NBA photos: Atlanta Hawks season preview

Atlanta Hawks

NBA photos: Atlanta Hawks season preview

Atlanta Hawks 2008-09 season preview photos written by Sekou Smith.

Hawks fans had lots to cheer about last season as the team made the playoffs and pushed the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the first round. Hawks beat writer Sekou Smith takes a closer look at the team and lists six things that could go right and wrong for the Hawks this season.

RIGHT: After showing glimpses of what they could do against bigger frontcourts, Josh Smith and Al Horford raise their games to new heights this season. It would enable the Hawks to play through their young frontcourt stars on their way to another playoff berth. The NBA finalists from last year (Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers) saw first hand just how dangerous these two budding stars can be when the Hawks turn their focus in that direction.

WRONG: The Hawks managed to avoid major injury to any of their regulars (not named Speedy Claxton) last season. That paved the way for a puncher's chance to make the playoffs after trading for Mike Bibby during All-Star Weekend. Few teams are lucky enough to avoid the injury bug two years in a row. Even with their improved depth, the Hawks are like any team in the league when they lose a major player (see the Washington Wizards and Gilbert Arenas for the most notable example).

RIGHT: The Hawks bench, maligned the past four years due to roster imbalance and a lack of depth, rises up and plays at a high level behind the veteran leadership of newcomers Flip Murray and Mo Evans (left). The support here comes from holdovers like Zaza Pachulia, Acie Law IV and Solomon Jones, whose emergence this season could be key to the Hawks' bench becoming a factor for the first time in the Mike Woodson era.

WRONG: What if the Hawks' 82-game sample from last year (37 wins) is more indicative of who and what they are than the seven-game playoff sample? The Hawks hooked everyone with their gutsy effort during their playoff series with the eventual champion Boston Celtics. But where was that fight during the regular season? The Hawks will have to make believers out of everyone this year, and sooner rather than later.

RIGHT: Mike Bibby has a monster season in the final year of his contract, giving the Hawks one of the most potent starting backcourt duos (along with All-Star Joe Johnson) in the Eastern Conference. With Bibby and Johnson playing at a high level, particularly on the offensive end of the floor, the Hawks become an extremely difficult team to deal with because few teams can match up with them.

WRONG: A brutal opening month will send the Hawks on the road for 10 of their first 16 games. That's a daunting task for any team. For a team that won just 12 road games last season, a totally unacceptable amount for a playoff team, it's a monumental uphill climb from the Hawks' recent past. If they can't find a way to beat back the demons that plague them away from Philips Arena, they could spend weeks, or even months, trying to dig out of a hole built before Christmas.

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Hawks fans had lots to cheer about last season as the team made the playoffs and pushed the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the first round. Hawks beat writer Sekou Smith takes a closer look at the team and lists six things that could go right and wrong for the Hawks this season.

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