Starting small forward Marvin Williams has been a decent player for the Hawks this season. He has played in 42 games (all starts) for the Hawks this season and he is averaging 30.0 minutes, 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. The Hawks need him to just keep playing like he is right now as they have better offensive and defensive players than him on the roster. So they just need him to remain the unselfish player that he is right now.

Josh Smith has been doing a little bit of everything for the Atlanta Hawks this year, and he is deserving of All-Star status.  The 6’9″, 240-pound Smith is only 24, but he has been a force in this league for about five years now.  Joe Johnson gets most of the credit for the Hawks success, which is deserving, but Smith is the difference-maker for the Hawks in my opinion.  He is by no means a one-dimensional player and fills up the stat sheet night after night.  This season he is averaging 15.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 blocks, and 1.5 steals.  Smith is also shooting 52% from the field and with his combination of size, athleticism, and jumping ability Smith often has game-changing dunks or blocks that swing the momentum in the Hawks favor.  Smith does have the ability to hit the open three, but he is not consistent from there.  That is why I like to see that he has taken that out of his game and he is more aggressive, taking it to the hole more often.  Smith is a true all-around player and he is one of the main reasons the Hawks are 29-14 this season.

Center Al Horford has been doing a solid job of doing the dirty work for the Hawks. He plays good defense and he is a great rebounder whose offense is improving. Horford has played in 40 games (all starts) for the Hawks this season and he is averaging 34.5 minutes, 13.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. The Hawks need Horford to keep up the good work because it allows the rest of the Hawks players to leave their games wide open which makes them very dangerous.

Jamal Crawford has played in every game for the Atlanta Hawks this season, but has not started one game.  He has fit in perfectly as the Atlanta Hawks sixth man and is the Hawks’ second leading scorer behind Joe Johnson despite coming off the bench.  Crawford has a knack for hitting tough shots at key moments, something he showed a few games ago with a deep three at the buzzer to beat the Suns.  On the season, Crawford is averaging 17.0 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game.  Crawford has always shown flashes of great play on offense ever since he came into the league, but in his 9-year career he has never made the playoffs.  Crawford is now a huge contributor to a Hawks team that will definitely make the playoffs this season and I think Crawford is starting to run away with the 6th Man of the Year Award.  Crawford is a very exciting player to watch and some of the “rainmaker” shots he makes are almost unbelievable at times.  He does it often though, especially from behind the arc, with 21 career 4-point plays to prove it.  That is only 3 behind Reggie Miller, who is the all-time leader in that category.

Starting shooting guard Joe Johnson is playing very well for the Atlanta Hawks this season. He has played in 36 games (all starts) for the Hawks this season and he is averaging 37.0 minutes, 20.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Hawks have a lot of good basketball players on this team so Johnson doesn’t have to carry the load himself anymore on offense making his all-around game better.

From 1982-1994 the Atlanta Hawks’ fans had the opportunity to watch the best finisher in NBA history in my own humble opinion. That would be small forward Dominique Wilkins. Nicknamed the Human Highlight Film, Wilkins would dunk on anyone and anytime with results that would often take the breath away of anyone watching the game. But, Wilkins was much more than a dunking machine as he was a great offensive player for the Hawks. He played in 882 games (878 starts) in his career with the Hawks and he averaged 26.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. I’ve added a video to remind you all of his greatness.

PG/SG Jeff Teague is having a rough time for the Hawks this season. He has played in 30 games (0 starts) for the Hawks this season and he is averaging 10.6 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Teague is not shooting too well this season hitting only 35.5% from the floor and 22.2% from three point range. This is not a excuse but Teague is not getting much playing this season due to the fact that he is behind Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford in the rotation at guard and it’s hard to get into a rhythm shooting the ball when your playing time is sporadic. Still, the Hawks need him to play better when called upon.

The Hawks have released 23-year old forward Othello Hunter. Hunter played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Hawks this season and he averaged 4.7 minutes, 1.6 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. He played in 23 games (0 starts) in parts of two seasons with the Hawks in which he averaged 5.4 minutes, 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. The Hawks won’t miss Hunter too much.

25-year old Zaza Pachulia got a nice deal from the Hawks when he was a free agent over the summer but he can’t be happy with the playing time he is getting. Pachulia has played in 31 games (0 starts) for the Hawks this season and he is averaging 14.8 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Pachulia could have signed with a team that would have given him more playing time so he must have wanted to sign with the highest bidder which was the Hawks.