The Hawks appear to have hit a home run with the pick of center Al Horford who is off to an outstanding start to the season. He has played in 26 games so far this season and he is averaging 30.9 minutes, 9.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.1 blocks per game. He has shot 50.3% from the floor but only 64.3% from the free throw line and he will need to improve on that. He is a legit Rookie of the Year candidate who could help the Hawks make the playoffs for the first time in ages.

Point guard Acie Law hasn’t picked up the NBA game as fast as Horford did but he could start at some point this season if he improves his play. Law has played in 17 games so far this season and he has averaged 18.2 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He is shooting only 37.7% from the floor this season and that needs to improve. But he is shooting 80% from the line which is pretty good.

Guard/Forward Mario West has been getting a lot of playing time in a mop up role. He has played in 23 games for the Hawks this season and he is averaging 6.1 minutes, 1.2 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He is not shooting too well as he is hitting 43.5% from the floor and only 63.6% from the free throw line.

Rookie point guard Acie Law and reserve shooting guard Salim Stoudamire are both shooting up a ton of bricks so far this month. Law is only hitting 29.6% of his shots from the floor in December and Stoudamire is hitting only 20.8%. Law has played in 5 games this month and he is averaging 18.2 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He will need to shoot better if he wants to earn more playing time. Salim Stoudamire has played in 5 games this month and he is averaging 9.2 minutes, 4.0 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.0 assist per game.

Josh Smith is taking his game to a new level because of his vastly improved shooting of this month (50.6% from the floor). Smith has played in 5 games so far in December and he has averaged 37.2 minutes, 22.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.4 steals and 3.4 blocks per game. If Smith keeps playing like this he will be an All-Star without a doubt.

The Atlanta Hawks are currently tied for 2nd place in the Southeast Division as they are 10-10 which has them 5 games behind the Magic. The Hawks really need the offense to pick up as they are averaging only 93.2 points per game but their defense has been solid as they are only allowing 93.9 points per game. The Hawks are playing their best basketball in a long time and the hope is that they can keep it up.

The Hawks need more from point guard Anthony Johnson or he might start to lose minutes. In his first 8 games of the season he has averaged 24.4 minutes, 4.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game so far this season. With rookie Acie Law getting healthy it will cost Johnson playing time if he keeps playing poorly. Johnson is also only shooting 37.1% from the floor and that’s another reason he could wind up on the bench.