2011-2012 Hawks: Where to now?

If you are a fan of mediocrity, then I have the perfect franchise for you. Do you want a consistently top-10 team that never has a realistic shot at winning the championship? Heck, this franchise fired a coach that had improved the team's record for three consecutive seasons. Would you like to root for a team with no real identity and the quietest "Superstar"--by salary numbers alone--player in the NBA? What about a team that drafts the same type of player three years in a row? The Atlanta Hawks are for you.

For what it is worth, the future of the Hawks,
Joe Johnson (left) and Josh Smith

After a rough stretch during the beginning of this millennium, the Hawks have earned a playoff berth each of the past five years and finished fifth or better in the Eastern Conference in those seasons. That being said, or written, when was the last time the Hawks were thought of as legitimate title contenders? Since moving to Atlatnta in 1968, they have yet to make the Conference Finals and are 19-28 in their past five playoff runs, including being on the wrong end of multiple blowouts.

Don't take this as me bashing the Hawks. I will pull for them when next season tips off next season as I have since I moved to Georgia 13 years ago--minus a few years where I cheated on them with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. The "get-in-the-playoffs-as-a-five-seed-and-lose-any-big-game" cycle needs to be stopped, but how?

Many fans alike are in favor of blowing up the current roster, which causes me to raise the questions, "Why and how?" Sure the new ownership group could get rid of all the big contract guys for nothing, but that would only leave the Hawks not making the playoffs and maintaining irrelevancy in the contention for the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Unfortunately there are no quick fixes. The only tradeable assets available to the Hawks are players that could keep them in contention and of those players, few of them would be highly sought after by other teams.

Joe Johnson is a $20 million dollar a year player that, especially in the postseason, has come up small. This year he shot a career low 37 percent on the season and had games of 11, 9, and 15 points in the Boston series. Not superstar contract worthy.

The Hawks best player this year, Josh Smith, has failed to make an All-Star game because as good as he is, Smith is known more for his long jump shot misses instead of his electric athletic abilities. He proved this stereotype true again in Game 6 versus Boston when, with 10 seconds left to play, Smith launched an ill-advised two pointer instead of differing for a better shot.

Which brings me to the question raised in my title, where to now? Back to a four or five seed and an early exit from the playoffs. Unless--the hopeful Hawks fan says-- Al Horford can return from injury to All-Star form, Jeff Teague continues to improve as the floor general, and Zaza Pachulia is back for the playoffs to hustle more than anyone else in the league.