The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). [1] The team began playing in 1946 as a member of the National Basketball League (NBL), and joined the NBA in 1949. The team has had five names since its inception; the Buffalo Bisons (1946), the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (1946–1951), the Milwaukee Hawks (1951–1955), the St. Louis Hawks (1955–1968), and the Atlanta Hawks (1968–present). [2] The Hawks won their only NBA championship in 1958, and have not returned to the NBA Finals since 1960. [3] [4] The team has played its home games at the Philips Arena since 1999. [5] The Hawks are owned by Atlanta Spirit, LLC, and Danny Ferry is their general manager. [6]
There have been 30 head coaches for the Hawks franchise since joining the NBA. The team's first head coach while in the NBA was Roger Potter, who coached for seven games. Richie Guerin, who coached the Hawks for eight seasons, is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (618), regular-season games won (327), playoff games coached (60), and playoff games won (26). Alex Hannum is the only head coach to have won an NBA championship with the Hawks, doing so in the 1958 NBA Finals. [3] Five Hawks coaches have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, [7] four have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches, [8] [9] [10] [11] and three were listed among the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History in 1996. [12] The current head coach is Quin Snyder.
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
Win% | Winning percentage |
# | Number of coaches [a] |
* | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Hawks |
† | Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Note: Statistics are correct through April 13, 2024. This list does not include NBL seasons.
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at State Farm Arena.
Michael Robert Fratello, also known as "the Czar", is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is currently an part-time analyst for Bally Sports Ohio for the Cleveland Cavaliers and a part-time color commentator for Bally Sports SoCal for the Los Angeles Clippers. He previously coached the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA), served as NBC's lead analyst, served as YES Network's color commentator/studio analyst for the Brooklyn Nets, a commentator/studio analyst for NBA TV and for nationally televised games on TNT and was also the head coach of the Ukraine national basketball team.
Darvin Ham Sr. is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders before playing nine seasons in the NBA from 1996 to 2005. He won an NBA championship playing with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Ham also had a brief international experience in Spain and later in the Philippines, as well as in the NBA Development League in 2007 and 2008. As an assistant coach, he won a second championship in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The 1968 NBA draft was the 22nd annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 3, 1968, and May 8 and 10, 1968 before the 1968–69 season. In this draft, 14 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. The first two picks in the draft belonged to the teams that finished last in each division, with the order determined by a coin flip. The San Diego Rockets won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Baltimore Bullets were awarded the second pick. The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. Six teams that had the best records in previous season were not awarded second round draft picks. Two expansion franchises, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns, took part in the NBA Draft for the first time and were assigned the seventh and eighth pick in the first round, along with the last two picks of each subsequent round. The St. Louis Hawks relocated to Atlanta and became the Atlanta Hawks prior to the start of the season. The draft consisted of 21 rounds comprising 214 players selected.
Joe Prunty is an American professional basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he served as an assistant coach and interim head coach for the Atlanta Hawks. He was also the interim head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2018 and 2024 and was the head coach of the Great Britain men's national basketball team from June 2013 until September 2017.
Michael Vincent Budenholzer is an American professional basketball coach who was most recently head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association, with which he won an NBA title in 2020–21 during his coaching stint from 2018–2023.
The 1989–90 NBA season was the Hawks' 41st season in the National Basketball Association, and 22nd season in Atlanta. Injuries would hamper the Hawks again, as Doc Rivers only played just 48 games due to a herniated disk in his back. Despite the injuries, they went on a 7-game winning streak in December with a 13–6 record. However, in January they lost six consecutive games falling below .500, holding a 22–24 record at the All-Star break, and endangering their playoff chances. At midseason, the team traded Antoine Carr to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Kenny Smith. The Hawks would close out the season on a strong note winning ten of their final 15 games finishing sixth in the Central Division with a 41–41 record. However, they ended up one game short of the playoffs.