The Atlanta Hawks finished 2017-18 as the worst team in the Eastern Conference. However, there are still 10 positive moments from the season that fans can look back on fondly.
The 2017-18 season was a brutal one for Atlanta Hawks fans. Long gone were the days when the team won 60 games in a season, had four players in the All-Star Game and the entire starting lineup receive Player of the Month honors. No, the last traces of that time were either dealt midway through the 2016-17 season or walked away in free agency over the summer.
Instead, Hawks fans endured the first year of a rebuild under new general manger Travis Schlenk, and it wasn’t pretty. Atlanta finished the season with a 24-58 record, the worst in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks had the third-youngest roster in the NBA and it showed. ATL had the 26th-ranked offense in the league, averaging 102.4 points per 100 possessions. Their defense wasn’t much better, ranking 21st while allowing 108.2 points per 100 possessions.
However, there were some positives that came out of this season. For one, the losing bettered the Hawks’ chances of getting a top pick in the NBA Draft. This year’s class is particularly deep, so the right selection could help the franchise bounce back in short order.
Additionally, the Hawks’ record and standing in the conference undersells the effort that the team put in each night. Despite its struggles, head coach Mike Budenholzer made sure his team competed. That led to a few close finishes and some upsets over the course of the campaign.
Bearing all this in mind, here are 10 positive moments from what many would consider a forgettable season.