By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

We’re possibly one game away from crowning a new World Series champion. The NFL is at the midway point in their season and the college football regular season is about one month from being over. There’s so much going on in the sports world right now that basketball might get overlooked.

My hometown Atlanta Hawks may not be doing well on the surface. They are 1-6, which is tied with Dallas for the worst record in the league. That means they rank dead last in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks average 99.6 points per game while opponents average 107.6. Not surprisingly, their lone win came on opening night against the Mavericks 117-111.

You may remember Atlanta let their starting frontcourt from last season go in the offseason. Paul Millsap and Al Horford left as free agents and they traded center Dwight Howard to Charlotte.

That shows on the court because in the most recent 117-106 loss to Milwaukee they were outrebounded by 12. Point guard Dennis Schroder is playing well, scoring 21 points against the Bucks.

”They came out with energy. We didn’t match it in the first five minutes,” Schroder said. ”In the second half we did a better job defending Antetokounmpo, but we’ve got to play for 48 minutes and be better.”

Schroder is averaging 22 points and 6.8 assists per game so he’s really the only good player on the roster. Rookie small forward Taurean Prince might develop into a good player. So far, he averages 13.3 ppg and 5.4 rebounds per game.

I think we can look at this season positively, which might sound crazy. There are only two ways to get a superstar in the NBA and that’s through the draft or free agency.

Historically marquee players have not signed with the Hawks in free agency so that leaves only one-way to improve. Teams need a top five pick to have the opportunity to get a legit playmaker.

I felt Atlanta has been at a crossroads for quite some time. They made the playoffs every year since the 2007-08 season. In 2014-15, they had the best record in the league (60-22) and had the top seed in the East. They broke a 48-year streak of not advancing past the second round of the playoffs and made it to the Conference Finals. The Cleveland Cavaliers swept them in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

It seems like they were content to be an above average regular season team. Then when they face elite teams in the postseason, they got obliterated. I like the approach this year because it looks like the franchise has learned from Philadelphia.

They have been tanking the last 4-5 seasons to get the highest draft pick each year. They made the slogan ‘Trust the Process’ famous and it seems like it’s paying off now with talented players like Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz on their roster.

I hope they can sustain the current pace and finish the season with the worst record. If that leads to the top pick in the 2018 draft it will be worth it.

Ironically, Atlanta’s next game is November 1^st against the 76ers so they get to see how well this strategy works in person. My guess is Philly will win easily.