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Hawks Take 2011 TSL Championship: What Comes Next

The Atlanta Hawks have concluded the inaugural TSL season with a championship. After a regular season in which they looked almost unbeatable, the Hawks swarmed into the playoffs with the best record of any team in professional basketball history. Powered by a powerful front court of Pau Gasol and Blake Griffin, they also benefited from the perimeter wizardry of point guard Steve Nash, as well as the shooting stroke of Ray Allen. To many on-lookers, the combination of the most skilled big man, the most athletic big man, the best passer and the best shooter in the league seemed almost unfair to contend with. Yet, the playoffs did not prove to be as easy as the regular season seemed to indicate. After a first-round sweep of the Detroit Pistons, the Hawks ran into one of the four teams to hand them a regular season loss in the Cavaliers. Powered by all-TSL power forward Chris Bosh, Cleveland proved to be formidable before eventually falling 4-1. The next round, however, saw the most surprising result of the entire TSL season. While the upset of the Grizzlies by the #8-seed Rockets set the basketball community on its ear, no one would have believed that the Hawks would go up 3-0 in a series, yet end up trailing after 24 minutes in Game 7. In fact, no one would have believed the Hawks would have seen a Game 7. The Wizards, behind controversial coach, Epic Donkey, took the Hawks to the very brink of elimination before falling prey to the renowned Hawks 3rd quarter run. Behind Gasol and Nash, the Hawks pushed through the Wizards in a rout. This set up the showdown between, arguably, the two most talented teams in the league as the Suns awaited the Hawks in the Finals. Atlanta took a hard-fought first game by double digits, and then came back in the second game with the worst blowout in Finals history. The Suns responded with an incredibly inspired defensive effort to take Game 3 at home. The Hawks rallied for the second biggest blow-out in Finals history, and closed the show at home to wrap the series up 4-1. Pau Gasol took home the Finals MVP honors, ending a season of high expectations for himself and the organization. So now, a title in tow, what lies ahead for the Hawks? They are returning 10 of their 13 players, with all 10 being core members of their rotation. They traded their first round pick in a notoriously weak draft, in hopes of getting a better slot in a deeper draft in 2012. With limited funds and no real holes, the Hawks seem poised to keep their core intact and make a run for the title next season. Rumors abound that they are open to the possibility of trading their franchise player, Blake Griffin, and that they are content to allow Ray Allen to play out his contract without trading him. Where do they go from here? According to Gasol, “We’ll be back on this stage next year, raising the trophy again.”