Jump Off The Atlanta Hawks' Bandwagon

I don’t care that we’re only a month into the NBA season. I’m done with the Atlanta Hawks and you should jump off the bandwagon as well. 

Atlanta has started off the season 9-9. I’ll give credit where it’s due, especially since they are on a five-game winning streak. However, the Hawks aren’t going to do anything serious this season and now is the time to start finding long-term hedges. 

WynnBET has Atlanta’s odds to win the NBA title at +4000, its odds to win the Eastern Conference at +1800, and its odds to win the division at +550. I’m not biting on any of those. 

The Hawks are the third-worst road team in the league at 1-8. Only the New Orleans Pelicans and the Houston Rockets have more losses on the road. On top of that, Atlanta is the fourth-worst team in the league according to defensive rating. 

Coming into the season, we were expecting a leap from the Hawks. They were supposed to go from the young, scrappy team to one of the conference’s top teams, and that hasn’t happened. Even with Trae Young having a good season (25/9/3.6) and John Collins emerging as a legitimate scoring option on the team. 

The goal for the Hawks should be trying to get home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but the path to that seems highly unlikely unless they figure out how to defend teams at a higher level. 

Atlanta still has to battle with teams like the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks -- playoff teams from last season -- just to get to the No. 6 seed and out of the play-in. With the Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls already claiming their stake in the Eastern Conference standings, there is limited real estate and Atlanta is going to be out of luck.