1993/94: To help get the stagnated Hawks jump-started the team hires Lenny Wilkens as their new coach. Wilkens who was a star guard for the St. Louis Hawks in the 60's was quickly moving up the all-time coaching wins list as he had successful runs with the Seattle Supersonics and Cleveland Cavaliers. Wilkens employed a defensive system as guards Stacy Augmon and Mookie Blaylock both were named to the NBA All-Defensive team, as the Hawks jumped out in front of the Central Division. However despite being in first place in February the Hawks would trade all-time leading scorer Dominique Wilkins to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danny Manning. The Hawks would go on to finish with a Eastern Conference best record of 57-25. However, the Wilkins trade would begin to backfire as they struggled to get past the Miami Heat in 5 games before being upset by the Indiana Pacers in 6 games in the playoffs.    

2005/06: Coming off such an awful season there was no way for the Atlanta Hawks to go but up. However, things got off to a rough start when Center Jason Collier suffered a heart attack during the preseason and died suddenly died at the age of 28 on October 15th. The Hawks would stumble out of the gates again losing their first nine games on the way to a horrible 2-16 start. The Hawks would start to play better in December as they 4 of 6 during a mid month stretch that included a win over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. However, the Hawks would still be among the worst teams in the NBA although they would double their win total while finishing in 4th place at 26-56.