by David Snipes

Created on: May 01, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The Atlanta Hawks entered the season in a state of disarray- an entire book could be written on the breakdown in ownership that is still dragging on- plus GM Billy Knight has been rightly roasted for several bad trades and some questionable trades and drafts, most notably bypassing Chris Paul for UNC's Marvin Williams in the 2006 draft. The Hawks ended the year with a 30-52 record but in the East Conference they were only 7 games out of the playoffs.

The Hawks had not had a lot of success lately in the NBA- especially lately The Hawks had not had a rookie of the year since 1955, no All-Star since 1993 (Dominique Wilkins) other than Joe Johnson in 2007. No First team all Rookie Team since 1992, No All-NBA First team since 1986. No NBA MVP since 1959, no Hardware at ALL since a most improved player trophy given to Alan Henderson in 1998.

Hope came in the NBA draft when the Hawks were given the number 3 pick- and armed with the 11th pick as well thanks to the trade of Al Harrington to the Indiana Pacers. The Hawks were unable to make a deal to move up and ended up selecting Al Horford
However, hope and redemption appeared to be on the horizon for the Hawks in 2007. With the third pick of the NBA draft, they selected Al Horford from the University of Florida fresh off back to back titles wins- Horford was instrumental in helping the Gators win over Ohio State and number one pick Greg Oden; later in the draft they selected Acie Law IV from Texas A&M University. Law was the second point guard drafted in the NBA; Law got a ton of college awards and player of the year awards. This draft seemed to give them a solid young core with SF Josh Smith (2yrs) PF Marvin Williams (1Yr) and now a Center and Point Guard to go around All-Star SG Joe Johnson.

The Starting 5

C- Al Horford was a great force inside as a rookie- coming in second to the rookie of the year trophy that went to Kevin Durant. He played in 81 games starting 77 and averaged 10.1 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game. Horford had 25 double doubles during the regular season- tops of all rookies. Horford was 1st among rookies in rebounding and 12th in the NBA. Horford received 3 Rookie of the month awards.

PF- Marvin Williams followed up a second team all-rookie team year with a solid effort averaging 14.8 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game in the 80 games he appeared in all starting. Marvin also had 7 double doubles this year. Marvin still has not been able to shake the stigma of being drafted ahead of Chris

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