Kevin Huerter pinpoints the start of the Atlanta Hawks’ ‘downfall’ | “The expectations for that team just went through the roof the next year because we made a Conference Finals. And it was Conference Finals or Finals-or-Bust. And, maybe as a unit that wasn’t where we were yet.”
by nikiverse
12 Comments
I did a quick breeze through the sub and didnt see this posted. Copy/pasted his main point … bc the website is a little laggy.
Agree with Kev here we were too young to make ECF that doomed us
I definitely agree , although the run was amazing and I’ll do anything to experience it again , after that people looked at us as a top 3 team in the east & talent wise we simply wasn’t there yet .. make the right moves & keep developing we can get back
I mean he’s right. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a fluke but ECF was a huge overachievement
Same reason why pretty much every coach of the year gets fired shortly after winning. Team overachieves and raises the bar, then they inevitably fall short of those elevated expectations
Trae was 22 years old leading his team to the ecf 2 wins away from the finals as the only star on his team with defenses fully focusing on stopping him and he was still tearing them up. Yet people still shit on him while you got folks on ig waving guns and MVPs who can’t get out the 2nd round. Yeah ima ride with Trae all day every day
I agree that run raised expectations. Although I think the fanbase isn’t expecting a run to the ECF every year. The problem for the Hawks has been they just haven’t been consistent night to night in the regular season. Like I think most fans want to win 50 games and not be in the play-in. We were mostly proud how they battled v Boston. If we got the 4/5 slot I think we beat the Cavs and Knicks.
Kev is once again a genius at basketball. Miss you bb
I wouldn’t call it overachieving because the East just wasn’t that good that year. Since then, Knicks have added Brunson and Sixers added Harden, plus players like Maxey and Quickley improved
miss you my beloved, he’s so right, 21-22 shoulda still been treated as a developing year – i think not allowing another coach to take the reins after that run did us in as well.
“I would say that team skipped a step, and we overachieved for that year, and we went on a great run. But, ultimately, two years later, all these expectations that have happened [and] everyone thought, ‘Alright, we gotta make a lot of changes because now we’re failing as a team’. When in reality we might not have consistently built to that point anyway. And I think we were getting that, we were building. It just never came to fruition.”
HE GETS IT 😢😢😢
If we lose to the 76ers, we probably don’t hire Nate full time.
Didn’t Travis Schlenk say something like this? That ECF run accelerated the timeline? But I understand the players side of it also, wanting to win. Oh well, can’t change anything now. Was a fun run. Looking forward to the future.