Will The Real Atlanta Hawks Please Stand Up?

The Eastern Conference is absolutely loaded this season in the NBA now that Rasheed Wallace is with the Boston Celtics, Shaq is with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Vince Carter is playing with the Orlando Magic. The one team from the East that everybody is forgetting about is the Atlanta Hawks. Mike Woodson's team won 47 games last season and added scorer Jamal Crawford to one of the best starting lineups in the NBA. Crawford and rookie Jeff Teague will team with brawler Zaza Pachulia to give the Hawks the best bench in the Eastern Conference.

Crawford has been labeled as selfish before, but he says his goal this season is to average 10 assists while Woodson wants Crawford to lead the league in scoring coming off the bench. The AJC's Mark Bradley thinks the Hawks will make the Eastern Conference Finals, while The Big Lead thinks the Hawks will struggle to make the playoffs. Crawford will help make sure that Bradley's prediction is correct.