By Noah Lourie (@noah_lourie)

In a month, the Hawks will be drafting in the lottery for the first time since 2007. Mike Budenholzer is gone and GM Travis Schlenk is going all in on the rebuild. With all of this happening, it’s crazy to think that just 3 seasons ago the Hawks were the best team in the east. The team that was called the “Spurs of the East,” that won 60 games went 17-0 in a month, and had four all-stars, took years to create. This is the story of how the 60-win Hawks were built and all too quickly destroyed.

The Rise

2007:

The Hawks drafted Florida center Al Horford with the 3rd overall pick. They snuck into the playoffs as the 8th seed and shocked the world by forcing the powerhouse Celtics to a game 7. This was the series that Zaza Pachulia made his famous “NOTHING EASY!” speech. Al Horford earned an all-star selection in his third season and would make three more before his time in Atlanta was done. Many would argue that he was the most important player on that 60-win team. Hawks fans didn’t know it then, but this 2007/2008 season marked the beginning of the most successful run in the team’s history.

2009:

With the 19th pick in this draft, the Hawks took Jeff Teague, a raw, athletic point guard from Wake Forest. Before long, Teague took over the starting job and quickly became one of the most dangerous point guards in the league. He always brought the energy and established himself as a consistent scorer and a good team player. This season, The Hawks finished with the 6th best record in the NBA and earned themselves the #3 seed. They lost in the second round to Dwight Howard’s Magic, but nonetheless, It was their best finish since 1997.

2012:

To start the summer off, longtime Hawk Joe Johnson was traded to the Nets for a handful of players and the draft pick that was later used to select Dennis Schroder. 5 days later, on July 16, the Bulls traded Kyle Korver to the Atlanta Hawks for cash considerations. Korver immediately came in and made an impact as he averaged over 10 points per game and finished the season with the second highest 3-point percentage in the NBA. He also began his streak of 127 straight games with a 3-pointer made, the longest such streak in history (later broken by Steph Curry). As a Hawk, Korver led the NBA in 3-point percentage twice and came dangerously close to completing the first ever 50-50-90 season in NBA history. Mike Scott was also added to the roster and he proved to be a key piece of the team.

2013:

This is the year when all the pieces fell into place for Atlanta. Mike Budenholzer, a long time Spurs assistant coach under Greg Popovich, took the job as the head coach of the Hawks. Weeks later, the Hawks drafted teenage point guard Dennis Schroder and Bucknell center Mike Muscala. Schroder quickly became a viable backup option for Jeff Teague while Muscala proved his worth as a smart, capable big man off the bench. On July 10th, two franchise-altering deals took place. Josh Smith, the Atlanta native who had spent 9 seasons with the Hawks, signed as a free agent with the Detroit Pistons. On the same day, the Hawks brought in free agent Paul Millsap from the Utah Jazz. Millsap had proven himself to be a very good player, averaging double-figures in his last five seasons in Utah, but it wasn’t until he came to Atlanta that Millsap became a star. He was an all-star in each of the four years he was in Atlanta, and his hard work and overall great game quickly put him in the ranks of the best Hawks players of all time. The Hawks also brought in small forward Demarre Carroll. While it was a move that made little noise at the time, Carroll ended up being an integral part of that historical 2014/15 team. Also joining the squad were Pero Antic, Elton Brand, and Shelvin Mack.

The Hawks made the playoffs as the 8th seed and went up 3-2 against the Pacers but eventually fell in 7 games. Despite the loss, that series did mark the beginning of a new era in Hawks basketball. This team looked dangerous, and they were hungry to win. The team resurrected the pacman logo from the Dominique Wilkins era. This homage to the glory days of Hawks basketball was a sign of things to come.

The Summit

2014/15:

In the offseason of 2014, Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore were the final two pieces added to the puzzle. The Hawks started the season off slow with a 1-3 record, and the rest is history. From there, they went on an absolute tear, losing just five games between November and February. This, of course, included the January which saw the Hawks go 17-0, making history as the first team to ever go 17-0 in a month. All five Hawks starters, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Demarre Carroll, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford, were named co-players of the month. Four Hawks were selected to the all-star game, Mike Budenholzer won coach of the year, and the Hawks finished the season at the top of the Eastern conference with their first 60-win season in franchise history.

Atlanta defeated Brooklyn in the first round, then beat Washington in the second round on a handful of memorable plays. Al Horford scored the game-winner in game five to give the Hawks a 3-2 series lead. Then in game six, Paul Pierce hit what would have been the game-tying shot, but the ball left his hand just fractions of a second after the buzzer. The Hawks had finally done it, they were going to the teams first ever Eastern conference finals. The eastern conference finals ended up being a disappointing sweep at the hands of LeBron James and the Cavaliers. It especially hurt because Hawks fans all knew that things would never be the same.

The Fall

2015/16: After a breakout season, Demarre Carroll received a big contract from the Raptors that the Hawks decided not to match. Carroll was the glue guy for this team. He wasn’t great at any one thing, but he didn’t really have a weakness in his game either. On defense, he could guard the best players in the league, and on offense, he could make plays when the starters were struggling. In the end, matching is massive contract wouldn’t have been worth it, but it was still a struggle to replace Carroll. Role players Shelvin Mack and Pero Antic also left. Mack’s absence wasn’t missed too sorely, as it gave young Dennis Schroder a more expanded role, but Pero’s absence did affect the team. As a shooting big man, Antic spaced the floor well for coach Bud, and without him, the teams shooting percentages decreased. The Hawks added the streaky Tim Hardaway Jr. from New York. It wasn’t a bad season for the Hawks, but the magic of the year previous wasn’t there. They finished with a 48-34 record and beat the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs before getting swept by the Cavaliers again.

2016/17:

By the end of the 2015/16 playoffs, Budenholzer was routinely going with Dennis Schroder instead of Jeff Teague in the biggest moments. Over the summer, the Hawks went all in on Schroder when they traded Teague for the 12th pick in the upcoming draft. Jeff Teague spent seven seasons in Atlanta where he made the playoffs in every single one. He left the Hawks with the 5th most assists and 7th most steals in franchise history. The Hawks drafted Taurean Prince with the pick they received in the trade, and two seasons into his career, it is looking like a good deal. Nevertheless, it was tough to see one of this team’s best leaders leave. A little later in the summer, the Hawks made the massive decision to part ways with Al Horford and instead sign Atlanta native Dwight Howard. Al Horford’s legacy in Atlanta is undeniable. As soon as he got here, the Hawks started making the playoffs, and they didn’t stop making it for the rest of his nine seasons in Atlanta. He is ranked 8th all-time in rebounds, 6th in blocks, 5th in win shares and plus/minus, and 2nd in shooting percentage. He appeared in four all-star games and was on the 2010-11 all NBA team. Horford is one of the best Hawks ever and like every other guy on that roster, the 60-win season wouldn’t have happened without him.

With Dwight Howard at center and Dennis Schroder at point guard, the Hawks finished 5th in the east with a 43-39 record. They bowed out to the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. By the end of the year, the issues with the Hawks were glaring. With a new GM, changes were bound to happen.

2017/18:

After just one season in Atlanta, Dwight Howard was traded to Charlotte for next to nothing. Later in the summer, the anchorman Paul Millsap signed a massive contract with the Nuggets that the Hawks were not going to match. Millsap was the final starter from that 2014 team and just like that, he was gone. He was only here for four years, but Millsaps impact was powerful. He was an all-star in each of his four seasons in Atlanta, and for good reason. He is one of the best defensive players in the league, and he is an incredibly consistent scorer. Millsap’s quiet work ethic was an integral part of the 2014 Hawks. Thabo Sefolosha signed with the Utah Jazz after three seasons with the Hawks. Tim Hardaway Jr received a big contract offer from the Knicks, his former team, that the Hawks were not willing to match. Hardaway became guy on an increasingly long list of players to come to the Hawks with very little recognition and work their way to a star-caliber contract. Carroll, Millsap, and Baze all did it, and Hardaway was just the next one up.

The end of an era

This is where this chapter of Hawks history comes to an end. Only Dennis Schroder, Mike Muscala, and Kent Bazemore remain from that incredible season. Mike Budenholzer has left Atlanta to coach a more competitive team. Coming off of a terrible season, it’s hard to imagine that the Hawks were so successful just a handful of seasons ago, but they were. For a brief moment in basketball history, the Atlanta Hawks were the best team in the NBA. They played as a team, they broke records, they put the NBA on notice. The best month in NBA history doesn’t belong to Michael Jordan or LeBron James. It belongs to Jeff Teague, Al Horford, Paul Millsap, DeMarre Carroll, and Kyle Korver.

Featured Image: Sports Illustrated