Coming off the first 60-win season in the lengthy history of this franchise, the Atlanta Hawks still aren't feeling the burden of expectations. If anything, they're trying to prove what happened during the 2014-15 campaign—special as it may have been—was legitimate success and not the product of a major fluke.
Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver are back, trying to wipe the bitter taste of playoff defeat out of their mouths. Promising as the regular season may have been, the Hawks sputtered on the bigger stage—especially when they squared off against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, clanging open shots off the iron and scrambling to make up for the myriad injured rotation members.