No. 2. Atlanta Hawks finish the regular season as a Top-4 team in the Eastern Conference

Entering the year, the Atlanta Hawks were a team many people had their eyes on in the Eastern Conference to potentially be special because of all of the young talent they had, plus their two key offseason additions in Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari. 

Early on in the year, the Hawks struggled overall due to injuries and blown leads, but since firing head coach Lloyd Pierce and having interim head coach Nate McMillan take over, the Hawks are 16-5 and now find themselves with the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference. 

All season long, the Hawks have been playing with that “next man up” mentality and while they have dealt with a ton of injuries throughout the course of the season, other key talents on this roster have stepped up into bigger roles and have been very successful in doing so. Atlanta plays with a ton of energy, they are a deadly perimeter shooting team and they have a ton of talent on their roster, which is why they are going to be a team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs. 

Atlanta currently finds themselves four games back from the Bucks for the 3-seed in the Eastern Conference and they likely will not be able to overtake them, but there is no reason why the Hawks can’t hold onto the 4-seed and end up with home court advantage for the first-round of the playoffs. 

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Trae Young has continued to grow into one of the best young talents in this league, but while he is the best player on this roster, Clint Capela is the most important player for the Hawks. In his first “full” season with the Hawks, Capela has been sensational, averaging 15.4 points per game and leading the league with 14.2 rebounds per game. 

Whether it is catching lobs, creating second-chance opportunities or being one of the most underrated shot-blockers in the league on the defensive-end of the court, Clint Capela is the Hawks most important player because of everything he does for them. 

His rebounding numbers are overlooked and with him averaging 2.1 blocks per game, he is right up there with guys like Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner, who are in the running for Defensive Player of the Year this season. 

As long as this team stays healthy and they continue to get their young, high-level talents back from injuries, then there is no reason why the Hawks cannot finish with a Top-4 record in the Eastern Conference and potentially be a team that makes a surprising run in the postseason.