About the Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks landed in Georgia in 1968 after spending a dozen years as the St. Louis Hawks. Prior to St. Louis the Hawks had played as the Milwaukee Hawks and the Tri-Cities BlackHawks. Coming in from St. Louis, the Hawks were an established team with a string of playoff appearances to their credit. The team picked up where they had left off, finishing the regular season with a 48-34 record and a playoff berth. Those first year Atlanta Hawks fans watched their team defeat the San Diego Rockets to get into the Western Conference Finals where they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers after five games.

The 1969-70 season was almost a repeat of the Hawks inaugural season in Atlanta. Atlanta once again finished with 48 wins and made the trip to the playoffs for their second consecutive year. However, after eliminating the Chicago Bulls after five games, the Hawks watched re-runs of their last Western Conference match up and were knocked out once again by the Los Angeles Lakers.

2009/10

You would think finishing 12 games ahead of .500 would set you up for a great run in the playoffs. That is until the team ran into Superman and his Orlando Magic after disposing of the Milwaukee Bucks in 7 games.

In the draft, the Hawks drafted Wake Forest Guard Jeff Teague.

2008/09

The Atlanta Hawks had no draft selection in 2008 but managed to make it to the playoffs for the first time since the 1998/99 season after acquiring Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings. The team would lose to the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics but were encouraged by pushing them to seven games.

2007/08

The Hawks had a disappointing, injury filled season that they need to bounce back from in 2007-08. They have hopes on two solid players, Joe Johnson and center Zaza Pachulia, who went above and beyond in ’06. On the downside Speedy Claxton in no way lived up to his signing. They also showed a definite lack of leadership on the court. In spite of this, the Hawks would have had a better year if injuries hadn’t decimated the teams top players. They are coming back healthy for 07-08 and there is definite talent in Josh Childress, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams. And they are trying to add strong elements to their roster, going after center Greg Ogden, and they stand to own the 11th pick in the draft, point guard Mike Conley. Can Hotlanta land that double deal? They need to, as the team is left with very little without a strong point guard in the coming season. Hawks ticket buyers can expect a stronger, healthier team next season – sporting brand new colors and uniform.

Previous Seasons

Once a perennial playoff contender, the Atlanta Hawks have struggles in recent years. But with a solid crop of young talent, including 2005 NBA Dunk Champion Josh Smith and draft picks Salim Stoudemire and Marvin Williams. Smith conjured up memories of former Hawks all-time great Dominique Wilkins by throwing down a plethora of power dunks as a rookie. Stoudemire, a product of Arizona, is proving to be one of the steals of the 2005 NBA Draft by knocking down 3-pointers from all over the court. After helping the North Carolina Tar Heels to an NCAA title, Williams is adjusting to the NBA game quickly and has shown signs of being a future All-Star. Buy Atlanta Hawks tickets, head over to Philips Arena and watch the Hawks soar back to NBA respectability.