A Giant Ray of hope in Atlanta

The 2007 New York Giants. The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. The 2008 Atlanta Hawks. What do these three teams have in common?

"I think that some of the similarities (in) are the chemistry," Hawks center Al Horford said before getting ready for a game in Phoenix last week, part of his second preseason in the NBA. The Hawks are looking to become the next team in a continuing trend of overachievers across the major sports.

The Giants surprised everyone but themselves last February, winning a Super Bowl nobody picked them to come even close to winning in the preseason. They were given a 70-1 chance by Las Vegas last summer. The Rays were given 100-1 odds to win the World Series this spring. Vegas doesn't give teams longer odds than that in baseball. Five more wins and they would pull off the longest of long shots.

Banded together by an "us against the world" approach, the Giants surged through the playoffs and defeated an undefeated Patriots team that thought it would win simply by showing up. And the Rays, sporting mohawks, stylish spectacles and curious math skills (9=8???) are making their run through October look as easy as it used to be to beat up on, well, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Al Horford and the young Hawks could be a major factor by season's end. (Getty Images)

Horford says his Hawks seem to be building that kind of a bond. And don't discount him as being a naïve 22-year-old. He knows what he's talking about. He was a vital part of the Florida Gators team that made an unexpected run in the 2006 NCAA tournament with a young bunch that figured out a way to win, slightly ahead of schedule -- and then repeated in 2007.

"[If you] compare us to our [2006 championship] Gator team, as far as guys trying to be unselfish and sacrificing for the team to win, I think that's the way that we're looking right now and hopefully we'll keep it up," Horford said.

That championship run for Florida featured five future NBA players -- Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Chris Richard -- and none of them stood out individually. They sacrificed personal glory and statistical achievements for the ultimate goal of winning. Horford thinks that the Hawks are forging a similar culture in Atlanta. And much like in Tampa, the front office in Atlanta seems to finally be making a conscious effort to retain its talent after years of putting financial gains over trying to win.

"I think we've made some big strides as a team," Horford said. "I feel very confident about the decisions that our team made in the offseason, being able to get Josh Smith back and making some key additions. I feel that we are a better team than we were last year."

The Hawks may be better than they were a year ago, but they still head into this NBA season with 50-1 Vegas odds. The team is considered to have up-and-coming young talent, but the belief is that while they have made the right moves to potentially be a force in the future, they are still too raw to have a chance to win just yet. But isn't that what they said about the Giants? And the Rays? And Horford's Gators? Having been there before, Horford has much more confidence in his team than the oddsmakers do.

"We have high expectations," said Horford. "I think as long as we stay healthy and we stay focused we should have a better year than we did last year."

Last year, the Hawks were a surprising entry into the Eastern Conference playoffs. A midseason trade to acquire Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings propelled them into the eighth and final playoff spot with a good run down the stretch. They finished the season with an uninspiring 37-45 record, but wound up pushing the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games. The next step, conceivably, would have Atlanta making a serious playoff run in the revitalized East.

That is what the East has become now. Boston's spanking of the Lakers in the Finals in June and an influx of young talent around the conference (mainly brought about from years of dominating the lottery) means that the East no longer has to defer to the big, bad West as the clearly superior conference.

Now there is LeBron James in Cleveland, Dwight Howard in Orlando, Chris Bosh in Toronto, Andre Iguodala in Philadelphia, Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley in Miami and Derrick Rose in Chicago. And, of course, Horford, Smith, Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson are in Atlanta. Horford thinks his team can hold its own within that group.

"Obviously, they are proven teams," said Horford. "We feel good about our team. I think we have to keep getting better and keep working. And as long as we do that I think we should have a good chance to compete with those other teams."

And that is what the Hawks are this season. A good young team with a chance, even if nobody knows it yet. If we only had the foresight to make that statement about the Rays back in March.