Atlanta Hawks

  Atlanta Hawks

The history of the club goes a long way back in history, as the Hawks were founded in 1946. Since then, they changed some cities and some nicknames, such as Buffalo Bisons or Milwaukee Hawks, before landing the franchise in Atlanta. Their only championship came in 1958. After that, they played three NBA Finals in a span of 5 years, all of them against the Boston Celtics. This marked the highest peak of the Hawks franchise, as they never make it past the second round again until 2015, as well as not making the playoffs at all for a large number of seasons. Despite all of that, they had some Hall of Famers who played there. Dominique Wilkins and Dikembe Mutombo are two of their best players in the history of the franchise. In the early 80s, when Wilkins came to play for Atlanta Hawks, they set a franchise record for most wins in a regular season, with 57, a record that lasted until 2015, but even with all that, they couldn’t make it past the second round. Dikembe Mutombo played 5 seasons in Atlanta, from the mid 90s until 2001, and was a very good defensive liability. He was an All Star 4 times and the Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons while being there. With all that, they still couldn’t make it very far in the playoffs, so in 2001 the manager trade him away. Since then, the franchise went through all kinds of changes, and none of them worked out, as they didn’t make the playoffs for some years. Their hopes came back in 2015 when the Hawks finished the regular season first in the East, as they had four All Stars in that year, in Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap and Al Horford. It was their best season in a very long time, but unfortunately for them, Teague and the company ended up losing in the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland Cavaliers. The team’s success didn’t last long, so after the 2015-2016 season, they traded some of their key players and the franchise entered in a rebuilding mode once again. In the present, Trae Young is the player which they try to build around.