Much has been made of ESPN’s RPM projections tempering enthusiasm surrounding the Atlanta Hawks. On Wednesday, a panel of experts from the worldwide leader combined for a friendlier evaluation of Lloyd Pierce’s team.
As part of ESPN’s summer forecast, the group voted on the projected order of finish in the Eastern Conference and the Hawks landed in the No. 10 spot. The projection came with a record of 34-48 and, while Atlanta was seven games out of the No. 8 spot (held by Orlando), the voting did have the Hawks narrowly out-pacing their consensus Las Vegas over/under projection.