The Fan Hub

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Most Frustrating Team
Atlanta "Boy this Joe Johnson contract looks really awful right about now" Hawks

Do you think Josh Smith is frustrated, too? Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

If you've caught an Atlanta Hawks game, be sure to catch their immediate next one, because odds are that the only similarity might be the uniforms. In their last eleven games the Hawks are a torrid 9-2, including a 27-point whooping of Cleveland. Statistically, the Hawks are one of the more efficient teams in the NBA. They aren't terribly guilty of turning the ball over, ranking in the top ten in offensive efficiency (103.3) as well as three point percentage (.378). Atlanta is also holding opponents to just 42.7 percent shooting from the floor.

Alas, the Hawks are the poster children as to why you can't just look at the box score when it comes to basketball; you have to actually watch the game to get the whole story. Like Denver, Philly, or Indiana, they don't have any real superstars, however, the difference is that Atlanta pays their pseudo-stars massive amounts of money, thus handcuffing their ability to make legit roster moves to get them over the hump. I've seen Atlanta give up 34 points in the fourth quarter against the Bulls, lose to a LeBron and Wade-less Heat team (at home, no less), only to beat up on the weaker Eastern Conference teams, then turn around and dish out punishment to Portland.

The fundamental difference between the Hawks and even the Sixers is simply flexibility. The Hawks are well over the cap, and only a stone’s throw away from being in the luxury tax. And with the team still for sale, it's highly unlikely that the Atlanta Spirit ownership group wants to burden the team with any more costs that would make the Hawks unattractive to a potential suitor. The Hawks need a stud, and with Al Horford sidelined for another month at least, some help down low. In theory they should be able to be in the Dwight Howard sweepstakes. Horford, Josh Smith, and Kirk Hinrich would be one of the best packages Orlando would get in a trade offer for D-12. Until the Hawks prove to us otherwise, they are still just pretenders, although I admit that I have purchased an Ivan Johnson jersey.

Most Improved Player
Kevin “Double-Double Machine” Love

Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

To say Kevin Love is having an MVP-type season is like saying The Descendants is the odds-on favorite to take home best picture at this year’s Oscars. Last season we saw it with Derrick Rose, when his game took the most titanic of leaps. While Atlanta's Jeff Teague and Houston's Kevin Martin have also seemed to make tremendous leaps this season, they utterly pale in comparison to that of Kevin Love.

We thought Love made the traditional third-year jump last season. However, this year (while looking far more svelte) Love's PER of 25.08 isn't the story, his USG rate is. Last season, Love was a factor in 21.3 percetnt of the Wolves’ possessions per game, while this season that number is up to 25.5. He has improved his game, and is 6th in the NBA in three pointers made. Love is in prime position to take the baton as the best power forward in the NBA from its previous holder, Dirk Nowitzki.

Players we should be talking about more, but aren't
Chris Bosh, Jeff Teague

Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

When you play on team with walking media magnet like LeBron James, and in a town that belongs to another superstar like Dwyane Wade, you’re undoubtedly going to have to take a back seat when it comes to compliments. But for all you who think that the Boshasaurus is the weakest link in Miami's triplet, riddle me this — in Wade's absence, who has been the go-to guy down the stretch in most of the Heat's games? If you guessed King James you would be mistaken. Chris Bosh is averaging roughly 21 and 8 this year, his PER of 22.53 is up to three points from last season, and he has almost single handedly won the Heat two games on the road. While you can still bump and bang him off his spot, the Heat seem to have found the proper role for him in the offense. Against Cleveland the other night, Bosh had perhaps one of the quietest 35-point nights I have ever seen, but still isn't getting the kind of love that his compatriots are getting.

Jeff Teague is another player that I've vacillated on to be considered the NBA's most improved player this season. Truth be told, if Kevin Love wasn't playing with his hair on fire, Teague is probably the hands-down favorite to win that award. If Atlanta is going to repeat as the flops of the East, it's going to have to fall on his shoulders. Teague's minutes have more than doubled from last season (13.8-34.8), is one of the league leaders in steals per game (2.2), and is averaging a healthy 13-5, on team that consists of players who are certainly not shy about shooting the basketball.