Atlanta Hawks: 25 Best Players To Play For The Hawks
By Phil Watson
The Atlanta Hawks go all the way back to a short-lived Buffalo entry in the old National Basketball League. Who are the 25 best to suit up for the Hawks?
The franchise known for the last 47 years as the Atlanta Hawks took a twisted road to get there, beginning with a short-lived National Basketball League franchise in Buffalo, through the Tri-Cities in the Midwest and to Milwaukee and later St. Louis.
Along the way there has been just one championship and four appearances in the NBA Finals that all occurred within a five-year span more than a half-century ago.
The Buffalo Bison were a new NBL franchise that launched in 1946. It lasted 13 games before owner Ben Kerner moved the team to Moline, Ill., and renamed it the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
Two more NBL seasons along the shores of the Mississippi River set the stage for the merger of the NBL with the newer but more well-heeled Basketball Association of America into the NBA in 1949.
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Kerner kept the team in Moline for two more seasons before heading to Milwaukee in 1951 and the franchise was renamed the Hawks upon arrival.
The franchise never really took root in Beer City and on the verge of going broke, Kerner once again picked up stakes in 1955, this time moving to St. Louis.
In St. Louis, the Hawks enjoyed their greatest success, winning the NBA title in 1958 and reaching the NBA Finals in 1957, 1960 and 1961—all four times facing the Boston Celtics.
Kerner’s long tenure as owner ended when, dissatisfied with the arena situation in St. Louis, he sold the team to Atlanta developer Tom Cousins for former Georgia Gov. Carl Sanders.
The franchise moved to Atlanta in 1968, playing its first four seasons on campus at Georgia Tech while the Omni was being built.
Cable television mogul Ted Turner bought the Hawks in 1977 and in 1999, the Hawks moved into new Philips Arena, their current home.
A group called Atlanta Spirit LLC purchased the franchise in 2004 and in April 2015, the club was sold to a group headed by Tony Ressler.
The Hawks advanced past the second round of the playoffs in 2014-15, the first time they had reached the division or conference finals since 1970, but since moving to Atlanta, the team has never played in the Finals.
The 2014-15 club also set a franchise record with a 60-22 mark, the first 60-win campaign in team history.
The Hawks only have one 60-loss season on the register, a 13-69 debacle in 2004-05.
In 67 seasons in the NBA, the franchise has reached the playoffs 45 times, including the last nine seasons, but has an overall winning percentage of .499 (2,650-2,656).
The Hawks reached the postseason for 11 straight seasons, from 1962-63 through 1972-73, the longest such streak in franchise history. An eight-season drought from 1999-2000 through 2006-07 is the longest period the club did not qualify for the playoffs.
Of the 16 general managers in franchise history, Pete Babcock had the longest run, from February 1990 through April 2003.
Kerner held the job from the time the team came into the NBA until November 1960 and Marty Blake ran the operation from November 1960 through April 1970, while Stan Kasten handled things from November 1979 through February 1990.
Current general manager Mike Budenholzer stepped in first on an interim basis in September 2014.
Kasten is the only GM in franchise history to win Executive of the Year honors, doing so in consecutive seasons in 1985-86 and 1986-87.
Coaches? The franchise has had a few—like 28, to be exact. Richie Guerin is the winningest of the bunch, posting a record of 327-291 from 1965-72 while going 26-34 in the playoffs.
Mike Fratello was 324-253, serving three games as an interim coach in 1981 and then with the full-time gig from 1983-90, posting an 18-22 postseason record.
Hall of Fame coach Lenny Wilkens went 310-232 from 1993-2000, but was just 17-30 in the playoffs. Mike Woodson was 206-286 and 11-18 in the postseason from 2004-09.
Budenholzer, the current coach, is 146-100 in three seasons and 15-18 in the playoffs since taking over in 2013.
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Harry Gallatin was one of six Hawks coaches to be named NBA Coach of the Year, winning the award the very first year it was presented in 1962-63.
Guerin won in 1967-68, along with Hubie Brown in 1977-78, Fratello in 1985-86, Wilkens in 1993-94 and Budenholzer in 2014-15.
The Hawks have had the No. 1 pick in the draft three times, none in the lottery era, which began in 1985. Those picks include West Virginia’s Mark Workman in 1952, Dick Ricketts of Duquesne in 1955 and David Thompson of North Carolina State in 1975.
The franchise has chosen second five times, third six times, fourth three times, and fifth five times.
Here are the 25 best players in the history of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Milwaukee/St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks. Players had to have appeared in 150 games and averaged a minimum of 20 minutes per game for the team to qualify for this list.
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