaZa and have no one else to replace them.

We should be fine with Law, Evans, and Murray. We need our back-up bigs to produce and give quality minutes for us to be strong playoff contenders.

Even when Zaza was 12-7 a couple seasons ago, he was a pretty poor defensive rebounder (and a great offensive one) and a weak defender (sounds like Chil, although Chil wasn't as horrible on D as Zaza). After "The Trade" last season, we had a big time problem with defensive rebounding and shotblocking off the bench because we were playing Zaza and Marv as our backup 4/5. If Solo can rebound and block shots like we hoped when he came out of college, I will feel a lot more comfortable with our roster because Zaza can play offense - his head looks like its back on, and Morris has some offensive potential as well.

[KDT88]

I really do see us being for real. I'm just worried about a slow start.

[DJlaysitup]

I really do see us being for real. I'm just worried about a slow start.

I worry a tad about that too....but I don't think we will go 0-6. As GM said - we now have a true second 5. We can occasionally wear those phuckers out on the road. Win games like we did last night.