Home Town: Atlanta, GA
Owner: Atlanta Spirit LLC/Michael Gearon
General Manager: Rick Sund
Coach: Mike Woodson
Home Court
Name:Philips ArenaOpened: 1999
Seating Capacity: 20,300
Team History
The Hawks were founded in 1946 as the Buffalo Bisons of the National Basketball League -- but moved to Moline, Illinois just 13 games into their inaugural season and became known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks briefly had two of the key pieces of the Celtics' dynasty as part of their franchise... Red Auerbach and Bob Cousy. Auerbach was their coach for the 1949-50 season, but left after a dispute with the team owner. Cousy was drafted by the team in 1950, but refused to report when ownership wouldn't meet his salary demands. Cooz wound up with the Chicago Stags, and then landed in Boston with Auerbach when the Stags went belly-up.
So close... and yet so far.The Hawks moved again in 1951, this time to Milwaukee, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Hawks won their first (and only) NBA Title as St. Louis residents, beating the rival Celtics in the Finals four games to two. Hall-of-famer Bob Petit scored 50 points in the deciding game... though it's worth noting that Bill Russell was playing on a badly sprained ankle.
The Hawks were a contender for the better part of the sixties, advancing to the Finals in 1960 and 1961, but lost to Russell and the Celtics both times. Meanwhile, ownership was growing increasingly disenchanted with their home arena, the Kiel Auditorium. In 1968, the team was sold to a group that included an Atlanta real estate developer and the then-governor of Georgia, and the team moved to its current home city.
In 1976, the team was purchased by media mogul Ted Turner.
In the eighties, under the leadership of coach Mike Fratello and led by dynamic scorer Dominique Wilkins, the Hawks were title contenders -- but never quite good enough to get past Larry Bird's Celtics or Isiah Thomas' Pistons. Hawk great Lenny Wilkens took over the team in 1993 and led the Hawks to a franchise-record 57 victories in 1995, but once again the team faltered in the playoffs, losing to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Hawks were on the losing end of several bad trades in the late 90s and early 2000s... sending Dominique Wilkins to the Clippers for Danny Manning (who left as a free agent after the season), exemplary citizen Steve Smith for noted troublemaker J.R. Rider, the draft rights to Pau Gasol for Shareef Abdur-Rahim... and then, after winning a league-worst 13 games in 2004-05, the Hawks opted to draft North Carolina forward Marvin Williams over Wake Forest's Chris Paul or Illinois' Marvin Williams.
Despite that blunder, the Hawks have made significant improvements in recent years. Joe Johnson -- acquired from the Phoenix Suns in 2005 -- has emerged as one of the league's best scorers, and forwards Josh Smith and Al Horford are among the league's better young players. In 2008 they reached the playoffs for the first time since the 1998-99 season, and gave the eventual champion Celtics all they could handle in a seven-game epic of a series.
Championships: 1958
Conference Titles: 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961
Division Titles: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1980, 1987, 1994
Retired Numbers
- 9: Bob Petit
- 21: Dominique Wilkins
- 23: Lou Hudson
- 40: Jason Collier
Hall of Famers
- Walt Bellamy
- Cliff Hagan (St. Louis)
- Pete Maravich
- Bob Pettit (St. Louis)
- Dominique Wilkins
- Connie Hawkins
- Bob Houbregs (Milwaukee)
- Moses Malone
- Ed Macauley (St. Louis)
- Lenny Wilkens
Head Coaches
Roger Potter (1949)Red Auerbach (1949-50)
Dave McMillan (1950-51)
Doxie Moore (1951-52)
Andrew Levane (1952-53)
William Holzman (1954-56)
Slater Martin (1956-57)
Alex Hannum (1957-58)
Andy Phillip (1958)
Ed Macauley (1958-60)
Paul Seymour (1960-61)
Andrew Levane (1961-62)
Bob Petit (1962)
Harry Gallatin (1962-64)
Richie Guerin (1965-71)
Cotton Fitzsimmons (1972-76)
Bumper Tormohlen (1976)
Hubie Brown (1976-81)
Mike Fratello (1981)
Kevin Loughery (1981-83)
Mike Fratello (1983-90)
Bob Weiss (1990-93)
Lenny Wilkens (1993-2000)
Lon Kruger (2000-02)
Terry Stotts (2002-04)
Mike Woodson (2004-present)
