Atlanta Hawks: 5 Early Season Takeaways

The Atlanta Hawks may not win 60 games again in 2015-16, but here’s what we’ve learned about the former No. 1 seed in the East so far.

With the offseason departure of DeMarre Carroll, not to mention the nature of their 60-win campaign where everything just seemed to come together, regression was to be expected from the Atlanta Hawks in 2015-16.

With a hole on the wing and the Hawks coming off a demoralizing sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals, it was easy to buy into the other improved teams in the East as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ main challenge in the conference. But 14 games into the season, it appears as though the Hawks (9-5) aren’t ready to fade back into semi-relevance.

To be fair, the Hawks have lost four of their last six games and don’t quite look like the same Eastern contenders they appeared to be during their early 7-1 start. But their record is still good for the third best mark in the conference thus far, which is more impressive than usual since the East is looking a lot better than the “Leastern” Conference we’ve seen in years past.

Less than a month into the season, it’s a little too early to be making sweeping declarations about any team. But now that we’ve got a decent sample size to work with, here’s a look at five early season takeaways for the Atlanta Hawks.

Next: No. 5