Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks became one of the league's top teams as a result of the acquisitions in the draft and free agency. The team advanced to the 1957 NBA Finals, losing to the Boston Celtics in game seven. In 1958, the Hawks again advanced to the NBA Finals and captured their only NBA Championship in game 6 against the Celtics. The Hawks remained one of the NBA's premier teams for the next decade. In 1960, , the team advanced to the Finals yet again, but lost—again to the Celtics—in yet another game seven thriller. The following year, with the acquisition of rookie Lenny Wilkens, the Hawks repeated their success, but met the Celtics in the Finals again and lost in five games. Thus this victory and loss session brought forward its own implications and the team took it with an open heart.

The next few years the Hawks remained contenders, every year advancing deep into the playoffs and also capturing several division titles. Despite the success, Kerner became wary of the now-aging 10,000-seat Kiel Auditorium. The larger St. Louis Arena was not well-maintained since the 1940s, and Kerner wanted a new arena to increase revenue. However, he was rebuffed by the city on several occasions. As a result in 1968, the team was sold to Atlanta real estate developer Tom Cousins and Georgia Governor Carl Sanders and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. While a new arena was being constructed, the team spent its first four seasons playing in Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Cousins' firm soon developed the Omni Coliseum, a 16,500-seat, state-of-the-art downtown Atlanta arena, for the Hawks and the expansion Atlanta Flames hockey franchise, which opened in 1972 as the first phase of a massive sports, office, hotel and retail complex, most of which is now the CNN Center. With the new arena, the team was rejuvenated again to face the challenges ahead with renewed enthusiasm.

Franchise then relocated in 1951 and moved to Milwaukee to become the Hawks. Latter in 1953, the Hawks even drafted Bob Pettit, a future NBA MVP, but it could not save itself from being termed as one the league's worst teams. Couple of years latter in 1955 team moved yet again, this time to St. Louis, Missouri.
Thanks to acquisitions in the draft and free agency, then came the good time for Hawks; that turned out to be the league's best teams. In 1957, the team succeeded in advancing to the NBA Finals, but lost it to the Boston Celtics in a double-overtime thriller in game seven. In 1958, the Atlanta Hawks, yet another time placed themselves in NBA finals. Led by Coach Alex Hannum, Hawks were able to capture their NBA Championship in game 6 against the Celtics.
This was the prime time for Atlanta Hawks, who remained one of the elite teams in NBA for the next decade. In 1960, Ed Macauley was coaching the team, when they were able to hit another Championship Finals; but the luck made them loose the match against the Celtics in yet another game seven thriller. Next year, with the acquisition of rookie Lenny Wilkens, the Hawks repeated their success, but met the Celtics in the Finals again and lost in five games.

Then came few years of down time, during which Hawks suffered in playoffs almost every year. This was the time when they kept on advancing deep into the playoffs and also capturing several division titles, but not the championship.
In 1968 franchise was bought by Thomas Cousins and Carl Sanders and decided to move team to Atlanta, Georgia. This change in ownership and new place resulted into a very sound and talented Hawks team that included Pete Maravich, which won a division championship and advanced to the Finals yet again. However, after this period of success, the Hawks experienced a few years of rebuilding; the Hawks had all losing records in those years and never advanced past the first round of the playoffs.

In 1977 Hubie Brown was hired to become head coach by Ted Turner who just bought the team. Ted Turner also owned Atlanta Braves. In 1979 the Hawks team compiled 50 wins and the title for Central Division. In 1982 the franchise acquired superstar Dominique Wilkins, who was able enough to help Hawks to score 50 plus victories, each time, in next four years. But unfortunately, the team could not advance past the semifinals of the playoffs.
In 1993, Lenny Wilkens was hired as coach. In the 1993- 1994 season coach Wilkens led the team to 57 victories, a team record, and in 1995 Wilkens broke the record (previously held by former Hawk coach Red Auerbach) for most victories by an NBA head coach with victory number 939.

However, lately Hawks team has struggled, and again they are considered as one of the worst team in the league. Some analysts say that this bad performance by Atlanta Hawks in recent years is due to major reshuffle in the management of the team, as it was sold to a group of executives by the name of Atlanta Spirit LLC by Time Warner in year 2004. Time Warner themselves had inherited the franchise and Braves after its merger with Turner Broadcasting in 1996.

Even these changes in ownership could not help the Hawks and they kept on struggling for their performance. In the 2004-2005 season, the Hawks earned the notorious reputation of the league's worst team with a only 13 victories.
However, hope started emerging for Hawks in 2007, when in third pick of the NBA draft; they selected Al Horford Acie Law IV in 9th draft.

Combination made the team win its first ever season opener against Dallas Mavericks after 1998. This 101–94 win sent plenty of hopes towards Hawks fans. But the pleasant atmosphere didn’t last for long and Hawks organization again went uncertain when the NBA granted the first appeal of a protested game against Miami Heat in 25 years on January 11, 2008. This made their certain victory doubtful.

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About the Author:
Peter Cohen calls Boston home and graduated from Brandeis University. He considers travel to be the love of his life and has already traveled to 5 different continents. He also has a passion for languages and has studied Arabic, German and Russian. While devoting his working life to writing for lifestyle magazines, he also takes out time for occasional event reviews.