Hawks set sail with high hopes

By Bud L. Ellis

After an offseason of resigning key cogs and bolstering the bench and seeing the rest of the East get stronger, it’s showtime for the Atlanta Hawks.

Atlanta tipped off the 2009-10 season Wednesday night at Philips Arena, the first step of an 82-game journey that Hawks’ fans hope will lead Atlanta to the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Very few campaigns have been met with this much hope, this much enthusiasm surrounding Atlanta’s NBA entry. Sure, there were the years in the late 1980s, when the Hawks ran off four consecutive 50-win seasons, yet could never crack through the Eastern Conference semifinals.

There were a few decent years in the 1990s. There was the 1979-80 team that won 57 games, a mark matched by the 1986-87 team. But the meter of anticipation is nearing an all-time high in Atlanta, and with good reason.

The Hawks addressed multiple needs this offseason by signing Jason Collins and Joe Smith. The two veterans give Atlanta size off the bench and veteran leadership, two traits a talented-yet-youthful core needs.

The Hawks are about to embark on a season that they believe will carry them into late May. Doing so would be the most successful foray for this franchise in decades. The adjustments are now done. Time to see this machine roar to life. The road to a deep advance in the NBA playoffs won’t be easy. You have to get there first.

But there is every reason to believe this team has what it will take to play toward Memorial Day.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 8:47 pm by bud

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Jason Collins, Joe Smith, National Basketball Association, Philips Arena