Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
It's not a bad time to relive the 13 wins Atlanta earned this season. They include victories against five current playoff teams, important spoilers against what had then been bubble teams, and blowouts over other lottery teams.
November: Settling In
At New Orleans, the Hawks beat the Hornets by one point for their first win of the season and after four straight losses. Now remember, this was against a Hornets team that still had Baron Davis and had just come off a second-round playoff appearance. Antoine Walker nailed his 1,000th career three-pointer, and his first of the game, to put the Hawks up for good.
A few nights later, they hosted the Houston Rockets and though Tracy McGrady scored 21 and Yao Ming scored 27, it was Atlanta's night.
December: Playoff Caliber
The Hawks beat three current playoff teams in December, beating Philadelphia, Detroit, and Dallas.
January: Better than the Bubble
The Hawks cruised past Milwaukee and Charlotte, and eked out wins against Boston and Orlando, all teams that at the time were all on the bubble of the playoffs.
February: Beating the Lakers
Atlanta's only win this month was against a Laker team on the road that was missing Kobe Bryant.
March: Overtime Win
The only victory of March was against Toronto in a double-overtime, their first win since losing Antoine Walker back to Boston.
April: The Role of Spoilers
Atlanta beat both Minnesota and New York to help spoil their chances for a postseason berth.
Next year will hopefully see more than a handful of victories per month, and it will certainly see some new faces.
TEAM NOTES
With the 2004-05 season behind them, the Hawks now look ahead to an important offseason. EVP & GM Billy Knight and Head Coach Mike Woodson will be busy in the weeks ahead, with the draft lottery on May 24 followed by the 2005 NBA Draft on June 28. After that, the Hawks will explore the free agent market, with the FA signing period beginning on July 15. End Of Season Audio: 
B. Knight| Woodson Part I|Part II
Atlanta Hawks Dance Team Auditionswill begin on May 15, 2005!
Hawks fans, catch the final episode of Hawk Talk Onlinewith Hawks broadcaster Steve Holman anchoring the show alongside Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Don't miss their interview with GM Billy Knight about the draft and the Hawks' strategy for the coming months, plus Josh Childress' hilarious interviews with his teammates about their summer plans!
Our own Eric Pincus ofHoopsworld.comwrites: Still, if Utah can’t get the situation straightened out, Boozer may need to go. If the Jazz win the lottery and snag Andrew Bogut – or are able to make a separate trade to acquire him – they probably send Boozer on his way. Perhaps the New Orleans Hornets or Atlanta Hawks take Boozer and the Jazz’ fourth pick in the draft for the number one pick.
Ronak Patel ofThe Kalamazoo Gazettewrites: Wilkins, a nine-time NBA All-Star and currently vice president of basketball operations for the Hawks, was a guest speaker at Kalamazoo College.Among the topics of the lecture, titled "Don't End Up on the Sidelines: Equip Yourself for the Future," was how different players are today than when he played for the Hawks from 1982-1994. "A lot of players today don't want to play through their minor injuries," Wilkins said. "The motto back when I was playing was 'If you can walk, you can play.' Guys like Michael (Jordan), Larry (Bird), Magic (Johnson), Isiah (Thomas) understood that. "We would play for free. The game was our lives and our passion and today's athletes don't have the same drive."
The Chicago Tribunewrites: Worst Teams to Root For, #4: Atlanta HawksAtlanta sporting events aren't usually electric--I remember once when the Braves were on the NBC "Game of the Week" in the early '80s Joe Garagiola said of the crowd, "I've heard more talking when they're passing around the collection plate at church" -- but Hawks games are especially dead. Mitigating factor: Dan Roundfield was the man.