The Atlanta Hawks sit just outside of the top 10 in BR’s power rankings
The Atlanta Hawks recent turnaround hasn’t gone unnoticed. After beginning the season 4-3, a six-game slide saw them fall off the radar for many very early in the season. This was aided by the resurgence of teams like the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards having hot starts of their own.
They have gotten tremendous contributions from their superstar point guard Trae Young, who is on quite the tear of late averaging 27.2 points and 8.5 assists over their winning streak.
Clint Capela and John Collins have also been huge, not just scoring the ball, but also finding teammates (including each other) and playing tough defense.
The latter point has been huge with De’Andre Hunter out until January.
Bleacher Report has the Hawks knocking on the door of the top-10 in their latest power rankings
In the article from Andy Bailey, there is a lot of movement at the top of the order, most of it coming from the Eastern Conference. While the West has the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns perched atop the latest poll, the Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat have swapped the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, and Milwaukee Bucks went from ninth to sixth.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, and Philadelphia 76ers all slid.
That all comes as the Hawks jumped nine spots in Bailey’s latest ranking, going from 20th to 11th. It’s the largest jump of any team on this pass and is second behind the Denver Nuggets — who went from 11th to 22nd — for the largest swing in either direction.
The article cites Trae Young as the “catalyst” for the Hawks turnaround. But it does go on to mention a different player as another reason.
"“The return of Kevin Huerter to the rotation hasn’t hurt either. In his last six, he’s putting up 12.3 points and 2.2 threes while shooting 50 percent from deep.”"
Huerter had a rough start to the campaign but, following a one-game absence, has really gotten back into form over his last four games, averaging 14.8 points on 61.1 percent shooting from the field. He’s also hit 54.5 percent of his looks from deep as the Hawks have led the league in three-point efficiency over the last six games.
There is still a lot of work to be done starting with the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday. They’re up from 20th to 17th in Bailey’s rankings and Ja Morant has been on a run very similar to Young’s.
However, his team has dropped two of their last three but are 6-4 at home.
People have different reactions to power rankings. But it can be agreed upon that it is impressive for the Hawks to have such a leap despite losing a key piece to the puzzle.
Next. Studs and duds to be thankful for after the second road win. dark
That should add to the excitement and encouragement going forward as they, in theory, will be even better once they get back to full strength.