The Atlanta Hawks Are Ready for Their Closeup

The NBA's Eastern Conference is undergoing a sea change in the wake of LeBron James's decision to leave Miami for Cleveland. A series of high-profile player moves have turned conference on its head—there's no real favorite as of yet in the race to make it to the Finals and lose to the Spurs. Welcome to the Inscrutable East, our offseason rundown of the teams that matter.

There is a parallel universe where the Atlanta Hawks are the toast of the Eastern Conference. In that universe, the onward and upward journey that began during their seven-game first round thriller against the Boston Celtics in 2008 never tailed off. Mike Bibby's game never disintegrated like he'd snuck a peek at the Arc of the Covenant, Al Horford never missed any games, Josh Smith became blindingly self-aware, and Mike Woodson roused himself from his waking slumber to build an offensive system besides, Joe Johnson: Get Buckets.

In that universe, no ceilings were hit, no draft picks were flubbed, no bright stars burned out, and the Hawks have weathered the storm as lesser rivals—the Celtics, Heat, Pacers, Magic—rose and broke on their shore.

But we do not live in that universe. In this universe the Hawks frustratingly smashed their faces against their own personal ceiling a handful of years ago, then slowly dissolved, doing battle with their collective challenges armed primarily with the mantra: "If only…."

If only we could get more motion in our offense…Josh Smith to stop taking such horrible shots… a real point guard…Al Horford healthy…consistent shooting on the wing…a real live NBA coach…then things would really start happening for us.

Last season was supposed to be the beginning of something new for the Hawks—a new coach (with a Popovichian lineage no less), a new offense, a new bench, a new mindset, a new…whatever the hell Josh Smith was. And for the first time the Hawks were going to belong, unequivocally, to Al Horford. His defense would anchor the back line. His post game would be what bent the defense for his teammates and what broke the will of their opponents. His pick-and-pop game would be the crunchtime weapon of choice and he would be make the crucial decisions from the elbow, not Smith or Johnson.

Instead, injuries again reared their ugly head, pulling Horford below the surface after just 29 games, and forcing the Hawks into a mad three-point shooting scramble for survival. They put the fear of god in the Indiana Pacers in the first round, but in the end, played an entire season without really getting any closer to whatever it is they're going to be next.

The Hawks have spent the summer tinkering around the edges. All due respect to Thabo Sefolosha, Kent Bazemore, and rookie Adreian Payne, but the Hawks' biggest offseason addition is the surgically repaired pectoral muscle girding the ribcage of Horford.

Horford is the Hawks' center—literally, spiritually, physically. But he's never had a chance to fully inhabit that role. Instead, he's always been wrapped around Johnson or Smith, set to complementing a teammate of arguably greater talent with a far smaller field of impact. Last year, at age 27, he was supposed to embark on a new sort of career, become the primary protagonist with Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver, and Jeff Teague as his merry band of brothers. Instead, in a series of lovely suits, he again wrapped himself around his teammates as he watched them slog through a series of chaotic misadventures.

Horford will get another chance to live the adventure that he's long since earned this year. In his absence, Millsap changed his game, and by adding a consistent outside shot has shaved down the amount of necessary overlap that will occur with Horford's offensive space. Korver set himself a three-point shooting record and damn near burned the whole league to the ground in the process. Teague cozied up to Mike Budenholzer and refined his Tony Parker impression, becoming a legitimate meteor in the pick-and-roll. Even Pero Antic and DeMarre Carroll turned out be actual basketball players. They may have all been spinning their wheels waiting for Horford, but the point is that they're all sharp and primed, lathered up and ready to go. The role players are all waiting for their leader, ready to retreat back into their roles.

So now, a year later than they were supposed to, and perhaps years later than they should have, the Horford Hawks have arrived. They have depth and star power, size and athleticism, defensive intensity and defensive acumen. They have an offensive system wealthy with motion, shot-selection patterns built on sound analytic principles, a real point guard, volcanic-lava-hot outside shooting, and a real live NBA coach. And they have a healthy Horford.

In this universe the Hawks have struggled mightily, but they now belong to Al Horford and they are scary as hell.

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