In a year where tanking has taken on such outsized notice, the Atlanta Hawks deserve special acclaim for the nosedive they have orchestrated.
It looked from the beginning like it would be difficult for Atlanta to miss the play-offs. Al Horford and Paul Millsap were paired together at the beginning of the season for one of the better frontcourts in the league, especially so against this year’s weak Eastern Conference.
Jeff Teague is a quality point guard. Kyle Korver is maybe the most prolific three-point shooter in the league. And they had a plenty respectable bench with the likes of Mike Scott, Elton Brand, Shelvin Mack and Louis Williams soaking up reserve minutes.
On top of that, rookie coach Mike Budenholzer proved his aptitude early on and they even boasted a pair of intriguing rookies on the court with young, athletic German Dennis Schroder and veteran European import Pero Antic.
The Hawks had that genuine rarity in this year’s East - some upside.
But how effectively have they killed that.
Atlanta actually own the right to swap first-round draft picks with the Nets this year due to a the Joe Johnson trade. For a minute there, it looked like they could go on competing and still enter the lottery by doing just that.
Then Brooklyn got their act together, and Atlanta started a massive slide.
On February 1, the Hawks beat the Timberwolves and improved to 25-21, which made them one of the East’s four best teams at the time.
Since then, they have gone a remarkable 1-14, dropping to eighth in the conference and, they probably secretly hope, soon out of the play-off picture entirely.
With Detroit, New York, Cleveland and Boston all trailing by five games or less, they stand a good shot at making that drop.
Al Horford did get hurt, which explains a lot of it. Asked to carry a heftier offensive load, Millsap, Teague and Korver have all seen their form dip a bit.
Gustavo Ayon (now hurt himself) stepped into the starting line-up and was mostly ineffective.
But this is also a team where Williams, a nice bench scorer but generally overmatched in larger roles, suddenly gets 30 minutes on consecutive nights (February 11-12, losses to Chicago and Toronto). Where Dennis Schroder, looking largely lost at the NBA level in his rookie year, is getting in some 20-minute games, because why not?
A team that was dressing only eight or nine guys on some nights – as they did when they blew an 11-point first half lead to Detroit on February 21 with an eight-man rotation.
A team that let Millsap, their best player with Horford out, sit five consecutive games with a bruised knee and really, really heal up.
To be fair, it might be a cynical play, but it’s the right one.
The Hawks are ran by smart people in general manager Danny Ferry and Budneholzer, the coach. They know the stakes, and they know what they sacrifice if they actually do make the play-offs.
None of the players on the Hawks are trying to lose, of course. Management has, ever so subtly, simply put them in that position.
While their competition – Washington, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Charlotte – looked for reinforcements, however modest, at the trade deadline, they let the Hoford-less Hawks carry on as is.
Well, the Hawks did trade for 37-year-old Antawn Jamison, who they immediately cut.
Plain and simple fact is Atlanta are diving, and they’re doing it better than most.
And, chances are, when they’re making their lottery pick in June’s draft, they won’t feel particularly compelled to apologise to anyone.
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