Basketball history usually belongs to the giants. We remember the dynasties, the Kobe-Shaq feuds, and LeBron James chasing ghosts. But if you were watching the NBA a decade ago, something weird happened in Georgia. The 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks didn't have a superstar. They didn't have a guy who sold a million jerseys or a "chosen one." What they had was a system that, for about five months, made the rest of the league look like they were playing in the stone ages. Honestly, it was beautiful.
They won 60 games. Sixty!
People forget that. They also forget that this team once went an entire calendar month without losing a single game. In January 2015, the Hawks went 17-0. It was the most wins in a single month in NBA history at the time. It wasn't just that they were winning; it was how they were doing it. It was "Spurs East." Mike Budenholzer, fresh off the Gregg Popovich coaching tree, brought a brand of "0.5 basketball" to Philips Arena that valued the extra pass over everything else. If you held the ball for more than half a second, you were messing up the flow.
The January where everyone was an All-Star
The most "2014-15 Atlanta Hawks" thing ever happened when the NBA announced the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for January. They didn't give it to one guy. They gave it to the entire starting five. Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford. It was unprecedented. It felt a little cheesy to some, but to anyone watching the tape, it made perfect sense. You couldn't pick a "best" player because the strength of the team was the fact that nobody was the focal point.
Jeff Teague was the engine. He wasn't the fastest or the best shooter, but he got into the paint and forced defenses to collapse. Then there was Kyle Korver. Man, 2015 Kyle Korver was a terrifying human being to guard. He shot 49.2% from three that year. He had a "gravity" that we usually only associate with Steph Curry. Even if he didn't touch the ball, his defender refused to leave his side, which opened up massive lanes for Al Horford to operate in the mid-range.
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Horford was the soul of that group. He’s always been the "adult in the room" on his teams, and in 2015, he was the perfect passing big man. Paul Millsap was the "Anchorman." He did the dirty work, hit the occasional corner three, and guarded the opposing team's best forward. And don't overlook DeMarre Carroll—the "Junkyard Dog." He was the connective tissue, the 3-and-D wing before every team in the league started overpaying for 3-and-D wings.
Why the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks were a statistical anomaly
If you look at the advanced metrics, the Hawks weren't just lucky. They ranked 6th in Offensive Rating and 7th in Defensive Rating. That's the hallmark of a true contender. They shared the sugar. They averaged 25.7 assists per game, which was second in the league only to the Golden State Warriors—the team that would eventually win the title and start a dynasty.
The Hawks were the prototype.
The thing is, the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks were basically the "Beta version" of the modern NBA. They played small. They shot a ton of threes. They switched on defense. But they did it without a Top 5 player. This is where the nuance of that season gets lost. People say they "choked" in the playoffs, but that's a lazy narrative. They ran into a buzzsaw named LeBron James, and they did it while their best perimeter defender, Thabo Sefolosha, was out with a broken leg following a controversial encounter with the NYPD. That matters. Sefolosha was their "LeBron stopper"—or as close as you can get to one. Without him, and with Kyle Korver getting his ankle taken out by a diving Matthew Dellavedova, the Hawks were effectively neutered by the time the Eastern Conference Finals rolled around.
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The "Teague vs. Schroder" tension and the cracks in the foundation
Success hides a lot of warts. While the Hawks were rolling, there was a quiet tension brewing. Dennis Schroder was a young, lightning-fast point guard who wanted Teague's job. You could see it in the way the rotations shifted. Budenholzer knew Schroder was the future, but Teague was the All-Star. Managing those egos while maintaining a "system first" mentality is exhausting.
Also, the ownership situation was a mess. Bruce Levenson was selling the team after self-reporting an insensitive email. Danny Ferry, the GM who actually built this roster, was on indefinite leave after the Luol Deng scouting report scandal. The 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks were winning 60 games while the front office was literally burning down around them. It’s a miracle they stayed focused as long as they did.
Why we should stop calling them a "regular season team"
It's a common insult. "Oh, they were just a regular season team."
But honestly, isn't that what we want? We want teams that play the right way. We want teams that move the ball. The 2015 Hawks proved that you could dominate the NBA without "Hero Ball." They forced the rest of the league to realize that if you don't have a superstar, you better have five guys who can pass, shoot, and dribble. They paved the way for the "positionless basketball" we see today.
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Look at the 2015 Hawks' impact on the league's coaching ranks too. Kenny Atkinson was an assistant on that bench. Taylor Jenkins was there. Quin Snyder had just left. The DNA of that 60-win team is spread across half the teams in the NBA right now.
Actionable insights for basketball junkies
If you want to truly understand how that team worked, you have to look past the box score. Here is how you can apply the "Hawks Method" to analyzing today's game:
- Watch the "0.5 Rule" in action. When watching a team like the modern-day Celtics or Pacers, count how long a player holds the ball. The 2015 Hawks moved it within half a second. If a team is "sticky," they aren't playing winning basketball.
- Look for "Gravity" players. Kyle Korver didn't need to score 30 to dominate a game. He dominated by standing in the corner and keeping a defender occupied. Identify the players today who "bend" the defense just by existing on the perimeter.
- Value the "Connective" player. DeMarre Carroll was the most important person on that roster for defensive versatility. In your fantasy leagues or when scouting, stop looking for just scorers. Look for the guys who allow the stars to stay in their roles.
- Analyze the "Big Man" passing. Al Horford's ability to facilitate from the high post is now a requirement for NBA centers (look at Jokic or Sabonis). The 2015 Hawks were one of the first teams to make the center the primary playmaker in certain sets.
The 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks didn't win a ring. They didn't even win a game in the Conference Finals. But they proved that for a fleeting moment, chemistry could trump talent. They were a 60-win fluke that wasn't a fluke at all—they were a glimpse into the future of the sport. They weren't built to last, but man, they were fun while they existed.
To really appreciate them, go back and watch the highlights of their 19-game winning streak. It’s some of the purest basketball ever played. No ego, no isolation, just a bunch of guys who actually liked playing together. In a league defined by superstars, that’s the rarest thing of all.