How Good Are the Atlanta Hawks in 2009-2010?

When the 2009 NBA season began all the experts were picking three teams to be contenders in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic were all chosen as possible Eastern Conference contenders. One team slipped through the cracks because they don't play in a city like Los Angeles or Boston and don't have a star like Lebron James and Dwight Howard. They might not have those things but the Atlanta Hawks might have the best team in the Eastern Conference.

First let's take a look at the players the Atlanta Hawks bring to the court. The Atlanta Hawks have Mike Bibby at point guard. Bibby doesn't score like Chris Paul or drop a dozen assists like Steve Nash but that's almost a good thing. Instead of being great at one facet or the other Mike Bibby is just a good all around point guard.

Al Horford had a great rookie season and probably should have won the Rookie of the Year over Kevin Durant but his second season he didn't show the improvement a lot of people expected. This season Al Horford looks great again and he can score a double-double any given night. Joe Johnson can score as good as anybody. Josh Smith is leading the league in blocks per game and two years ago Josh Smith was the only player that finished in the Top 10 in blocks per game and steals per game.

One of the main reasons the Atlanta Hawks jumped into the elite class of the Eastern Conference though is the addition of Jamal Crawford. Every contender in the NBA needs a player that can come off the bench and contribute. Jamal Crawford is coming off the bench and yet he's the Atlanta Hawks' second leading scorer. If Jamal Crawford plays like this the entire season then he should be a unanimous selection for the 6th Man Award.

It's also important to point out what the Atlanta Hawks don't have. The Atlanta Hawks don't have old players that could give way at any time like Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O'Neal. The Atlanta Hawks didn't lose one of their key players like the Magic did with Hedu Turkoglu. The Atlanta Hawks are the only teams out of the contenders that not only brought everybody back and brought everybody back healthy but they also added to their team. The addition also wasn't somebody over the hill like Vince Carter or Rasheed Wallace.

The Atlanta Hawks' problems the last two years haven't all been about personnel. The Atlanta Hawks played great at home but stunk on the road. They didn't have much confidence and made a lot of mental errors. All of these problems are typical of young teams but now the Atlanta Hawks have taken the next step.

The Atlanta Hawks have given the Boston Celtics a lot of trouble when they play in Atlanta. The Hawks as the eight seed even pushed the first place Celtics to a full series in the first round of te Eastern Conference playoffs two seasons ago. But despite playing well in Atlanta the Celtics have been crushing the Hawks in Boston. This year though the Hawks went to Boston, went toe-to-toe with the first place team and came out victorious. The Hawks's players were clapping their hands and pumping their fists. In the past the Atlanta Hawks were just a spunky, plucky little team that were surprisingly good at times. I think they even surprised themselves. But the 2009-2010 Atlanta Hawks know they are good and that does not bode well for the rest of the Eastern Conference.