The Sixer Sense
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NBA Rumors: Atlanta Hawks ?s = Philadelphia 76ers Answers

By Bret Stuter

May 4, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) is fouled by Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the second quarter in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
May 4, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) is fouled by Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the second quarter in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 4, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) is fouled by Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the second quarter in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
May 4, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) is fouled by Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the second quarter in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

Exiting the NBA Playoffs in getting swept will give any NBA team questions about their team going forward. Do subsequent NBA Rumors mean Atlanta Hawks ?s =  Philadelphia 76ers answers?

The Atlanta Hawks were a very good team in the regular season for the past two years. They won games, lots of games. Last year, they ended the season with 60 wins and 22 losses. This year they ended the season with 48 wins and 34 losses. Combined, the team earned 108 wins compared to just 56 losses. But despite the ravaging of the NBA in the regular season, the team simply runs into a roadblock when the team enters the NBA playoffs. That roadblock came in the form of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In two straight years the Atlanta Hawks were decimated by clean sweeps at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In fact, the Atlanta Hawks are now 0-12 in post season when facing LeBron James. It’s crystal clear that the Atlanta Hawks are in desperate need of a shot blocker in the paint – and that is an area the Philadelphia 76ers can help to address. In the crunch moments of game four, point guard Jeff Teague sat on the bench and watched his reserve Dennis Schroder play the entire quarter. At the trade deadline, the Philadelphia 76ers worked hard to pry either Teague or Schroder away from the Hawks. Following their second drubbing by the Cavaliers two consecutive years, it’s clear that the team needs to take steps to overcome the Cleveland blockade.

The trouble with any elements of mixing parts from a bad team in transactions form parts from a good team, the good team gets a waiver on the equation.  In essence, the first glance perspective from any third party bystander automatically incorporates the Hawks 40+ win season in comparison to the Sixers 10 win season, and rationalizes that the Sixers must surrender four times the worth of the Hawk’s corresponding player.

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But this is not a build up of the Sixers, but a retooling of the Atlanta Hawks, a team which coasts through the regular season, but fails to make so much as a dent in the armor of the juggernaut Cleveland Cavaliers.  To improve the team going forward, the Atlanta Hawks need a player who is versatile, strong defensively, but someone the team can develop into a true starter moving forward.

As a stroke of good luck might have it, the Philadelphia 76ers have two such players who could make an immediate upgrade to the Atlanta Hawks in defending the paint – Jerami Grant and Nerlens Noel.

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