(All stats and records through Jan. 15; for report cards for all 30 teams click here.)
Offense: 102.8, 21st Overall
Defense: 102.5, 5th Overall
W-L | Pct. | GB
23-17 | .575 | 6.5
Div.: 4-4
Conf.: 16-8
Home: 11-8
Road: 12-9
FRONTCOURT: B-
Dwight Howard has been better than expected, averaging a double-double, and Paul Millsap is having yet another All-Star season. Kent Bazemore has struggled in the aftermath of his big free agent summer.
BACKCOURT: C+
The Dennis Schroder experiment is off to an impressive, and at times spectacular, start. Thabo Sefolosha took over the starting job at shooting guard before Kyle Korver was traded to Cleveland.
DEFENSE: A
This remains the backbone of the Mike Budenholzer program. When the Hawks were very good on defense early in the season they got off to a 9-2 start. When they slipped, they crumbled. But they’ve regained their footing of late, and finished the first half of the season on a 9-1 run.
BENCH: C+
Tim Hardaway Jr. has finally come into his own and Mike Muscala and Malcolm Delaney have provided quality minutes and production. Rookies Taurean Prince and DeAndre Bembry have not had the impact expected.
COACHING: B
Budenholzer has not had the luxury of leaning on the veteran lineup he has in the past to carry this team through rough patches. Adjusting to a group that doesn’t move the ball or shoot it as well as they have in the past has also been an issue. All that said, he still has his team atop the division.
OVERALL GRADE: B-
The ebb and flow of this season couldn’t be more stark for the Hawks, whose hot start was interrupted by a complete power outage just before Thanksgiving that lasted well into December. Panic set in and the Hawks dove in on the process of evaluating the roster and deciding who would be dealt by the Feb. 23 trade deadline. But only Korver hit the door before things turned around during a seven-game win streak that kicked off after Christmas.
With Millsap and everyone else assured that they were done trading away key pieces, the Hawks can now get back to figuring out the best rotations with the talent at hand. But make no mistake, this is clearly not the same roster Budenholzer had to work with previously. Different ingredients and much different results.
Sekou Smith is a staff writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.
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