Mike Woodson is the coach of the Atlanta Hawks and the job will represent his first head coaching experience in the league. The Hawks made two blockbuster moves in the off-season with the first seeing the team trade their best player (shooting guard Stephen Jackson) to the Indiana Pacers for their sixth man Al Harrington. The Hawks also made a trade with Dallas where Atlanta sent guard Jason Terry and forward Alan Henderson to the Mavericks for forward Antoine Walker and guard Tony Delk. The team also had a pretty good draft by picking up Josh Childress from Stanford and Royal Ivey from Texas along with youngsters Josh Smith and Donta Smith.
Walker, Delk, and Harrington will likely start along side Childress and Joel Pryzbilla, a big man out of the University of Minnesota, to make a formidable starting lineup. They’ll be competing with Miami, Orlando, Washington, and expansion team Charlotte for a guaranteed playoff spot that the Hawks really believe they can win. Miami made a huge off-season trade to get Shaquille O’Neal who is still without a doubt the most dominating player in the league and Orlando made a big move by shipping all-world player Tracy McGrady to Houston for Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. Washington acquired Antawn Jamison from Dallas and should be better with more experience while Charlotte will be a young and exuberant team that will play with a lot of heart and guts. After the NBA announced the realignment of the four divisions into six five-team divisions, everyone immediately looked at the Southeast and assumed a 30-52 season might get a team into the playoffs. Every team dramatically improved in the off-season and now any team could jump up and make the playoffs. The Hawks have only won one championship in the history of the franchise which came in 1958 when they were the St. Louis Hawks.
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