For many NBA teams this season there have been extended stretches when a glance at the standings felt like a useless way to tell whether they were good or bad. December and January hardly represented NBA basketball, thanks to hundreds of stars, role players, head coaches, trainers and other team employees entering the league’s health and safety protocols, which prevented any collective routine from developing.
Entering February, with the trade deadline just one week away, teams are now left to ponder roster issues that may or may not exist. How much of what’s already happened matters? What flaws are substantive and what strengths are artificial?
The Hawks are as symptomatic of this phenomenon as any other team. At 24–26, and only one game out of 12th place, they’re a massive disappointment seemingly in desperate need of a shake up beyond the mid-January move that sent Cam Reddish to the Knicks for a protected first-round pick and Kevin Knox.
